Is This Really What All The Fuss Is About???

So I caught a little of the MMA thing on CBS last night. I had never really watched this except for when I was in Cancun on spring break when I was in college and something similar was playing on the TV in the bar I was at. Anyhow, I don't think I'll be tuning in anytime soon.

I flipped it on pretty late and got to see the final 2 fights of the night. When I turned it on, I was hoping that I hadn't missed this Kimbo Slice guy I kept hearing about on Sportstalk Radio and PTI. All I heard was about how much a beast this guy was and he's apparently the greatest fighter in MMA history. He was dominant. He was unbeatable. He's never lost. He knocks guys out in mere seconds. He IS what MMA is all about.

Well, when he was announced they commentators told me he was 2-0 in his MMA history with 2 KOs. Wait, I thought this guy was the greatest ever in the history of the sport?? How can he possibly be 2-0?? Shouldn't he be something like 40-0 if he's the supposed greatest the sport has ever seen??? Since this is broadcast on network TV, and not the Versus network, or ESPN 14 or some other no-name channel, this has to be the real deal, right? I must have heard wrong, no way he could be 2-0.

Apparently his claim to fame is his YouTube videos of him street brawling. Whatever.

So the fight finally gets started and I watch these 2 guys proceed to pummel each other for the first 5 minute round. There were about 4 times that I said to myself, "...this is over, no way this guy is going to stand up to the greatest ever Kimbo Slice..." But this guy, whoever he is, just kept fighting back.

By the end of the 2nd round the 2 were completely winded. They were lying on the ground, Kimbo was taking about 60 seconds worth of forearms to the head. Neither of them could move. I kept waiting for something amazing to happen, but they both just stayed in the corner of the ring, Kimbo getting pounded on. The announcers were more exciting than the fight. Sure, they were beating the shit out of each other, but nothing was really happening. The great Kimbo was just lying there taking the beating. The other guy was just, well, I don't know what he was doing??

To end the misery, Kimbo put about 4 solid shots to the head of the other guy and the ref jumped in to end the fight. All the announcers kept saying was that "...this was sooooo controversial...." What?? This guy was about to get killed!!!! 2 more shots to the head, and he still would have no idea what his name was!!

In conclusion, I'm not really impressed. I just don't have that much aggression in my body to watch 2 guys in a ring beating the hell out of each other. But I have also heard, from a couple of different sources, that this was a horrible display of what MMA is all about. Kimbo Slice is nothing more than a circus act. The other guys that were shown on the telecast were not the top notch guys in MMA. And I also read that CBS completely f'd up the show, it ran an hour too long, they were introducing people twice, and they were doing way too much talking and way too little fighting.

I'm not saying that Kimbo isn't a complete bad-ass. He is! The guy is huge. Quite a fighter. But apparently in the realm of MMA he's got quite a bit of work to do. Maybe I'll tune in again, I guess it depends on how good or bad my day has been until that point?? Who knows??

TV is real bad these days.

Oh, and one other thing I noticed about the fight last night. When Kimbo was getting acknowledged as the winner, there was some dude in his corner. This guy was fucking HUGE!!! I mean, HUGE!!!!!! I wish I could find a picture of him, this dude was enormous!! He was like the SNL skit about the All-Drug Olympics when Kevin Nealon pulls his arms off when he's trying to clean 1500 pounds! He was comic book huge!

In better news, Manny Ramirez hit his 500th homerun and is a .312 lifetime hitter. Impressive. He just hits. A lot of fun to watch!

The Indians just lost 2 of 3 to the Royals, they've scored 3 runs in the last 2 games. I don't even know what to say? I guess I should be happy I no longer live in Cleveland because I'm sure I would have watched every miserable AB this season and be even more upset than I already am about their dismal season.