I'm trying to make sense of my fascination with MMA. My brother, whom I respect greatly, told me, "No civilized society should allow this." He also said that the MMA event I was watching included "barbaric morons that can't box, wrestle, or do martial arts."

Of course, being a student of karate, I took exception. However, it is totally barbaric. My response to my brother was that it had fewer injuries than football and boxing, which is really a cop out.

So, why am I fascinated with MMA? Why am I obsessed with two dudes trying to kill each other for three rounds, five minutes each, and then hugging it out? I think that's it, the hugging it out.

I practice karate. Twice a week, or more often, depending on my mood, I go to the dojo. We work it out, run in place, do jumping jacks, sit ups, pushups, and then, often we fight. We put on the gloves, the shin guards, the mouth piece, and we try to kick the shit out of each other. But, we really don't have any aggression, we're just practicing, in case something happens. We're really just staying in shape. We're really just sparring.

And when we are done, we hug it out. And, that is cool. And when I see Weideman hug it out with Machido, yeah, that's me hugging it out with Mike from Hicksville. Me hugging it out with Adam from Bethpage. Just warriors. Or really, just an accountant from Bethpage, or a mechanic from Hicksville. But, for that three minutes, when we are sparring, we are warriors.

And that is what I like about MMA. It's a true and honest sport. Granted, it's a little bit of a blood sport. But, when we leave the ring, we know who won. And, we hug it out.

And, by the way, I'm at 188, looking for that middleweight belt.

Spike