I wish I could tell you above anything else that I knew what I was talking about but I have no idea if these MMA fights were good, bad, or indifferent. I watched the whole CBS broadcast and I thought it was flat out awesome.
I'm obviously not the person to comment on Gus Johnson's foray into MMA but as a casual viewer I was hanging on every word. The guy just knows action and how to portray it to the viewers.
(More tomorrow, and Evil Gus Johnson knows your thoughts.)
Kimbo's fight was rigged. Any decent ref would have called it at the end of the second round when kimbo was laying there getting hit and not even attempting to block. Gina is the only reason to watch another EliteWWE fight.
ReplyDeleteIt didn't even look like the hits Kimbo was taking even did very much to him on the ground, which is why I think he laid there and soaked it up, Haha. I agree about it being rigged. As soon as the other guy took like four consecutive shots, the fight was called. Total BS.
ReplyDeleteThe Gus Johnson goatee has got to go.
ReplyDeleteShaw is a crook - he lets Carano come in at any weight she wants, and he obviously wants to protect Kimbo. Thompson is as limited a fighter as I've ever seen, and he completely out-fought and out-wrestled Kimbo. I think CBS got a raw deal here, if Dana White loosened up and let another network handle production, the likes of FOX or NBC could strike gold by showing UFC fights.
ReplyDelete3 questionable referee stoppages
ReplyDelete2 doctor aided stoppages
Not so good.
Maybe I'm the only one, but I thought the whole thing was dumb.
ReplyDeleteAlmost as intense as the VTech softball game yesterday. Right AA?
ReplyDeleteIt was awesome, so long as you like 20 minute intros to 1 minute fights...
ReplyDeleteGus Johnson is horrendous.
ReplyDeleteHe was a perfect fit for last night as he sounded like a second rate pro wrestling announcer. As he screamed and cooed his way through the night.
God, I love Gus. I thought the whole thing was weak (except for Gina Carano), but I will watch just for Gus. He never disappoints me.
ReplyDeleteWow, the whole thing was a joke. Early stoppages, weak fights and they went over the scheduled time by 45 minutes. AA, take a hint from your fellow bloggers who actually know their MMA, this was not "flat out awesome".
ReplyDeleteI think that people that don't follow MMA were entertained by it. But those that crave technique should be disappointed. It seems like they purposely put their stand-up fighters on the card to keep the action quick. The closest we got to technique was Gina Carano, who almost choked her opponent out with a rear choke, and a sweet shin choke when she was on the bottom of a guard.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the action was pretty weak with the exception of the girl fight. This is nothing to UFC - I know he's a relative newcomer to the sport, but Kimbo Slice would get his ass beaten going up against the most experienced fighters.
ReplyDeleteBut, can we please have a caption contest for 0:56 of the video? (The guy with his ear busted open staring at the official)
I thought it was a bit short on good fights. I actually think the UFC has better fighting and announcing (even Joe Rogan). I agree, if Dana White and UFC could agree to Fox or NBC they would simply print money.
ReplyDeleteKimbo might be able to punch, but he would get destroyed by many other fighters who know how to wrestle or those who go to the ground. He is a whole lotta hype.
Otherwise, it is good to see MMA shown on network tv. It would be interesting to see the ratings/numbers. I can't imagine this is a money loser for CBS; however, I noticed the first commercials were for beer, satellite tv and PS2 games but later in the broadcast I saw commercials for Gold Bond lotion. I can't imagine that being a target audience for MMA.
This is what you get when you get an MMA card promoted like a boxing card..or worse yet WWE. Of course Shaw is gonna want to protect his meal tickets in Carano and Kimbo.
ReplyDeleteThe commentary was fine, but I think a three man booth is one too many. Gus is Gus (which is a good thing), and Shamrock and Maurall weren't annoyingly bad.
At least Bill Goldberg wasn't there.
Kimbo ought to be careful though. Any heayweight with a solid ground game would give him fits.
Did anyone else notice during Kimbo's fight that there was a longshot of the ring and when they came back to the closeups somehow Kimbo broke out of the other guy's hold? Looked very shady...
ReplyDeletePlus the other comical moment was when the old dude said that the other guys would get paid despite the no contest. Gee thanks....
What a waste of 3 hours.
I guess I don't take the sport as seriously as other people. The whole thing is a show and CBS portrayed it as such. If the fix was in, I don't blame them one bit. UFC had it's opportunity with Liddell but he lost after he was pimped for months. CBS had to have Slice win.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, I can't get past Thompson's ear.
ReplyDeleteOf course it's rigged. All MMA/UFC is is a bloodier, more physical wrestling.
ReplyDeleteWith all the hype that's been surrounding Slice trying to take MMA prime time, did anyone think for a second he wasn't going to win? There's far too much at stake for him to take a loss.
I've never understood the draw of bloodsports like this. Boxing, MMA, etc. etc. all are barbaric and have place in civilized society.
I've never understood the draw of bloodsports like this. Boxing, MMA, etc. etc. all are barbaric and have place in civilized society
ReplyDeleteLike beer chugging, hot dog eating, the NFL, the NHL, what a civilized society we are.
So... anyone that thinks this is rigged hasn't watched much MMA (or the Carano fight last night...you think those women faked their beat up faces?)
ReplyDeleteAnd that's the biggest problem with CBS's coverage of this event. It came off way too much like a WWE event. Insanely long intros, with little action (and generally poor technique)
The reason Dana White didn't take this sort of deal is because he's taken a lot of work to build up the credibility of the sport.
Say what you want about the guy, but he's done an amazing job building up the integrity of the sport.
Was last night entertaining? sure, like WWE can be entertaining. Was it a good representation of MMA? not by a long shot.
It would be like someone who has never watched football seeing an arena football game and thinking they are watching an NFL game. It's just not the same.
AA, I love the blog, but if you want to see how MMA should be done, watch Faber vs. Pulver tonight on Versus. It's WEC (so not quite UFC), but I can guarantee it'll be much more impressive than CBS's showing.
in fact, here's Kevin Iole saying it much better than I can:
ReplyDeletehttp://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news;_ylt=AtyCe_wP.CRIoYQplyoDKLY5nYcB?slug=ki-elitexctv060108&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
Thompson's ear makes me not want to watch MMA anymore
ReplyDeleteDid anyone else notice Kimbo tapping out in the standing guillotine? Quickly though, the camera panned out about 100 yards away from that.
ReplyDeleteThis was an embarrassment for mma enthusiasts everywhere. I thought the Lawler/Smith fight was going well… until the doctor stoppage. They should have given him the full five minutes and then checked his eye out.
And why did the Carano/Young fight only have 3 minute rounds? If they were five minute rounds, Carano could have submitted Young with that RNC at the end of round two.
I could go on and on… the fluff in that show was absolutely unbearable.
WEC show Sunday night >>> EliteXC show Saturday night. That is all.
ReplyDelete^^ Agreed on WEC tonight. At least the 11,000 fans in Sacramento appreciated the technical aspect of MMA, unlike those so-called "New Jawsey fans" booing during Smith-Lawler last night. Torres-Maeda and Pulver-Faber are solid fight of the year candidates.
ReplyDeleteI was at the fight in Newark and I can say it was not fixed.
ReplyDeleteKimbo did not tap. Kimbo showed skill in breaking out of some holds, was able to rotate his hips and overpower Thompson.
The Carano fight was strange because she didn't even bother to make weight. But it was exciting.
We booed Smith-Lawler because it was 2 minutes of walking around. Once it got good the fans loved it. The stoppage was disappointing but if you tell a doctor you can't see, they're not going to get you go back out there and get your brains beat in by punches you can't see coming.
Dana White and UFC make much more money on PPV than they ever would on CBS, NBC or Fox.
Obviously the guys in EliteXC are not as good as the top guys in UFC but this card was very entertaining.
MMA purists are a bunch of uptight assholes who had their minds made up about Kimbo before they saw him fight.
The truth is Kimbo would probably lose to top UFC heavyweights but he showed enough technical skill and defense to at least survive a couple of rounds. His conditioning is suspect and most MMA fans and fighters rightfully feel he has been given too much too soon, but it's only his third fight, he has time to develop and improve.
Here's the other thing, all these hardcore MMA fans who say this card was subpar would probably watch another one if they have it. For MMA to work on network TV, they need to draw in the casual fan.
And any true MMA fan should want the sport to succeed on CBS so that it can reach a broader audience and continue to grow. Plus it would be nice to be able to follow the sport without shelling out $50 every two weeks.
I hope I set the record for longest comment.
Glad to see Gus Johnson giving his best Jim Ross impersonation. Hopefully his career doesn't take too big of a dive after this "awesome" display of fighting.
ReplyDeleteI watched that mess on TV. About half way through I realized I was just watching a WWF match, only instead of pretending to hit each other they actually followed through with their puches. Same scripted feel to everything although you could tell they paniced a bit with Kimbo and after the first round must have told the ref to stop the fight the second the limey looked dazed. He didn't look any worse than in the first round when Kimbo had the energy to knock him out and couldn't follow through. I've been a Kimbo fan for a while, watching his fights on youtube, but he's a brawler not cut out for mma. If he wanted to go mainstream/make more money he should have gone into boxing where he doesn't have to worry about going to the ground.
ReplyDeleteAll of MMA is not riged. The Kimbo fight was a joke and I do agree it looked fixed. I have footage that people havent seen of Kimbo getting knocked out cold by an unknown . Every time I stick it on you tube they flag it right away. I have it uploaded on my site right now, check it out. You guys will love this
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cagewars.blogspot.com