Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Events Coverage

Starting with June 18th’s Fight Night 89: MacDonald vs Thompson in Ottawa, Ontario—where I’ve just relocated—I will be previewing and reviewing select mixed martial arts events on this site. MMA has become, from a viewing standpoint at least, one of my central passions in recent years. My original, primal desire to watch men fight has, though still integral to my interest, evolved into a fascination and appreciation for the disciplines (or arts) and disciplined themselves.

The level of vulnerability these men (and women) submit themselves to so as to convincingly test their moral as well as physical fiber is an endlessly, and often breathlessly, humbling experience. Contrary to MMA’s still somewhat cloudy public image, the surpassing majority of fighters are, in my mind, examples to live by not only inside the cage but out of it. Not because there aren’t chinks in the armour; but because the chinks, both of heart and head, are cast under such impossibly bright light: the minds and memory of millions.

Yet as much as fighters stress “legacy” and necessarily thrive from training under collaborative conditions, fight careers are frightfully evanescent ones and the sport individual to the nth. All flying colours—no matter how hitherto unmatched—reset each time before fresh eyes, and on a fresh canvas. There is nothing I can name more predictably unpredictable than MMA, but my hope here is that you will, nevertheless, enjoy watching me try.