MMA Promotion Signs Prime Time Network TV Deal

In what could prove to be an interesting development Elite XC, an MMA promotion which is part owned by Showtime, has signed a network TV deal with CBS.

http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/wo/news/headlines/default.asp?aID=22192

 

Should come as no surprise since both CBS and Showtime are owned by Viacom.

 

So... a nipple can't be shown on CBS, but this crapola can?

 

We abhor sex yet love violence. Blame the Puritanical portion...

 

An excellent piece on the deal...

http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news;_ylt=AlSmid3hOgdebJNRAaE2zN49Eo14?slug=dm-elitecbs022808&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

 

While there’s certainly a contradiction between the attitude network TV exhibits towards sex and violence I don’t necessarily see how it relates to an MMA company getting a network television deal.

While many people may not like mixed martial arts, as is there preference, I’ve never heard anyone offer any real credible arguments as to why it shouldn’t be considered a sport. Most of the arguments seem to boil down to, “It’s not a sport because I don’t like it.”

If Golden Boy promotions signed a deal with CBS to televise De La Hoya’s retirement tour I don’t think anyone would be making points like the one above. If they would be then that is fair enough. People who see boxing as nothing more that legalised barbarism are quite entitled to say the same about MMA. Really they are.

The problem I find is when people try to present the argument that boxing is some how acceptable and a sport whereas MMA is like the coliseum come again. The cage, which is pretty much where MMA fights in the west take place, has connotations of savagery etc. I understand that.

The fact is though MMA is a safe sport. Well, it’s as safe as any combat sport that utilises striking is going to be. A while back John Hopkins University did a study based on six years worth of data provided by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. They found that MMA has roughly half the rate of brain injuries that boxing and kickboxing do. MMA has more joint injuries than those sports, but even joint injuries are less per capita than in the NFL.

Gary Shaw is, probably, going to promote Kimbo Slice as one of his top stars. Kimbo has charisma and can knockout out bad heavyweights. We shouldn’t forget that that he is nowhere close to a top heavyweight and is a completely unproven MMA commodity. I thought I’d mention this as a preface to my next point…

MMA fighters are not just a bunch of white trash or thug-life bar room brawlers. For instance the UFC have a show on Saturday. Anderson Silva versus Dan Henderson for the unified middleweight title headlines.

Anderson Silva is one of the best p4p MMA fighters in the world. He has no credentials that anyone who likes to dismiss MMA would really rate though. His credentials exist within the context of MMA. He’s a great Muay-Thai striker with a BJJ black belt. Those facts wouldn’t mean anything to those who have already dismissed the sport.

Dan Henderson, on the other hand, has gone to the Olympics, twice. That is something that might validate the argument that top MMA fighters are real athletes. That is to say, for those who require outside validation.

http://www.wrestlinghalloffame.org/champions/?names&wrestler=1648

Hidehiko Yoshida who was one of Pride’s top stars is an Olympic gold medallist in Judo.

Matt Lindland, arguably the best middleweight active in MMA and a man who certainly deserves to be mentioned along side Silva and Henderson, is an Olympic silver medallist.

http://www.wrestlinghalloffame.org/champions/?names&wrestler=1906

And so on…

I mention the Olympians in particular because if I were to try to validate the athletic credentials of MMA fighters by saying something like BJ Penn became the first ever non-native to win the black belt division of the Mundial (Brazilian ju-jitsu) World Championships I would be met with blank stares by some. BJJ is like karate, right?

Fedor Emelianenko might be the perennial world combat Sambo champion. Sambo is some Russian thing, right? If I haven't heard of it then it can't really be a sport.

The point I’m making is that disliking MMA is fine. Dismissing the sport out of hand is another. Trying to base some argument about the relationship between attitudes to sex and violence because an MMA promotion got a network deal seems to be taking it too far. Seeing correlations that don’t exist, so to speak.

 

7134 don't get your gi in a wad.

Simon made a legit observation that a flash of a nipple during the Super Bowl halftime sent the nation into a moral hissy fit, while a sport that revels in bloody violence won't.

And the fans of MMA better be ready, because after the first gnp results in pints of blood soaking the ring, there will be outrage over this sport. And the first time an already unconscious fighter is hit because the ref doesn't get there fast enough, there will be avalanche of columns denouncing the sport.

 

Yup, you're right Inky. The same know-nothing clowns who tried to claim MMA was a fad that would just shrivel up and go away a couple years ago will come back with the same tired anti-MMA bullshit next time they're staring at deadline and don't have a column idea.

 

Waaah Bruce. Anyone notice the demographic on this shit? It's fighting for white people by white people. Fight Club wannabee's who don't want to watch boxing because, you know, there aren't any tattooed white boys in it.

And it's boring as fuck fighting at that. High school wrestling with 'tude! Extreme!

And can someone explain the "martial arts" aspect. I don't recall any MMA-style throwdowns in Game Of Death. Bruce Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabar both weep.

 

They may not be tattooed, but there are plenty of "white boys" in boxing today. Maybe you missed Kelly Pavlik defeat Jermain Taylor twice, Ricky Hatton, Joe Calzaghe, Mikkell Kessler, and a complete white dominance of the heavyweight division right now.. there are other popular white fighters now such as Irish John Duddy and Junior Welterweight champ Paul Malignaggi.

I think Bruce did a fine job of debunking your idea that whites dominate UFC too, so you trying to make this into some sort of race issue is laughable.

 

You might've made a better point just shutting up.
If you don't know anything about the sport, it's best not to try to make points about it because it shows off your ignorance.

 

Has anyone bought boxing a tombstone yet?

R.I.P.

And until MMA and UFC and whatever other offshoots there are can consolidate like baseball (majors, AAA, AA, A) or the Primireship League, then it will never reach its full potential, IMHO. I want one champion. One. Not a MMA, mixed martial, UFC and all that other crap.

This is a big step forward, though.