MMAPredictions

This is the third in a new series of MMA commentary here on MMAPredictions called TKO: Tall Kid’s Opinion. Our commentator Eric Davidson is way too tall and way too brainy. Readers are encouraged to agree or disagree with his comments in our MMA Forum. - Caleb

Recent Events Begin to Paint Contrasting Colors

Recently, after EliteXC’s Return of the King, Nick Diaz appeared on the stage (and I emphasize stage) and blasted the recent victor, K.J. Noons, and his family in an apparent effort to promote their upcoming fight. What ensued made my stomach churn; Diaz’s provocations caused an uproar between the two families that exploded into a physical altercation that I was half expecting Jimmy from the Jerry Springer show to break up. Watching Noons’ father grabbing Diaz by the hair and conduct his own form of fighting was sickening.

Nick Diaz has come out saying that none of it was staged, that he was merely asked by producers to go out to the ring and promote their future fight. If you believe that then I have some cage-side seats to sell you for the Kimbo Slice/Jerry Lawler fight in August. This is the same group who use fireworks and dancing girls (see previous T.K.O.) to demonstrate the extreme nature that is their fighting atmosphere. Maybe Nick Diaz was right, maybe he really had no idea that he was walking into a Hatfield-McCoy type situation. In my mind’s eye, I can see an executive from CBS entertainment sitting in a large plush chair overlooking the events, stroking his long haired cat and slyly grinning to himself as a poster of Vince McMahon looms in the background. Okay, so maybe that’s a little dramatic, but it isn’t too far off from what the EliteXC is looking to become. I’m sure it was hard for Goldberg not to try and bounce off the cage and clothesline someone as they were running across the ring.

In the UFC, more specifically, The Ultimate Fighter, we see for the first time, a contestant kicked off the program after the show was over. Jesse Taylor, a fighter who looked promising going into the finals, was booted from broadcast following a drunken parade of poor behavior that is unbecoming of a professional fighter. In the video taken from what looks to be a hotel security camera, Taylor kicks out one of the windows of a limousine before running inside of the casino, wresting about with some of the other contestants, and hitting a slot machine. Forrest Griffin said it best after watching the video, “Alcohol is bad!” Dana White, who had a talk with the finalists before setting them loose in Las Vegas about proper conduct, kicked Mr. Taylor off of the show shortly after showing the video to the coaches.

I’ve been reading on the forums that some people have found this to be a case of punishment not fitting the crime. I couldn’t disagree more. Dana White is constantly fighting an uphill battle to keep a positive image (which has been discussed in this column more than once).

With groups like the EliteXC making a show of the sport, and the upcoming Affliction: Banned, which despite a decent fight card is having Megadeth perform at their event, the question becomes “what is the true face of Mixed Martial Arts on television right now?” (I, unlike my superior, and I use that term loosely, am not a huge Megadeth fan, sorry Caleb.) So, at the moment, I will continue to give my backing to the UFC and the WEC, despite the recent toy line…Mr. White. Winner by T.K.O.: the UFC and its subsidiaries.

- Eric

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This is the second in a new series of MMA commentary here on MMAPredictions called TKO: Tall Kid’s Opinion. Our commentator Eric Davidson is way too tall and way too brainy. Readers are encouraged to agree or disagree with his comments in our MMA Forum. - Caleb

I like to think that there are two kinds of MMA fans out there: The ones who enjoy an EliteXC event, and those who try everything not to go into a catatonic coma in between the actual Elite XC fights. What I am referring to is the showy, hammed up, urban themed, hip-hop, flashily lit, drawn-out, WWE styled walk outs that CBS Entertainment somehow deems crucial to a fighting arena.

For the MMA purist, this is torture. For anyone who has had any kind of fighting background (a serious fighting background, not just some bar brawls over who-spilled-whose Red Bull and vodka), watching these athletes come out dancing to the latest rap song or heavy metal tune is almost a slap in the face to martial arts. Yes, a good entrance is an entertaining way of introducing a fighter to the arena; something that sets the tone for who the fighter is, or just something to get him pumped up as he enters the arena. However, CBS Entertainment must think that the MMA crowd has the mind of a five-year old; enticing our minds with bright lights, fireworks, and loud music.

Kimbo Slice lays it on James Thompson at CBS EliteXC Saturday Night Fights. Photo courtesy EliteXC and Tom Casino.

Let’s take a look at what a well trained fight is. Having two competitors who’ve trained for months for a (max of) twenty five minutes in the ring together, both utilizing their preferred styles of combat, is a special happening that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Combat is one of, if not the oldest forms of interaction between mankind. Now that we’ve become civilized fighting is a sport, a way for two people to compete doing something they love. If it was a Spartan-sport there would be no cameras, just two men, a floor, and a cage.

However, since there are pockets to be filled one must appease the crowds and mass audiences that hold the means to fill these pockets. The UFC and the WEC do a very good job of balancing the two. The walk out is just the fighters taking the path from the back to the front, much like an NBA team does before a game. This pumps up the crowd and gets the fans eager to support their chosen player. The same goes for MMA. Then we move on to the dancing girls. Oh the dancing girls. If you are sitting at home or in the stands and watching the girls bump and shake every wiggly part of their body, and thinking to yourself “This is why I love this sport,” stop watching. Or, if you must continue to watch, please don’t go out and tell people that you’re a huge MMA fan. This is embarrassing for those of us who have a great love for the ideal of martial arts, not just a way to watch two guys pummel each other for 3-5 rounds. It seems as if the EliteXC panders to the latter crowd exclusively.

Those of you who watched the most recent EliteXC broadcast, you may have noticed that the championship bout was not the main event. Instead, EliteXC held their ratings trump card (a.k.a. – Kimbo Slice) until the end of the night. Was it worth the wait? Not even close. Watching Slice and James Thompson duke it out was not a far cry from Kimbo’s street fighting days. I don’t like reviewing the EliteXC for a reason, it would take too long for me to get anything out of the muck that goes around the actual fights. Therefore, I won’t get into why the fight was bad. Youtube it if you must.

All of these things seem to come down to one major point, one thing that puts the EliteXC at the bottom wrung of the MMA broadcasters: lack of respect for the sport. Instead of realizing what makes this sport stand alone from others, and using this to build a concrete arena for the viewers and practitioners, their mentality seems to be just make everything, bigger, louder, and more “extreme.” Winner by T.K.O.: all the other MMA broadcasters.

- Eric

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This is the first in a new series of MMA commentary here on MMAPredictions called TKO: Tall Kid’s Opinion. Our commentator Eric Davidson is way too tall and way too brainy. Readers are encouraged to agree or disagree with his comments in our MMA Forum. - Caleb

For all who watched UFC 84: Ill Will last Saturday you probably saw the headlining fight between B.J. Penn and Sean Sherk. An unusual boxing max between two renowned grapplers that ended with a victory for B.J. Penn over Sean Sherk right after the third round. The point under question now is: were B.J. Penn’s actions after the fight unsportsmanlike in a professional environment? Let’s take a look at the events leading up to the fight, to better help understand what could have happened.

Most of you know that the blood between the two fighters was anything but static before the fight. Sean Sherk previously lost his lightweight championship belt due to allegations of steroid use and felt that his belt still rightfully belonged to him, having not lost the belt in a fight but instead to a technicality. B.J. Penn was quite vocal after being presented with his prize, calling Mr. Sherk “dead” and adding plenty of statements about Sherk’s supposed steroid use. So obviously, when you place two people with different points of view in an arena where they use fists not words, there will be an emotional aspect to the conflict that will in evidently take its toll on the combatant’s actions. For the casual MMA fan this is what you want to see though. Drama, passion, tempers, combat, are all factors to an equation that equal a new gladiatorial coliseum, with the mob in tow.

On the flip-side, each fighter knowingly entered into a professional fighting arena, not an amateur fighting ring, not a back alley bar brawl, or a showy wrestling match. This is a professional sport now. At what point should the fighters take their ego out of the equations? At what point in their careers do they retain control over themselves and remember their responsibilities as a professional?

For the MMA purist, watching Penn’s display was probably frustrating. The man referred to as “The Prodigy,” and with good reason, let his feelings get the best of him and proceeded to try and smear a man’s face in the dirt after he’d already been knocked down. Yes it’s his trademark to lick the back of his gloves; like Wanderlei Silva’s wrist rolls or Keith Jardine’s odd mouth stretches, but to walk over to a man who just took a knee to the face and had all his hopes smashed for the night and wipe the sweat from his face is unprofessional.

In a street fight it might be okay. I’d even laugh and cheer for the guy who had the guts to perform such an act. At the UFC however, fighters should be expected to uphold a certain degree of honor. And although B.J. Penn collected himself afterwards and even invited Sherk to come train at his gym, it was the scene of Penn reaching past arena doctors, who were trying to make sure Sherk was alright, just so he could lick his blood/sweat that remains cemented in our minds. Winner by T.K.O.: unsportsmanlike conduct by B.J. Penn.

- Eric

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