The Five Points of 2007.

I wanted to do this at the beginning of the year, but I didn't get to due to circumstances. So here it is. The five points I think MMA should focus on in 2007.

A Penalty System: If a penalty system is in place, not only will we have great fights ahead in the future, we'll also have fighters who start to appear to be world caliber and possibly have a chance against world caliber opponents. It also can stymie out the "filling out the cards" mentality which is starting to become prevalent within the UFC as well as other groups. Fighting "not to lose" should not be an option. in fact, it should be looked down upon from the fighters all the way to the athletic commission. In fact, being able to hold someone down and baby bopping until the round ends should be an instant sign of stalling.

The Penalty System can also be a great selling point for promotions that really want to make it big. Think of it, instead of having a silly fifteen second "ground clock", why not punish lay and prayers with a multicolored card penalty. Guy on the bottom holding the top guy's arms down? BAM!! Yellow card! Knees to the back of the head? BOOM!! Red Card and loss of 25% of the purse. As long as the system is used with a strict yet even hand, we can get a lot of exciting fights out of it.

An Extensive Mainstream View of MMA: I really think this is my "I can dream, can't I?" topic. There have been talks about ESPN looking into MMA coverage. Let's not kid ourselves people. All their really going to do is give a sideways glance at UFC. I doubt they'll even look at full cards. Maybe a quick thirty secs on the main event. They would probably make NBC (a company at one time, hellbent on shutting down MMA) look like the new Sherdog. If anything worse, ESPN could end up turning into Art Neil, an infamous news personality known around the pro-wrestling community in my area for spoiling the main events of both WWE and WCW shows during the height of the Monday Night Wars.

With maybe a small extensive coverage, the mainstream sports outlets can help the casuals better know the sport as well as the fighters within. Also, promoting other promotions can help develop a healthy competition between them. But until then, we're just the red headed, left handed, freckled step child locked up in the back bedroom.

Community Sponsored Fighters: To be honest, this isn't originally my idea. This was first thought up by Nate Quarry. I'm just running the ball with it. If you really want to get technical, the idea can stretch as far as feudal Japan. At one time, every village had they're own sumo stable. It gave the village something to be proud of. A jewel in their crown if you weel. These days, with the need of some forms of positive morale, a small community interested in the well being and the training of a fighter could be just what the doctor ordered.

Now I'm not saying that we should tax a city for support a fighter and/or stable. I do think the idea of a "booster club" could be beneficial. Small things like gym time, equipment upkeep, maybe going as far as travel expenses can go really far for a fighter and really help bring more focus to his or her game. It also can free up a lot of money in the fighters pocket for bills and necessities. If it works for UFCJunkie, it can definitely be good for Yourtown USA.

Proper Martial Arts Judges: Let's be honest, last year was definitely not the year of the judge. Looking at the numbers, either some judges were looking at something totally different or they really don't want to be there. I don't blame them. They're boxing judges. What the hell do they know about the ground game? They only specialize in judging whether punch #345 was damaging enough or not. This is where the athletic commissions really need to think about investing in judges with actual and credible martial arts backgrounds.

By having martial arts judges, you can make sure that the learning experience is much better at the seminars and that judges desicions will look and feel more clear cut. People who have a game plan on the bottom will be recognized as actually having a plan. what they do in defence and offence will be much better graded. Ground fighting would have an actual worth again.

Shut Down Lofty Goals and Expectations: Two years...doesn't make a sport a success. It doesn't really make anything a success. UFC running on SPIKE for two years just means they've made it longer then Rollerjam. Real success is somewhere between five and ten years. So if your singing the praises of UFC and how it's "blown up", I'd suggest you shut up and look around you.
If we took the energy that we put in to cheerleading, bandwagon jumping, nuthugging and nut dropping and then put it into something creative and beneficial to the sport, legislation that is being built to ban MMA in Louisiana, Utah, Michigan, Kentucky, Hawaii, etc. would be shut down easier and without so much as a whimper. Yes, I'm talking about you, the so-called "MMA community". If this was truly a sport you loved, you would actually stop bitching about how wrong an article is and do something about it to change the opinion. If this was really a sport you loved, instead of slamming every noob who comes in and tries to become part of it, you actually take time to help them out. If none of your actions are of a positive nature for the sport and you're trying to turn it into something of an elitist nature....turn your fan card in and go watch another sport. The sport doesn't need you. There needs to be positive cohesion among people other then the hardkore. You don't like it? Go home. I rather see a helpful open community rather then an elitist murder of pricks trying to keep their precious little clique "pure".