http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=dw-slice052808&prov=yhoo&type=lgns Anyone want to share any thoughts on this? Seems to show some favoritism towards the UFC, in my oppinion, but he does echo my own concerns that maybe a former backyard brawler with about a year of formal training going into his third pro fight, maybe isn't the guy you want to headline your show with. On the other hand, by blatantly protecting a guy with so much build-in intrigue and popularity, they can keep making big bucks off of him. What do y'all think?
I think Kimbo being the main event is very interesting. I think it's nice to see that people can have success in MMA without being your textbook halfway decent muay thai/boxer and expert BJJ/Wrestler. I enjoy watching Kimbo fight for one of the same reasons i like to watch Karo Parisyan or GSP. (i'm not comparing them to each other in any way) They have a different MA platform than your usual MMA guys, and I just love the variety.
I'm miffed at the article, this guy is a jerk, to be honest. I don't know what I think of Kimbo. I'll have a better idea Friday night. What's ****ing me off about all these articles is that no one mentions that the guy is training with Bas Rutten. A freaking MMA LEGEND. Let me repeat... LEGEND. I am not gonna go run to youtube to see what Kimbo used to do to make bucks; I'm gonna see what he can pull off on Saturday night. What also ****es me off is that these articles aren't mentioning the other fighters on the card. Bobby Lawler, Gina Carano, Phil Baroni... all established fighters that most MMA fans know; they may not be the "A-List" fighters on the main UFC cards, but hey, Baroni was a UFC staple at one point and Elite is one of the few leagues willing to promote female fighters. Is CBS hyping some dude who's using MMA to pull himself up by his bootstraps? Probably. But how about they wait and see what CBS puts on Saturday night instead of crying about how the sky is falling before the show even airs. The only thing in that article which I agree with is that it wasn't the brightest move to schedule a fledgling attempt at MMA on network TV the same weekend as the Pulver/Faber fight. It creates too many comparisons.
No argument about the jerk part. Dude seems pretty condecending to me. And the bit about it being "desperate" and "hemoraging money" pretty much describes the UFC up until a few years ago, another reason why I think this guy had a definite Zuffa bias. I've seen a few articles on Carano out there, but by and large, this has been the Kimbo Show. And why not? He and Carano are probably the most intriguing fighters on the show to the general public. The street fighter and the pretty face. Beauty and the Beast, if you will. My feeling is that their marketing is more similar to pro wrestling than what the UFC has got going on, in that they're marketing personalities instead of fighters. Look at who they've got: Baroni, who's entertaining only 'cause he doesn't know when to shut up. Nick Diaz, who never fails to speak his mind either. Frank Shamrock, who's got an ego the size of the state of Montana. Ricco Rodriguez, who's been on "Celebrity Rehab" and "Human Weapon". Gina, who's face has been all over TV, including that kickboxing show on Lifetime and "American Gladiators". Kimbo, who's entire fame came from the internet. It does bother me that style-wise most of their roster consists of brawlers, but I'm not going to begrudge any fighter to make a living, regardless of how I feel about their fighting style. I am a little concerned though that the public perception of MMA as "human cockfighting" will continue due to the lack of technicians who are likely to be shown on TV. Get Ninja or Yves Edwards out there, ya know? But back to the marketing, you remember in the buildup to Jackson-Liddell 2, how Liddell was on TV just about every time you changed the channel? And he ended up losing? That's what I'm worried about. On the one hand, building the company around a set of personallities creates, I think, a more loyal fanbase. However, IMO, they're not building up the fights. Tell us something about James Thompson. Or how about having Kaitlin Young on "60 Minutes" to talk about how hard it is to ballance school and fight training? And of course you've got the veterans like Scott Smith, Baroni, and Lawler. Unfortunately, most of their fight footage is locked up by Zuffa. Still, as obnoxious as I find the NYBA, I've gotta say that his larger-than-life personallity would play well on TV. So tell us about him, and about Joe Villasenor, right? What do they think about their fight? Do they hate each other? You know Baroni's gonna talk some trash! Unfortunately outside of things like Sherdog and MMAweekly, that's just not gonna happen. Like with boxing, they never interview the undercard guys.
I'm not sure I agree with the "brawler" description. Baroni is a former Golden Gloves boxer; Carano trains at XTreme Couture; while Shamrock may have a big mouth, he has the goods to stand in the ring; and Ricco is a great "comebak" kid story who definitely had the goods at one point. A lot of their fighters may have big mouths, but they also have the skills to step into the ring. I can't agree or disagree with the promotion of this fight because but for running into this by chance whilst surfing the web, I wouldn't have known it was going on! Is CBS even promoting this on television?!? I agree that the promotion at this point is all about Kimbo Slice, and that CBS isn't really promoting this in the way we'd like them to. Seems more like a UFC 1-5 kinda promotion as opposed to the smart and sleek promos we see now from the UFC. So maybe if this sticks around ling enough we'll see better promotion from CBS
DB- You are of course correct about most of that. That's what I get for posting in the middle of an insomniac state. I meant to say that the event lineup, not the roster per se, was filled with people who liked to stand and trade. "Brawler" is not the right description for that. And to be honest, I guess I can't really say how their marketing the whole thing. I know that Kimbo was in a Mother's Day commercial on CBS, and that among all the other attention he and Carano have gotten probably made me jump the gun on the whole "marketing personalities" thing. BTW, did you hear that Carano weighed in almost 5lbs overweight? The fight will go on, but she's forfitting 12.5% of her purse to Young. Overall, despite some misgivings, I have to say I'm pleased that MMA is being broadcast on network TV, especially since they have a women's match lined up. As I understand it, they had scheduled two of them, the other one being Carina Damm vs. Debbie Purcell, which I would have loved to see, too, but Damm got popped for 'roids. Also on their card is a Bantamweight bout. I imagine we'll see a bit of the undercard, as again, there's going to be a lot of punches thrown in the main card, and a lot of potential for KO's.
