President Obama Talks Some MMA

President Obama was in Buffalo to speak about the economy and answer questions from workers. He stopped by “Duff’s Famous Wings” for some grub. He ordered 10 medium wings, some fries and onion rings. Sounds good, right? He also worked the room and ended up in a short conversation about MMA.

A.J. Verel and his friend Jessica Walters were the last people to place a lunch order at the bar before the president walked in. Verel, a champion kick-boxer, said he talked at length with the president about martial arts, kick-boxing and the sport of ultimate fighting, which is illegal in New York State.

Obama impressed Verel by chatting with him about a couple of ultimate fighters who had competed last weekend.

“It’s shock and awe,” said Verel, 40, of Buffalo, who asked to be considered for the president’s fitness advisory council. “My phone was in the car — that’s how unprepared I was.”

What has MMA scribes and fans in shock and awe? The mainstream media’s refusal to invest some time in actually learning about the sport. Ultimate fighting is a brand. The sport is Mixed Martial Arts. The combatants are not ultimate fighters. They are mixed martial artists.

The MSM always seems to refer to the sport like this:

“…they learned a few things about the president: He knows how to work a crowd, he’s comfortable with his sex appeal, and he knows a thing or two about the sport of ultimate fighting.”

And yet the MSM derides bloggers for failing to practice solid journalism. Remember this when you read another lazy MSM-written article that tries to compare MMA to human cockfighting: they don’t even know the proper name of the sport, let alone the rules. And they don’t care to find out.