SILVER LININGS TO MMA’S DARK CLOUDS
By Ron ‘The Yacman’ YacovettiCommentator for Call to Arms MMA- www.calltoarmsfights.com
It’s the half-way point in the year 2009.
We’re told this recession thing is in its final throws.
Major corporations, like General Motors, is battered like a mismanaged start up company. Yet, the Mixed Martial Arts industry continues to grow. Has it slowed in its blooming? Sure.
Nevertheless, it is not a bad idea to look at some of the things that have not only bolstered this sport we love, but also struck almost everyone as a negative at the time it happened.
ELITEXC:
This MMA brand, under the parent company of ProElite Inc., received brutal reviews at almost every stage of its existence. It seemed that no matter what adjustment they did or did not make to the fans’ reaction, a ton of MMA fans simply hated it.
It is no mystery that I, The Yacman, was employed with ProElite for its entire run. My main arena was for ProElite.com. And now that the company is gone, some web bloggers continue to beat the dead horse at any opportunity to take a shot at EliteXC despite its being expired.
However if any of them consider themselves a fan of the sport itself, then they should look at the bigger picture.
SHOWTIME AND CBS:
No matter what anyone else claims, says or thinks, EliteXC broke ground with being the first MMA Promotion on premium cable television as well as being first on primetime network TV. It is an undisputed fact.
Now anyone can suggest why they were able to, in such a way as to discredit this major achievement, but it is desperate at best.
Dana White stated that companies like EliteXC were themselves desperate and willing to give away the farm to be on those media outlets. He continued saying that the UFC would not stoop to that level, or so to speak.
The truth is, the UFC didn’t and didn’t need to accept the same type of deal that EliteXC did. They are the brand that made the sport. It is also reasonable that different companies at different stages of development will not all be best served by the same type of deal.
No start up promotion should hold onto as much control in a TV deal, as the UFC would’ve wanted to have with HBO or CBS. The Ultimate Fighting Championship is a fine tuned machine. But others, such as EliteXC, the IFL and Bodog for example, had enough to worry about without the broadcast intricacies.
That all said, EliteXC and its two television breakthrough’s were not the failures many made them out to be, at all. Plus, let us not forget that the exposure their TV deals reaped is now paying dividends to Strikeforce in its taking of the MMA baton and running with it on SHO and CBS.
EliteXC, still seen by many as a bad brand, sure did benefit MMA, some of its best fighters and Scott Coker’s Strikeforce.
MAINSTREAM = MONEY
Sorry hardcore people, but if the UFC was still like its early days, the sponsors and media attention and every aspect of commercialization would not exist either. MMA would be like grunge music, in one day, out the next. At best, it would’ve remained a small buzz on and underground level.
Nowadays, it can be like soccer, a global success yet not quite as big a thing in the United States as the NFL or NBA.
So if you consider that, and a thinking person should, then EliteXC’s exposure on Showtime, a solid broadcaster of quality boxing, is a big deal. Additionally, the primetime expansion onto the airwaves of CBS was monumental.
Those two advances of MMA by EliteXC are like a nitrous kick in a tricked out car. It didn’t last very long after it kicked in, but man did it make a difference while it lasted.
Even the now defunct IFL played a role in this building process, along with the initial Strikeforce deal on NBC. These promotions made steps forward and reached larger audiences, that at one time, were about as reachable for them as other solar systems are to NASA.
THE IFL:
Say what you will about this team driven league but it made some of the fighters currently making waves in MMA, major names and players by exposing thousands to their craftsmanship.
Ben Rothwell, Benji Radach, Chris Horodecki and Jay Heiron, to name a few, were all IFL fighters who continue to look impressive when they fight in other promotions.
No one would’ve cared to see Radach against Scott Smith on the new Strikeforce shows in Showtime, if they hadn’t had the chances to see how good he is when he fought on the IFL’s televised shows. The TV exposure made a difference.
KIMBO SLICE:
Ok, I have addressed this topic before so I’ll try to be succinct in my points here.
Kimbo Slice, in my opinion, made the best choice of his career when he took the olive branch from the UFC to be a competitor on The Ultimate Fighter, TV show.
Would he be the superstar that Strikeforce and Showtime would likely have billed him as again? No chance. Dana and company are making Slice climb the ladder of success, if he can in fact do it.
To me, this is a much more solid direction for Kimbo if he ever wants the respect that a legitimate mixed martial artist should receive. A place in the Strikeforce roster for him would’ve been like seeing one more season of ER. Why bother, it’s not going to evolve anymore?
Kevin ‘Kimbo Slice’ Fergueson is to me, one of MMA’s most extreme (no I won’t spell extreme as xtreme) silver linings, while it appeared to be nothing more than a dark cloud.
After the loss to Seth Petruzelli, a barrage of MMA fans and writers were going on about how much EliteXC and Kimbo’s majesty with them was going to damage the sport. So far, no one had produced an exhibit A, let alone, B, C or N. It simply did not happen.
For those who do think it did damage MMA, I urge you to watch Dream 9 on HDnet. Then, ask yourself why Dana White hasn’t extended the same offer to be on TUF 10 Heavyweights, to Jose Canseco.
TUF TIMES CALL FOR TUF 10:
Slice and his legacy in MMA as the most watched fighter in a single fight event, remains a statistical fact. People who know of the UFC and cage-fighting in mainstream America often cannot tell you who Dan Henderson is, or who Fedor Emelianenko is, but they know Kimbo Slice. Once again, like it or not, it is simply a point of fact.
The disaster that once was the main event wreck on EliteXC’s last primetime event, is now the potential nitrous kick for the biggest promotion in MMA, on the TV show they produced that launched the sport to begin with. That’s one hell of a silver lining.
STRIKEFORCE:
This well oiled fight promotion is undoubtedly on its way to a long and fruitful future. Scott Coker built the company up with a team of wise people and a level of intelligence not seen enough in combat sports.
Strikeforce had already held contracts on some of MMA’s best athlete’s before ProElite folded. But now, with additions like Robbie Lawler, Jake Shields and Brett Rogers, their roster is easily that of an A-level promotion.
GINA CARANO: WOMEN’S STATUE OF LIBERTY
Well, Gina is sort of holding the torch, though she did not ask to do it.
Look, this one is a scenario not to different than the much less proven Kimbo Slice. She is one of the two biggest names and audience draws in all of MMA, like Kimbo. Gina is also at a point where, if she is lucky, she can select either a UFC/WEC deal or a Strikeforce deal.
Which to choose, which to choose?
If Gina wants to make a living, continue being the star she is and fight top level opponents such as Cris Cyborg and Erin Toughill, she should go to Strikeforce. She will be royalty there and deservedly so, too.
But if Gina Carano wants to be the Rosa Parks of women’s MMA and make a difference in its overall acceptance, then a UFC oriented choice would be best.
Like it or not again, the UFC is the front runner and maker of what sells in MMA. If they can grab a star like Gina and get her fights that fans won’t view as a festival of worthless cans, then Gina will put women fighting in the cage on the map big-time.
This is a key difference from continuing how she had with EliteXC’s successor, Strikeforce, just doing MMA and gradually drawing in more fans from her other endeavors such as American Gladiators and Maxim Magazine.
One major difference between Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano, despite both being major celebrities in MMA, is that Gina is a highly respected fighter, while Kimbo is chasing the hype that precedes him everywhere.
THE WRAP UP:
Mixed Martial Arts is a phenomenon that continues to thrive in the toughest of times. New promotions emerge on the coattails of older one’s collapsing.
There are so many things that happen in this sport on a weekly basis that it often becomes a bit too convenient to drop things into categories that designate them as negative.
We love MMA and we love seeing it grow. Ask any doctor, growth comes with growing pains and sometimes you just cannot see the benefits of them when they are painfully making themselves known.
But rest assured, even the biggest of blunders can aid in the sport’s continual progress year after year.
YACMAN
www.yacandjshow.com
WOMEN’S MMA SOON TO HAVE MORE THAN ONE IDEAL AMBASSADOR
If you ask anyone who they feel is the most identifiable face and name associated with women’s mixed martial arts, the female ambassador, you will almost always hear Gina Carano. Gina is the unofficial face of women’s MMA, a title bestowed upon her, and one I know personally, she does not feel she deserves.
This is not to say Gina thinks she is unworthy of such a moniker. However, in many conversations she and I have had, Gina feels strongly that there are not only other female cage-fighters who also warrant this title, but some who have been at it longer than her.
Enter the extremely skilled, gorgeous and likeable Erin Toughill.
Her first MMA fight was in 1999. She began kickboxing at the age of 18, only to add Brazilian Jiu-jitsu to her arsenal just two years later. In July of 2000, Erin made her professional boxing debut.
In what would eventually become typical Toughill fashion, Erin sought out the best fights she could sign, including a bout against the most recognized name in women’s professional boxing, Laila Ali.
Erin was on a self-prescribed fast track, growing as a fighter and relentless in her pursuit of women who could bring out her best.
This dual combat sports athlete entered 2007 with a professional boxing record of 7-2-1, while simultaneously holding an MMA record of 10-2-1.
I find this especially impressive, because in all of mixed martial arts, men and women combined, it is not the norm or easy for fighters to mount winning records in both MMA and boxing.
This may change in the coming years as more and more athletes are truly well-rounded fighters. Plus, let us not forget the Arlovski’s of the MMA world, training under legendary boxing coaches like Freddy Roach. His hands sure did show results from that assistance.
In examining her own career origin, Erin Toughill has gone on record, stating that she began all of this training to find a positive outlet for her aggression. That outlet may turn out to be a lot more positive than even Erin ever anticipated. Her story, however, is not without the dramatic pitfalls that one would expect from most compelling Hollywood stories.
Exit Erin Toughill from fighting? Really?
In 2007 Toughill proclaimed that she was officially retiring from fighting in both boxing and MMA. As of this very day, I am still unsure why she did it. She would, however, find a new endeavor to take up much of her time, as season two of American Gladiators added Erin to their roster, where she would go by the name Steel.
But Steel was not the first or only cage-fighting female to compete as a Gladiator. Gina Carano, whose gladiator nickname is “Crush,” also happened to be a cast member who was with the show from its rebirth, season one.
Now anyone who knows both Carano and Toughill knows that they share a mutual respect for one another. So, one cannot help but think that this collaborative venture may have influenced Erin’s comeback in November of 2008; that and the continual rise in popularity of MMA.
Carano was opening doors that would be available to many women fighters in due time. It just so happens that Erin Toughill was already poised for mainstream attention.
Since that comeback, Erin has built up a three fight win streak, scoring one TKO and two unanimous decisions. She may also be slated in 2009, to take on the one opponent fans of MMA are clamoring to see Gina Carano take on since the fall of EliteXC…Cris Cyborg! Let us hope she gets this fight too. A win, by the way, would set up a mega-fight between two American Gladiator warriors, as Crush versus Steel would be on!
Erin is truly one of the lucky few who remain well-within their prime, despite having come onto the scene slightly ahead of their time. In so many instances, the result of being ahead of one’s time is a professional shortcoming an athlete is forced to deal with, in retrospect.
Erin Toughill stepped into the cage at a time before anyone believed MMA, let alone women’s MMA, could flourish. And now that Erin Toughill is right there in the mix and ranked accordingly amongst the top echelon of fighters, women’s MMA may likely be seeing another representative who will absolutely do it maximum justice.
I had the good fortune to catch up with Erin Toughill again, just prior to her most recent win at Palace Fighting Championships (www.palacefightingchampionship.com), where we discussed her long term plans in MMA. And yes, Erin having long term plans means Erin fights on. At least this story has a happy ending to it.
- YACMAN