Chris speaks the truth. Ryan was scum of the earth and an embarrassment to his family. He was most likely killed by his doctor under orders of his family.
Also, fighters are not bodybuilders. They fight. They not about flexing their muscles in thongs and calling each other beasts or looking swole. It's about functional ability not looks. And MMA is rapidly becoming mainstream whereas bodybuilding will always be looked on as an obscure and weird subculture.
I don't know about MMA going mainstream.
Here in Brazil the MMA gyms are not exploding with new members as the years go by, the fighting events are becoming more and more rare. You hear about a fighting event here and there, but that's about it. A lot of friends of mine who used to be crazy about fighting have quit it altogether and sticked to just weight training.
My guess is that only the true diehard and real fighters are keeping it going, and that's a good thing for those who love the sport. It's a lot like the bodybuilders at heart who hate summertime because of the hype produced by the media that you have to be in shape comes beach time. The nerds, homewives, wannabes and the like polute all the gyms around town, making the lives of the true weight warriors a living hell.
Now I could say the same about fighters as you told about bodybuilders. The general public sees them like animals, sociopaths. Not minding the ignorance of the general public, which is obvious, MMA fighters are not better seen than bodybuilders. It's a wrong misconception. If it wasn't by the tradition in Japan, which keeps the purses paying high dollars to the fighters, MMA would be as much underground as pro bodybuilding. You don't see the same amount of dollars being put forth in any other country to sponsor MMA events, not even ULTIMATE FIGHTING in USA, which was created by the Gracie family (Rorion Gracie was the owner of the rights).
MMA is as much underground as pro bodybuilding, I would say. The only difference is that the Mr. Olympia are still not paying top dollars like Pride or K-1.