Race is, and always will be, a thing in Combat Sports

Jason Cruz
Aug 24, 2017 · 4 min read

“Remember Pearl Harbor!”

A cry came out from the crowd as a bout featuring former UFC title contender Yushin Okami was about to start. The reference was indeed made about Okami’s Japanese heritage.

The words of this “fan” at a Professional Fighter’s League Event took place this past July in Everett, Washington. This “fan” followed up with a rebuttal that “everyone was thinking this.”

As I sat on media row, I was in shock. Despite going to my share of raucous football and basketball games in the past, I never heard anyone make such racist comments so public. Perhaps I’ve not gone to my share of games around the country, but despite what you may hear in the news, most crowds are relatively focused on the players and not race.

Yet, this “fan” decided that on a card featuring predominantly white fighters, one of the few fighters that stood out due to his ethnicity, he would call out.

Maybe being Asian American made me hypersensitive to these remarks. Then again, I looked down at my laptop and noticed the year was 2017 and people shouldn’t have to take ignorant remarks like this.

But I could not target this person in the smattering of fans that came to this MMA event.

Even after the “fans” taunts to Okami were met with some boos, several fighters and fight camps sitting behind me snickered about the childish and racist taunt. One fighter remarked that it was “wrong, but funny.” Another attempted to add on to this third-grade humor by saying, a least it wasn’t Hiroshima. These fighters, destined to become night shift security, bouncers and disgruntled MMA coaches in the next couple years giggled throughout Okami’s fight. Rather than watch, learn and attempt to get better from a fighter that had been on top of his game, they chuckled about Okami’s slanted eyes.

Frankly, the racism in combat sports is nothing new or startling. It was just surprising that I saw it up, close and personal in this age and time. Growing up in the 1980s, these stereotypes about Asians were so prevalent, I felt that nothing was wrong with it.

This recent occurrence makes me consider the upcoming Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor fight and the role of race in promoting the fight.

Much was made of McGregor calling Mayweather “boy” during their first encounter at the Staples Center during their promotional tour in July. A day later in Toronto, Mayweather wrapped himself in the Irish flag as a way to taunt McGregor. Mayweather’s use of the flag is nothing new in boxing. Mayweather wore the colors of the Mexican Flag in his fight with Oscar De La Hoya.

McGregor fought off criticism for his remarks forcing to tell the media that he’s not a racist. Of course, he made jokes about Nate Diaz being a ”Cholo gangster” as well as similar slights about Jose Aldo and the favelas in Brazil.

Mayweather is not guiltless here. During another tour stopped, the 49–0 fighter called McGregor a f*ggot. He also used race to promote the fight by saying he was representing all blacks.

Racism is not new in MMA, or combat sports for that matter. For a sport that has grown exponentially since the turn of the century, MMA is still a sport that has a predominant white fan base. And while the sport involves martial arts, the discipline and respect of some of the arts are not carried over. Tyron Woodley has spoken out about race in believing that himself and Demetrious Johnson have been treated differently as UFC champions. The current welterweight champ has been more outspoken about it which has drawn more adversarial comments mainly via social media. Certainly, Woodley’s recent win over Demian Maia, a fight that was universally panned except for Woodley, did not help with the fighter’s popularity.

UFC Bantamweight Champion Cody Garbrandt got into trouble when he called African American fighter Aljamain Sterling “boy” during a twitter back and forth. He claims he did not know “boy” was a derogatory word and should have called him something else, like “bitch.” The preceding sentence should tell you all about combat sports sensibilities. While you realize that some of these people are rough around the edges, its hard to believe how sheltered they are when it comes to cultural awareness.

The talk of race for The Money Fight has been muted this week since it would be bad for the publicity. Still, race is, and will always be a part of combat sports.

Awareness should be another skill for every MMA fighter and fan. It’s getting used to different surroundings and an understanding that people are different.

Maybe, at that point, old World War II references will stop making sense.

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Jason Cruz

Written by

Writer. Lawyer. Blogger. Triathlete. #MMA #BJJ #GoHawks #UW #70.3 #sportslaw || jasoncruz206@gmail.com || www.dilletaunt.com

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