It doesn’t matter what industry you’re working in, there is always a certain tension that exists. This tension arises from the need to accomplish two things: to serve others, and to serve yourself. The perfect scenario is one in which we can unconditionally fulfil another’s needs and gain total satisfaction from doing so. But we’re not perfect, businesses aren’t perfect, and the reality is we like to indulge ourselves a bit at times, in the hope we can make a difference – to steer things a little.
But how much steering can we do? How far can we push the boundaries? For music promoters in particular, it’s a question that always crops up.
Joel Resnick – as reported by Dan Shapiro at VICE FIGHTLAND – is a practitioner of what we’d call kamikaze disruption. His audacity is elephantine in the sense that it’s both powerful and at times clumsy, without having any real perspective of the limbs that support it.
Briefly, Resnick assumed that seeing as China is the birthplace of martial arts (corporeal practices that are tightly integrated within Chinese history, tradition, and deeply entrenched modes of living), MMA (sweaty men in cages battering each other) would be a big hit. Shapiro gives the full story of how Ranik Ultimate Fighting Federation (RUFF) – supported by Resnick’s entrepreneurial spirit and personal wealth – clambered through countless legal hoops, tackled infrastructural challenges and pummelled promotional pitfalls only to be dealt a death blow by the underwhelming turnout at the organisation’s big fights (alright punny).
And going back to our first point, what it comes down to is a little hubris. At which point was the question ‘are Chinese citizens interested in spectating combat sports that feature a motley crew of fighters that represent something out of Ong Back?’ asked? Never, it seems.
We’re just offering up some tough love here. Let’s keep pushing the boundaries; let’s look for ways to create new needs through evolution rather than disruption, by balancing our own interests with those of our fans and followers.
