Issue 041
September 2008
This is YOUR page to tell us what you think of all things Fighters Only and MMA! What do you like?
What don’t you like? Who do you want to see fight who? Send us your pics of you with fighters - and if you can slip a copy of FO into the pic, even better!
Write or email in and the most interesting letter gets a cool FO T-shirt.
LETTER OF THE MONTH
‘Intelligently defending yourself at all times’
I have to say that I wasn’t particularly impressed by some of Mr Constable’s take on the EliteXC CBS show. His two main points, that Kimbo’s ‘stoppage’ of James Thompson and that Gina Carano’s ‘TKO’ of Kaitlin Young were legit really shocked me to read in an otherwise well-informed publication. I would have expected that only EliteXC’s crazies could say, with a straight face, that Kimbo’s defence on the ground - just lying there, on his back, being elbowed in the face whilst making no attempt to escape - wasn’t cause for the ref to intervene and stop the fight and award the win to Thompson. ‘Intelligently defending yourself at all times’ – a simple rule not applied when the ‘Golden Boy’ of EXC is on the losing end.
To also write that Carano won by TKO following a display of sharp strikes and that she is “a force to be reckoned with” – well, yeah she is, if you’re happy that she doesn’t make weight, was gassed and that the TKO was a small cut under the eye of her opponent.
Another round and Carano loses that fight, plain and simple, and EXC loses another of its ‘golden’ fighters.
The biggest problem with the CBS show is that it sends all the wrong messages out to the general public. How can normal viewers not go away with the feeling that MMA is like “Pro Rassling” but with blood? Credibility should be the most important word to promoters at this burgeoning time for MMA and dodgy decisions certainly don’t help with that. The recent WEC promotion headlined by Faber and Pulver would have been so much better in terms of getting MMA’s message out there through awesome fights, both on a technical side and heart.
No offence to Mr Constable (just before I write something that I expect will almost certainly offend him) but I hope his opinions don’t get many inches in future. Other than that I’m happy about the magazine and am already a subscriber, so any chance of a free t-shirt? Cheers.
Roger, via email
A bit of debate is a healthy thing, and we’re glad you wrote in. The article in question is of course an op-ed, or ‘opinion editorial’. As such it may contain views that are a little different to the norm, but then that’s what we’re about here at Fighters Only; pushing boundaries and always challenging ideas!
Supersport Fireman!
Hi, thought I’d say a quick thanks for the effort you guys are putting into the magazine, easily the best MMA mag I’ve read without tooting your horns too much! Last month’s article on extreme sports was great.
In my teens I rode BMX / mountain bikes, then got into boxing. That developed into Muay Thai, then BJJ and now I climb in between the two to give more arm strength! Besides those hobbies I’ve dabbled in jet-ski’s, competed in Supermoto, did the biggest bungee jump in the world and fight fires for a living.
Never realised there were other MMA heads into getting their adrenaline kicks like me!
Rob Kershaw, Merseyside
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