Globalization effects on Mixed Martial Arts

Topic: Tradition /Localization/Globalization/Cultural Change
Source: The average Saturday UFC card with a good group of friends and the ensuing discussions about the variety of traditional things that happen at a fighting event. More specifically how they have changed since the explosion of the UFC and its following monopolization of MMA as a sport.
Relation:  Many traditional remnants of specific martial arts still exist today in the MMA world and are based in the past of each individual martial arts history. But they have been dramatically changed due to the globalization of MMA. Additionally due to this alone is illustrating cultural change between previous forms and the new modified MMA form.
Description: Saturday 25^th of February, my friends and I were discussing some of the changes seen within MMA and changes we have seen in the teaching of techniques as MMA forms of them become realized. The conversation was spurred due to a variety of annoyances we have with the current format of presenting MMA on television. Additionally our conversations delved into the changes that the sport has experienced as the mega-corportation Zuffa LLC has eaten up smaller MMA offshoots in hopes of creating a unified global sport that is MMA.
Commentary & Analysis: The way a fight is presented can change the feeling of an event and in turn the presentation of MMA globally has changed drastically in the last two decades of MMA evolution. A part of this presentation is incorporating the traditional elements of different Martial arts and is mainly seen as little nods to the sports history more than anything. A great example of these is the traditional Gi and belt being worn in many fighters’ introductions or the fact that many practitioners have an image of a belt along their shorts beltlines. This is just the last remnant of the ancient belt system and still follows many of the color coded formats that have been generated to measure skill. However presentation of fighters techniques has also been dramatically changed and illustrates a cultural change within the fighters involved. When I say this I am referring to the fact that in the past each fighter was incredibly specialized in one field and in turn their introductory video illustrated those skills. Now we see fighters intro’s focusing on how they are the complete MMA fighter not a specialized in any category but amazingly skilled in all. In turn the actual technique reflects that fighters are now not training in traditionalized forms but in modified or localized MMA versions of those original cultural forms. This is leading to an ever changing evolution of fighting and leading to essentially a globalized combat form. In turn this is what Zuffa the UFC’s parent company is striving for. They want to be the only company capable of providing the world with literally “The Ultimate Fighting Championship”. This has lead to an immense amount of MMA culture over the last decade to disappear or change as the Unified Rules used in Nevada, USA are becoming the global standard. Most importantly this has removed such attacks as headstomps and legalized such actions as elbows to downed opponents. While these specific actions lack real cultural elements to them , the legalization of one and illegalization of the other illustrate to a certain degree how violent is too violent according to humans as a whole.

The True Value of Modern of Material Culture

Topic: Material Culture 

Source: A variety of discussions with friends and HSU Alumni over the last week dealing with the culmination of the Singularity event, climate change, global instability, wealth disparity, the theoretical threat of modern society failing and how these will change the value of modern material culture.  Additionally a moving Mammology lecture I attended last semester at HSU has also definitely influenced this Blog posting as it dealt with both material culture and the future.

Relation: Material culture is essentially the only physical remaining evidence of many of the extinct inhabitants of earth and these items offer a hint at what these cultures may have been like. When material culture is paired with ideas such as the aforementioned concepts its interesting to imagine how such dramatic sociological changes would affect material culture and its value in the short term and how future archaeologists may think about our American culture.  

Description: Friday the 3^rd of February about 4 of my good friends, some of which are HSU Alumni, were discussing the future of the USA, Earth and how it will change the value of material culture to us and the following generations. There were 2 main theoretical futures being passed back and forth amongst us. One is that a Singularity event happens, which in short, is a technological breakthrough so dramatic that we cannot predict the changes that will follow the discovery (Just like a black hole or singularity in space, we cannot see what is happening  on the other side of one). The other argument was one of a post-apocalyptic USA or globe in which modern society, global or national, fails due to one of the factors previously mentioned in the Source section. Either way both of these theoretical futures will cause a dramatic shift in the value of modern material culture.

Commentary & Analysis:

The value of modern material culture is one based entirely on money, items that are considered valuable cost more to purchase. While this is common practice globally these days, it is solely based on a system in which money is an integral part of the equation. Both of these theoretical futures pose a scenario in which money may become a worthless commodity and in turn the value of an item may not be inherently marked by dollar signs on a tag. In a post-modern society without money many of us argued that value will be defined by usefulness rather than this abstract concept of money. While it is hard to theorize about a post-Singularity world, it was hoped amongst us that the modern money system would be done with as it essentially has forced us into an unstable and unequal state of citizenship within our very own country. But in a post-apocalyptic scenario usefulness really means one of a few things. Among things we considered valuable out of modern material culture it ended up that only a couple were truly valuable, such items included; medicine, food and anything that helps you obtain these. Due to this true system of value we went around the room and realized we live in a culture with way too many unneeded pieces of material culture and were embarrassed at the thought of future archaeologists examining so much seemingly useless culture. In a sense many of these items are cultural texts that relate to this time and place and would be meaningless without our immaterial culture that it is paired with. But more importantly and maybe most importantly this discussion allowed us to view the culture that immerses us and see the true value of our material culture rather than the dollar signs we spent to acquire it.