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As Weird As It Gets: What Would Hunter S. Thompson Have Thought of MMA
In the year 2005, legendary sports writer and gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson decided that he’d lived long enough, and ended his own life with a .45-caliber handgun. To those who knew Thompson well, his suicide was not much of a surprise
“He told me 25 years ago that he would feel real trapped if he didn’t know that he could commit suicide at any moment,” said artist Ralph Steadman, Thompson’s long-time friend and best-known collaborator. “I don’t know if that is brave or stupid or what, but it was inevitable.”
Whether it was a surprise or not, Thompson was gone, and his sudden absence ripped a chasmal gash into the intersecting worlds of journalism and literature.
A lot has happened in the 13 years since Thompson left us, and as a bottomless jug of potent opinions, you better believe he’d have plenty to say about most of it. I for one, have often found myself wondering what he’d have to say about the testosterone-soaked world of mixed martial arts.
At the time of Thompson’s death, MMA was already a well-established fringe sport with its tattooed forearms wrapped around the collective neck of the valuable 18–34 demographic. The UFC had just promoted UFC 51, while Japan’s Pride Fighting Championship promoted its 29th event on the very night that the writer pulled the trigger. Despite the fact that the final years of Thompson’s life overlapped with the early years of MMA, however, he never really spoke about the sport.
So what would Thompson have thought about MMA if he’d watched it often? Better yet, what would he have written about it, if he’d covered it as he did other sports? Well, that’s surprisingly difficult to say.
