Caceres: MMA is an art, respect it and respect the artist fighters
Alex Caceres: “It’s an art, and people don’t give it respect. People don’t give it what it deserves. They go out there and start ridiculing other people, picking sides.”
Mixed martial arts competitors can be slotted into a spectrum from mixed martial artist to fighter. Most contain elements of both, but featherweight Alex Cacares is so far towards martial artist that he had never heard of Artem Lobov, until he was offered a fight with him at UFC 223 on Saturday.
I don’t even watch it, to be honest, said Caceres to John Morgan for MMAjunkie. I don’t watch it. I don’t know who the fighters are. I know some of them, just because I’m around it so much I have to know some of them. I didn’t know who Lobov was till the fight [was made]. That’s not taking anything away from them – I just really don’t keep up with it.
I don’t keep up with baseball, basketball, any type of arena sports or gladiatorial sports that have to feed to the mob because a lot of it is disrespectful to the actual art of it. That’s what it is – it’s an art, and people don’t give it respect. People don’t give it what it deserves. They go out there and start ridiculing other people, picking sides. Even in football or baseball or basketball, how do you pick sides? These guys are all elite athletes. They’re doing this for your entertainment. Where’s the level of respect for all players on the same ground? … How do you disrespect any of that? That always puts a bad taste in my mouth.
It’s a blood sport – it’s gladiatorial. And gladiatorial sports were for the mob. It doesn’t fit into a martial arts lifestyle. That part of the sport – that becomes a job, coming in and doing all the stuff in that realm. But other than that, I love martial arts. I think the only time you can be free in this sport is when you’re in the cage, because there’s little they can do at that moment.
