Brad VanHorn
06-01-2008, 11:48 AM
Did anyone see the EliteXC circus on CBS last night? I didn't actually see the whole show, since I was far more interested in the Stanley Cup finals; however, I did check on the fights when time permitted and I did see the final fight of the night. Frankly I think this was a disaster for CBS. The fight clips I saw were practically awful, less the female fighters, who were surprisingly pretty entertaining.
The greatest insult to MMA last night had to be the heavyweight fight featuring Kimbo Slice. It was extremely clear to even the uninitiated like my wife that Kimbo had not even the slightest clue of how to fight (less throwing huge, wild punches), and his opponent was hardly any better. James "Colossus" Thompson took Kimbo down with relative ease, then failed to capitalize on the fact Kimbo had no idea what to do on his back, although it quickly became equally clear Thompson was only slightly more knowledgeable about how to fight from the ground (at least Thompson offered a viable guard the one time he needed it). Kimbo spent much of the fight on his back with Thompson on top in an awkward side mount. Kimbo offered no guard/half guard and if Thompson had a clue how to ground fight he could've passed to a full mount without effort. At one point Thompson had both of Kimbos arms trapped and an armbar or other submission would've once again been a simple task if Thompson really knew what he was doing.
In another example of incompetence, Kimbo attempted a guillotine on a couple occasions. These attempts were aided greatly by Thompsons reckless and risky takedowns, which were sadly working most of the time. In one instance, had Kimbo understood how to pull guard, he probably could have set a solid, inescapable guillotine, but Thompson simply rotated out of the headlock by moving his body around Kimbo. If Kimbo had even a half-assed guard/half-guard, then Thompson couldn't have moved away, and the choke might've actually worked.
I know it's a simple matter to criticize from home, but this is such basic stuff for even amateurs, and these guys are so-called "professionals". To be honest I was dumbfounded by the incompetence...
Interestingly I found the commentators were almost equally incompetent during this fight (less Frank Shamrock, who obviously understands the game, but isn't an experienced commentator). For example, when Thompson made a half hearted attempt at an Americana arm-lock (which he should have gotten), a commentator rambled on about how Thompson was attemtping a Kimura. I know the Americana by several names, but a Kimura is a completely different (albeit closely related) arm-lock. It might be worthwhile for CBS to have commentators who actually understand what they are seeing, and who can actually make a coherent commentary on the fight.
Well, I've rambled quite a bit, so I'll conclude with this... Frankly I believe this was a very poor effort and did little to promote MMA, especially when compared with existing fight series like WEC on VS. and of course UFC. The atmosphere of the show felt more like the WWF, and the quality of the fighting was pretty bad (what I saw anyway). EliteXC has a long road ahead if this show was any indication of their future performance.
The greatest insult to MMA last night had to be the heavyweight fight featuring Kimbo Slice. It was extremely clear to even the uninitiated like my wife that Kimbo had not even the slightest clue of how to fight (less throwing huge, wild punches), and his opponent was hardly any better. James "Colossus" Thompson took Kimbo down with relative ease, then failed to capitalize on the fact Kimbo had no idea what to do on his back, although it quickly became equally clear Thompson was only slightly more knowledgeable about how to fight from the ground (at least Thompson offered a viable guard the one time he needed it). Kimbo spent much of the fight on his back with Thompson on top in an awkward side mount. Kimbo offered no guard/half guard and if Thompson had a clue how to ground fight he could've passed to a full mount without effort. At one point Thompson had both of Kimbos arms trapped and an armbar or other submission would've once again been a simple task if Thompson really knew what he was doing.
In another example of incompetence, Kimbo attempted a guillotine on a couple occasions. These attempts were aided greatly by Thompsons reckless and risky takedowns, which were sadly working most of the time. In one instance, had Kimbo understood how to pull guard, he probably could have set a solid, inescapable guillotine, but Thompson simply rotated out of the headlock by moving his body around Kimbo. If Kimbo had even a half-assed guard/half-guard, then Thompson couldn't have moved away, and the choke might've actually worked.
I know it's a simple matter to criticize from home, but this is such basic stuff for even amateurs, and these guys are so-called "professionals". To be honest I was dumbfounded by the incompetence...
Interestingly I found the commentators were almost equally incompetent during this fight (less Frank Shamrock, who obviously understands the game, but isn't an experienced commentator). For example, when Thompson made a half hearted attempt at an Americana arm-lock (which he should have gotten), a commentator rambled on about how Thompson was attemtping a Kimura. I know the Americana by several names, but a Kimura is a completely different (albeit closely related) arm-lock. It might be worthwhile for CBS to have commentators who actually understand what they are seeing, and who can actually make a coherent commentary on the fight.
Well, I've rambled quite a bit, so I'll conclude with this... Frankly I believe this was a very poor effort and did little to promote MMA, especially when compared with existing fight series like WEC on VS. and of course UFC. The atmosphere of the show felt more like the WWF, and the quality of the fighting was pretty bad (what I saw anyway). EliteXC has a long road ahead if this show was any indication of their future performance.