King makes good points as always. I will say this. At times we disagree but in the end this is a great exchange of opinions. Y’all are great. I know for a fact that Hoch loves these posts. I think though we all agree that Zas is a stupid, jerk that shouldn’t be on the air.

When is the next Jai Alai night? HOCH, stop resting on your laurels and get a new blog up.

Kimbo is getting marketed for MMA…yes he is inexperienced in the ground game, he has a lot to learn…don’t think that Kimbo is the only athlete that parties too hard…his stamina will get better, and he will get better…and as I said earlier…give it a year and Dana White will go after him with a contract.

National MMA Ranking System…more TV exposure…and less Network intervention…I still believe all those fights got stopped too early cause they were on National TV…too many people in this world still think someone will die in the octagon and the network can’t afford to take that chance…

Good discussion Manuel…it is what it is…we’re all squirrels…

At the end of the day though, forget about the money discussions, forget about marketability and all that shit.

Plain and simple, that fight sucked, there is no defending that. Kimbo looked horrible and reports have the fans booing him at the end of the decision. He’s known to party a bit too hard and thus his stamina is pathetic. These are all facts. I tuned hoping to be proved wrong, hoping that Kimbo has improved because he’s training with Bas Rutten; but (as Stugotz loves to say) at the end of the day, if any of us trained with ARod or Big Papi we still wouldn’t even come close to hitting a baseball like them and Kimbo should just stick to boxing not MMA.

It’s quite an oxymoron for you to say that I a Blogger on a sports website would have a problem with people giving their opinions having not played pro sports…about 98% of bloggers have never done anything with respect to what they blog.

Who made Kimbo the face of MMA? not the national media…but the multimedia and internet searches that people like you and I and everyone else made when looking up Kimbo Slice…

You see the media is a leech…it sees something it wants and it goes in attacks and sucks the life out of it (overexposure) you see but just like the human body the “person” getting the hype revives itself…and guess what? the leech comes back…

that is what the media is suppose to do…the media has rallied cause of people like us that go on You Tube to see his fights, and tuned in last night to see him fight…

If he is the face it’s cause he is marketable…just like Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddel, and Randy Couture…yes they are all experience fighters…but again they weren’t always trained fighters…

So let’s go to your next point…Major sports, quality…

Look let’s get this straight…major sports can wipe their asses with quality…Hello…AROD…the Yankees, the Mets…$200 miilion on salaires combined and what quality have they given us?

All they care about is selling out stadiums, selling merchandise, getting advertising money and making more money with what they have.

ALL SPORTS are the same…why do I have to pay an arm and a leg to go see and international event of peace (Olympics)??? Cause someone is getting paid…

I watch sports to quality but I expect some entertainment as well…

Everyone finds different things entertaining…you may find 15 minutes of ass grabbing in the Octagon exciting…I find straight up brawling entertaining…

What makes the UFC 1st rate? They have the money to pay 1st rate athletes…the Zuffa’s are millionaires…

Let’s get a national ranking system…across all weight classes and promotions for MMA and then we can talk about who is what rate.

Don’t confuse by passion on this blog buddy…I am very calculated in all I say…so please refrain from the typical crutch of “you are exactly the kind of person that insults Dan Lebatard because “he’s never played pro sports and thus can’t give his opinion””…it’s old and played out…

Hass here you go:

Preliminary card

* Bantamweight bout: Flag of the United States Mike Groves vs. Flag of the United States Joe Sampieri

Sampieri defeats Groves via TKO (punches) at 4:58 of round one.

* Bantamweight bout: Flag of the United States Zach Makovsky vs. Flag of Brazil Andre Soares

Makovsky defeats Soares by unanimous decision. The judges scored the bout 29-28, 29-26 and 29-26.

* Bantamweight bout: Flag of the United States James Jones vs. Flag of the United States Calvin Kattar

Jones defeats Kattar by submission (rear naked choke) at 4:49 of round one.

* Bantamweight bout: Flag of the United States Wilson Reis vs. Flag of the United States Justin Robbins

Reis defeats Robbins by submission (rear naked choke) at 4:06 of round one.

* Lightweight bout: Flag of the United States Matt Makowski vs. Flag of the United States Nick Serra

Makowski defeats Serra by TKO at 3:57 of round two, when Serra was unable to get back to his feet.

* Heavyweight bout: Flag of the United States Carlton Haselrig vs. Flag of the United States Carlos Morena

Haselrig defeats Morena by TKO between the first and second rounds, when Morena was unable to continue.

* Lightweight bout: Flag of the United States Jim Bova vs. Flag of the United States Chris Liguori

Liguori defeats Bova by TKO (cut) at 4:31 of round two.

[edit] Main card

* Heavyweight bout: Flag of the United States Jon Murphy vs. Flag of the United States Brett Rogers

Rogers defeats Murphy via TKO (punch) at 1:01 of round one.

* Middleweight bout: Flag of the United States Phil Baroni vs. Flag of the United States Joey Villasenor

Villasenor defeats Baroni by TKO (punch) at 1:11 of round one.

* Bantamweight bout: Flag of the United States Gina Carano vs. Flag of the United States Kaitlin Young

Carano defeats Young by TKO (doctor stoppage) between the second and third rounds. Young was examined by the doctor after the end of the second round, and called for the fight to end.

* Middleweight championship bout: Flag of the United States Robbie Lawler vs. Flag of the United States Scott Smith

The fight was ruled in a no contest at 3:26 of round three. Smith took an inadvertent finger to the right eye as Lawler was attempting to block punches. Despite being given time to recover by referee Dan Miragliotta, the doctor called for the fight to end out of concern for Smith’s vision. The rules state that a title fight must last at least three full rounds, or result in a no contest. Lawler remains EliteXC Middleweight Champion.

* Heavyweight bout: Flag of the United States Kimbo Slice vs. Flag of the United Kingdom James Thompson

Slice wins a controversial TKO over Thompson. Following two rounds of Thompson’s domination of Slice on the ground, the third round started with referee Dan Mirgliotta stopping the bout after a punch Slice landed to the left side of Thompson’s head burst his heavily cauliflowered ear. Several uncontested shots later, a standing Thompson was deemed to be TKO’d and the match was called at 38 seconds into the third round.

Remember those guys talking to Steve White at Jai Alai at the beer stand and one of them at the end said that Zas sucked? That was me, so please don’t bring me down to that hacks level…that hurt. (sniff)

I never blamed Kimbo once (read my post again). I would never blame anyone for getting paid, this is America. What I blame is the media that has rallied around a person, with very little talent within the sport, to make the face of MMA. Simple as that.

Don’t you watch major sports to see quality? Don’t you enjoy watching the best teams play? I know I do, that’s why I don’t watch the WNBA no matter how much they try to shove it down our throat.

My point about Kimbo and the EXC is that it’s 3rd rate, at best. All the fighters in that league would be lucky to undercard in the UFC (or Pride when it existed).

I didn’t feel Lesnar deserved the hype he got; but you know what, he faught a talented former UFC World Champion in his first fight. A guy who knew jui jitsu.

Answer this, who the (bleep) has Kimbo faught?

As far as your lame insult of calling me a wannabee Bruce Lee or whatever, you are exactly the kind of person that insults Dan Lebatard because “he’s never played pro sports and thus can’t give his opinion”, aren’t you?

Manuel - No I hate the WNBA, I wish ESPN and NBC would stop cramming it down our throats and it would just go away. Minor league baseball on the other hand is great. Where do you think the guys in MLB came from? Duh. I had a friend that lived in Louisville when the Cardinals had their triple A club there. He told me about seeing Cardinal greats from the late 70’s and the 80’s before they became big leaguers. I have another friend from Charleston, SC that spoke highly of going to River Dogs games and seeing future Yankee greats. So Manuel keep listening to Zas and stay uneducated.

As far as MMA as I have stated I’m not really a big fan. BUT I was entertained last night but thought some of the matches were cut short. The telecast did go over the time limit, not sure if maybe CBS had something to do with the shorten matches. Will I watch again? Maybe, I liked the CBS show better than what I have seen on VS.