Pop the champagne, pull the party poppers and get Forrest Griffin vs Stephan Bonnar up on Fight Pass, because MMA has officially broken into the mainstream.
That ceremony went down in Beverly Hills last night. You know the one where they give multi-millionaires trophies for pretending to be far more important people and we all go mad for what trappings their lavishly paid stylist picked out for them to don on the red carpet?
No, not the one that we all kind of pay attention to, the other one, the Golden Globes.
As is the case for any major awards ceremony that honours acting these days, Meryl Streep picked up a prize. Despite the fact that she only picked up the Cecil B. DeMille award, which is only an honourary Golden Globe, Streep ensured all the focus would on her after the ceremony with her fiery acceptance speech taking aim at Donald Trump (expected) which included an odd potshot at MMA (huh?).
“Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners and if we kick them all out you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts.”
At tonight's #GoldenGlobes we honor Hollywood legend Meryl Streep with the prestigious Cecil B. Demille Award. pic.twitter.com/dxpeCDNXY6
— Golden Globe Awards (@goldenglobes) January 9, 2017
The MMA community is a tight-knit group. It has just cracked the mainstream market, but it wasn’t that long ago when the only way you could watch the sport was on bootleg VHS tapes. So when anyone insults it, especially someone as famous as Streep, you can guarantee there will be a response.
Bellator president Scott Coker took the high road by sending an open letter to the actress explaining why the sport should be considered art. He even invited her to the upcoming Bellator 170 event headlined by Chael Sonnen vs Tito Ortiz and also features the incredible welterweight contest between Paul Daley and Brennan Ward.
As a martial artist and an MMA promoter, here is my open letter and #Bellator170 invite to the very talented #MerylStreep #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/zostN22RAK
— Scott Coker (@ScottCoker) January 9, 2017
World Series of Fighting took that other road, roasting Streep by cracking wise over her 2015 movie Ricki and the Flash which, if it were a fight, would probably be Gabi Garcia vs that granny. Car crash stuff.
With all due respect to #MerylStreep… MMA may not be the “arts” but then again, neither was “Ricki and the Flash.” #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/jEENO3CC0M
— #WSOF (@MMAWorldSeries) January 9, 2017
And to complete the Goldilocks and the three bears analogy, UFC reporter Megan Olivi weighed in with arguably the greatest reply of them all. She broke down exactly why she considers MMA to be art and called out Streep on her ignorance.
I beg to differ. #MixedMartialArts ❤️ https://t.co/GlmGEl0uaB
— Megan Olivi (@MeganOlivi) January 9, 2017
Definitions 3&4. Athletes are artists in their own right. Plus they’re an incredibly diverse group. Don’t be so close minded & judgemental☺️ pic.twitter.com/MLW71HQQ2K
— Megan Olivi (@MeganOlivi) January 9, 2017
Really weird to see someone talk about not discriminating then basically discriminate against an entire group of skilled, hard working ppl.
— Megan Olivi (@MeganOlivi) January 9, 2017
As an avid reader of SportsJOE, we know that Ms. Streep will inevitably read this piece as she chows down on her morning bowl of diamond-encrusted caviar, so we have a suggestion for her if she still isn’t convinced that MMA is art.
Do yourself a favour and load Cub Swanson vs Doo Ho Choi on Fight Pass, put it on mute and stick a Free Form Jazz compilation on YouTube. You won’t be disappointed.
