Kimbo not the face of MMA By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports May 29, 12:51 am EDT 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 isn’t a problem. Only in America, right? He’s said to be a great guy, a boot-strap success story who deserves everything coming to him. I’ve 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, isn’t a problem either. No, he isn’t the best and brightest in MMA. He’d probably get whipped in a second by the sport’s elite, as Tito Ortiz predicted. The beauty of the MMA, though, is you bring what you’ve got to the cage. Kimbo has those iron fists. Maybe it’s enough. Maybe it isn’t. We’d all like to find out. The day an old-school scrapper doesn’t 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, isn’t 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 Saturday’s EliteXC card on CBS. Together, plenty is. In fact, practically everything is. EliteXC is a desperate promotion that’s hemorrhaging money. It’s 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 he’s 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? <HR align=left width="20%" SIZE=1> If this is, indeed, the most important card in the history of the sport, wouldn’t 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 MMA’s 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. That’s 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, it’s the big network – not the smaller committed outlets – that are playing to the sport’s 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 doesn’t matter. It doesn’t even have the best event of the weekend. <HR align=left width="20%" SIZE=1> Here’s 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 isn’t 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 league’s 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. It’s what fight fans covet. It’s 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 Mir’s 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. That’s the deal with the UFC. It’s real. So real, White is willing to run one of his biggest stars right out of the game. Kimbo hasn’t 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 didn’t feel it was going to be done properly. Saturday’s 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 wouldn’t trot out an unproven pro team against a doomed high school squad and call the ensuing blowout the best the game offers. It’d 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 that’s the problem here.
I have to agree with Wetzel on this one. If I was introducing a person to MMA for the first time, it would be to the subtle and athletic brilliance of a guy like GSP or Anderson Silva not Kimbo or Tank Abbott. ::
Weigh Ins for Saturday are taking place outside of the Prudential Center in Newark tomorrow at 2:00. Since I work in Newark, I'm gonna see if I can sneak over there for a little while and check things out. If I get any pictures, I'll post them. TFK
I felt it was a shit article, some of the point were legit but it seems more like hate talk to me or a UFC press release. Kimbo ain't being brought up slowly at all contrary to what the article imply, Jame Thompson for your 3rd fight is very good, sure he has some bad losses recently ( more notably Brett Rogers and the CageRage guy who koed him in 20 seconds, the Bean ko was very premature, sure he was hurt, but it was a total bullshit stoppage ) but he also beat Yoshida who's a gold judo medalist, Frye and had another war with a very good fighter in Fujita, a fight he was on the verge of winning before walking into a big punch. Plus saying Lesnar is far more skilled than Kimbo isn't based on shit, he didn't prove nothing, reading the description of the Mir fight in the article, you'd think he had done great for himself :nono::nono:No such thing, he was subbed in about 1 minute, sure he did slightly hurt Mir with a punch but overall I can't see how you can spin this fight in a positive light for Brock, he was found lacking majorly in ground game, a major concern for a wrestler. And we still don't know how he's gonna react to being punched, something we know Kimbo handles very well. And let's not forget that Mir was the underdog in this fight, indeed, he recently had 2 very bad losses, one to a nobody and another one to another prospect, that he's going to be in a title match just for beatin a rookie is borderline criminal. He wasn't the monster implied by the author and hasn't been since it's accident. Don't get me wrong, Lesnar got a lot of potential and is being brought up very quickly, even moreso than Kimbo considering he's supposed to face Herring next, but a lot of wrestlers with far better potential than him didn't amount to shit in MMA, shit, the same Fujita who was nearly koed by Thompson annilated a far far far better wrestler than Lesnar could ever hoped to be.
ZUFFA needs to learn how to play with others.If they did,then they would of had the prime time spot a long time ago. As for that article...I wouldn't have a problem with it if he said anything positive about EliteXC ....but...he didn't ,so he just comes off as a sore hater.I also want to add that Yahoo and the UFC are in a partnership to view all the UFC results exc so Yahoo writers will do what they can to help the UFC's cause.
I agree the EliteXC hate is over the top, but the basic premise of the article is legit. There are far better 'poster children' for MMA than Kimbo in terms of displaying what the sport is all about. If you are introducing a non-MMA fan to the sport for the very first time, wouldn't you rather show him Anderson Silva or BJ Penn or GSP or Fedor? I would, because those guys are actually examples of what makes Mixed Martial Arts so appealing. It's not just two guys slugging it out with less than stellar boxing skills. The sport has technique and subtly that make it every bit as sweet as the 'sweet science'. I think Kimbo and Thompson is a good match for the sake of seeing a highlight reel knockout and I agree with you that Thompson, if he withstands the early onslaught, could make this interesting.
I have to disagree on a lot of this first off.. I do not think when I guy starts out, weather it's Kimbo or Lesnar, I don't think you should throw them to the best.. they have to earn it, and they have to learn it IMO it's a good thing boxing does, guys have fights starting out with maybe some overmatched or even tomato cans.. what it does is lets the fighter build confidence and skill too! putting lesnar vs Mir was a dumb move IMO.. I think he should fight some bums and get acclimated to MMA and learn and progress.. each fight someone a little better.. same with Kimbo, the Tank fight IMO was perfect, you had a guy kinda tough guy mold like Kimbo but who had some wins years back and was thought to maybe be a threat, Kimbo destroyed him, now keep moving on..
Kimbo is a superstar in MMA. I am amazed that so many people know who he is. Superstars in fighting are how to make and very rarely come around. There is no way he is bad for MMA.
I agree.throwing rookies with potential star power to the wolves is just dumb.EliteXC is doing the right thing with Kimbo...and IMO ,fighting Thompson is a big step up for him.
I took a drive by the Prudential Center around 11:45 to see if there was any activity outside, but there wasn't. They have the stage setup for the weigh in, and some chairs, but that's about it. It starts at 2:00, and I'm gonna leave in a few minutes to see if I can get over there, if I can find a place to park. There is next to no on street parking in that section of Newark, and I'll be God damned if I'm gonna pay $20-30 bucks to park in a lot. If I can find a place to park that's not to far of a walk, I'll go over, if not, I'll just do some work at one of the schools I had planned to do on Monday. I think my wife has her camera, so I guess I won't be taking any pictures. TFK
The Thing is, U HAVE to Recognize WHO your AUDIENCE Is...MOST CBS Viewers will B Watching MMA for the Very 1st Time...On that Note, U Want to Provide Something that IMMEDIATELY Catches the Eye, GRABS Attention & FORCES the Viewer to Tune In Fuuuuurther... Most CBS Viewers WON'T Appreciate SUBTLETIES as Much as they Will an Early, EXPLOSIVE KO... It's the Same Principle when REED Recruits New Boxing Fan...He'll Show them Gatti-Ward I or a Vintage Tyson KO OVER Prime James Toney or Bernard Hopkins... Elite XC Needs to Make a SPLASH w/Tomorrow's Show...Kimbo DEFINITELY Provides that... REED:hammert:
Depends on the Fan...If it's a Cat who has a Deeeeeeep Interest N a Martial Art (from a VIEWING Perspective), then Sure, U Initiate him N 2 MMA w/the TOPNOTCH Guys...REED & his Fam R Examples of this...We've ALWAYS Watched Boxing so the Transition to MMA was EASY...& REED had NO Problem Deciphering QUALITY MMA from CRAP... But if U're Recruiting Blood & Guts, CASUAL Fans...Guys who DON'T Know that there's Actually WEIGHT CLASSES N Fighting, Guys who STILL Think Mike Tyson can Make a Comeback, then it's BEST to Integrate them w/a Guy like Kimbo...The Fight will B BRIEF, EXPLOSIVE & MEMORABLE...But that Blood & Guts, Casual Fan will Tune In NEXT Time...& Hopefully, as they Watch More, they'll Learn to APPRECIATE Quality MMA... Personally, REED Thinks MOST of the CBS Viewers will Fall N 2 the Latter Category...The SUBTLETIES of a Penn, GSP or Silva will Fly Right Over their Heads... REED:hammert:
Fuuuuuurther Proof that Dana White is THREATENED by Elite XC... 1 Hour PRIOR to the Start of the CBS Telecast, UFC's "Ultimate Knockouts 4" Premiere's...After that, a Compilation of Chuck Lidell Fights will B Shown ("Ultimate Iceman")til 10pm... REED::
I just got back from the weigh in, and it was awesome. I showed up about 20 minutes before it started, and in the biggest miracle of them all, found a parking spot on the street a block from the P Center. It was hot as ass out, and I was in work clothes, but I lived. There was about 200 people there. I was able to get right up to the barrier by the stage, so I was able to meet Jimmy Lennon Jr, who emceed, Matt Hughes, Frankie Edgar, Kimbo, Matt Serra, Bas Rutten, Mark Coleman, Robbie Lawler, Phil Baroni, Carlos Moreno and a bunch of others. Unfortunately, my wife has our good camera, so I was only able to take pictures with my crappy phone camera, but I'll post them as I host them. Everyone was very cool and very fan friendly. Even Matt Hughes, who has a bad rep, took picture after picture, signed everything people pushed in their faces, answered questions, and in general just made MMA look good. Coleman in particuliar was out there for a long time, doing interviews with anyone and everyone who had a microphone. I will say this, Coleman looks terrible. He is clearly off the juice, and his body looks like it's withering away. Granted, he's still huge, but he's a shell of himself, and you can see it in his face. Still, he was a cool guy, still walking gingerly, and legitimately bummed about not being able to fight Brock. Serra, as expected, had a crowd around him. He was only out for a few minutes to support his brother, but he had everyone laughing hysterically, and came off no different then he did on TUF. Of all people, Shaq showed up. I was told he was on his way to the airport, and decided to stop in. He is freaking enormous. E-fucking-normous. He didn't really even acknowledge the fans, and was only there for a minute. I was busting Jimmy Lennon's balls as he announced Shaq was here, about 2 minutes after he made his way through. I told him 'welcome to 2 minutes ago', as everyone already saw him, and he laughed and said 'I didn't see him', and everyone was like 'how could you miss Shaq?' Bas was one of the first guys I talked to, and he was very cool. Told him I loved the show and watch it every week. Matt Serra's manager was there and he was pushing to get Matt on the show. I told Bad they need to get some average MMA fans on the show, and volunteered myself. He said if it were up to him, he'd love to have a fan segment, but he doesn't make those calls. I completely forgot to tell him that just down the road are some of the world's finest Brazlian and Portguese restaurants. He probably would've appreciated that. For as huge as Shaq was, that's how small Frankie Edgar is. He looks like he should be fighting 145. Chris Liguori got a pretty good reception from the crowd when he was announced. He'll never be a 'great' fighter, but he gives it his all every time out. Carlos Moreno looked totally out of shape. He's another local fighter I've seen at small shows in the past, and he's just ballooned up. He probably won't last more then 90 seconds. More as I remember it. TFK
U Got LUCKY Because U're an AVID MMA Supporter Out of LOVE for the Sport, w/NO Expectations...When U LOVE Something Unconditionally, it RETURNS that LOVE N Mysterious Ways, Dog...Today was a PRIME Example... All N All, GOOD Shit, Man!!!...Keep it Coming...EXPLOIT your Wife Tonight, for Having the Camera when U Could've REALLY Used it... REED:bears:
