MMA Fashion Apparel Poll

To me, it’s about making it work…

You see a guy like Mauro Ranallo wearing low-key MMA shirts under a blazer or jacket all the time, and it looks solid. He’s supporting a brand, the sport and/or a fighter, but not looking like a Jersey Shore douche.

The problem – as I see it as well – is the collection of morons who live the “I wear MMA gear and that makes me tough” mantra, training or not. Not is, of course, far worse, but even if you train, there is no need to be a douche about it.

Personally I just don’t like a lot of MMA fashion right now.

lol i had similar thoughts when i was at ufc 101, i seriously could not believe i enjoyed the same sport as about 80% of the crowd that were complete jersey shore type douchebags.

seemed that the dweeby, nerdy (me) guys in the crowd had fighter shirts on (bj penn mostly, sparce florian and anderson shirts and a few fedor shirts) and the douche crowd had the affliction/tapout gear on now i think about it.

i did buy a bj penn shirt for 35 bucks at the show that no longer fits me.

Not so sure about this as the same argument could be made about other clothing like school name clothing (Harvard, Penn St., Michigan, etc.), military clothing,,baseball, football, etc. I personally wouldn’t drop more than perhaps $20 on a T-shirt a baseball or football jersey, a polo, or casual or dress shirt yes. I baseball (yankees, Indians) and football (Bears (34) and Giants (56)) and I haven’t played baseball and “football” since I was a kid and I’m assuming not many people who were any sort of sport apparell actually play the game. I live in NYC and quite frankly, I haven’t seen anyone wearing an MMA t-shirt or perhaps didn’t care to, but perhaps if I go to Long Island. It’ll be a different story.

I think that the Affliction and Tapout brands started off well, but for whatever reason were taken over by the d-bag element. I don’t necessarily think its the fault of the brands, but at this point, wearing one of those shirts if you’re not paid to do it could be hazardous to your social life.

Fifty dollar tshirts can kiss my ass. It’s no different from Ed Hardy gear. I’ve been goofing on these things since they first came out.

 Wear what you want to wear, but no thanks, I’ll pass.

No other excuse can apply.

If I find a shirt that I like – which means it isn’t over the top gaudy, isn’t covered in skulls, etc. – and (MOST IMPORTANTLY) is a brand that I know supports fighters who need it, I’m likely to buy one or two (total; I’d never have more than that at a time). Why? Because I know fighters who are sponsored by some of these clothing lines, and that those sponsorships can make a difference between having the money to pay rent, eat and train or having to choose which of those is too expensive. Besides, I don’t hang out with the d-bag groups that wear the ugly, gaudy shit en masse, so it’s not like I’m trying to fit in with a crowd or demographic. If there were lots of those people where I am or in my social circles, I’d probably reconsider how I go about putting money back into the fighters’ corner – buying different kinds of products, etc. – but as things stand I see no problem with “voting with my dollars”, ie. supporting companies who support my friends who train their asses off.