The Doggy Bag: The Jon and Chael Edition
Que Serra Serra
Do you think the result of Georges St. Pierre-Matt Serra 1 has forever changed how fans and media look at completely mismatched fights? Ever since, every time we’ve seen a fight in which the winner is obvious, the standard line is always, “Oh, you can’t count this guy out because (insert horrible reasoning).” I counted out Stephan Bonnar from the second his fight with Anderson Silva was announced, and I never wavered. The man had no business being in the cage with Anderson. Yet, there were throngs talking about how the odds were too long and Bonnar had a shot. Was this just people trying to be part of the I-told-you-so crowd or fearing looking like a fool if something miraculous happens and they didn’t acknowledge its possibility? -- Brad from Toronto
Brian Knapp , features editor: This question drives at the heart of why we watch sports. We want to believe the impossible is possible, and within the confines of athletic competition, that is often the case. There are too many instances to count: Buster Douglas and Mike Tyson in 1990 in Tokyo, the United States men’s hockey team and the Soviet Union in 1980 in Lake Placid, N.Y., and the Villanova men’s basketball team and Georgetown in 1985 in Lexington, Ky. Upsets provide us with the romantic side of sports; the more unlikely, the better.
St. Pierre-Serra 1 fits this narrative. The world of sports is littered with these kinds of stories, and I have no problem with fans anticipating the next example. However, I do take issue with the UFC shamelessly trying to sell the public a false bill of goods.
Every other event seems to come with the taglines “the greatest,” “the biggest” and “the most unforgettable,” which only serves to demean the product in the long run. We will see this again when Jon Jones defends his title against Chael Sonnen in April. Sonnen has virtually no chance to win the fight, yet we will be told repeatedly he has a good one. The promotion has become a dealer in ridiculous hyperbole, but perhaps that is a discussion for another day.
Anyone with a brain knew Bonnar had no better than a one-in-a-million chance against Silva. However, in a sport where one punch, one misstep, can mean the difference between victory and defeat, the line between fantasy and reality is easy to blur. I do not think St. Pierre-Serra 1 forever changed how fans and media look at mismatched fights. It merely played into that belief that on any given night the impossible can happen, and people want to be there to see it when it does.
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