Issue 031
November 2007
Hywel Teague on how another of his passions relates to his passion for MMA.
My name is Hywel, and I’m a comic book addict. It has been two days since I last read a comic book. As I get older I think it’s going to get easier to stop, but it doesn’t. I’ll be sat there alone, maybe watching a movie or even trying to do something constructive like read a novel, when I get the urge to go and pick up a comic. I’ve been a comic book addict since I was four years old, and I’ve learned that I’ll always be an addict. Sometimes I can go weeks without reading a comic, even months, but they’re always there at the back of my mind. People say I should grow up, but I don’t care. I like comics. And I’m not alone.
If you subscribe to the school of thought that comics are for kids, then you probably won’t like this article, but there is a massive amount of people who would disagree, including a sizeable portion of MMA fans. For reasons we’ll explore, comics appeal to many followers of mixed martial arts, and there are more than a few similarities between the characters who inhabit those four-colour pulp pages and those who live in the blood-stained cages and rings of the MMA world.
What makes a superhero?
The dictionary definition of a hero will tell you it is someone who displays courage and high moral virtue in the face of danger and opposing odds. There are all manner of heroes – people who have fought and died for what they believe in, or inspired others with their actions. From Muhammed Ali to Mother Theresa, you don’t have to be super to be a hero to someone.
A superhero goes further than simply being heroic. They are blessed with exceptional abilities. They fight with powers and skills far beyond those of normal people. They employ the use of costumes, masks and alternate identities. And most of all, they inspire. Just like MMA fighters.
Now before we go on, let’s just set the record straight – no one really believes that MMA fighters have superpowers, but seeing as comics are works of fantasy, let us approach this without the trappings of day-to-day life and let our imaginations run wild for a bit. Fighters are, by their very nature, pretty special people. But where does special end and super begin?
Fighting isn’t exactly a ‘normal’ thing to do. “Seeing an average person come to the gym and partake in some of the standard training, not even fight training, it’s not something that everyone can do,” says Josh Barnett. A former UFC heavyweight champion and star of both the K-1 and Pride ring, Barnett is a self-confessed lover of comic books, sci-fi and fantasy. “Fighting is a lot harder for people to do than go out and kick or throw a ball around. For many people the idea of getting into a fight is just too much for them to even comprehend. The fact there are people out there who will step up to fight at any time, willingly, knowingly, it’s hard for people to wrap their heads around and they think it must be something pretty extraordinary. Getting into a ring and facing down an opponent in a combative contest to the finish certainly isn’t a ‘normal’ thing to do. While it isn’t normal to do what MMA fighters do, it’s not quite ‘super’ either.”
Creating the character
MMA may not be the world of professional wrestling, which even to the uneducated is full of men and women dressed in elaborate costumes playing characters a child would find improbable, but there is still a need for fighters to develop a persona.
A veteran of not only mixed martial arts but also Japanese professional wrestling, Barnett knows intimately how fans identify with top-flight fighters, but understands that sometimes to sell yourself you have to create a character. “Simply put – why is anyone going to pay any attention to you over somebody else?” he asks. “There is a million other fighters out there all trying to fight. You can certainly be the guy who wins all the fights, but if there is nothing about you that stands out as interesting or memorable, as much as this is a sport it is also entertainment. People pay to be entertained, and to see a show and to leave happy and fulfilled. To do that you have to give them something out of the ordinary, something interesting and memorable. If people don’t remember you, its like you never even fought.”
The costumes and nicknames and all reflective of comic book characters, but you look at certain fighters and they could literally be out of a video game or have stepped out the pages of a comic book. For some fighters the fighting is almost secondary to the character they’ve created, whether they meant to or not. The list of fighters who ‘play up’ when they fight is a long one.
The obvious examples of the fighters as characters are of the Japanese showmen Genki Sudo and Kazushi Sakuraba, two men who take time to construct elaborate pre-fight entrances (Sudo was the master at this) but what about fighters such as the Iceman? Chuck Liddell may be all about business when he gets in the Octagon but his nickname fits his persona as a cool, calm and collected fighter with a merciless way of finishing opponents. “Some people have created characters without even knowing it,” muses Josh. “Like Mirko Co Cop is a very serious individual, yet at the same time his seriousness and steeliness is almost an Arnold Schwarzenegger-type Terminator character. In a way he has the character that when it comes to fighting people associate that with him. That’s how they see him, and I don’t think he is doing anything on purpose other than just being him.”
There are many wild and wonderful characters in the world of MMA, even if not all of them go around wearing costumes or sporting nicknames. That said, many fighters will tell you of a transformation they undergo when they step in a ring, of how their fight persona is different to how they are in everyday life. Fighters cultivate alter-egos, just like superheroes. “It’s not so much that I’m going into a closet or a phone booth and coming out with my Superman cape on, but the ring will certainly bring something out of me that not everyone gets to see. When I go to fight I’m in a different place,” says Josh, whose alter ego ‘The Baby-faced Assassin’ has entertained fans across the world.
For some fighters the character they are in the ring is a mask they wear to protect their real life. Fighters like Forrest Griffin are notoriously protective of their private lives, and though the person they are in the ring is a true side of their personality, you won’t see the ‘real’ them.
The anti-hero
“Not everyone is going to be a fan of the good guy. Some people want to be a fan of the bad guy,” says Josh. “They may want to be a fan of the Mad Max anti-hero type character. There’s got to be something for everyone and that’s because not everybody likes the same thing.”
Comics took a turn in the last few decades with a defining change taking place in the 1980’s. From the rosy-cheeked and very wholesome comics that most people remember, a new darker type of comic came about. People who read these comics will be well aware of the anti-heroes, characters who, though certainly extraordinary, didn’t necessarily extol the virtues of the more ‘mainstream’ characters.
MMA is full of anti-heroes and even has its fair share of villains, but some people are comfortable with that. Do you think Tank Abbott cares that people hate him? He still gets his share of admirers. Tito Ortiz has always famously been called the Huntington Beach Bad Boy and is well known for his trash-talking and disrespectful behavior towards his opponents, yet he does charity work and acts as a role model for youngsters from a troubled background.
Getting Geeky
While coming up with this article I really let my mind run riot and started to think of existing MMA personalities as comic book characters. Randy Couture would certainly be the All-American super soldier, the role model who would tell you to eat your greens and ruffled the hair of young scraps clamoring for an autograph, just as his ‘Captain America’ nickname suggests. Emelianenko Fedor, while not his arch-nemesis in real life, would certainly be a good counterpart in comic-book land. The genetically enhanced product of the Soviet state’s breeding program designed to create the perfect warrior, he is emotionless and machine-like, serving only his country and fighting for the glory of the homeland.
I couldn’t always make my mind up as to how some characters may be. Dana White posed a particular problem – was he the benevolent Professor X figure? As the all-wise father figure, he looked after his volatile charges much like Prof X did over the XC-Men. He shielding his fighters from the barrage of hate and scorn that came from an ignorant public and took them forward to their true place as elements of popular society. But on the same hand, I kept getting visions of Dana as Lex Luther, the malevolent businessman with a respectable outer appearance but secret plans of world domination. Either way, it certainly makes you wonder.
True heroes
For some people who watch MMA what takes place in the ring is an example of distilling human athleticism to the highest degree, and for some, that’s about a super as it gets. The incredible acts that take place in the cage or ring is far beyond that of normal human ability, and you could only look to the pages of a comic book to find something similar.
MMA fighters, like other sporting figures, have the ability to inspire others. Fans idolise fighters as giants among men, and their spectacular acts inside the ring only serve to further their heroic status.
The best comic books contained a very real sense of human drama as much as they did heroics. Described by some as the ultimate soap opera, this could also be said about MMA. The endless cast of heroes and villains, good guys and bad, who step into the ring brings with it trials and tribulations that we can’t simply get enough of.
Who is your Hero?
We asked famous figures from the world of MMA who their heroes were.
Joe Rogan
“The Silver Surfer. He was bad ass. He could do intergalactic travel and he didn’t even need clothes!”
Brandon Vera
“The Incredible Hulk, man! You can’t kill him, and anything you do will only piss him off and make him stronger!”
Eddie Bravo
“Batman and the Flash. I loved DC comics.”
Matt Lindland
“I didn’t really read comic books, but I did watch Superfriends on TV.”
Dan Henderson
“Superman and Batman, the old school guys. I’m old!”
Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller
“I really liked the comics of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”
Heroes
The Saint
The Canadian ninja Georges St. Pierre is super quick and agile, and loves to let go of his Maple leaf-shaped throwing stars. Likes to give villains a lesson but no-one can understand what he says.
Shogun and Ninja
The Brazilian brothers Shogun and Ninja can be found fighting back to back in South America. Battling everything from drug lords to government corruption, the vigilantes do their best to protect the favela-dwelling poor.
Rampage
With his trademark chain and super strength, Rampage will take out anything in his way without a second thought. Was once a bad boy but saw the light, but the public haven’t yet decided if he is good or evil.
Villains
The Beast
Bob Sapp isn’t truly evil more misguided. The monstrous giant crushes anyone foolish enough to get in his path, but has often been exploited by those in power to commit acts against his nature.
The Wild Boys
Bad to the bone, Babalu and the ‘Crippler’ Chris Leben are the Wild Boys. They don’t care for your rules or your morality – they just want to get drunk and rip things up. Can be identified by their crazy hair and distinctive tattoos.
The New York Bad Ass
When he drinks his special super strength potion the New York Bad Ass has got at least one good round in him, but after that is left a wheezing, spluttering mess. Side effects of the potion include proneness to intense fits of vanity and self-delusion.
Illustrations by Jeff Kunze
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