Jeff Monson fights for heavyweight belt on November 18!

Anarchist, martial artist, and all around good guy, Jeff “the snowman” Monson, will battle for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s heavyweight belt on November 18 at UFC 65, Bad Intentions. This important event has the potential to transform the politics of the combat sports world.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is the largest American organization dedicated to sponsoring mixed martial arts (MMA) bouts. As the name implies, MMA competitors utilize techniques from various fighting disciplines, such as jujitsu, boxing, kick boxing, grappling, and wrestling. Contestants often do battle on their feet as well as on the ground and the bouts are usually fast paced and exciting. Knockouts are common and matches are frequently bloody.

Although MMA has recently begun to gain mainstream legitimacy, it remains the most controversial of all the fight sports and its bouts are illegal in a number of states. The sport’s most difficult period occurred in the late 1990s, when Republican Senator John McCain led a campaign to ban the UFC, which he likened to “human cockfighting.” However, it was not the risk to competitors that really troubled McCain–had that been the case he would have gone after boxing, which is far more dangerous–but that the matches were largely unregulated. Indeed, he backed off once the UFC accepted the sanctioning authority of the Nevada Athletic Commission. Clearly the state will do everything it can to preserve its monopoly on the use of violence. Since it could not stop MMA, it had to content itself with regulating it.

Monson is one of the best heavyweights in the UFC at the moment and will be recognized as the best if he wins this mid-November fight. However, Jeff is special not only because of his extraordinary athletic skills, but also because he is an outspoken anarchist in the normally conservative martial arts world. He does not conceal his views during interviews or even bouts (for example, the last time he fought in the UFC he entered the arena to the sounds of John Lennon’s Imagine, a truly defiant gesture during a time of war). He has doubtlessly introduced many to the anti-authoritarian tradition who would not have encountered it otherwise and has also inspired anarchists such as myself who are already active with the martial arts (I am a longtime kick boxer/Muay Thai practitioner and presently teach kick boxing to kids through the Asociación Tepeyac at the Mullero Dojo in East Harlem).

Jeff will sit at the pinnacle of the sport if he wins the heavyweight title. Interviewers will besiege him and he will receive requests to speak at events around the globe. But of course he is not just any fighter: he is an anarchist and, if he continues to use his fame wisely, he could turn at least some of the legions of brawlers who follow the UFC into dedicated anti-statist bruisers. That would scare the politicians a lot more than some unregulated scuffling.

I predict that Monson will win his upcoming fight and, if that occurs, the combat sports world could be in for a big shakeup. But Jeff deserves our support whatever the outcome on November 18. Please go to this website, this one, and this one and let him know that he is your man. Find online forums devoted to the UFC and make it clear that you back Monson. And make sure to cheer for him as he lets loose at UFC 65.

Below is a brief interview with Jeff.