> wants to sell drama, not sports

poor people around the world have little fight clubs all the time, and the result is "knuckle heads" with broken teeth and unable to work. This show business has big production value, good lighting with excellent cameras, and yes, stories that people can latch on to.. hint- fight fans are often not very smart.

you have no idea what you're talking about and your comment is just patronising. MMA is a highly technical sport that demands elite levels of athleticism and sporting intelligence. fight fans are also already a highly diverse group from all around the world and that group is continually growing in size and diversity

Big muscles don't mean much with a small brain attached to them. If I wanted to see that I can just go to the zoo and find much better samples.

I've never met a bloodsport fan that I would want as a friend or direct report. I'm sure there are decent people as there always are in any large population, but they're the exception to the rule.

I never was attracted to the sport and maybe had some unconscious biases towards fighters, but about a year ago my meditation practice brought me to try and confront that fear and aversion I had towards aggression. Long story short, I've been training Muay Thai for about a year and it totally changed my view on things. Everyone I've met at these gyms has been kind, welcoming, and exceptionally thoughtful. Training anything this difficult has a way of cutting down your ego. I only wish I had started 10 years ago.

Maybe the fans are different, who knows, but the people that actually show up and train I'd absolutely take as a friend or direct report. It's deep internal mind/body training.

Mark Zuckerberg practices Jiu Jitsu.

Anthony Bourdain practiced Jiu Jutsu.

Lots of actors and comedians have started practicing Jiu Jitsu.

I’m a CTO and I’ve practiced jiu jitsu and Muay Thai. I lift weights regularly too :O

Zuckerberg should be thrown into a vat of acid, so I'm unclear why you decided to bring him up first of all people.

This is incredibly revealing in a way I don't think you intend or are maybe even aware of.

This isn't 2011 Facebook, your emo angsty vaguebooking isn't impressing.

> Big muscles don't mean much with a small brain attached to them.

It says a lot you think ‘big muscles’ are a thing: the most popular divisions of UFC don’t have big muscular fighters.

I was curious so I did some Googling just to get a sense if what you're claiming is true and it turns out you very likely wrong on this matter. According to TIDES/University of Central Florida, more than 80% of UFC fighters have a college degree, which is much higher than many other sports including the NFL (31%), NBA (20%), and MLB (less than 45%).

But you mentioned fans specifically, and here you're also way off. Much like the other sports I mentioned, the demographics of UFC viewers are also much more educated than the other sports I mentioned. Based on the Sports Business Journal's survey, 42% of NBA viewers have a college degree, 34% for MLB, 32% for the NFL, and 55% for UFC.

Now you can object to college being a good indicator of intelligence and that's fine, but it's probably a much better indicator than just randomly making stuff up and stereotyping people based on their hobby.

> 80% of UFC fighters have a college degree

This might be due to some MMA fighters having a collegiate wrestling background.