No Holds Barred: Scott Ross and John Perretti on Devolution of MMA

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman reposts a fascinating interview from June 2010, as usual ahead of its time, aimed at thinking people, which focuses on the culture and philosophy of mixed martial arts.

Here is the original description of this interview:

Our senior correspondent and colleague, the legendary former matchmaker and world champion kickboxer John Perretti, spoke on Monday, June 28, with Scott Ross, a pioneer in the field of digital media, the founder and former chairman and CEO of Digital Domain, and a fan of mixed martial arts.

Having worked for three decades at the center of the mainstream entertainment industry, Scott Ross has become disturbed at the current direction of the culture of mixed martial arts. "It's lost its direction in terms of its intellectual and philosophical approach," he said. He cited the devolution of the sport and the absence of any philosophy in it today, and decried that it has become just about "beating people up." It is marketed to people "who accept whatever Madison Avenue serves up," some of whom behaved with "a sense of redneck-Nazism," and is no longer about sport, but "about specter." With the culture of this sport "way out of hand," something, he argued, must be done to change it.

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ONE Fighting Championship. ONE FC is Asia's largest and most prestigious mixed martial arts event. ONE FC features the best Asian fighters and has initiated the ONE Asia Partnership Network, which includes most of the major MMA promotions and MMA gyms in Asia. For more information, go to their web site, at ONEFC.com.

American Top Team. Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site at http://americantopteam.com/.

Thanks, Eddie Goldman
EddieGoldman.com

This was a good show. With the way MMA has been turned into pop-culture it's true that it brings in this more desensitized demographic of people now. The respect for the martial arts is lost on far too many viewers at this point.