Mexico is one of the top fighting countries in the Americas, which has produced countless boxing world champions from Ricardo “El Finito” Lopez to the great Julio Cesar Chavez.  You can go have a drink at a bar in Mexico and start a conversation with any unknown individual about boxing and have a meaningful conversation.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said about MMA, as the MMA community in Mexico is rather miniscule and due to the misunderstanding of the ground game much of the people simply don’t care for it.

There are many factors that tie into why MMA hasn’t reach a high popularity as it has in the US, UK, and Canada. When ZUFFA bought the UFC they planned on expanding into the Mexican market and it seemed a sure win as Mexico loves boxing.

The main factor why it hasn’t taken off is the lack of popularity of wrestling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Hurtsbad MMA had the opportunity to travel to Mexico and visit many of the BJJ schools in Mexico and to be frank there aren’t many.

There are only a handful of schools located in the largest cities in Mexico. Also, wrestling is not a sport widely available to young kids at school as many schools don’t have the resources to have a program or they give preference to other sports such as soccer and baseball.

Wrestling and BJJ are a fundamental part of the game and if not exposed to it; it hinders people’s appreciation of the ground and confuses it for lack of warrior spirit. Mexican fanatics love fighters who are warriors and will stand and bang staying in the pocket with their opponents.

It hard for a first time Mexican viewer of MMA to stay entertained by a dominant performance by a fighter like Georges St. Pierre might put forward. Yet they may really relate to Jose Aldo knocking people out. The audience of Mexico has to be educated in the art of ground fighting to appreciate all the fights not just the stand up wars that are rare from card to card.

Another huge factor is Mexico has yet to produce a native son to make it to upper ranks of the UFC or any top promotion. People may argue that fighter like Cain Velasquez, Miguel Angel Torres, Dom Cruz, and Nick Diaz but that is simply not the case.

Even though these fighter are some of the best in their division they are still Mexican-American fighters and Mexico fans rally unconditionally for their native born and raised fighters;  something none of the top UFC Mexican American fighters can say about themselves.

As most Mexican would much rather see Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fight a B-level fighter than to see Cain Velasquez against a top ten opponent. A sad truth, but a truth just the same among the majority of those looking on south of the boarder.

When it’s all said and done, the UFC will bring MMA to Mexico but they are going to have to plan a card that will be sure to deliver stand up wars like Barboza vs. Etim to keep the interest of the fans. It easy to say Jon Fitch won’t be near that card.

As they formulate more events people will eventually begin to want to learn more and schools will gain traction.

Eventually, in the future a star will emerge and take the MMA world by storm and what seemed to be a boxing community in Mexico will quickly turn into an MMA community. When that time comes the warrior will be a son of Mexico and will have its full support just like Saul Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

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