The Washington Post has an excellent profile on Briann Stann, the WEC light heavyweight champion up on their website (the story ran in the 7/31 print edition of the newspaper). Stann is a former Marine, an Iraq veteran and as legit of a badass as you’ll find in the sport. We’ll get back to him in a moment, but first let’s talk about the “macro” implications of stories like this–every story like this in a major newspaper that treats the fighters like not only legitimate athletes but as subjects worthy of “human interest” type profiles is part of the incremental acceptance of MMA as a sport happening before our eyes.

Stann himself is a great story and part of another interesting dynamic happening with what is nominally Zuffa’s “B-list” promotion–how the WEC is quickly nearing parity in terms of fighter quality (Urijah Faber) and compelling stars that fans can really get behind with their much better known promotional sibling, the UFC.

The paper makes a good case for a question that many MMA enthusiasts and media types have been asking for awhile–why isn’t Zuffa doing more with Stann either within the confines of the WEC as they have with Faber or moving him over to the UFC? Stann is a tough as nails fighter and his background–former Naval Academy football player, Marine veteran who earned a Silver Star in Iraq–makes him a perfect fit to help promote and grow the sport. It’s one thing for clueless politicos and media types to look down at a heavily tatted up fighter who at least has the look to fit all of their bad stereotypes of “no holds barred cage fighter”. Its another entirely for subhumans like Bill O’Reilly to go off on a legitimate American hero and decorated combat veteran.

For six days in May 2005, insurgents in Iraq ambushed Stann, a first lieutenant at the time, and the Marines under his command in the 2nd Mobile Assault Platoon. Stann and his unit attempted to seize a bridge near Karabilah and walked into an enemy’s trap.

Grenades, suicide vehicles, and mortar and sniper fire peppered Stann from the periphery. With the situation spiraling out of control, he ordered air and tank support to neutralize the threat. Seven kilometers to the south, fellow lieutenant and friend Gary Hess held his breath.

“You always hope for the best and you expect the worst,” Hess said.

“Every day you listen to that radio, and you don’t want to show any type of weakness around your men or show your men that you’re worried. When I didn’t hear him on the radio, and I knew that they were in a tough fight; that was always going through my mind.”

With time, air and ground support dissolved the insurgents’ organization. All 42 of Stann’s men survived, with nine suffering injuries. Because of his valor under fire, Stann was awarded the Silver Star, the nation’s third-highest honor for remarkable displays of courage on the battlefield.

“The thing that was going through my mind at that time was to continue to make the best decisions I could to keep my men safe and to accomplish the mission,” Stann said. “As an officer, that’s always your first concern.

“I don’t think I ever had any doubts. I mean, yeah, there was certainly tons of adversity and a lot of chaos, but through all the things, I think we developed a genuine trust in each other.”

Stann knows he will succeed, because he has constructed his fighting career from nothing.

Before starting his service, he had fought as an amateur but wanted to earn income for his passion. As Stann’s first tour neared completion in the fall of 2005, he began researching professional MMA organizations. He flooded various groups’ inboxes with pitches, telling them, “Hey, if I can fight for my country, trust me, whether I win or lose in a cage, I’m going to fight hard.”

Read over the highlighted part again….yep, MMA fighters sure are bad role models for kids…

Trivia aside–the promotion that gave Stann his “big break” was SportFight and he made his professional debut at the The Rose Garden Arena here in Portland, OR….

The War is over for Stann, but the battles continue @ The Washington Post (registration required or use BugMeNot to bypass)