How nostalgia clouds our judgement

I started watching MMA back in 1994 when the UFC first started and was amazed by the spectacle of these guys fighting in a brutal tournament.  The next year I moved to the UK and lived there for 12 years.  In a land where millions of people tune in to watch a 5 day cricket match with no winner, MMA got no coverage at all.  My only exposure was when I found TUF on a satalite channel and got to watch the Tito/Shamrock season. Lucky me.

As someone who missed the most important years in the growth of MMA and the time when today's biggest starts were in their prime I don't have as much emotional attachment as some fans do.  After the jump I go into the nostalgia we have for some fighters and how it makes us blind to reality.

When I moved back to the US two and a half years ago I picked up where I left off watching the UFC.  I was amazed how it had transformed over the years and the production quality. I was amused that the guy from Fear Factor was the commentator. And I was confused when I kept hearing references to Pride. 

I was confused because it was held in such high regard and yet it was gone.  Since then I learned some of the back story behind Pride and some of the reasons the company struggled.  One thing was clear, there was an expectation that the former Pride fighters in the UFC would demolish anything standing in their way. Having seen some of the Best of Pride shows I know where this sentiment is comming from but two and a half years ago my impressions going into a fight were to look at each guy and judge them without that baggage.

To me Rampage was a guy who looked badass, acted badass, but got kicked into oblivian by Forrest Griffin.  At the time Chuck Liddel was a name even I knew but looked like he was struggeling in his fights and relied on that big punch to save the day and get the win.  This is all because I never saw these men at their best, just as they were on that day. 

When I started reading MMA sites online I found to me what was the biggest case of emotion getting in the way of reality, Fedor. As someone who never saw him fight before his CBS show against Rogers, I was not impressed.  He last wins were all against either nobodies or former champs who were well past their prime and washed out of the UFC. 

If I came to you and said I knew of a heavyweight who I think is best in the world because he just beat post UFC Arlovski, Sylvia, Hong Man Choi and Matt Lindland (who's not even a natural heavyweight) you would laugh at me.

My point is, everyone, old fan and new needs to look at fighters in the same way.  Put your attachment and love of the fighter aside and think about how they are now, not how they were.  I think Jens Pulver put it best when he said this of himself:

"On the record, you can tell the whole world this: I love the UFC, I love the WEC, I love Zuffa," Pulver said. "But I'm 0-5 (in my last five fights), so I get it. I'm a fighter. Fact is, I've been around a lot longer than these guys today, and I don't make as much money as them. I'm 0-5, and that's something I've got to fix with me -- but I can't take a year off to work on it. I've gotta fight."