Sunday, June 1, 2008

Elite XC

I've only written one blog post about MMA so far since I started writing online and it hasn't been from lack of interest or passion. I love MMA almost as much as I love football and watch all the major events that I can. I just don't think I'm more knowledgeable about the sport than the other people who blog about it and feel out of place. But, since the first network televison broadcast happened last night presented by Elite XC, I figured that the national audience of mine should at least get some kind of post about. And by national, I mean just me.

Now, I don't plan on commenting on each fight or anything like, just my general observations. Like the fact that the event had a very WWE feel to it. It felt like I was watching Monday Night Raw instead of a MMA show. Not that I felt the fights were rigged, but the cheerleaders and the entrances just felt like a little much.

Now, I'm not opposed to watching women fight. I mean, if a woman wants to get in there and mix it up, then that's their business. I mean, I won't lie, they could kick my ass without any problem whatsoever, however, if you want to be taken seriously, please don't come into the cage wearing makeup. I'm not sure if Gina Carano felt the need to look good before her fight, but to me that seems to be a bit much. I'm going to need confirmation from my girlfriend on whether she was or not, but I think I'm right.

The last thing I'm going to talk about is the main event and the fighter that Elite XC promoter Gary Shaw has banking on this past year and that's Kevin Ferguson, better known as Kimbo slice. First off, Kimbo was losing the fight going into the third round. And the fight should have been stopped in the second round. James Thompson had Kimbo pinned against the cage for 60 seconds, just pounding and elbowing him. But for some reason the ref didn't stop the fight. If the fight was in another organization or it was anyone but Kimbo, it would have been over then. But instead, at 38 seconds of the third round, Kimbo hit Thompson with a right that busted open Thompson's ear, and after a few more punches the ref ended the fight. But Thompson was still in it and it didn't appear that he was stunned all that bad. In fact, he took a swipe at the ref because he was disappointed that the ref had stopped it.

See, Thompson was supposed to be another lamb for Kimbo to just blow through and dominate. But he didn't. He was getting beaten, which I guess is a good thing, bad thing for Shaw. One one hand, Kimbo fought back after getting dominated in the first two rounds and won the fight, showing that as long as he isn't knocked out, he still has the power in his hands to do some damage. On the other hand, what does this do for the guy you've been touting as the heavyweight killer in your organization? This the guy who Shaw felt could beat anyone in the UFC, the top dog of MMA. And he almost loses to a guy who lasted 10 seconds against Butterbean. The tests are only going to get tougher for him and I wouldn't be surprised to see him lose his next fight, who might end up being Brett Rogers, someone Kimbo got into a scrap with during a postfight press conference.

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