UFC Choosing Political Sides

Closing in on November elections, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appealed to the bloodthirsty demo last week, casting Dana White, Chuck Liddell, and Randy Couture as campaign supporters. Old news, I know. But the reactions have been enlightening.

Posters to Politico’s blog, in between bouts of calling UFC “disgusting” and believing it has “nothing to offer our children,” (didn’t they see the toys?) wonder why Democrats condemn Linda McMahon’s status as a wrestling promoter while simultaneously cozying up to the ringmaster of the real thing.

The UFC may very well produce an army of brain-altered senior citizens one day -- it’s a young sport with a solid likelihood of head trauma -- but the fact remains that no one has expired in the Octagon; pro wrestling has an alarming mortality rate, due in large part to the demands for large muscles and working through chronic pain on the road. I’d sooner my hypothetical kid watch prizefighting -- where the consequences of violence are obvious -- than subject him to muscleman theater, most of which makes Al Pacino seem reserved.

Reid’s enrollment of Liddell and Co. is really about something else: the idea that MMA has saturated the sports market to the point where political candidates believe the endorsement of its personalities can have an effect on their runs at office.