Issue 040
August 2008
May 31st marked a historic day in the sport of MMA, and not because Kimbo’s awful ground game was exposed. On the following Monday morning, whether you picked up a newspaper or turned on ESPN, MMA was actually a featured topic of conversation among all types of sports fans across the United States.
The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) series and UFC pay per views have promoted discussion among MMA fight fans, but for once MMA was live on CBS, for free, in the homes of every American family with a television set.
It was obvious that EliteXC were looking to capture a new target audience, and perhaps that was the problem. People at home saw ring girls shaking their asses, rapper Busta Rhymes perform during Brett Rogers’s ring walk, and colourful characters such as the ‘New York Bad Ass’ Phil Baroni and Kimbo Slice hyped-up more than any other fighters on the event.
Meanwhile, what the television audience at home didn’t see was some true MMA grinders such as Baltimore’s Binky Jones (who at over 30 years old can still be found in New Jersey at least three or four times a year, dazzling fans with his brilliant jiu-jitsu and countless first-round submissions). They didn’t see the young Philadelphia Fight Factory competitor Zac Makovsky upset American Top Team’s Andre ‘Gigueto’ Soares as his training partner Eddie Alvarez (a current finalist in the 2008 DREAM lightweight Grand Prix) proudly watched from five rows back.
It was an incredible night to behold, but from the sounds of those who watched at home, you had to be there.
More than 8,000 spectators filled the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, and the audience was peppered with fighters and celebrities from the front row back. Eddie Alvarez, Jake Shields and Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva were there, as were wide receiver Plaxico Burress and many of the Super Bowl champions, the New York Giants.
One of the reasons everyone at home was so annoyed with the event is because only five fights made it on to the TV. In MMA there’s always going to be someone who gets KO’d right away, and there’s usually at least one fight that gets stopped by the doctor. In this case, three out of five fights ended as such. After staying up past midnight to watch the legendary Kimbo put someone into a coma, (and just when it looked like he might) the ref stopped the fight.
Some felt the fight was fixed due to no stoppage during Thompson’s never-ending elbows from the crucifix mount at the end of the second round, but in all honesty those elbows weren’t hurting anybody. If Thompson wanted to end the fight he had the opportunity. If the elbows really were that vicious Kimbo could never have come back with such crisp and solid punches at the top of the third. In just 38 seconds he busted Thompson’s ear open like a hammer to a ketchup sachet. A few more punches saw The Colossus’s whole body shake from the impact. The referee, Dan Miragliotta, clearly felt Thompson was in trouble and at risk of getting hurt while in such a vulnerable state and stopped the fight, assuming the inevitable and looking out for the best interests of the fighter’s. The right move? Maybe. Did it endear him to the fans baying for blood? Not at all.
The best part of the event to make it to the broadcast had to be Gina Carano defeating Kaitlin Young. This was a display of some of the most dominant female fighting since Laila Ali stepped into the boxing ring. Carano is clearly a force to be reckoned with and isn’t just ‘some chick’ who happens to fight. She’s a fighter who just happens to be a woman.
She bruised and battered Young to win by TKO, landing sharp strikes throughout (including a nice front kick, a powerful overhand right and some serious knees and elbows). Carano was by far the best part of the programme, because if anyone could get the message across to the American public that this is a sport and open to anyone, not just fearsome bruisers like Kimbo, it was her.
MMA is the purest sport on the market today because it pits athletes against each other without team mates to blame or a ball or scoreboard to keep track of who’s winning. It’s fighter against fighter, with nothing but their hearts, minds and bodies to use as tools for success.
Kimbo Slice is definitely a ticket seller and a fan favourite, but perhaps for MMA’s big network TV debut the focus should have been shifted onto other athletes who’ve been eating, sleeping and breathing the sport since they first learned it existed.
The idea of MMA on CBS sold itself. It was up to EliteXC to put out the idea among common sports fans that they were missing out on something. Unfortunately, with what was packaged and put on the table, all viewers saw (with the exception of Carano’s brilliant performance) were two minute bouts, finished in around a minute each, a fight ending in no contest due to an accidental poke to the eye, and the ‘invincible’ Kimbo Slice’s bubble being popped.
Reaction from MMA fans has been stern – the feeling is that this was a sub-par offering, and everyone is concerned that this is what the general public is going to go away thinking MMA is all about. Let’s hope the next show EliteXC put on CBS is a lot better than this.
