Kimbo: Just ‘Slice’ Off some of that Respectability
Published by on June 3rd, 2008 in Operation Cleanup

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Charles Jay
Commentary on MMA history….as it’s happening
JUST “SLICE” OFF SOME OF THAT RESPECTABILITY

I’m relatively new to this, which is why this may sound like a revelation, but it’s occurred to me that there are two groups of you out there – the folks that started to follow mixed martial arts in part because of what it was NOT, and those who are following it in the hope that it will become something else.

If you are part of the latter group, I’ll probably get some hate mail from you at the end of this particular piece.

I say this is the wake of Kimbo Slice’s win against someone named James “The Colossus” Thompson, a fight which, surprisingly, had a few twists and turns. Of course, maybe I should not have been so surprised, since I didn’t think that even the purveyors of this thing would be so brazen as to sell a complete tank job over to CBS in the hope of putting Kimbo, whose real name is Kevin Ferguson, over. Even so, I can tell you it wasn’t exactly their intention for Ferguson to be life-and-death (figuratively speaking, of course), going into the last round.

The fight was competitive, due to Ferguson’s obvious limitations, but as UFC president Dana White expressed on ESPN’s SportsCenter the next day, the sport certainly didn’t put its best foot forward on that night. I don’t think he would have necessarily been happy if it HAD, but that’s another discussion for this week….

I had people calling me about the blood and gore almost immediately after the fight. They had never seen a mixed martial arts event before, and this was their impression as to how it usually is. They won’t watch it again. Yeah kids, this may come as a shock, but not everybody gets off on the more disgustingly graphic aspects of life.

Mixed martial arts, which had been far out of the mainstream when it was conducting its Wild West shows in the early 1990s, had a long, arduous road in making its way into the consciousness of an audience outside of its own cult. When MMA moved into what I might call its “reform” era, which, I think is fair to say, was after Zuffa LLC took over the UFC and sought to make it, in the words of Sumner Redstone, a little more “socially responsible,” part of the marketing push was that the sport was not going to go the way of boxing, with fighters being created in phony fashion and pushed up the ladder against “opponents,” ultimately at the expense of the fans.

The UFC managed to do this quite well, while simultaneously maintaining the kind of “in-your-face” attitude that drew the demographic it was looking for. That’s quite an accomplishment.

Using their success as a springboard, other promoters naturally entered the fray. One of them had the opportunity to usher the sport to a new level with the first-time-ever exposure on broadcast network TV. Let’s face it; this was going to get a lot of attention because CBS had been advertising it as far back as the Final Four. Nobody in this sport, and I mean NOBODY, had ever gotten that much free promotion before that many eyeballs.

Not only was it a huge opportunity, it was a big responsibility as well. It was a chance to take a big step forward, toward widespread acceptance from the mainstream media, perhaps dreaded by some, but nonetheless necessary to improve the state of mixed martial arts on all levels. Instead, there was a lot of rejection. I’m not sure the promoters of this event really cared, but for a lot of people who had put in a lot of work over the years trying to build something, that work went out the window. Remember, athletic commissioners – some of which have not yet approved MMA in their jurisdictions – were probably watching this. What do you think they thought? How many gross cauliflower ears, exaggerated for effect, do you think they’re interested in dealing with?

Well, if their opinion was shaped in any way by the media coverage after the event, I’d be a little worried. Look – the event was a ratings success by any measure; what was there, 4.5 million viewers at its peak? Not to mention a lot of people watching it in bars, etc.? That’s a big audience. You may argue that if the UFC draw a million or so fans to a pay-per-view show, that audience means more money. And maybe the residual effect of this CBS spectacle will boost those numbers. Maybe not.

But to the casual fan, and more importantly the media, which is more judgmental, not necessarily interested in nuance, and always looking for a punch line, this sport may well have gone back to its “Stone Age” in the space of one three-hour period. This CBS telecast did not dispel the ugly stereotypes the nay-sayers had about mixed martial arts. It reinforced them. So with Ferguson’s victory came long-term defeat.

Or haven’t you read about it?

Personally, I’m willing to accept the sideshow – and maybe even get some laughs out of it – because I know how to identify the real thing. I feel sorry for those who can’t.

And I feel sorry for the sport if they don’t.

(I’ll be back with more tomorrow)