The Rise of Kayfabe in MMA
There has been a cliché claiming MMA to be the fastest-growing sport over the years. That would prove to be accurate because, for the past decade, it has been breaking pay-per-view records, rapidly growing revenue, and selling out arenas. When crediting that success, some factors come into play, polarizing characters being one of them.
However, using controversial figures to get eyes on combat sports is nothing new. This dates back to 1961 when Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) met pro wrestling’s first-ever heel, Gorgeous George. George would give a young Cassius Clay advice: “Many people will pay to see someone shut your mouth.” That piece of advice would echo throughout Muhammad Ali’s career and in combat sports.
Some MMA fighters took that same advice but upped the ante by implementing kayfabe. Kayfabe is another term for the fourth wall used in pro wrestling to protect the illusion that characters, rivalries, and certain events are not staged or worked. Guys like Chael Sonnen, Conor Mcgregor, Henry Cejudo, and Colby Covington have been at the forefront of kayfabe in MMA.
Fighters that embody this must maintain their persona in front of the camera and the ring or cage. Surprisingly, they’ve done a better job at it than many people in modern pro wrestling, considering the fact MMA is not a work, thus giving them the freedom to break it whenever they want.
The guy who started it all was Chael P Sonnen from the mean streets of West Linn, Oregon. He lives and breathes kayfabe. Chael would cut promos better than any scripted WWE promos could offer (ironic since he took it right out of pro wrestling’s book). His two fights with Anderson Silva put him on the map with his legendary mic skills, manifesting into the biggest UFC fight at that time. Delivering lines talking about the Nogueira brothers feeding a bus carrot thinking that it was a horse, followed up by this gem:
“You’re looking at the reflection of perfection. You’re looking at the man who gets all your attention. You’re looking at the man with the biggest arm. At the man with the greatest charm, the man in Chicago who will harm the guy three doors down. Whatcha gonna do, when you know who? How ya gonna deal, with the man of steel? How ya gonna react to Sonnen’s attack?”
He could chew up any fighter on the mic, and there’s plenty of evidence to back that up. The heat that this guy would generate was unreal, to the point where he was getting death threats from Brazilians. But even that didn’t stop him from coaching The Ultimate Fighter in Brazil, feuding with Wanderlei Silva in the process. Chael Sonnen has contributed so much in shaping the sport into what it is today; he is truly one of the best fighters and one of the most significant heels of our generation.
Chael Sonnen laid the foundation, but Conor Mcgregor took the UFC to levels people couldn’t even fathom. The formula was the same, cut great promos and back it up in the cage, but Conor had a completely different persona.
His taste for fashion is expensive, and he talked very highly of himself, but what got him over was the predictions. Conor would make forecasts on how the fight would play out, often getting them correct; the fans would call him “Mystic Mac”. He is also very quick-witted on the mic, as shown in his response to Jeremy Stephens with the “who the fuck is that guy” line.
The build-up for his fight against Mayweather was very pro-wrestling-esque, acting like they hated each other in front of the crowd but shared a private jet behind the scenes. He doesn’t mind breaking kayfabe because it’s just business to him. That mentality proved to be a double-edged sword for Conor. However, it helped him when it was time to fight because he would get in his opponent’s head, except for Nate Diaz and Khabib. But it also affected his decision-making outside of the cage; the bus incident is a perfect example.
Henry Cejudo and Colby Covington were different beasts. In a way, they both had to make a gimmick to save what was important to them. In Colby’s case, it was his career for Henry, the flyweight division. Demetrious Johnson dominated the flyweight division, But Demetrious’s personality was not a commodity, and there was little that could compete with him. It made the division uninteresting compared to other divisions.
When Henry was scheduled to fight him a second time, not many people expected him to win, but against all the odds, he managed to get the victory via decision. His winning the belt off DJ was one of the best things that ever happened for the division. Henry felt that the division was getting dull, so he developed the “King of Cringe” gimmick.
The first order of business is calling out Valentina Shevchenko, the women’s flyweight champion, and insisting that he is the intergender champ. The second was delivering cringe promos combined with his dumb accessories. It immediately got a lot of heat, achieving the goal of bringing attention on both Henry and the flyweights.
On the other hand, Colby had a very different set of circumstances. At the beginning of his UFC career, he was a humble wrestler with a great work ethic. Things changed when he was on a winning streak but was told that getting cut was inevitable even if he wins his next fight in Brazil. The UFC higher-ups didn’t see him as a commodity because of his fighting style and personality. After winning his fight against Demian Maia, he grabbed the mic and said, “Brazil, you’re a dump! All you filthy animals suck!”. The UFC decided to keep him after cutting that promo, and from then on, he started to grow and establish his gimmick.
At first, it was shaky because people accused him of being a Chael Sonnen ripoff. He paid girls to appear in Instagram videos while calling his haters nerds and virgins. Then he added the MAGA hat and openly showed his support for Donald Trump; that added to his gimmick and made him the most polarizing fighter in combat sports.
He was attacking woke athletes, declaring that Black Lives Matter is a Marxist movement, and buried his best friend, Jorge Masvidal, in an interview that started a great storyline between the two. The UFC got what they wanted; Colby turned heel and fit that role perfectly. Thanks to kayfabe, he was able to turn his career around.
The stories above exemplify how pro wrestling’s blueprints have infiltrated combat sports. Whether you like it or not, it’s hard to deny its effectiveness. Combat sports is an entertainment business, so how people like Chael, Colby, Conor, and Henry go about things will be another means to an end.