The Anatomy Of A Pseudo Event

The pseudo-event, created by P.T. Barnum, is an event that exists only in order to gain media publicity. Without the media, nothing meaningful actually occurs at the event, so pseudo-events are considered “real.”

A pseudo-event is hype…the manipulation of something to convince the media that you are a big shot. When executed correctly, the pseudo-event can work incredibly. For example; Lil Wayne (one of my absolute favorite rappers) allegedly bought 250,000 copies of his brand new album “Tha Carter III” (which may I add, is a must listen).

Petruzelli on record, stated that Elite XC (the MMA promotion carrying the fight) paid him, to abandon his normal strategy, and take slice head on in what would be closer to a boxing match.

Now, as fate would have it, many other people bought his album too, but to anyone that didn’t know that Mr. Carter bought an incredible percentage of his own work, the album looks like the fastest selling album ever and all of a sudden it is a must have for two million more people. Things worked out in the end for Lil Wayne because the album was dope and it didn’t matter.

An example like that shows the risk of a pseudo event. Had people knew on day one that Lil Wayne did that; they probably would have said, “wow! That must mean this album is garbage.” But instead, he looks like a business genius.

Problem is, the making a pseudo-event can often be exposed, leaving egg on the faces of anyone involved. And this had to have been the worst one in a while…

Seth Petruzelli (the man who beat Kimbo Slice in less than 20 seconds), was interviewed yesterday on the radio. When asked what his strategy was, he had a response that was interesting to say the least.

Petruzelli said that his original strategy was to get Slice on the ground and work him over with submissions. Essentially, like anyone with a brain, Petruzelli wanted to take advantage of another fighter’s inexperience. You may then be wondering how Petruzelli was able to take out Slice Head on in 15 seconds without even trying to push him to the mat…And here’s where it get’s interesting.

Petruzelli on record, stated that EliteXC (the MMA promotion carrying the fight) paid him, to abandon his normal strategy, and take slice head on in what would be closer to a boxing match. This fight would obviously favor Slice, who has no background in the martial arts. Petruzelli took the money, and as you may know by now, also took the win.

But he wasn’t the only one who took money. Kimbo Slice demanded more money for facing a different opponent that he hadn’t prepared for.

So not only did EXC pay Kimbo to lose to a different fighter; EXC paid a different fighter to fight in a style that would drastically favor Kimbo Slice. AND SLICE STILL LOST.

Ladies and Gentlemen: I present to you, a failed attempt at a pseudo-event. Here is a raw street fighting legend, who lacked real MMA skill. So the name of the game became, build him up by putting him in matches that would drastically favor him, and pay the opposition to do so. Petruzelli winning this fight and then talking candidly about it, caught a pseudo-event in the making.

It’s the same thing as the legendary Sergio, who has never attempted to do a tumble on a high-wire before, but somehow attempted it yesterday and succeeded.

But even with all of that said, that is not what bothered me the most about all of this. What if Petruzelli was not ready to fight Slice that night, took the payoff, and then took a right square to the jaw and died in the center of that octagon? We would have never heard this story, and the pseudo-event would have lived on.

Scary stuff right?