they want all exciting fights for there first show
than they can start putting in more well rounded guys in the future cards
they know what the average joe wants
futre shows will probably have shields, diaz, etc...
lawler/smith
baroni/ninja
are good mma fights, they just like to stand
looks great, might be a short card but thats ok with me
they should replay frank/cung if it goes fast
Am I imagining things or wasn't Kimbo supposed to fight Waterman? What happened to that?
Tyson86 - Am I imagining things or wasn't Kimbo supposed to fight Waterman? What happened to that?
They realized Waterman would win if he didn't get stupid.
There is no pleasing some of you fools. This is FREE tv, a bum can watch it on the street with some tin foil and a b&w tv he stole from a yard sale.
Kimbo was a thug beating up hoodlums and it happened to get posted on the webs. He is not an A-level MMA fighter. If this was in Vegas, Zuffa's goons probably would not even sanction this fight with the Colossus who has many more MMA fights. The same clowns that would not sanction Butterbean vs Hunt.
I also hope they put Fickett vs Shields on this card to show the masses what grappling is all about. Not trying to rob those boys out of a free trip to Hawaii though.
Waterman actually priced himself out hence Shaw and his boys went to Thompson.
I agree Shields and Fickett moving up a couple weeks to be on this Card would be epic. Shields has finished his last 5 opponents and Fickett is no slouch either.
Tomato Can I feel you on the Kimbo vs Thompson Main Event to us hardcore fans doesn't look to be very appealing but to the masses that don't really know the sport at all love Kimbo and CBS will market the big bad Brit (The Colossus) against the Internet Legend to the hilt - and it does have potential slugfest written all over it. Should be fun while it lasts. Hopefully Thompson won't wilt immediately like Bo Cantrell and Tank.
Mark my words...Young vs. Carano will be fight of the night.
Tomato Can - "WB: My point is in the attempt."
- Oh man.
Don't you get it - that's exactly my point as well.
EXC's attempt is to have their own Bonnar-Griffin or Lawler-Riley.
Their very obvious intent is to try and stack the deck to have this card produce fights like those - spectacular, explosive slugfests that will leave a lasting impression with the new viewers, and will make them want to come back for more - exactly like those slobberknockers did for the UFC.
What they DON'T want is something like a Marquardt-Salaverry - even despite the fact that it was a matchup between two top fighters.
A card full of unranked Bonnar-Griffins would be worth immeasurably more to EXC than a card full of ranked Marquardt-Salaverrys (just as it was to the UFC) - all sport relevance and top-ten implications be damned.
(And yeah, I'm sure the TUF noobs watching really gave a fuck about their rankings or their being two top well-rounded fighters - neither will the CBS noobs.)
Tomato Can - "Are you honestly telling me the UFC would book a guy like James Thompson in the main event of their most viewed card ever? No, of course they wouldn't."
- Uhhh, Ken Shamrock anybody?
And by that point, Ken was actually even a bigger non-threatening joke than Thompson is - especially for an absolutely superfluous THIRD matchup with Tito.
And yet that headliner completely obliterated all previous ratings records for MMA at the time.
(And that whole event is still the second-most watched overall event ever, only surpassed by the Rampage-Hendo event - and Ken-Tito 3 itself is still THE most watched single MMA fight in U.S. history.)
So hell yes, "the UFC would book a guy like James Thompson in the main event of their most viewed card ever" - because they already did it with Ken Shamrock, who had only beaten Kimo in the years since coming back to the UFC (yes, Kimo - and his only other win in the previous 5 years had been Sam Adkins).
Not to mention the rather conspicuous fact that he had already been overwhelmed twice by the same guy they were matching him up with yet again to be "the main event of their most viewed card ever."
Yeah, I'm sure that the millions who tuned in for Ken-Tito 3 (once again, still the most watched single MMA fight in U.S. history) really gave a fuck that the fight had zero sport relevance or top-ten implications.
Tomato Can - "They're marketing it like it's some sort of high-level MMA matchup when it is the farthest thing from it."
- I refer you yet again to Ken-Tito 3 - the epic "Final Chapter." Ooooh.
Give me a break that the UFC wouldn't dare do the same thing.
They already have.
"EXC's attempt is to have their own Bonnar-Griffin or Lawler-Riley."
If that's their intent in booking Kimbo/Thompson in the main event, it has giant FAIL written all over it.
didnt know Jon murphy fights for elite now
liquidrob - "they want all exciting fights for there first show
...they know what the average joe wants"
and
Kansas Comet - "but to the masses that don't really know the sport at all love Kimbo and CBS will market the big bad Brit (The Colossus) against the Internet Legend to the hilt - and it does have potential slugfest written all over it."
- Exactly.
It's so transparent - why is it so hard to understand or accept.
LeeVanTeeth - "Hmm Kimbo vs Thompson is a disprespect to real MMA Fans"
- I don't think anyone's disagreeing with the notion that EXC is certainly not going after appeasing the "real MMA Fans" with Kimbo-Thompson.
Neither was the UFC with Ken-Tito 3.
But EXC knows (just as the UFC did) that they will already have the "real MMA Fans" anyway - and it's well proven that this just ain't enough to succeed (again, see the UFC's financial state, pre-TUF).
Drawing in the noobs is the established necessary formula for success - again, as the UFC itself has definitively proven.
this sounds crazy but i forsee james kneeing kimbos head hard enough to win
Definitely a good card for striking. Some guys on the undercard may get a shot because those fight won't last long.
LeeVanTeeth:But how do I know you won't criticize anything that isn't produced by zuffa? Why should I respond to a guy that hates all non-zuffa mma?For Kimbo's third fight, Thompson is the perfect opponent.
This is is Good card to market to the beer drinking crowd and mainstream america.
Going to be alot of striking and expect KO's and lots action.
Smart move for a first card