Jeff Monson, We Salute You

Jeff Monson is a singular dude.  The man is an eloquent and thoughtful anarchist, and a dedicated social justice activist, who happens to beat the living f**k out of people.  He does it professionally, on pay-per-view, with the Ultimate Fighting mixed martial arts league.  If you’re manly enough to pay attention to that sort of thing --- and really, who doesn’t love Ultimate Fighting? the terrorists, that’s who --- then you know that Jeff Monson is considered the Next Big Contender, with a fight coming up November 18th against Tim Sylvia which should be insanely entertaining. We wish him the best of luck, because when he wins, he can grab that mic and say whatever he wants.

He does have losses on his record to Chuck Liddell, but then again, so does everyone else in the UFC.  Monson, at least, was not knocked out and made it to the end of the match to lose by decision. 

But I promise that’s the end of the fight-geekitude --- let’s take a look at what Jeff Monson actually has to say.

GnP: Through your job as a fighter you have travelled large parts of the US as well as forgeign countries like England, Brazil or the United Arab Emirates. Judging from you experiences would you say that the “Project Multiculturalism” has failed in the US more than elsewhere?

JM: What I have learned through traveling is that people really are products of their environment. Poverty, corruption and lack of freedom breeds discontent. The inequality between classes is the fuel for this discontent. The old saying goes “‘money is the root of all evil”; but really it is class inequality which leaves most unable to self-actualize (reach their potential) which I believe is the basis for human misery.

GnP: The First Amendment of the US Constitution guarantees every citizen the freedom of speech. On the other hand you are receiving a lot of heat from large parts of the MMA community for your non-conformal opinion. How do you deal with that personally and do you think that part of the bill of rights is not in peoples minds anymore?

JM: The constitution is just a piece of paper that gets changed or ignored when those in charge find it to be inconvenient to what they want at the time. It has happened since the constitution was first drafted. This just was proved again when congress signed over the right to declare war over to the president directly violating the constitution. However, most importantly to me (and to anarchists): How can another person or document GIVE me my rights? Who is anyone to tell me what MY rights are? The constitution guarantees MY freedom of speech because some rich, white, land owners, 200 years ago decided they would by their good graces GIVE me this right? The declaration of independence states that all men are created equal. If this is to be believed than how can one man decide what another man’s rights are? That is why the U.S. is seen as the land of hypocrisy.

Jeff Monson, legend has it, goes to protests in his hometown of Olympia, Washington all the time.  He has never been arrested.  It’s worth noting that it’s not strictly because Monson can crack skulls with his bare hands --- he also has a lot of fans in uniform.  He also has a lot --- a lot --- of people who hate him bitterly.

Monson was a psychologist prior to becoming a professional fighter, and it’s sad to see how much the UFC has muzzled him.  This is of course of conscious decision on his part --- humans do get to set their own priorities, after all --- but it would be great to hear him speak frankly and openly about political matters more often.  Hilariously, some anarchists and activists have condemned Monson as a hypocrite for advocating pacifism and being a professional fighter.  He addresses this pretty well:

Eric: Another question here, “At some level fighting is pure physicality and not particularly political, but is it possible to integrate the two?”

Jeff: The two are completely separate. When I’m fighting someone, they’re a willing participant. When we get done, we’re hugging and shaking hands, going out to dinner or the after-fight parties and whatever.

In the MMA [mixed martial arts] world, Jeff Monson, 33, the number-one contender for the UFC’s heavyweight crown, is infamous for two moments.  One happened three years ago: live on Brazilian TV, Monson stripped naked in the ring to protest lost the judges’ decision in a fight he clearly dominated.  His sweaty wrestling shorts are now under glass in a sports bar in Rio.

His other big moment came just before a bout in Portland, Oregon last year: the arena JumboTron introduced the fighter by showing a video clip of him working out in an ASSASSINATE BUSH T-Shirt.  The fans, who tend to be a conservative, pro-military lot, booed.  They booed again when Monson used the post-fight interview to argue (this being shortly after Katrina) that the National Guard should be in Louisiana, not Iraq.

Monson is near and dear to my heart because it sounds like he lives....well, a lot like I do.  Witness this passage from a fellow MMA fighter’s journal:

I don’t know if this is something I can even blame on the promoters, because over the years this has become a familiar scenario. Jeff literally competes every weekend, and at many of the same shows we attend, and quite often Jeff will call me, literally the night before, and ask if I have a place to stay. I’ll say yes, and there will be dead silence on the other side of the line, before I ask “Hey Jeff, do you need a place to stay?” It’s gotten to the point when I arrive at a tournament I book rooms with the assumption that Jeff will be crashing out with us.

And let’s let have Jeff Munson get the last word in.  When Rolling Stone tried to re-ignite the “ASSASSINATE BUSH” controversy in a recent interview, he offered this beautiful closing note:

”I made my point, but I don’t want to get too focused on ‘he hates Bush’, because it’s not about that—it’s about what we can do to make a difference.”