The Lost Art of Mystique
Posted by Fraser on February 18th, 2009
At UFC 93, just before the epically bizarre Shogun Rua/Mark Coleman fight, Joe Rogan made an interesting comment about Rua, pointing out how he and his Chute Boxe teammates had lost the mystique which helped guide them to success in Pride. He’s right of course as many of the Pride names (with Shogun and Wanderlei Silva leading the list) are now missing that elusive element. But what is perhaps most interesting is that this is not limited to just a few fighters or camps - MMA fighters across the board have lost that sense of mystique.
This idea of an intangible mystique has always been a prevalent part of MMA – this is after all a sport that was founded in part to see if a Bruce Lee disciple could defeat the dreaded powers of Kenpo Karate. In the past, many of the sports biggest stars trafficked heavily in mystique with names like Gracie and Ruas imbued with some sort of intangible power. So great was the power of this mystique that completely subpar fighters could ride it to a long career. As a prime example, look no further than Kimo, a fighter whose greatest claim to fame was putting in a decent showing against Royce Gracie, yet who used a combination of Royce’s “unbeatable” mystique and his own tattooed, cross bearing look to cement his name as a MMA pioneer.
Today, that mystique is largely absent, traded in for a more human look at the fighters. The UFC leads the pack on this change with their Countdown, All Access, and Primetime shows. Through all of these programs the message is the same “This fighter is a human being, just like you and me, he just has the will to win.” And that mentality has its place for many fighters – men like Randy Couture and Matt Hughes have built their legacies on that sort of image. But when every fighter is run through that same prism, you lose something. Does Anderson Silva seem more compelling as a mysterious silent ninja type, or as a guy who loves his kids and family? Were fans more drawn to Houston Alexander because of his sudden, spectacular UFC debut, or because he was a hard working father?
The power of this sort of marketing is one of the few things EliteXC understood, so it seems only appropriate to discuss it with their name back in the news. Their brief empire was largely built on one man – Kimbo Slice. And Kimbo was sold almost entirely on his mystique. The interesting thing is that, despite what Dana White would have you believe, a lot of people bought into that mystique. Kimbo received mainstream attention and captured people’s eyes in a way the UFC never did last year. EliteXC saw that they could use his mystique, they ran with it, and it worked. Until, like Alexander before him, Kimbo lost. And perhaps, therein lies the problem.
In the early days, when things were more unknown in MMA, a level of mystique was much easier to attain. Fighters came in with previously unseen styles and wowed people. There was room for a one dimensional fighter like Kimbo to succeed. But the sport has quickly evolved past that level. Fighters now need to be well rounded, disciplined experts in a number of areas. And while that makes for a higher level of talent, it also sacrifices some degree of that mystique, replacing colorful personalities with dedicated professionals.
That said, there are still fighters who retain that element – and they are usually the fighters with some freakish talent. Names like Brock Lesnar and B.J. Penn quickly come to mind. Lesnar in particular will be an interesting one to watch. Obviously he understands the power of his own mystique - a positive lesson he took away from his time in professional wrestling. But as his star rises, let’s hope that Zuffa keeps that mystique alive. Because despite my love of the sport of MMA and my desire to see the best fighters in the best fights, there’s still something about this giant, penile tattooed, freakish, trash talking ex-pro wrestler that sells a fight far more than any in depth look into his family life can accomplish. And as any Kimbo fan will tell you, I’m not alone in that.
February 21st, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Poor Kimbo. He’ll never be good at MMA, I mean, like a real contender. Being a heavyweight there is some room to work around in, but when a dude like Petruzelli can school you, yikes.
I was talking about this today while watching UFC, but a lot of the high level gyms that used to be big names are nothing now. Nobody fears Chute Boxe. Nobody fears MFS (lol). Nobody fears Team Quest.
February 26th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
I would venture to say that Lyoto Machida may fall into the criteria of current fighters bearing some mystique, given his unique style and selling point that he has yet to be caught.
March 25th, 2009 at 8:14 am
[...] few weeks ago I lamented the loss of mystique in the current crop of fighters, noting how that exciting element has been replaced by a generic, [...]