Fighting produces and nurtures Manliness. Manliness includes fight skills, a trained and conditioned body and most importantly the Moral Virtues of Humility, Integrity, Selflessness, Self Control and always showing Respect. Manliness transcends all money making activities involving advertising, sponsorships and commercialization. The ancient Greeks, for example, were experts in Manliness. Any victory in an athletic contest was considered a moral victory and was recognized with a crown of olive branches, never gold metals, ever. Manliness was considered sacred and in a class by itself. To link wealth to Manliness debases it. Fast forward to today. The Consumer Culture, the dominant culture that we live in, defines Manliness through possessions, through ownership. A Man is Manly if he has the right clothes, car, house, partner, job, and bank account. In the Consumer Culture appearances are very important. A Man must “appear” Manly with a muscular body and the right clothes. This is directly distinct from the Martial Culture, which defines Manliness as the ability and willingness to fight. Nothing else matters. To commercialize combat sports discounts and cheapens Manliness because profit is being made from Manliness, which like I said transcends all money. The really sad part is fighters get swept up in the profits of commercialization becoming greedy and loving their money. Greed. the love of money, destroys Manliness. There are many examples of this in the UFC. Greed destroys the Moral Virtues. Humility becomes arrogance, Integrity becomes serial lying. Selflessness becomes selfishness. Self Control becomes lack of self control, including brushes with the law, The worst is the showing of disrespect, which is totally unacceptable in the Martial Culture. I’m not against fighters going pro. What I am against is fighters drowning themselves in money and not finding a money manager who can manage this new wealth and put it to proper use as a resource, creating a buffer between this wealth and the fighter. Greed destroys Manliness. Find a way to manage this wealth and find ways to help others.

WarriorMale