Chicks Heart Fights

I don’t think I have ever watched a night of fights where the fights have been good, but I was still disappointed. It’s a shame that EliteXC was afraid to just let the fighters fight. I hate to be a conspiracy theorist, but it seems that the referee and fight doctor were told to be more conservative. Was it because they were on network TV? Was America not ready for the sight of James Thompson’s ear flapping in the wind? A breakdown of the show, after the jump.

The Fights: The fights were good, for the most part. There was lots of action, though the technique left something to be desired. The jiu-jitsu was straight out ugly.

• Bret Rogers vs. Jon Murphy: Quick knockout, decent striking, but too fast to tell if either fighter had any talent.
• Joey Villasenor vs. Phil Baroni: How great was it to see Phil Baroni get knocked out? Any man who makes a WWE style entrance needs to get punched, and hard. Hopefully, he will retire.
• Gina Carano vs. Kaitlin Young: A decent debut for women’s MMA. Carano looked sluggish and out-of-shape, but she can flat out punch. This is the one doctor’s stoppage I agree with, because Young looked like she didn’t know where she was. The only thing that really bothered me was the slow, slow punches that these women were throwing. The fighter who can have great hand speed will be the woman who wins the belt.
• Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith: During this fight, one of the announcers said that Lawler was one of the best middleweights in the world. Not so much. When you can’t finish Scott Smith, a fighter who couldn’t hack it in the UFC and isn’t smart enough to keep his mouth shut when the fight doctor is around, then you’re not even in the top ten. This doctor’s stoppage was questionable, but it can be blamed on Smith’s big mouth.
• Kimbo Slice vs. James Thompson: Well, it was better than I expected. Kimbo tried to have a ground game, but he was clearly a novice. He should never have been on the ground that long in the second period, taking elbows from Thompson. At the same time, why would Thompson not try to take Kimbo down immediately in the third? This was another questionable stoppage. A flapping ear is not a reason to stop a fight. Blood is not a reason to stop a fight. Could it be that Elite XC really needed Kimbo to win?

The Production: When a show is scheduled to go two hours, and there was no more than an hour of fighting, why would you go nearly an hour over scheduled time? There was too much outside stuff that had nothing to do with fighting in this broadcast. That stuff should be filler, not the main thing. The entrances were reminiscent of the old PRIDE events, which was fine (save Phil Baroni.) The dancing girls, endless profiles, and half hour to start the show were not fine.

The announcers: Renallo needs to decide if he is the fighters’ friends, or a broadcaster. His bias was palpable. Shamrock was actually pretty good, though he sure is impressed with himself. He needs to learn that he is not the main attraction any more - the fights are. Gus Johnson was good, but he vacillated between calling MMA a cerebral art form and “dirty boxing.” Every MMA fan in the country cringed when he said that.

From what I’ve read on other blogs and message boards, I was not the only one disappointed by the fights. Elite XC seemed hell bent on winning MMA fans from the masses, but they may have lost the core MMA fans that were already on their side.

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