As much as I want to keep on the side of defending fighters in mma, this story cannot be seen from any other angle except the one portrayed. Heavyweight fighter Brett Rogers was arrested under a warrant for “third degree felony assault in a domestic violence incident against his wife” (Al-Shatti). No matter what background a person comes from, this is unacceptable.

                Dana White, UFC owner and Zuffa official, “immediately terminated the 30-year-old from the Strikeforce heavyweight roster” (Al-Shatti). This was a good move because it shows that the president the UFC believes in justice, and that leagues will not tolerate uncontrolled violence outside of the sport.

                In a way this is sort of a rhetorical appeal to the audience of the sport. It lets them know that things will not get out of hand under their control, and if something bad happens, they will take care of it. This reminds me of Andrew’s blog on “Violence Developed within sports” when he talks about the fight between two football teams. In the same way the NCAA will be praised for suspending 10 players, Dana White will be praised for terminating Roger’s contract.

              The last thing to look at is whether or not the sport is what led to this violent act. It is safe to say that the sport gave him the tools to carry it out, but it would be controversial to say that the sport made him a violent person. If a baseball player were to hurt someone with a bat one would say the sport gave him the tools: his bat, strength, and swinging technique, but no one would say the sport made him violent. Similarly, mma gave Rogers the tools to hurt someone, but it is his actions that led him to prison, not his tools.



http://mma.sbnation.com/2011/10/25/2513387/brett-rogers-arrest-warrant-strikeforce-mma-news

Many blogs focusing on mixed martial arts tend to focus more on news and happenings within the mixed martial arts community. With the UFC being the most recognized and highest level of competition at least within the United States, if not the world, most blogs are concentrated around this league. The two blogs I found are indeed very similar, but it is the subtle differences between them that mean the world as far as determining what audience would visit them.

                The first blog is called bloody elbow. This blog seems to be centered around attracting big time mma fans, and relaying the latest and greatest news to them. There are posts about all the upcoming bouts, and general opinions circulating the web. As I said before, this would cater more to the fan that is very into mma. The reader definitely has to know about the rules of the sport as well as some history to fully grasp the blog. They don’t seem to care to much for catering to an uninformed crowd.

                The second blog I chose, mmamania, does indeed focus on the same aspects, as far as news goes, but they present it more in a way for the general observer to enjoy. This blog is more filled with video clips, and repeated stories varied slightly for a different approach. It allows the audience to understand what is happening and follow along much easier than bloody elbow. This blog is definitely geared more toward the casual fan.

                Neither of these blogs looks to be reaching anyone outside the United States, Canada, and perhaps the UK. The audiences are different in that bloody elbow is for individuals more involved with the sport, and mmamania is geared toward casual observers. It is impossible to say that either of these blogs are trying to reach actual fighters, but bloody elbow would be more geared toward this audience

                

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/

http://www.mmamania.com/

Visual Rhetoric

This clip features a man named Joe Rogan who currently commentates at all UFC events. The message here is clear, that mma is not overly violent, and “people are babies”. The first strategy used in this video is an appeal to a higher power. Obviously Joe Rogan is not in a position of authority over the normal viewer of this video, but he does have high connections in the UFC and is up close and personal with hundreds of fights a year. For this reason the video maker is appealing to an authority on the subject. This proves effective because people will listen to someone they believe has greater knowledge than themselves. If a person is that knowledgeable on a subject, then what they say must be the right opinion.

                Another strategy used in this video is the attempt to make violence “a very real part of life”. Rogan sets up this statement by saying that sex, food, and sleep are all parts of normal life. Joe puts violence on the same level as these three things. By doing this he is essentially saying that just as people need to eat and sleep, they also need violence. Going along with his theme of violence as “a very real part of life”, Rogan says “there’s never been a death in the UFC, and even if there is, you know, people die, you know, everybody dies, people die every day”.  Even as Joe admits to the sport as being physically violent, he reduces the effect of violence into an everyday, normal occurrence that should not be taken out of proportion.

                Through these strategies Joe Rogan is able to reduce the negative opinion of physical violence in mma to a normal part of life that should not be scrutinized.