Bellator welterweight Lorenz Larkin will fight on Bellator 283’s main card this weekend. He’s been on the pro scene since 2009, and he’s noticed a few changes. Larkin told MMAFighting.com that he’s none too pleased with how social media starts have changed the landscape in combat sports.
“Once the fandango s*** with Jake Paul and all of that s***, that era of everybody just fighting everybody is all gone. Combat sports suck, and let me tell you why it sucks, and this is the honest to God truth from personal experiences. People don’t have a full understanding of combat sports, your usual people.
Lorenz Larkin Blames “YouTubers” for “s***** era” in Combat Sports
For instance, there’s been many times where I don’t even tell people I fight. If they don’t know me, I don’t even tell them what I do for a living. I tell them I have a trucking company […]
I say this because when you have f****** YouTubers renting out Staples Center having boxing matches, and you have these fighters like Jake Paul who, let’s be honest, he can fight for where he’s at, and the guys he’s fighting don’t have a boxing background — for these type of guys to come in, it just changes combat sports.
It makes people think, ‘Oh, I can do that s***.’ You won’t be like, ‘Hey, dude, I’m an athlete, I can go f****** heads up with Warren Sapp or f****** Ray Lewis.’ You wouldn’t think that. You’d be like, ‘F*** no.’”
Larkin continued, blasting the likes of Jake Paul for failing to fight any serious opposition. It’s a far cry from the old days of MMA, when no untrained fan in their right mind would consider stepping into the ring. “It’s just hard because those guys just come over to our world, to combat sports, and they think they can fight.
These motherf******, if they want to come in, put them with somebody serious serious. Put them with someone who can really box, if they just want to box. Put them with a real boxer, not just some bulls***. It’s just a s***** era right now, man. It’s a different era now, and not for a good reason.
I just like to fight, and as long as I get to fight, I don’t need to do anything else. But the era now is just talk — talking and picking the right fights for yourself, not necessarily challenging yourself, but getting the easiest fights there are for your style so you can grow your social platform.
That’s what it’s all about right now, that’s the era for most fighters.” Is Lorenz Larkin right about the state of combat sports these days? Let us know in the comments.
