Let’s be honest. For years, I watched MMA completely the wrong way.
I was the classic “Tale of the Tape” guy. I’d see a fighter had a 3-inch reach advantage, looked mean at the weigh-in, and I’d think, “Oh yeah, he’s got this.” I’d listen to the pre-fight hype, I’d buy into the narratives… “He’s just hungrier!” “He’s got that dog in him!”
And for years… I was mostly wrong. My buddies and I would argue over a beer, and my predictions were, to put it kindly, garbage. It was frustrating. I loved the sport, but I felt like I was just guessing. I was watching, but I wasn’t seeing.
It all changed when I had a (very humbling) conversation with a friend who’s… well, let’s just say he’s a “data guy.” I was going on about how Fighter A was going to destroy Fighter B because of “heart.” He just smiled, opened his laptop, and ruined my whole day.
“Heart is great,” he said. “But it’s not a metric. Let’s look at the metrics.” And that, my friends, was my rabbit hole.
