Posted on 05/29/2008 7:24:15 AM PDT by rattrap
Kimbo Slice, a one-time homeless man, one-time strip club bouncer, one-time backyard, back-alley brawler turned Internet sensation/big money mixed martial artist isnt a problem. Only in America, right?
Hes said to be a great guy, a boot-strap success story who deserves everything coming to him. Ive watched him maul Adryan a half dozen times alone. You have, or will, too.
Kimbo Slice being a street fighter, rather than a Brazilian jiu-jitsu or Muay Thai master, isnt a problem either.
No, he isnt the best and brightest in MMA. Hed probably get whipped in a second by the sports elite, as Tito Ortiz predicted. The beauty of the MMA, though, is you bring what youve got to the cage. Kimbo has those iron fists. Maybe its enough. Maybe it isnt. Wed all like to find out. The day an old-school scrapper doesnt have a place here will be a sad one.
And CBS choosing to broadcast an MMA card in prime time Saturday, a historic moment for this once fledgling sport, isnt a problem.
The sport has taken off in a way few others have fueled purely by fan interest. It stands in stark contrast to all the network airtime spent on sports propped up on political correctness or obligation. MMA long ago deserved network attention.
Individually, nothing is wrong with a shooting star such as Kimbo Slice fighting on Saturdays EliteXC card on CBS.
Together, plenty is. In fact, practically everything is.
EliteXC is a desperate promotion thats hemorrhaging money. Its willing to sell anything, even a false portrait of its sport, to succeed.
Kimbo is a guy with unexpected and most likely fleeting earning potential; understandably hes willing to cash in even if it means tomato-can opponents and an image so unfortunately stereotypical.
CBS is so focused on quick television ratings, it will present a cheap trick, lowest common denominator show. This, rather than an introduction to a sport that if treated with respect and patience could grow into a powerful property.
Everyone is using. Everyone is getting used. In the end, what will be left from this experiment?
Will MMA on CBS just be a short-run, freak show discarded by all, left to return to its true roots and better promotions after the circus has left town?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If this is, indeed, the most important card in the history of the sport, wouldnt it be nice if it actually had some of the best fighters and best representatives of mixed martial arts?
Anderson Silva, B.J. Penn and Georges St. Pierre display what MMA is all about. Not menacing scowls and WWE-like personas, but unreal athletic ability, disciplined training and tremendous intelligence from fighters as multi-skilled as they are fearless.
If one of them were on CBS, it would force America to realize what MMA really is. Kimbo, who taps into our primal instincts, plays to what many think the sport is. Let Kimbo cash every check he can good for him but he plays to MMAs difficult-to-shake reputation as human cockfighting, as Sen. John McCain once branded it.
Those days are, or should be, done, of course. Even McCain gives MMA his approval now. Thats mostly because of the work of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), far and away the major league of the sport.
CBS is about to show a minor league event with fancy production values. On the day the sport supposedly goes mainstream, its the big network not the smaller committed outlets that are playing to the sports worst instincts.
The fact the lowly Versus cable network will broadcast a far superior, double main event World Extreme Cagefighting card on Sunday, tells you what CBS thinks of the sport. Quality doesnt matter. It doesnt even have the best event of the weekend.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heres the troubling difference between rival organizations UFC and EliteXC.
UFC has run the sport understanding that its popularity could be greater than the sum of its parts. EliteXC, especially with its biggest star, appears to be eschewing investment in the long term.
Earlier this year the UFC welcomed former WWE and amateur wrestling star Brock Lesnar, who, in some ways, could be called its Kimbo. Lesnar, a former NCAA wrestling champ, is far more skilled, that isnt the comparison here. The similarity is that Lesnar arrived with great fanfare and curiosity. Everyone wanted to see what he could really do.
The old way of thinking, the boxing way, would be to match him up against an overwhelmed opponent and cash in on some easy victories as he was brought along slowly.
UFC president Dana White, however, stuck to his leagues core belief that you either prove yourself or you go home. There are no padded records or kid glove scheduling in the UFC. If Lesnar was for real, he would have to prove it. If not, see ya. Its what fight fans covet. Its why the UFC has thrived.
In February, White matched Lesnar up against the kind of fighter that could beat him, Frank Mir, an experienced former heavy weight champion and submission expert. The fight was thrilling, Lesnar almost knocked out Mir until Mirs superior skill earned him a submission.
Lesnar lost. His second fight, against dangerous Heath Herring in August, could leave him 0-2 in the UFC and facing an unsure future. Thats the deal with the UFC. Its real. So real, White is willing to run one of his biggest stars right out of the game.
Kimbo hasnt fought anyone nearly as good as Mir or Herring. Who knows if he ever will? EliteXC and CBS are running his career like a boxer, even if trumped up records and mismatch fights have severely damaged that sports popularity.
Based on that mentality, you can understand why White was willing to walk away from the CBS exposure that, done properly, would have shot his league into the stratosphere. Obviously, he didnt feel it was going to be done properly.
Saturdays card is not set up to show the best of mixed martial arts and introduce America to a sport it would likely embrace.
If CBS was trying to build serious interest in football, it wouldnt trot out an unproven pro team against a doomed high school squad and call the ensuing blowout the best the game offers.
Itd get the New England Patriots and the New York Giants and let people see the real deal.
But neither the network nor EliteXC are treating the sport or Kimbo Slice as anything but disposable programming. And thats the problem here.
ping
Dana is also willing to run off Tito Ortiz who is a top money drawer over personality. Business is about business, it’s not personal - or at least that’s what I learned from the Godfather.
On a related topic, the chief of staff for Bill Richardson’s white house bid has a son who is a BAD AZZ in the octagon. I think his last name is condin? Doesn’t fight for UFC tho...
Carlos Condit.
He fights in the WEC which is owned by the same company as the UFC. It has more lighter weight classes like Feather and Bantam weights.
I have seen Kimbo Slice Ultimate fight match, knocked his opponent out in less than thirty seconds. What a fight!!!!! I still would like to see this ultimate matchup: Kimbo Slice and Jet-li, I know the physical difference in size but could Jet-li really knock him out? My Husband, says yes. I would rather watch Ultimate Fighting and MI-5 series than Oprah or Ellen./Just Asking - seoul62.......
This is a bizarre thread. Anyhow, I guess I am just old fashioned, but I find boxing to be much more aesteticly pleasing.
Sometimes you see someone and immediately wish for them to get a good beat down. Adryan was just that kind of fool.
Kimbo may or may not be the best representative for the debut of MMA on national TV but he did beat Tank Abbott who I thought was in the UFC original gang. So what if he has heavy hands, didn’t Gracie get the snot pounded out of him by Hughes? Not all MMA fights are submissions and if these fights Saturday don’t reflect the “perfect” UFC template Wetzel hasn’t been watching the UFC from the beginning.
And in the real world nearly all fights go to the ground, MMA reflects that.
UFC/MMA Ping list is in my profile for all to use.
I have Kimbo, Lawler, and Carano
There’s an MMA ping list?
Put me on please.
Whatever happened to your boy Cro Cop. Seems he had his butt kicked a few times since we last talked.
If Jet Li would remove all the damn wires he uses in his movies, he may have a chance.
As it is, he’s stuck looking like a marionette.
I agree with you. Boxing is more dangerous and MMA is more like a real fight. Real fights are also ugly to watch. Usually.
Besides that, I don't even watch boxing anymore, UCF is far better.
Yeah and that’s UFC, not University of Central Florida! (I’ll chalk that up to proximity.)
Yep.
Same goes for their news division.
Maybe they should have Dan Rather fight Kimbo to get his news chair back.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.