An Insider’s Take on MMA’s Big Adventure

This past Saturday’s Elite XC card on CBS, the network debut of mixed martial arts in North America, was by all accounts a historic event for MMA. But for the sport’s purists and pundits, that’s where the consensus ends. Despite the overwhelming success of the broadcast (it was the most-watched MMA event in history), the presence of Kimbo Slice as the featured attraction and the controversial finish to his fight has many die-hard fans decrying the event as a poor representation of the sport and a travesty as its prime-time moment on network television.

To get an insider’s take on all the fallout, I turned to the most plugged-in MMA insider I know, Ariel Helwani, the managing editor of mmarated.com, one of the best MMA sites on the web. Ariel was ringside covering the Elite XC card Saturday night (check out all of his exclusive interviews from the event) and has all the dirt on the controversy surrounding it. I interviewed him yesterday.

Ariel: Well, the last time that I was there was for UFC 78, and I thought this was a much different crowd. Granted that was one of UFC’s weaker cards in recent years, but that said, the atmosphere this past Saturday night was much more electric. A perfect example of that was the Gina Carano fight. The whole arena was chanting her name. I definitely didn’t hear anything like that at UFC 78. I mean, you rarely hear anything like that – it was amazing. This really felt like a major sporting event. And for everyone who’s ripping on Elite XC for the way they put this card together, I have to tell you, this felt like a crowd that was there to see knockouts. People are complaining about the quick KO’s, but the crowd didn’t seem to mind that at all. It definitely felt like a lot of new fans coming out to check out Kimbo Slice, maybe Gina Carano, but who didn’t have any real interest in pure mixed marital arts. They wanted to see knockouts and they wanted to see drama and you have to admit, they got what they wanted. In that sense the show really delivered.

Large: That’s a perfect segue into my next question, which is about the internet chatter about the card amongst the MMA faithful. It’s my impression that it hasn’t been good.

Ariel: No, you’re right. Everyone is very upset about it. Everyone is saying that the fight was rigged, that Gary Shaw’s a scumbag, that Kimbo Slice has no place on any MMA card. I’ve heard very little from hardcore MMA fans that was positive.

Large: Yeah, it’s funny, because after we talked the other day I was in the gym and there were some martial arts guys there hating on it as well, saying that they thought the quality of fights was poor and that on the whole it was a really bad advertisement of MMA. I have to say I tend to agree with them, and that’s definitely the line that I took in my piece here at The Sporting Blog. So I’m curious to hear your take.

Ariel: I couldn’t disagree with you more. Did someone bill this card as the ultimate night of MMA competition? No. You knew Kimbo Slice was fighting, you knew he was fighting James Thompson, you knew this was not B.J. Penn and Rampage Jackson. So what the hell were you expecting? All of these purists on the internet are getting so uppity about this thing. Look, the sport is called mixed martial arts for a reason. This was two guys in there duking it out and standing and banging and what’s wrong with that? People who think this was a bad representation of the sport just don’t get it. MMA has been around for fifteen years in North America and it was Kimbo Slice of all people who got it on network television, not Randy Couture, not Chuck Liddell, not Tito Ortiz. So I think we should give the guy a little credit. Is he the best out there? No. But he’s never claimed to be the best out there. Kimbo was the main event because he’s a very big attraction right now and that’s it. Do I disagree with the fact that he was fighting in the main event? Maybe. But the key is this – you put Kimbo Slice on the card and then you fill the rest of it out with true mixed martial artists, and that’s very good for the sport. And that’s what they did the last time, when he fought Tank Abbott, and that’s what they did this time too. I think they‘re doing a good job.

Large: But I think you’re missing the point a little bit, maybe because you’re a little too close to it all. For a lot of people, this is the first MMA event they ever saw in their lives. It’s not hard for me to imagine being a longtime MMA fan or participant and being disappointed that this particular card functioned as the sport’s coming-out party in the U.S. How do you feel about that?

Ariel: Well, in terms of ratings, as you know, it did amazingly well, and the ratings went up every quarter hour which means that people definitely weren’t turning it off. But look, okay, yes, if I had my druthers for the first MMA show on network television, would it feature Kimbo Slice and company? No. I’d have Georges St. Pierre and BJ Penn and Rampage Jackson, but those guys are the big dogs and they’re with UFC and the fact of the matter is that the UFC had ample opportunity to get their product on network television – on CBS and on HBO – and for a whole host of reasons they didn’t take advantage of it.

Large: Explain that a little bit, because I think there are a lot of people out there that don’t understand that and that’s part of the problem here. People think that if MMA is going to be on CBS that the biggest and most accomplished stars of the sport should be representing it, not a raw sideshow type of fighter like Kimbo. They don’t understand the role the different organizations play in that.

Ariel: Yeah, no, it’s true. A lot of people out there think UFC is a sport in and of itself – they think it’s “basketball” when it’s really the NBA. But so anyway, here’s the thing - late last year, it looked like UFC was going to end up on HBO. There are different stories as to why it didn’t happen, but most people said it was because HBO wanted production control. Now you and I know that HBO has great producers, they do most of their stuff in house, and so of course they wanted to use their own announcers, their own trucks, etc. But Dana White didn’t want that. He wants his guys calling it, his guys producing it. There’s always been this attitude with them that they don’t want anyone else covering UFC because they think they do it best. Which is kind of ridiculous when you think about it. I mean, does David Stern or Roger Goodell get to decide who covers their sports? Obviously not. If the UFC wants to be considered legit and not a WWE-type of attraction then they’re going to have to cede some control and let the mainstream media cover it like a real sport. CBS came to UFC also – this was during the writer’s strike - and it was the same thing. It looked like it was going to happen and then it fell through because of the same control issues and then out of nowhere Elite XC comes swooping in, and they had the hook, and so there you go.

Large: So that’s how it happened that this former strip-club bouncer guy became the featured attraction of MMA on network television.

Ariel: Pretty much, and I guess at some level that’s a little unfortunate, but I keep coming back to this – I was watching PTI yesterday, I was watching Jim Rome, and they were all talking about the CBS card. They said “MMA,” they said “Elite XC” – they didn’t even know what the hell those words meant just a couple of days ago. So for me, I’m of the mind that for this up and coming sport that needs exposure, any press is good press, even if it’s negative. And, honestly, I still don’t see what’s so negative about it. It was a fun night, there was drama, there were some good finishes. I really don’t understand why everyone is so down on it.

Large: Considering that the ratings were so good, it certainly doesn’t seem like anything to be down about. What do you hear about the next CBS/Elite XC show?

Ariel: It was supposed to be July 26th but Elite XC is saying now that that’s too soon for them. It’s probably going to happen at the end of September. And the heavy rumor now is that they realize that their roster is kind of thin and that they can’t put Kimbo and Gina Carano out there on every card and so they’re going after a big free agent who could really help them please the hardcore fans as well as the casual fans – that’s Tito Ortiz. Ortiz has said that he’s very interested in signing with them. If I was a betting man, I’d lay down money on Ortiz being on the next CBS card.

Large: What about the whole Brett Rogers controversy? Is the Rogers/Kimbo fight going to happen now?

Ariel: Gary Shaw told me he has no interest in making that fight, which I think is completely idiotic. Rogers is a stander and banger, a perfect opponent for Kimbo, but Shaw says it doesn’t make “dollars and sense.” So what, James Thompson and Tank Abbott – they made dollars and sense and Rogers doesn’t? Brett Rogers was one of the real stories of the whole event. He starts the night as a curtain-jerker and ends it as a known quantity that people want to see fight. It was brilliant the way he called out Kimbo, and in many ways he was speaking for a lot of mixed martial artists out there by saying hey, look, I don’t appreciate you getting this spotlight because you don’t deserve it. For me, I loved it – I want to see those guys fight tomorrow.

Large: I have to think that the main reason Shaw wouldn’t do it is because Rogers might beat Kimbo and that would take money out of everyone’s pocket.

Ariel: Well they’ve been talking about getting Sean Gannon for a while, the guy who beat Kimbo in that infamous video. I really hope they don’t. I mean, they got their ratings this time with Kimbo, but it’s all about the second show and I hope they do it right. In Brett Rogers’ last fight he beat James Thompson. So from a pure matchmaking angle, not to mention what’s right, he deserves a shot. But like you say, the big reason that they wouldn’t do it is because they’re afraid that the Kimbo money train might get derailed.

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