We live in ridiculous times. The COVID-19 pandemic has ripped the veil off our society’s unfathomable cruelty and stupidity, as the United States gleefully charges down a path that can lead only to mass death, economic collapse and a total structural breakdown.

And the sport for this moment is mixed martial arts. MMA was first to run again after the pandemic, and in the last few months we’ve seen so many examples of what makes it the world’s greatest and most bizarre sport.

The UFC is holding fight cards on an island in Abu Dhabi to get around travel restrictions. Hundreds of thousands of people spent sixty dollars to watch Kamaru Usman stomp a guy’s foot for a half hour. Dana White looks more like Majin Buu every single day.

But even now, we see glimpses of everything that’s life-affirming about mixed martial arts. Just a few weeks ago, Dustin Poirier and Dan Hooker gave us a heart-stopping showdown that would have been a Fight of the Year contender in any circumstance. Khamzat Chimaev is big-brothering dudes at a rate we’ve never seen before. And Sean O’Malley has become the next oddball knockout machine to capture the imagination: a face-tat guy with rainbow cornrows and military-grade explosives in his hands.

MMA can be incredibly layered and complex, a human chess match where no two contests are ever the same. It’s also the only sport where you’ll see a 7-foot-2 Korean guy knocking out Jose Canseco.

At its best, MMA is thrilling and unforgettable. And at its worst, its viciousness and stupidity are unmistakable. MMA is our society. And at The Big Fight, I hope to cover the sport in a way that captures and celebrates everything that makes the sport unique.

I’m David Statman, and welcome to The Big Fight.