The UFC Octagon

How Stuff Works is a great site. They have well written and well researched articles on subjects from all spectrums. They also have an excellent general subject podcast available on iTunes, including my favorite, “Stuff you Missed in History Class.”

The particular article I’d like to draw attention to tonight is “How the Ultimate Fighting Championship Works.” This article covers the basics including:

• The Octagon
• Fighting Styles
• How to win
• UFC Rules
• UFC today

Each section gives a broad overview of the sport and what to watch for in a pay-per-view, Fight Night or The Ultimate Fighter show. Unfortunately, there is no one in the UFC named “John Wilson.” However, when you put “John Wilson +UFC” into Google, my website is on top.

Other Resources for basic MMA
If you’re interested in learning more about MMA (mixed martial arts) or the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) research the following search terms:

• Jiu-Jitsu
• Muay-Tai Boxing
• Judo
• Freestyle Wrestling
• Official UFC Website
• Sherdog.com – news site
• MMA Mania – blog site
• Unofficial UFC rankings

I’m a big MMA/UFC fan. For me, it’s a very “pure” sport. Man-on-man, limited rules, very entertaining.

One of my favorite parts of the fight occurs immediately after the fight is over. Drenched in blood and sweat an assigned member of the posse’s job is to make sure that the fighter gets the sponsor’s t-shirt on and designated beverage in hand.

In a classic piece of marketing gone wrong, the sponsors were having the fighters drink their beverage on camera, during the post-fight interview in the octagon. Great idea, except they forgot to tell the above listed posse member to open the can. On cue, however, the fighters would pretend to drink out of the can. Poorly. Several times they just tipped the can up around the general shoulder/ear area.

So, How do I get sponsored to go to work? I really want to finish a big client deliverable, throw on my Charmin (yes, the toilet paper) T-shirt, pretend to drink an unopened Coke, and thank my sponsors for helping me get to work and do my best. I wouldn’t charge much, and I promise to wear the gear and recite the taglines when appropriate. I think I’d want my work sponsors to be:

• Sugar-Free Red Bull (I’m not a morning person)
• Donald Trump Brand (so I could borrow his catch phrase “You’re Fired” when I kill a project)
• Wilson Footballs (I’ve always dreamed of turning in a document, spiking a football and doing the Ickey Shuffle)
• Xbox 360 (free games!)
• Condom Depot (because I laugh EVERY SINGLE TIME a fighter has that printed on the back of their fighting shorts)

Do you think maybe I could get Condom Depot on the back of my charcoal pin stripe suit?

He also comments on CBS’s airing of EliteXC.

The Bad

The first fight lasted one 1 minute, one second. The guy tried twice to put together a complete sentence but couldn’t.

Middle-weight Phil “The New York Badass” Baroni comes out in a red sequins warm up robe and proceeded to dance out to smoke and pyrotechnics, Busta Rhymes in tow. Makes it much less like a sport and much more like a WWE match. MMA’s biggest battle to becoming one of the top sports in the USA is the bloviating, brutality and moron-ism. Phil isn’t helping. Thankfully, Joe Villasenor knocked Baroni out in the first round. Villasenor then takes the moron-optimizing opportunity to make the “slit the throat move” popularized when it was banned from the NFL. No one will remember this fight tomorrow.

In the Kimbo “Slice” pre-fight interviews, he talks about breaking arms, breaking necks, etc. Though, Slice isn’t the hard core thug you’d expect from watching his YouTube videos, this type of gratuitous violence isn’t very prevalent in the UFC. Dana White has gone as far as to change “Sudden Death Overtime” to “Sudden Victory.” Let’s try to keep the moron level down Mr. Slice.

The first and second rounds were telling of the difference between Elite and UFC. There were multiple times where the fight would have been ended by a more experienced fighter. From poorly executed guillotines, guys out cold on their feet, poor officiating and the fight not getting stopped, for either guy, throughout the fight, it was painfully obvious that these are amateurs. Not good for the sport. The brutality in this fight will appeal to some, but not for the right reason.

The Good

A big positive was at the very beginning of the evening; CBS took five minutes and explained to the untrained viewing public the various aspects of mixed-martial arts. From the difference between stand-up and ground fighting, to half-guard and the guillotine, Frank Shamrock walked us through the basics. Hopefully, this program will draw some attention to real MMA in the UFC.

Gina “Conviction” Carano, as usual, was calm and collected and represented the sport in a positive manner. After weighing in four pounds over the goal of 140 (which means she has to share part of her purse) and having her conditioning questioned all week she was half of the best fight of the night.

The fight really gets going in the second round when Gina lands a stiff straight jab that opens a horrible mouse under Caitlin Young’s eye that ultimately leads to her defeat. Gina’s short training calendar (three weeks) caused by her time with American Gladiators had her breathing hard just 30 seconds into the second round. Two more stiff jabs followed by a strong front thrust kick which took Caitlin to the ground. Gina got her back but couldn’t get the choke in time for the bell. The doctor called the fight as the mouse under Young’s eye was too much to continue. Go here to watch a replay of the Carano fight.

The very first round of the Robbie Lawler fight was very technical with a near knock out right at the end. Though the round started slow, an explosive exchange or two go the crowd back into it. This type of fight is exactly what Elite needed to garner the public attention and fanfare to become a legitimate MMA organization….

… until they stopped the fight over an accidental eye-poke. The challenger was ready to go but the doctor called the fight anyways. I think this was a quick trigger, considering a fighter gets five minutes to recover…maybe it was because it was 11:20 EST, and there was one fight remaining. Bad for Elite XC, bad for MMA.

Conclusion:

The Gina Carano fight was the best fight of the night. It evens out the two Busch league fights from the beginning of the show, and the crap stoppage in the title fight. I look for the UFC to pick up women’s fighting before the end of 2008.

That left it up to the Slice fight. When the announcer said, “he should attack the alien life form that is his left ear”, Elite stepped back three steps. A controversial ending that could be seen as a pro-Elite’s survival decision, my vote:

Net Loss for Elite XC and MMA – net gain for fighting on prime time.

Notes:

• Tonight’s announcers don’t have enough experience in MMA. Repetitive play-by-play, incorrectly identifying holds and not having the working knowledge that Rogin brings to the broadcast made the announcers little more than a distraction. The “chicken-wing”? This was even more apparent when they compared Lawler to Anderson Silva and … wait for it … Frank Shamrock? Seriously? Isn’t he like 80 years old?
• A lot of the personality of a fight is with the referees, unfortunately Elite XC used the same ref the entire night.
• CBS learns that two hour is not enough time for five fights; especially with all of the goofy fanfare of the first two fights.
• Nothing like “righting your life using your two fists” that’s a positive message, thanks CBS.
• Kimbo Slice loses to any of the top 5 to 8 heavyweights in the UFC, in the first round.

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