Monkey Fights

One thing I can't full understand is how mixed martial arts is being excepted in todays, anti-violent, civilized society. The UFC (ultimate fighting championship) or monkey fights as I like to refer to them as, is the largest, most watched organization to host these events (at least in North America). For anyone that hasn't watched any of these fights, they are extremely violent, ruthless, and as far as I am concerned, unnessesary.
I have several problems with MMA being televised. My first is just the simple fact that it is more extreme violence on TV. We see enough. People become desensitized when they see something too often. If you see fist fights on TV regularly, you are going to be less shocked to see one in real life. Younger, more impressionable people might even become comfortable enough watching fights on TV and at events, that they see it as a valid outcome to a tense situation. I believe that we, as humans, have evolved to the point that communication, and having the ability to make rationale decisions has greatly reduced the need to resort to a fist fight with another person. We don't need to fight to defend our tribe, or food, or home. We now have a justice system (though flawed) that prevents us from having to fight for any reason.
My second problem is moral. Why would you fight someone for money? I can understand, that in life, there might be a situation where you want to attack, or fight someone. You witness an attack on a helpless person or catch someone breaking into your car. You could choose to call the police, but I fully understand wanting to attack the person. But to fight a random person, you may have never met before, for money? You're taking cash, to get in a ring, infront of thousnads of people, to do your best to cause as much physical harm as possible to a person, you have no grudge against. "I don't know you, but I'm going to do my best to give you a concussion, because someone paid me to." That sounds like something someone working for the mob, or a gang would say. What type of moral standards do you have, when you are basically a hired goon? What message does that send? It's ok to beat someone senseless, if you get paid enough?
Speaking of hired goons, a large percent of these guys are. Here's some MMA fighter stats. Harold Howard attacked his nephew with the claw end of a hammer. Harolds sister try to stop him, so he attacked her with the hammer too. Joe Son gang raped and sodomized a girl in the back of a car at gun point. Charles Bennett has over 30 arrests, ranging from grand theft, burglary and multiple drug charges to battery upon a pregnant woman, kidnapping and tampering with a witness. War Machine (yes his legal name) attacked his agent, porn star girlfriend and several other people at a porn industry party. Jeremy Jackson,  forcible rape, kidnapping, burglary, assault with a firearm, dissuading a witness by threat of force, criminal threats and sexual assault. Justin Levens killed his wife, and then himself. There are more, but the best is Jarred Wyatt, who cut his friends heart out, while he was alive and threw it in a fire, cut out his tongue, cooked some of his organs, and had cut off most of his face by the time the police showed up, because his friend "had the devil in him". These people are violent people. People that like to fight and hurt people, so we put them in a ring, and pay them to do it. You want impressionable people watching these criminals and thinking, maybe if I get good at fighting, I can hurt people for money too?
Which brings me to my last problem with MMA. What message does it send to our youth? You have bullies in schools, that have something to strive for now. A bully should have no support. They should feel like they are losers, and will never amount to anything in life, but now, they have a new hope. These uneducated, delinquent, douche bags, that pick on people and make peoples lives hell, are going nowhere in life. They are shunned in the real world and will never amount to anything. The ability to take a punch, and cause pain will get them nowhere. Now these bullies are making large sums of cash, and are idolized, thanks to the UFC.
Now the defence I have heard for the fighters is that they aren't all goons. A lot of them are extremely skilled athletes. They train for endless hours, study their opponents, and are trained in countless types of martial arts, including wrestling. I agree. I think there are fighters like JSP, that is very intellegent, trains as hard as any athlete, and views fights as a competiition between two trained athletes. Karate, and wrestling, and countless other martial art, have been around for many years. The combatants are discipline, and respect each other. But it seems to me that the UFC has attracted some discipline, hounorable fighter, and some ruthless thugs. Why are criminals aloud to fight? Why are the combatants aloud to smack talk each other? Why are dirty fighter aloud back to fight? In karate, or wrestling or other martial arts, the thugs and goons would be shunned, not celibrated. When you allow these types of fighters, you attract a different type of croud. The typical UFC fan doesn't go to watch two professional athletes compete in a strategy based duel. They want to see someone hurt someone else. They want blood. You don't watch a karate fight or wrestling match for blood.
Are there fighters that are in the sport for the strategy, comradery, hounor and respect of their fellow fighters? Yes. But there are far too many fighters and fans that only want carnage and blood shed. I've been in bars when UFC fights have been on. It was disturbing to me the hear the people in the bar cheer when someone was kneed in the face, or kicked in the side of the head. Why is that something to cheer about?
I mentioned in an earlier blog about guns, and how a very very tiny amout of gun owners are a threat. 99.9% take firearms far too seriously to think about even pointing them at another human being. But that 0.1% wrecks it for the rest of gun owners. The thing with UFC is that it's not 0.1% that are bad apples. I'd say it's far higher. 25%, 30%, 50%? Far too high. And regardless if the fighters are respectful and hounorable, or are just out to hurt people. They are still taking money, to get in a ring and harm another person and I don't think that is something society needs. Why give uneducated, violent, blood thirsty thugs, something to cheer about, or get paid to do?