Whaddya know? MMA edged out more popular sports this time as ESPN chose Gina Carano over more popular female athletes to grace the cover of its “The Body Issue.”
One would think that Ms Carano’s kick (and breasts barely covered by her hand) splashed on the cover of ESPN would drive readers (or even non-readers) to a magazine-buying frenzy.
ESPN’s “The Body Issue,” is all about, well….the naked body. The issue features volleyball players in the nude, nude motocross riders, to SERENA WILLIAMS all in their naked glory. One of the six athletes featured to grace the cover, Sara Reinersten said, “It got easier as we kept going. I think, you know, you get comfortable with people on set. You know, after the first two minutes of being horrified that you’re totally naked!”
ESPN”s “The Body Issue” features only six athletes to grace the cover. Besides Gina Carano, Williams, and Reinersten are Dwight Howard, Adrian Peterson, and Clair Bevilacqua.
It’s a nice combination of athletes, we think. But….
MMA-Tap-Out can’t help but notice a collective groan from fans asking “Why not … (fill in the name of a female sports icon you wish were a part of this, uhurm – naked collection)?”
And here’s our take on some of the missed opportunities (in random order):
Danica Patrick. IRL driver. The first woman to win an Indy car race. Yes, we’ve had a lot of Danica photos in revealing outfits, but hey…this is ESPN’s “The Body Issue.”
Jennie Finch. The most famous softball player of all time. Forget the Olympic gold medals and other awards she won with her U.S. team, her Sports Illustrated photos are more interesting. ESPN could have given us more.
Gabrielle Reece Volleyball player. She’s also a model and a sports announcer. We just can’t get enough of her spikes, dives and digs.
Anna Kournikova and Maria Sharapova. Why skip these two tennis divas?
And finally… Allison Stokke. Pole vaulter turned internet sensation.
Why ESPN…Why didn’t you?
It seems like it was only yesterday when MMA Weekly first witnessed Gina Carano slugging it out with Julie Kedzie. If it were your first time to watch a mixed martial arts fight, and one of the first fighters you’d see inside the octagon was Kimbo Slice, you’d surely have a very different idea (humungously different from the real deal) of what real mixed martial arts is all about.
Conversely, it was my first time to watch women mixed martial artists to actually fight, and Gina Carano was the first woman I saw slugging it out inside the octagon. The result was a very positive impression of what women mixed martial arts is all about. The two women, Gina and Julie were simply dynamite! I would even say that they fought better than some of the male MMA gladiators I’ve watched all these years!
With the folding up of Elite XC, Gina Carano’s fate as a fighter hangs in uncertainty. This should have been a great opportunity for her to hop on to a bigger, more respected MMA organization: the UFC. Unfortunately, Dana White have expressed reservations about female MMA warriors. He must share what most of us guys think about women in MMA.
The first time I heard about female mixed martial artists, I thought, “Phooey! If I want to see a catfight, I’d go to some underground sleazy joints that feature mud wrestling.” Truth is, I am somewhat against the idea of seeing women’s faces getting beaten, bruised, and bloodied. Hey, they’re supposed to be supple and soft, right? Besides, Americans, and the world in general may not want to see women (warriors or not) beaten down the mat.
Seeing that fight between two women a couple of years back made me change my opinion. The women–real women, not the hulky muscled type with masculine faces only their mothers would love—fought like real fighters that they are. Watching them fight would make you change your old-fashioned perception of women as the weak, lesser specie of the humankind. No, no, no. Gina and Julie were real fighters. Women MMA fighters have to thank Gina Carano and Julie Kedzie for giving the female version of the sport a very good first impression to the world.
It’s a shame that the possibility of seeing Gina Carano fight again remains an uncertainty. Unlike in her case, Kimbo Slice seem to have a better chance of getting on the UFC bandwagon. Dana White just made a turn-around about his stand about how to deal with the internet sensation. While White previously said Kimbo is not an MMA artist, he said Kimbo can fight in the UFC. “The offer’s out there if he wants to take it, (but) he won’t win it.”
If ever, there’s still the issue about Kimbo’s and Gina Carano’s contract with Elite XC to deal with before they could consider a UFC fight. With Gina Carano’s popularity now, a trip to Hollywood tinseltown may be a lot easier.
What a letdown.
Official records say it was 14 seconds, but that was just the record. The spectators swear it was impossibly…and shockingly shorter than that. The Kimbo Slice circus top has folded….on all fours!
They may deny it but the Kimbo Slice formula (keeping the Kimbo Slice franchise a hot item by pitting him with “beatable” but interesting opponents – “tomato can” is too much of a term, we don’t want to dishonour the warriors with this derogatory term–uhurm!) is becoming more a fact that urban myth.
They had the dinosaur-old Ken Shamrock fitting the bill for this formula. Elite XC couldn’t be happier with the prospect that this Kimbo Slice vs. The 44 year-old Ken Shamrock could bail them out of their tight financial fix. After all, this match is the last telecast of their contract with CBS, and we do not know yet how CBS is feeling with this partnership with cash-strapped Elite XC. What happens after this bout? After the Elite XC – CBS three-show contract?
With the way things were going, there was no indication to the negative, as far as the CBS contract is concerned—until that accidental cut that Ken Shamrock inflicted on his eye while doing some light training. “Oh, he’s so old, he’s brittle!”
They should have sued that Shamrock sham for letting this accident happen to him! Oh, how they must all have hated Ken Shamrock for letting them down. Why didn’t Elite XC do a UFC85 “Chuck Liddel-Mauricio Rua” dancing-chair repeat?
Remember? Rua was injured so Evans was brought in. Liddel hurt his hamstring so Irvin was brought in..and so on and so forth. The match was altogether scrapped, and both Evans and Liddel have to consummate their unfinished business on UFC88.
Why didn’t they just “injured” and excused Kimbo so he could live another day to face a more suitable (read: defeatable) opponent? Or maybe a Slice-Shamrock at another date—with or without the CBS contract? But they didn’t! And Kimbo was sliced!
What a letdown.
After that 14-second flash-in-the pan (not unlike the Kimbo fame) tussle, true MMA fans rejoiced. Newbie MMA curiousity-seekers incredulously asked, “That’s it?!!!” and the suits of CBS rushed back to their boardroom to brainstorm another show– perhaps a reality show about community organizers, or about old guys wanting to take a shot at becoming a president? Meanwhile, EliteXC employees start scanning the morning paper’s classifieds for job vacancies. Oh, how they all hated that Seth Petruzelli pizza, or something.
Elite XC have banked all its rolls on the Kimbo Slice franchise. It played a hangman’s game and they played till the noose was wrapped around its neck. What’s next?
Some wise-ass suggests that with Gina Carano’s fame still alive and hot as hotcake, Elite XC could concentrate on becoming the world’s women-only MMA organization. Or perhaps, they should get Chuck Norris as their new poster boy.
(We are not fans of Kimbo Slice, to set the record straight. We just love the way he helps turn things out for MMA. We’re sure a lot have the exact opposite opinion on this—they just HATE how Kimbo Slice turn things out for MMA! Har! Har!)
Just a couple of days more and we will see what fate hangs for the second most popular Mix Martial Arts organization in the United States. Elite XC fields Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano for its third and last live broadcast with CBS, and the network TV ratings games will determine the company’s perilous make-or-break situation as it broadcasts its fight over CBS from the BankAtlantic Center on October 4.
The Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano headliner is an obvious attempt to make a repeat of that first broadcast with CBS last May 31 (which also happened to be the first mixed martial arts fight to be aired on network television). This move is quite the most obvious and the most expected from the suits of Elite XC and CBS (whoever is really running the show). After all, the formula they used gave that card an astounding success in the ratings game with a 3.0 rating and 4.85 million viewers.
While that May 31 bout was hugely successful, a lot of feedbacks from hardcore MMA fans were largely negative. They complained that the bout did give the new fans of MMA a wrong impression of what mixed martial arts is all about, they complained of too much fanfare and pizzazz on the show, and they complained about an MMA nobody, Kimbo Slice, being the headliner instead of some true-blue MMA warrior. Elite XC and CBS must have been convinced by all these complaints that they fielded “true-blue” MMA fighters on their second telecast.
It was a costly mistake.
It turns out the “Biggest Fight in MMA” history works with a Hollywood formula: casting is number one. You see, movie-goers wouldn’t be interested in watching a movie starred by our regular “true-blue” MMA gladiators.
On the other hand, cast a show with someone like Kimbo Slice who is more of a celebrity both in and out of the mixed martial arts world. While at it, throw in the beautiful Hollywoodish Gina Carano and you have a blockbuster. All the showbiz elements are there: Kimbo Slice looks like a thug but a lot of people know him as a good person who’s just down on luck (at least before the MMA break), a good father of six kids who is given a shot at making it big in the MMA. Sounds like a good movie characterization and plot to me.
Take Gina Carano, stand her beside Eva Mendez or Hillary Swank, and I’ll pick “my” Gina Carano any day of the week.
Let’s face it, Elite XC is not like our UFC where real fighters get to be appreciated by “real” MMA fans. Elite XC is doing mixed martial arts a favour by introducing the sport to a wider audience, not without some sacrifices. You will know when more newbie MMA fans are present, when the crowd boos ground games and delights at fist fights. Let’s just hope that the CBS telecast on October 4 (which we are sure would be a success) would be able to change Elite XC’s luck.
And Oh, by the way, it’s not me writing this blog. It’s my Hollywood reporter alter-ego pinch-hitting for me. The Dr. Jekyll to my Mr. Hyde. Cheerio!
Looking more like “Mr. T” with his do and acting more like the phony wrestler on an 80’s TV show, Brett Rogers went on trash-talking Kimbo Slice and Ken Shamrock.
Elite XC looks excitedly towards October 4 for another MMA tv blockbuster headlined by Kimbo Slice. Hanging on to the thin thread of salvation, Elite XC clings on the the Gina Carano-Kimbo Slice combination as sure-fire crowd-drawers. While it was easy finding a match for Gina Carano in Kelly Kobold-Gavin, fight organizers took a while before deciding on pitting Ken Shamrock against Kimbo Slice.
And here comes Brett “the Grim” Rogers crying, “We waz wobbed!”
Rogers says the October 4 match with Kimbo Slice was, “our spot. Shamrock with his name and giant ego butted in line to get a slice of Kevin. At 103 years of age Ken usurped our rightful place against the YouTube champ. Our sincerest hope is that Ken whips Kimbo and then we can finally euthanize the "World's Most Dangerous Man" and relegate him to some MMA dinosaur exhibit. Maybe taxidermy him and (Dan) Severn and place them on a rotating pedestal where they can endless circle each other.”
Rogers’ contention is that if Kimbo can slice Shamrock, a true-blue MMA fighter inside-out, it would lend more credence to Kimbo’s having “paid his dues.” As we see it, Ken fits the bill of anyone who should fight Kimbo Slice, if we are to use Elite XC’s requirements of a Kimbo Slice fight: old, fading, has-been MMA fighter who does not pose a threat to their poster boy’s saleability as an MMA crowd-drawer.
Kimbo Slice loses and his gold shines lesser. In fact, it that it would hurt him far worse than another mixed martial arts warrior who would lose. Take Randy Couture, Tim Sylvia, Robbie Lawler…name any MMA fighter and make them lose. If they do, life would go on for them as they pick up the pieces and pick another fight to regain their glory.
That wouldn’t be the case with Kimbo Slice. He’s like a clay jar. Crack it, and it’s cracked forever.
This is what makes Kimbo Slice more interesting as an MMA prize bout. Elite XC dangles him up like a piñata but they dangle him high enough to get hit and that only the short ones are allowed to hold the bat to take a shot.
This is what Brett “The Grim” Rogers is all crying about. In a way, he doesn’t fare any better than Kimbo Slice in the hierarchy of fighters. He is an out of shape fighter looking out for a shot at glory and Kimbo Slice is surely a good ticket to the big league casting.
Didn’t we just say Heath Herring’s loss to a rookie could spell disaster to his career?
When asked what happened during that disastrous match with pro-wrestler Brock Lesnar, he pointed out the overhand right punch that caught him right in the eye. “I didn’t see it coming and I got caught with it. That definitely had an effect on the outcome of the fight…. I wasn’t able to see. Right at the beginning of the fight you’re blind. How much does that affect you? I don’t know. It’s not good.”
That heavy Brock Lesnar right hand did drop him at the beginning of the fight, and the rest was nothing short of brutal pounding that ended with Herring's loss in a unanimous-decision on that other weekend’s bout.
Last time we heard, Heath is considering some acting parts in movies. But moving to Hollywood may still seem to be a remote possibility as he is more bent on training harder for that elusive shot at the championship slot. And he’s got Lesnar in the crosshairs for his choice of opponent once he gets back on harness–if it can be helped.
Heath points out that Lesnar couldn’t finish him throughout the entire fight, he has to win via unanimous decision. “We took his best shot and went on from there. I’d love for him to take one of mine, and we’ll see how it goes.”
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Elite XC continues to bleed.
Not even a contract with CBS could help this MMA organization that, a check with the Securities and Exchange Commission reveals, they are scampering for more funds from wherever they can find them. Reports say that the best they could expect to have would just be enough to last them till the end of the year.
It appears that the successful May 31 premier telecast (the first official telecast of an MMA on network TV) was just a flash in the pan, and Elite XC could hardly keep up the fire. The second telecast only blipped a mere 1.7 rating—a rating score that is even considered unacceptable for a Saturday night lull.
No amount of an exciting prospect, even of having spectacular matches among “real” MMA superstars like Robbie Lawler and Antonio Silva, could seem to drag people in front of the boob tube for an Elite XC and CBS telecast. We commented on our earlier posts that CBS have favoured “real fighters” on that July 26 card—without Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano.
Wrong move. It appears.
Now, they are fielding Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano again for salvation. Gina Carano is expected to face Kelly Kobold-Gavin, while Kimbo’s opponent remains unknown—this is another source of difficulty. Outside of his being a crowd-drawer, Kimbo Slice is old and inexperienced. The safest route to keeping him a star is to ensure he doesn’t lose by pitting him against beyond-their-prime fighters. However, until when would the fans not see the one-sidedness of this?
Elite XC shakes and rattles
Elite XC is in a bit of a shaky ground nowadays. Internal layoffs are rife, key officers are resigning, and several shows have been cancelled. It seems that another Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano headliner is in order. Perhaps this could pour in a little more money—and confidence to Elite XC.
Elite XC insiders also said CBS is not paying them enough. UFC owners, who have earlier talked with CBS, must be saying, “Told ya!”
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Watch out for the third instalment of the Strikeforce “Young Guns” series on Sept. 18 at the Civic Auditorium in San Jose, Calif.
- Alvin Cacdac vs. Jose Palacios
- Luke Rockhold vs. TBA
- David Barrios vs. Andrew Valladarez
- Evan Esguerra vs. Gabby Solorio
- Ron Kesler vs. Eric Meaders
- Chris Bostick vs. Jose Interiano
- David Ashkinaz vs. Yohan Banks
- Adam Antolin vs. Hugo Govea
- Justin Holdaas vs. Jaime Rodriguez
- Genaro Strangis vs. Alexander Trivino
- Mike Davis vs. O.J. Dominguez
