The Hurt Business

The Hurt Business is a strange documentary as it starts off with very small glimpse into many many MMA fighters lives. Perhaps too many fighters lives. Right off the bat you get a glimpse into Jon Jones, Sara McMann, Rachid Evans and a few other fighters lives. Throughout the movie, there are some interview clips from current and retired fighters including Ronda Rousey, Angela Lee, Michelle Waterson, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Ken Shamrock, etc....

From there, they give you a quick glimpse on the history of MMA and how it started. Then they discuss amateur illegal fighter circuit and the bigger stage. It gives you a glimpse on what happens after you fight including trying to make ends meat and dealing with depression and CTE. They give a second into weight cutting. They briefly talk about the Jones vs. Cormier thing. They talk about Jones eye pokes. Why it was illegal in New York, etc...

I don't think this documentary makes an argument for or against MMA. It's not as compelling as other documentaries like Fighting for a Generation which talks about the history of the UFC. It also isn't as detailed or as compelling as the UFC Countdowns and feels like the UFC Embedded in terms of details of the fighters but all mashed up together.

This is TV filler between the regular show and the late show. This form of entertainment is brought to Ancient Greece, even Alexander the Great is brought in. Well, from this point of view, mindless males killing each other on pointless issues, that is probably from the beginning of humanity.

Anyway, it should have been easy: two males beat each other silly. But the ridicule starts when it is presented in superlatives.

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Pros: 1) High level MMA figures involved 2) Decent production value 3) Variety, old to new MMA, amateur to top tier

Cons: 1) Pro UFC and almost exclusively about America 2) Biased against Japan. Completely ignores their significant role in the rise of MMA and a ridiculous characterization of legendary Japanese PRIDE and K-1 promotions as "infamous" 3) Unnecessary small segment with extreme injuries. MMA is a brutal sport but those kind of bone fractures and cuts are extremely rare 4) A bit dated. Can't fault the creators too much about it because films take 1-2 years to be released but the footage ends roughly two years ago which in the world of MMA is a lot 5) Somewhat too ambitious trying to cover the history, the current state, various personal story lines and more fringe topics like injuries

My recommendations 1) Casual person with zero relation to combat sports: Probably won't like it 2) Casual person with some relation to combat sports (someone who's trained one of the disciplines, someone who watches a bit of MMA or boxing): Worth a shot 3) MMA fan who's watched big events for some years: Will probably enjoy it as it's a quick tour through history and explores less talked aspects of MMA like training, mentality, injuries etc. 4) Hardcore fan who has watched many events for many years: Worth a watch. A lot of what is shown will already be known but there are a few interesting segments of important MMA figures like Gary Goodridge.