From the beginning, there was going to be some establishment resistance to mixed martial arts. The sport, with its absence of structured rules, did not fit into the regulations that were laid out by the athletic commissions across the country. In fact, most of the regulatory people didnt understand it, and therefore had no idea how to classify it. It certainly wasnt boxing, which used hands only, or kick boxing, which allowed for kicks and which was sanctioned in some states. And it most definitely was not a “worked” sport like professional wrestling, which also fell under the jurisdiction of some of the athletic commissions.
Plus, there was not really enough mixed martial arts activity going on for the states to take the time out to draft rules and regulations for it. If there was the possibility of only a couple of events per year, why would they go through the process of engaging commission attorneys to draw up a new set of rules, or approach the state legislature with a bill to be passed, in order to accommodate it?
Besides, there was a growing – and influential – constituency of people who looked upon mixed martial arts as “barbarism” and “bloodsport.” Many of these people used an expression that became a standard for cheap shots as time progressed – “human cock fighting.”
When you have pervading mainstream attitudes like this, the atmosphere is ripe for political opportunity. And sure enough, out of the rubble emerged one of the great political opportunists of recent years.
John McCain, a United States Senator from Arizona, had gotten a lot of mileage out of his five-year internment in a Vietnamese prisoner of war (POW) camp; rather than the more realistic portrayal of him as a pure victim, the slick public relations machine he had cultivated was able to spin him into a full-blown hero. More often than not, McCain was successful in co-opting the press in what was a somewhat blind pursuit of political glory. His critics opined that he never met a camera he didnt like or headline-grabbing issue he was not willing to sell himself out to. But he had a following, particularly among the media, that was willing to ignore the fact that despite his public stance for campaign finance reform, McCain was one of the great abusers of the process; in fact, he was one of the disgraced members of the “Keating Five,” which doled out political influence in exchange for hefty contributions and financial favors.
Though he had been labeled a “maverick” by most of the press corps, McCain was hardly that; rather, he was he was a very calculating political animal who often saw which way the wind was blowing and hurled himself – with sycophantic media grasping on to his boots – in that direction.
McCain purported to be a lifelong boxing fan, and claimed to be a boxer of some note at the Naval Academy, where he gained admission as a “legacy” (his father was an alumnus) and graduated near the bottom of his class. He favored legislation to bring about some federal control of boxing and would later spearhead efforts to pass more extensive bills in that quest. He was quite fond of accepting free tickets from the very promoters his legislation would have regulatory authority over. Coincidentally, these gifts and gratuities often landed him ringside, right in camera view, during an HBO or Showtime telecast.