Many of you might be asking "What's MMA?" It is the abbreviation for Mixed Martial Arts, and Wikipedia's entry describes it this way:
"...a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, taekwondo, karate, judo and other styles."
Not being a comedy or heart-warming true story, and brutal, to boot, this subject matter seemed far removed from my choice of entertainment genre. But I was interested in hanging out with the Princess and Hubby, so I watched, too.
I was quickly drawn in. Heart-warming it was, and maybe it wasn't so opposite my usual movie preferences, anyway. I do prefer to be entertained by comedy, but I also seem to love emotional, touching sports stories told in movies like The Express, The Blind Side, We Are Marshall, Prefontaine... and Rocky. When Rocky came out, I happily saw it in the theater 3 times and at the drive-in for a 4th. Most of these movies are based on true stories, but Rocky and Warrior include family relationships and the dynamics of everyone's personal baggage, including the results and consequences for bad choices, that certainly seem realistic.
The competitive fighting is brutal, and the emotion (and language) are at times raw... But my heartstrings were tugged, and I connected to the people, even though, thankfully, I have a life very unlike most of them. I would LOVE to tell you more about the story itself, but I don't want to ruin it for anyone.
