You… You’re going to college you
Would you participate in an MMA fight if it meant you or someone in your family could go to college?
MMA and its most popular brand, the UFC, has swept through this nation of ours like the dust bowl in The Grapes of Wrath. It would appear that everyone in my high school who would’ve made the trek to T.J. Maxx to buy an Ecko Jersey or out of season Nautica Jacket is now outfitted with a Tapout t-shirt and an awesome distraction.
FYI this is my home town. I highly recommend it if you’re in the market Floridian nature, the most beautiful sleepy river on earth, and at least five strip clubs, but I digress.
I’m not saying the UFC isn’t awesome, because it is. Somewhere deep in the human brain lies a more animalistic urge. This is the same urge that compels us to enjoy people pummeling each other, animals attacking, and videos that heavily feature twerking and no matter how many sociology classes we take, tweed jackets we put on, and books we read, we simply can’t deny that fact. To make a long point short, UFC = awesome, wearing Tapout Shirts = not so awesome, Tapout and UFC = popular in my home town.
Scenario
You have to last three full rounds against a mid-level UFC fighter in your weight class. If you get knocked out you get nothing, if you break a bone and are unable to continue you get nothing, if you tap out you get nothing, but if you last, you or anyone in your family will get a free ride to whatever college they can get in to. That could be a prize valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars. Certainly, the gift of education and opportunity is worth 15 horrific minutes where you’ll scream, cry, beg for mercy, and possibly defecate.
So, what do you say, are you tough enough to not Tapout?
