THE MMA WEEKLY WRAP-UP FOR 4/7/08

Hi and welcome back to another edition of the MMA Weekly Wrap-Up. This has been a busy week for sport combat fans, so we'll try to keep you caught up.

TUF SEASON 7 STARTS OFF WITH A BANG

The latest edition of The Ultimate Fighter television show began in a rather novel way... the 'Ultimate Fighters' actually fought!

Instead of the usual get-to-know-the-fighters-and-coaches fluff usually found in opening episodes; This week, 32 fighters arrived and were coupled together into matches to see which ones would continue on to the house.

This was a much better way to begin the season and gave fans what they really want to see; Fights.

Unfortunately, the producers still decided to keep another standby for the opening episode, the traditional, profanity laden rant by UFC President Dana White. When is somebody going to wake up and get this guy away from the cameras?

He adds absolutely nothing to the show and sounds more like guest on the Jerry Springer show than the President of a legitimate sports league.

Although White has some boxing experience, he's never competed in MMA. Hearing him sound off to the fighters and try to talk about 'heart', reminds me of the team owners on Iron Ring who do the same thing.

Unless your actually willing to get in there and fight yourself, you have nothing to say. You don't know what the fighters are going through; You don't know what it takes; And you don't know what your talking about; so shut up.

The only thing I care to watch on TUF is the training and the fights. I don't care about what happens in the house and I don't care about Dana White.

I'd like to see more on the fighter's training routines. What conditioning exercises do the coaches recommend to get them in shape? Do they use weights, body weight exercises, yoga, wrestling drills, or special equipment?

What kind of ring (octagon) strategy to the coaches teach? How does Q. Jackson show them to position themselves for a ground-n-pound? What does Forrest Griffin recommend to reverse a side-mount? -Stuff like that.

This weeks episode will show more fights as the competitors try to make it into the house. Until then, here's a recent interview from HDnet's, Inside MMA show.

SHAMROCK/LE FIGHT FALLOUT

After one of the most exciting fights in recent history, both fighters are giving their side of the story. First up, is the new Strikeforce Middleweight Champion, Cung Le. (Check out the ice pack on Cung's leg... apparently breaking some one's arm with your roundhouse kick can take a toll on your shin.)



Next up is Frank Shamrock. After a lot of trash talk before the fight, Shamrock decides to show some class in this next interview.



One thing is certain, both fighters showed great 'heart' in that fight. (They must of both been coached by Dana White)

'KIMBO SLICE' TO MAKE NETWORK TV PREMIER

MMA sensation, Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson will headline the May 31st, CBS-EliteXC Saturday Night Fights show in Newark, New Jersey. He's scheduled to take on —James 'The Colossus' Thompson (14-8).

Thomson is a big dude at 6'5 and 260lbs, but CagePotato.com claims that he's known to have a "Glass Jaw." Looks like CBS is setting up an easy KO against a giant for Kimbo's premier in hopes of higher ratings.

Another ratings guaranty is the beautiful and talented, American Gladiators star, Gina Carano, who will be fighting against Kaitlin Young, (4-1) from Minnesota.

Cagepotato.com further reports that Young won an eight-woman 'HooknShoot' tournament in November, by knocking out three opponents in one night. All three were KO'd within the first minute of the first round. Not exactly a cake-walk for Carano.

Other fights rounding out the card include:

Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith (for the Middleweight Championship)
Phil Baroni vs. Murilo “Ninja” Rua
and Brett Rogers vs. John Murphy

BODOG DOWN FOR THE COUNT?

According to MMAPayout.com, Bodog Fight promotions lost $38 million last year. Recently, most of it's employees have been 'let go', no big events are planned, and no television deal has been reached.

It's sad to see the smaller fight venues close up. We need an open market to keep the big companies like UFC and EliteXC honest. Without the option to fight elsewhere, fighters are forced to take whatever these companies are willing to pay them.

The big companies are also forced to provide high quality events with big names, once they know fans are a capable of watching other promotions. Let's hope Bodog is able to hang in there. I really liked their programs.

FOX'S SEAN HANNITY TAKES ON YOUTH MMA

Last week we mentioned that the Early Show did a piece on children, as young as seven, practicing and competing in Mixed Martial Arts events. Of course, Fox television's Sean Hannity had to get into the act and throw his two cents in.

(I like the way he reminds us that Presidential candidate, John McCain once called MMA "Human Cockfighting," even though McCain later 'flip-flopped' and said that it's improved it's rules/safety; but now he must be against it because kids are practicing the sport.)

If Hannity is against Youth MMA competition, then it's probably time for me to re-evaluate my earlier judgement. It's probably not such a bad thing after all.

For a more intelligent discussion of Youth MMA, check out The Convocation of Combat Arts Forum, where several martial artists have posted their opinions.

Nathan makes an excellent point there by pointing out that "A trainer in mixed martial arts who is trying to organize a national youth league warned that bans will just drive an increasingly popular sport underground."

At first, I was totally against youth competition (under age 13); and while I'm still not on board for semi-contact competition, I do believe that it's important to give young people proper instruction and supervision in order to prevent them from holding back-yard fights and possibly hurting one another.

(Don't believe that it's happening? Check out the following YouTube.com videos; but be warned they're pretty violent and have some profanity. Backyard Fight 1 or Backyard Fight 2)

Anyway, on that note of controversy, it's time to wrap up this week's Wrap-Up. Join us again soon as we continue to bring you the 'Best of the Web' in Combat Sport competition.

Respectfully,

Rick