The former UFC champion Ronda Rousey getting knocked senseless in her comeback bout this week – at the hands of Amanda Nunes after just 48 seconds – made big news. Sadly, the words I wrote when she first lost her title, just over a year ago, are all the more apposite now ...
"UFC?" one of the Twitterati commented. "They should have called it WTF!"
Exactly. That will be the reaction of most people when they get a close-up look at the video of what happened in the so-called "Ultimate Fighting Championship," which took place in Etihad Stadium in Melbourne on Sunday, in front of a record-breaking 56,000 spectators.
Just 59 seconds into the second round, American woman Holly Holm unleashes a left-foot kick to the head of undefeated champion Ronda Rousey, to go with the series of fearful left hooks that have already repeatedly snapped her head back and cut her lip.
As the foot connects, Rousey goes down like a sack of spuds, albeit one with brain trauma. Holm then falls upon Rousey's prone form and gives her another couple of smacks to the head for good measure.
The referee calls off the fight, Holm is declared the winner, and new World Bantamweight champion, the UFC world rejoices, and ...
And what?
The red flashing lights? Aw, don't worry about that. That is Rousey, after also receiving stitches to her split lip, being taken to hospital. She was still too out of it to even think of making the post-fight press conference, but I'm sure she'll be all right. Forget her, I say! Focus on the spectacle, think of the $9 million that came from the gate alone!
And listen to the words of UFC boss Dana White as he exults, after first giving us a report on the patient: "Ronda was transported (to hospital) because she got knocked out. Obviously she's completely bummed out and depressed ... These are the moments in fighting that make it so crazy and so fun."
I beg to differ.
To my eyes, there was nothing fun about it. It was nothing more than appalling brutality and I simply don't understand how we have come to this; how, while so many other sports are becoming safer as the shocking consequences of repeated concussions are better understood, UFC appears to get free rein, even as the people roar.
This has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that women are involved. It would be every bit as repulsive if it was men kicking each other in the head, and falling upon each other to get another couple of blows into their unconscious form. (And you know it: if exactly that happened in any other sport, the perpetrators would be banned for life.)
And yes, you're also right, there are plenty of sports where concussion can result. But it is only in sports like boxing and UFC that concussion is the aim of the game, with a KO being the ultimate prize. At least in boxing there are strict protocols which apply. Again, any boxer who fell upon an already felled opponent to get another couple of blows in would never box again.
But not in UFC. Like the famed fight in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the main rule appears to be that there are no rules, at least none to spoil the sheer bloody brutality of it.
This column will draw ire and fire from those who maintain there is nothing wrong with it, that it is a completely fine way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
It's not. It is supporting an activity that will inevitably leave many, and maybe most, of its participants with appalling brain damage that they and their families will have to cope with, long after the carnival has moved on. I have seen up close the results of such "sporting" brain damage, and the memory haunts me still.
All strength to the Hird family
James Hird: treated for a reported overdose. Photo: Getty Images
Sadly, by the by, on Thursday evening, just after the news on James Hird's hospitalisation after a suspected drug overdose broke, I came across something from TFF in 2007.
Originally published in Melbourne's Herald Sun, it was written by the then 8−year−old daughter of James Hird, Stephanie, and is as good an exposition of big-time sport as seen through a child's eyes as you'll see: "I feel sad about dad playing his last game, as I won't be able to watch him play footy any more. I love watching dad play footy. I feel proud when I watch him get the ball and kick goals.
"I love it when he does something special and the crowd yells in excitement. I love going to the rooms. If Essendon loses, we have to wait until dad says we can join in the stretches, and everyone looks very sad and are quiet. But when Essendon wins, it's the best ... I am very sad that all these things aren't going to happen any more.
"... but I am happy, too, because we are going to get a dog, and dad won't get injured any more and will be able to play more sport with us ... I am looking forward to not having to eat pasta every night before a football game!"
All strength to Hird and his family now. He made, in my view, terrible errors of judgment which I still can't reconcile with that on-the-field champion we knew, the one not unlike the one his daughter saw. It would be beyond tragic for those errors of judgment to have led him to overdose. Most of his time in football was outstanding.
Lifeline 13 11 14
Tiger's mojo
Here is Australian golfer Geoff Ogilvy on Tiger Woods in April: "He did stuff that science, common sense and golf history can't explain. Ernie Els was just as good physically as he was, Greg Norman was, Rory McIlroy is, too. There are hundreds of guys who are, but why is Tiger the guy who won every time?
"How did he make every putt, how did he always pull off the shot? We don't get how he did it, and we want to know why he lost it and where it's gone and why he can't get it back. Maybe even Tiger doesn't know. I know we all want to see him do it one more time, to be reminded of how special it was. He certainly has nothing left to prove to anyone. It just feels like he deserves a different ending."
Interesting perspective, but, as to the last line, how do I put this ... ?
Nup.
They said it in 2016 (and a couple from this week)
The great Paralympian Kurt Fearnley tweets on the century before lunch in the Third Test: "Even I'd give that a standing ovation. Great knock David Warner!"
Greg Norman, on Instagram, this week released a photo of himself sitting atop what appears to the shorn remains of what must have been a thick cluster of trees. No matter the environmental destruction, he seems to be in some kind of spiritual Zen meditating position or the like, and writes: "Bringing home centuries of teachings which I benefited from as we all can by opening our minds." Greg, you are the gift that keeps giving. All the best for 2017.
A commenter on the Greg Norman Instagram shot, (above): "The Old Shark's still getting heaps of roots!" Look, if you see the photo, it is very funny.
Rooster Latrell Mitchell dismisses claims of him being the next Greg Inglis. "I'm not Greg Inglis. I want to make my own name. I want people to know me as Latrell Mitchell, not the next Greg Inglis ... I want to be known as Latrell Mitchell. Just Latrell Mitchell, not the next Greg Inglis, if you know what I mean." Got it, champ.
Marketing fluff for the new Socceroos strip: "The dark obsidian blue away kit celebrates the country's surf culture and further accentuates its spectacular coastline with a unique jersey pattern. The shirts and shorts also have stripes down the side, green for home and blue for away. These stripes expand when the player is in motion to maximise ventilation and reveal bold flashes of underlying yellow." Bloody hell. Yves St Laurent, eat your HEART out!
Jamie Lyon didn't want Manly to play their games in Moore Park: "I'm sure there will be some angry people over this side of the bridge. I don't usually cross the Narrabeen bridge let alone the Sydney Harbour Bridge so ... we will cross that bridge when we come to it."
Chris Gayle: "Chris Gayle will always be positive. It doesn't matter which bowler is bowling against Chris Gayle. Chris Gayle is looking to attack. That's the nature of T20 cricket. And that's the nature of Chris Gayle. No names, just cricket ball, beat it as hard as possible." No names? Me, I just love saying the name, Chris Gayle, what about you, Chris? Chris Gayle! Chris Gayle! Chris Gayle!
Tim Cahill sticking it to the critics: "People said I wasn't even going to get to 40, people said I wasn't even going to make the last World Cup and the Asian Cup. Consistency is my game ... and I've been consistent. So 47 [goals] in 89 [appearances], it's not a fluke."
Eddie McGuire unhappy with the publicising of Collingwood's drug results: "It would be like taking a breathalyser to a workplace the morning after a Christmas party and saying everyone is an alcoholic." Or, maybe, drug testing Ben Barba 48 hours after a grand final win, and suspending him for returning a positive to cocaine.
Commentary on The Footy Show Facebook page, from punters on the news that Rebecca Maddern would become the first female host of The Footy Show: "What complete f---w-- put a woman on the footy show can't we have one show." Don't know, but he or she has probably got a promotion, as the ratings edged up!
After dropping five shots on the last four holes on the first day of the Masters, to finish with an even-par 72, Jason Day still remained upbeat: "To be honest, I played great golf. If I went 41 on the front side and 31 on the back side I'd be just celebrating ... I've just got to slowly try to inch my way back into this tournament if I can, and be patient with myself and hopefully I'm there by Sunday." Day has to be THE most likeable character currently doing business in the highest echelons of Australian sport. Discuss.
Team of the Year (and a couple from this week)
The gift that keeps on giving: Jarryd Hayne. Photo: Getty Images
Hilton Cartwright. Made his debut for the Australian Test cricket team this week, at the SCG. Is that a name just born to be famous, or what?
Jarryd Hayne. That lifelong dream to play NFL? Soooo last week! The next lifelong dream was to go to the Olympics with the Fijian sevens team. I wanted my money back. And doubly so when, after that didn't work, the Hayne Playne cleared Runway One at Coolangatta and came in for a landing with the Gold Coast Titans.
Max Verstappen. Youngest ever Formula One winner, is Dutch-Belgian, just 18 years old, and still has the odd pimple.
Cleveland Cavaliers. Came back from 1-3 down in the best of seven finals series, to win the whole thing 4-3
Eddie Jones. Came, saw, conquered as he led England to first 3-0 series win by a touring side in Australia since South Africa in 1971.
Ben Simmons. The 19-year-old Victorian became the No.1 NBA Draft Pick, before badly injuring his foot just before the season began. His return is hoped to be as imminent as he will be eminent.
Lydia Ko. The Kiwi, who became the youngest ever No.1 golfer of either gender last year at just 17, continues to dominate after yet another victory in April.
Phil Mickelson. When you shoot 17 under over four rounds, and don't win the British Open, you've picked the wrong year!
Oliver Anderson. The reigning Australian Open Boys Champion, 18 years old, was on Thursday charged with match fixing. Bloody hell.
Twitter: @Peter_Fitz
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