I think that being a practitioner of the sport has less to do with being in the target marketing demographic than you might otherwise imagine.

Their target demographic is people who will pay to see a violent spectacle. There are certainly people who find violence thrilling in martial arts, but there are a lot of people who have never done any training, who are uninterested in learning that running away is your best defense or how to de-escalate a tense situation, who have a credit card and want to see someone get punched in the face until they're bloody. That's who MMA producers and refs are targeting, not you.

I'm a kiteboarder and a skier. Do you think that the stores with Dakine luggage or North Face jackets at the mall (which feature prominently-placed posters of people kiteboarding and skiing) are really intended for me? No, they're intended for people who wish to send social signals that they are wealthy, stylish and adventurous.

It's the same with (a subset of) Nascar fans - Many are uninterested in karting time trials that might be more approachable to more amateur participants in motorsports, but they'll on the TV every Sunday hoping to see a big crash, and the same with (a subset of) NFL and NHL fans - they just want to see someone's head bounce off the turf/ice.

That spectacle is what's for sale, it makes money in a way that 10 years of patient practice does not.

I find UFC a bit crass and I've definitely lost interest in it over the years.

I prefer ONE which feels a bit more pure. I like how they promote mutual respect between contestants and some of the highlight reels celebrate restraint (look up Xiong maybe).

Combine that with their same approach to cutting weight and I think they're a much classier promotion.

Sometimes UFC and boxing feels like soaps for male dominated fangroups. But boxing is just so beautiful sometimes

That’s the McGregor effect. Both the fighters and the org realized that they get a lot more sponsorships and audience with the WWE drama. Most fighters have a short and injury prone career so I don’t blame them for trying to make some money. There are still plenty of fighters who don’t take part in the nonsense

Yeah, I love BJJ and rarely watch MMA. Striking just isn't that interesting to me. Give me a submission only BJJ match and I'll watch the whole thing though. But, I've also been training for years so I understand all the intricate movement that's happening.

...and then there's always Rollerball

You’re probably right. I’ll sometimes watch videos for local or regional competitions, or particularly noteworthy ones from larger events, but have zero interest in high production value footage.