Alex Davis: There is a silent crisis in MMA
Alex Davis: “I believe that all of us who are involved in MMA, whether it be to enjoy as fans or as participants, must become aware of this. Only then will there be discussions and solutions.”
If Dana White is the controversial heart of Mixed Martial Arts, manager Alex Davis is our sport’s conscience. A founding member of American Top Team and lifelong Judoka, Davis manages a number of top Brazilian fighters including Edson Barboza, Antonio Carlos Junior, Rousimar Palhares, Thiago Santos, ‘Bigfoot’ Silva, and Thiago Tavares. He is also a long-time writer for MMAjunkie, and it’s always must-read. In his latest he identifies one of the biggest problems for up and coming fighters.
There exists, in the MMA world today, a silent crisis – silent to the millions of fans and to the many journalists writing on and forming the public’s opinion on the sport, yet blaring to the professionals in the gyms and on the mats that make this sport happen day in day out.
In MMA there are more and more people out there in the schools and on the mats training and learning, putting their time, effort and money into the dream of one day turning themselves into a notable fighter, but there are less and less opportunities for them to get into a ring or cage and prove themselves worthy.
This is causing an extreme verticalization of the sport – a multitude of people out there training, but comparatively only a trickle managing to get fights, and an infinitely small percentage of those actually managing to get into a significant event.
Over the years, people have seen the economic success that the UFC achieved in a relatively small time, and they come up with projects to do the same, only to find out that they do not know what they are doing, nor do they have the means, purpose or persistence to stick with it until their project becomes sustainable. Less and less people are now willing to try, meaning less and less events for athletes to fight in.
I believe that all of us who are involved in MMA, whether it be to enjoy as fans or as participants, must become aware of this. Only then will there be discussions and solutions.
At some point, we must start looking at it in the same way that other sports look at themselves, from the perspective of what will be good for the sport in the long run. We are caught up in the vice of immediatism. All we can see is the next two or three months. But if we want to have a meaningful sport in the future, we must move past this. We must discuss and create solutions.