From former Binghamtonian, Dan Rafael of ESPN

[Guest Guest]

With an open mind and a clean slate, I watched last Saturday night's entire Elite XC card on CBS, the first mixed martial arts event ever broadcast on network television. Those who read me regularly and chat with me each week know I'm not an MMA fan, but I am not a hater either. I've never had anything whatsoever against it and I've never gotten too caught up in the whole boxing vs. MMA nonsense. MMA is simply not my cup of tea.

 

But I truly wanted to see what the hype was all about. I had seen bits and pieces of Elite XC cards on Showtime, and I have watched a little UFC here and there, but I wanted to sit and watch an entire event to see what I was supposedly missing. From where I sat, I haven't been missing much.

 

All I can say about my experience watching the Elite XC card is this: I'll never get those 2 hours and 45 minutes of my life back. It's the last time I'll ever watch Elite XC.

 

The production was poor. Although the broadcasters did a nice job of initially explaining MMA to those of us who hadn't really watched before, the rest of the show was almost non-stop hype. Watching the overhead shots of the dancing girls gave me horrible flashbacks to HBO's "KO Nation" days. There were ring entrances that lasted longer than some fights. The stoppage on almost every bout was ridiculously quick. The pace of the show was agonizingly slow. The first 75 minutes produced two fights totaling 2:11 of combat. That is unacceptable. How in the world with five fights all resulting in stoppages did this monstrosity of a TV show run 45 minutes over its allotted time?

 

I did manage to stay awake to watch the heavily hyped main event between novice pro/acclaimed street fighter/Internet sensation Kimbo Slice and James Thompson.

 

It was a farce. I thought I saw Slice tap out in the first round, but maybe I'm wrong about that. What I did see was two extraordinarily unskilled fighters, a lot of Thompson plowing elbows into Slice's head while they were on the ground, and a premature third-round stoppage in house fighter Slice's favor when Thompson started bleeding from his nasty cauliflower ear.

 

If Bob Arum, Richard Schaefer or Don King ever served up such junk in a boxing main event, they'd be skewered by fans and press. Yet this found its way onto the "Tiffany Network" in prime time? It must be the end of the world.

 

I read some quotes from an Elite XC official somewhere during the pre-fight buildup saying that he would back Slice to defeat heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko. That had to have been a joke.

 

At the risk of igniting yet another boxing vs. MMA debate, I have no problem saying this: Under boxing or MMA rules, Klitschko would send Slice out of the ring/cage in a box. It would be an annihilation of ruthless proportions.

 

Maybe Slice will develop into a legitimate pro in MMA. I have no idea. I don't even care. But one writer friend of mine who covers MMA told me he believed that every single heavyweight and light heavyweight, and some middleweights, in the superior UFC would easily defeat him. And in boxing, even third-tier fighters in today's depressed heavyweight division would smash him into oblivion. Yet, sadly, he found his way onto the cover of ESPN The Magazine and onto a broadcast network in prime time.

 

In the end, however, the whole event was way more sizzle than steak.

 

 

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[dreamtheat81]

Ok, so Mixed Martial Arts is not everyones "cup-of-tea," and that is to be expected, but we can't base the entire sport off of Elite XC either. The fact is Elite XC is a fledgling company riding the coat-tails of its heavyweight, Kimbo Slice. Virtually its entire marketing campaign is centered around Kimbo. The reality is that Elite XC is setting Kimbo up for a major fall from the sport - plain and simple. They are pushing him to hard, to fast, and that is what will ultimately be his demise. Sure, he has the backing of Bas Rutten and Randy Couture, two legends of MMA, but that will only do so much. The reality of MMA is that the average age of MMA participants is early to late twenties. Kimbo is 34, and that is a fairly hard obstacle to overcome.

 

 

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