Pro wrestling is founded upon and excels at the art of storytelling within the squared circle. MMA is different in that aspect in the sense that sometimes theres no story to be told. Take the classic wrestling tale of the embattled warrior who is clearly too injured to compete, yet he soldiers on despite his own best interests out of sheer determination and toughness. A prime example of this would be Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens for the NXT championship. Zayn was selling a concussion and could barely stand, yet he kept fighting. Now take that story and put a different twist on it. Use the second in the series of Anderson Silva/Chris Weidman bouts as the template. Silva was returning to reclaim his title from the young upstart that he underestimated the first time around, and most MMA fans and media assumed it was a fluke that would easily be avenged. That wasnt to be, because Silva unleashes a leg kick that caused his femur to snap in half and distort in a most gruesome manner, stopping the fight instantly. Using such a conclusion to a match would inject a sense of realism we dont often see in the kayfabe world of wrestling. A superstar goes to deliver a move on his opponent and injures himself so extremely bad that the match is immediately called off. Its the complete antithesis of the story were usually told involving mid-match injuries, and would be a nice change of pace. It would also be a unique way to have a title change hands.
Brad Hamilton is a writer, musician and marketer/social media manager from Atlanta, Georgia. He's an undefeated freestyle rap battle champion, spends too little time being productive and defines himself as the literary version of Brock Lesnar.
