MMA's Primetime Debut

What a cherry popping night for Mixed Martial Arts. CBS debuted its Saturday Night Fights series with a great card of fights. I can't say I have been a long time MMA fan and really never found the UFC craze to be all that interesting. A few more nights like this and the sport just might have a new convert.

The fights tonight weren't technically UFC fights. They belonged to the Elite Xtreme Combat Organization which is the equivalent of double A baseball I guess??? This is where some research would come in handy but fuck it, I'm lazy.

The fighters were either brand new to the scene (Kimbo Slice, Kaitlin Young) or washed up deadbeats from the UFC (Phil Baroni, Brett Rogers). Despite all this, the action was solid. When the two chicks got after it, I got hard. One was kind of cute and man could she take a punch. That's wife material right there.

The fight of the night was easily Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith. Lawler was trying to defend the middleweight belt and the fight was set to go five rounds. It looked like it would be over in under 3 minutes but Smith held on. This thing went back and forth for the next round and a half before Smith caught a little thumb in the eye action. A couple of broad doctors got into the cage to take a look and decided to call it. Premature for sure and the two fighters plan to "run it back" real soon.

Kimbo Slice lived up to expectations...of being a terrible fighter in every technical aspect. He may be a youtube sensation but you won't be seeing him fight Tito Ortiz or that Hughues guy anytime soon. James Thompson almost put Slice into submission about 3 times before Slice got lucky and exploded Jimbo's cauliflowered ear all over National Television. Which was pleasant.

Anyways, the real hero was Gus Johnson. Can this guy do anything wrong??? He called this night like a 15 year vet. He made Jim Lampley look like a washed up, wife beating, Larry Merchant wanna be....oh wait.

As an aside, I have the current issue of ESPN magazine hanging over the towel rack in front of my shitter. Can you imagine dropping a deuce twice a day looking at Kimbo's mug staring right back at you?