Opinion: UFC Fright Night and Other Spooky MMA Musings

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sherdog.com, its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Evolve Media.* * * It’s Halloween, the day for celebrating all things spooky, as well as the only day of the year when using the word “spooky” is acceptable. As such, it’s worth thinking about what makes something scary in the first place. Whether real or imagined, the stories that scare us tend to have common denominators: an element of mystery, the vulnerability of being alone, the possibility of danger.In the ultimate tough guy sport of MMA, it’s weird to think that anything is scary, other than the freakish physical damage that can happen in any given fight. However, the elements of spooky manifest in their own unique ways in this sport, so in honor of Halloween, I’ll be your guide through the haunted house of current MMA issues. You can close your eyes if you need to; I won’t judge.The Unexpected The most common trick of all scary movies is to shock the audience with a sudden, unexpected jolt. A monster will lunge from out the shadows; a body you thought was a corpse will reach out; or a door will abruptly slam shut. The most frighteningly unexpected part of MMA is when a United States Anti-Doping Agency rep comes rapping at your chamber door. Quoth Tim Kennedy (gun in hand), “Nevermore.” The middleweight contender last week went on Donald Cerrone’s BMF Ranch Podcast to discuss his latest USADA test. According to Kennedy, a USADA agent arrived shortly after he had finished a training session. He had to wait an hour before he could get tested in order to allow his body chemistry to return to its baseline. Having just worked out, Kennedy wanted to shower, but USADA protocol is to keep the testee in sight at all times. You can see where this is going. Having a man watch a professional athlete shower may not sound like a big deal. After all, Kennedy is a former Green Beret, and almost all high-level athletes have been around other dudes in various stages of undress. What makes this scary is how it sheds light on the boundaries — or lack thereof — of USADA. I’d bet that most fans and fighters alike support the idea of cleaner, safer athletes, but this episode raises an important question: At what point does it become an invasion of privacy? The Ultimate Fighting Championship requires its independent contractors to inform the organization of their whereabouts at all times, just in case USADA decides to pay a visit. This can lead to all sorts of privacy compromises. A drug tester could potentially find out all sorts of personal information, from where a fighter’s parents live to where their children go to school. At a time when the UFC is growing in popularity and fighters are becoming more visible celebrities — keep in mind, TMZ covers the sport to some extent — this sort of thing carries heavy implications. In the ESPN show “Playmakers,” the head coach of a …

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