That was pure crap and set back MMA advances. Gary Shaw go back to boxing. It was so bad I turned it off after the first hour. Pueck!
There was only two rounds of fights by the end of an hour and ten minutes. and a bunch of dance girls without any kind of routine or rythmn. Does Shaw think that MMA fans are a bunch of brainless Neandrethals? I won't watch that crap again and it was free TV!
To be honest, most of the people who were watching that show probably weren't hardcore MMA fans anyways. They probably would have been turned off by a bunch of JJ, and grappling.... and they probably liked the slugfests that took place last night.
I enjoyed it. Sometimes, it's fun to watch entertaining brawls. The Lawler/Smith and Carano/Young fights were thrilling battles between well rounded and evenly matched martial artists that could have found a home on any fight card in any country. It was a successful debut on primetime television for everyone but Kimbo. Thompson made a few changes to his script resulting in a lost of luster for the Youtube Thug.
I had fewer issues with the fights themselves than with the format of the show. The pacing was excruciatingly slow. I also felt that the "fear factor" of having a severe injury occur on network TV heavily influenced the fight outcomes. How often can that happen before even casual fans realize something is wrong? Quick trigger doctors and uneven reffing can't become the norm for network MMA.
That show was entertaining, Carano vs Young, Lawler Vs Smith, Joey Villasenor scored a big KO over Phil Baroni. And the Kimbo fight was fun also even though it was conterversial. It wasn't as well put together as a UFC show but it was pretty ok. But I agree, Gary Shaw should go back to boxing. He's a MORON. He actually said Kimbo can knock Klitschko out Shaw should go to jail just for saying that:-(
I liked the show. I think the pace was affected by commercials. It looked as though they were running the show as if there would be no commercials, and then ran over the show's scheduled time slot.
I'll pay $50 to see something like UFC 84 any day of the week over a bunch of B and C level fighters and questionable stoppages.
A Couple of Thoughts: 1. Not everyone has fifty bucks to blow on over-priced pay-per-views. 2. The dancing people, some of the commentator work, yeah, some of it was annoying and downright lame. I would say Gary Shaw should dust it off, look at the mistakes, and come back within the next month. If he takes more than two months to put on another show, well, goodbye mainstream Elite XC. 3. The Ferguson-Thompson fight was actually good IMO - we saw Ferguson in his first test, and he performed admirably. He was almost stopped on the ground in the second round, tired as hell, but he kept swinging and finished with a "W". 4. Obviously the "Slice" needs more practice as far as ground skill, but this is, what, his fourth fight? He did alright! 5. One day - how about "Kimbo Slice" vs. Brock Lesnar!!! Both come from diverse backgrounds, it would be a real clash of styles and personalities! 6. Yes, I would pick Brock Lesnar to win that fight, but if the "Slice" could improve his ground-game with Bas Rutten, well, maybe it's a fight in a couple of years.
yea dude...this was their 1st big televised event...you only improve based on the responses you get...
