So, I'm sitting on my couch this Friday night watching a little UFC on Spike. As I'm waiting for the replay of the Thiago Alves/Karo Parysian fight to come on, I thought I'd rummage on the Internet and check out some the latest MMA news.
I head over to Sherdog.com (a great MMA website, for those who are unfamiliar), and I see they have the video up for the weigh-ins for tomorrow night's "anticipated" Saturday Night Fights card, produced by none other than MMA's relative circus show known as EliteXC.
I usually like to check out the weigh-ins for events, mostly just to see if anyone didn't make weight and to see the shame on their face. I watched the weigh-ins for this one and nothing out of the ordinary occurred for the most part. EXCEPT for two particular moments. (I encourage you to all check out the video on Sherdog.com.)
One of those is having Gina Carano getting naked on stage to try and make weight. Now don't get me wrong fellas, I love the ladies, and Gina Carano is a good looking one at that, but the idea of having a female fighter stripping down to nothing on stage in front of the audience is fishy to me.
Now you may say, "Hey Jake, male fighters do it all the time." I would say that that is even unnecessary. Have the fighter go in the back and disrobe, and let us know if the fighter made weight or not. I don't care to see a bunch of towels held up and people looking the other way as a naked dude hopes he can make weight.
But as it pertains to female fighters, especially the most famous one in MMA, EliteXC, being the attention hounds they are, probably decided that this may be good publicity to have a good looking lady like Carano having to disrobe and having millions of dudes wondering what is behind those towels.
There is no need for that, and the idea that we want MMA to be legit, and especially for those people who want female MMA to be legit, I feel it does not in any way take a step forward in movement that by having female MMA fighters disrobing completely on stage when it's just as simple and more reasonable to do it in the back.
EliteXC may draw a few more viewers though, and I'm sure it will be mentioned at least once on tomorrow's broadcast.
That wasn't even what b made me shake my head though. The last weigh-in, of course that being Ken Shamrock and Kimbo Slice, summed up what EliteXC wants as their niche in MMA. The WWE.
As both fighters are posing for pictures to the camera, Kimbo turns his back and out of nowhere Ken pushes Kimbo and all hell breaks loose. Ken Shamrock wasn't a good "actor" when he was in the WWF, and he hasn't improved.
I'm so tired of boxing promotions and now apparently MMA promotions choreographing "fights" at the way-ins, especially ones that are brutal to watch.
I can just see it now.....
"Ken you push Kimbo and then Kimbo, you get all angry and push toward Ken and a bunch of people will get in between and you both act like you want to get at each other and maybe we'll make SportsCenter
6 comments Last one added 9 months ago — Leave a Comment
Dorothy Willis 9 months ago
I loved this article! I have always feared that the UFC would end up as a cross between a legitamate sport and the farce of WWE because of Dana White's yearning for "showmanship" and his hiring Brock Lesnar. This is exactly what could happen to the UFC. *****
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rich green 9 months ago
The only redeeming thing i can find about EliteXC is there willingness to Cross-Promote,
if the UFC wasnt so hell bent on being the "one and only"
they could create HUGE co-promoted matches that would send the PPV
numbers through the roof
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J. Michael Morris 9 months ago
Of course they are willing to cross-promote, they have no fighters.
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Bkilla 9 months ago
When ken pushed kimbo it did look pretty damn fake. They decided to play it at the very beginning of the event tonight :) They also showed some video about Carano derobing for her weigh in while they were interviewing her :D maybe they can cross promote with the WWE next...
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Joseph Lupoli 9 months ago
"My name is Joe, and I'm an MMA-oholic"
Yes, it all started so innocently: me, a mere lad, glued to ESPN boxing and buying up all the RING and KNOCKOUT magazines. I would spend hours per day scrutinizing every fighter and all the weight classes. Oh! The guilt and shame of it all! But I was hooked. It's a disease...it wasn't my fault. And as shady promoters like Don King and Bob Arum gained power and momentum, the false hype and staged pre-fight altercations they force-fed us began insulting my intelligence. Boxing gradually turned on me.
Then in 1993, a new high came along and rescued me from certain doom: the ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIPS. But alas, its reign, though sweet, was short. Congress banned it and refused to legalize it until the UFC surrendered to the Athletic Commissions 20,000-rules-under-the-sea. They even forced a scoring, ten-point must system on the UFC. It's mixed martial arts for God sake, not boxing! At least that's what I thought at the time. But by legalizing MMA in the U.S., the gradual evolution brought us great epic battles, one after another, and now, right on network TV!
So, we junkies should be happy, right? Well...no. Not when they "make" Gina Carano get naked at her weigh-in in front of an audience and a zillion cameras. Maybe if Gina's body wasn't wasn't blocked by towels, or if one of those towels fell I wouldn't be bitching about bogus hype and staged altercations. But to me, it appears that because Congress and the State Athletic Commissions have anesthetized and homogenized MMA in the U.S. into a generic, shock-proof product, what's left BUT to create bogus shock value? They've got to pay the fighters somehow.
So, we put up with Ken SHAM-rock's pre-fight shenanigans, and the over-hyping of a U-Tube street fighter with the skill level of a mediocre, four-round boxing fill-in, by the name of Keven Ferguson. Only, Kevin Ferguson is no name for a top U-tube fighter! Come On! It's "Kimbo Slice," homeboy! You feel me?
Well done article, Jake! Keep up the good work.
Joseph Lupoli
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Scott Beam 9 months ago
I see things a little different. Elite XC is the bottom of the barrel when it comes to MMA, however Gina having to disrobe should be no surprise. She has had troubles making weight in the past. She was covered. If one of the towels "accidentally" slipped, or if Gina refused to be covered, then you would have a point. Male MMA fighters have had to do this for years, there should be no difference for women, so long as there is no "wardrobe malfunctions".
The Kimbo/Shamrock incident at the weigh ins does seem to be a little bit fishy.
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