After Dark III
Silent Night? More like Violent Night.
Last night I went to a live MMA event in Lekki for the first time ever, and it was awesome (Shoutout to Giggles for the tickets!). I missed the first few fights because this is Lagos; everyone else ALWAYS needs to be somewhere at the exact time as you. And I missed the last few fights because this is Lagos; if you don’t make it home before the gate to your street gets locked at midnight, you’re fucked. But what I was able to catch was enough to leave quite an impression on me. In fact, that’s pretty much what this Epis0de is about.
I knew I was going to enjoy it. I mean, I like action movies. I’m still a big fan of professional wrestling. And I’ve woken up very early on a few Sunday mornings to catch UFC fights on TV. So yeah, I figured going to a live MMA fight would be cool. Loud crowd. Expensive food. Flashy lights. Maybe some blood if I was lucky. But that’s the thing about TV, isn’t it? It’s not quite the same as actually being there in person. You may have watched and replayed video clips of someone getting knocked out, but I promise you that hearing the impact of a flying knee to the side of someone’s skull will change your life. I’m gonna remember that sound for a while.
You should’ve seen the crowd reactions last night. People were invested, man. I met a few people who’d been coming to the fights for a while and could remember who beat who three months ago. During the fights they stood and screamed at the octagon the entire time with their neck veins popping out. It was fucking nuts. On the drive home I was thinking about what I had just experienced, and how and the other spectators had reacted. People like violence, whether openly or as a guilty pleasure. It’s in the movies, the music, the video games, and of course in sports. There’s something primal about watching a clean, well-timed blow connect that speaks to that hidden caveman part of the brain that still believes in solving all problems with fists, fire, or weapons.
I don’t even think it’s because people are bloodthirsty in nature per se. I mean, we probably are on some level, but there’s also something about violence that lets it transform into something different when it’s packaged as a “sport.” It becomes a sort of loophole, a grey area where you can enjoy the chaos without fully committing to it. For an hour or so you get an adrenaline rush from living vicariously through people beating the absolute shit out of each other, and then you get to go back to your regular, probably non-violent life afterwards. And honestly, it sounds like a good time to me. Bring the next one.
