O'Reilly on MMA

For those who have the seen the video recently posted on mmaopinion, where I work and where the best news and analysis in the sport is.

Now lets forget Bill's economic stupidity. Let's forget that the 16-34 year old males are the second most potent viewer groups in the entire country (in, the minds of many producers of big advertisement buyers, like beer companies, the most important). Let's forget that the sport has been approved by state athletic commissions, that it has fewer fatalities than boxing, hockey or football.

Let's forget that when John McCain commented on the sport and called in "human cockfighting", Ken Shamrock destroyed him in civil debate on Larry King's live interview, one of the crowning moments for the sport, and one I would like to see Shamrock repeat. Personally, I'd be happy to debate O'Reilly myself, since he clearly knows nothing about the sport and about the way that it's marketed.

As far as the "redeeming moral value" of MMA that the twit Jane Hall, there's as much redeeming value in mixed martial arts as there is in football.

The sport teaches discipline and the value of pushing yourself. It teaches that the only person that can be held accountable in failure is ourself. It teaches that the fighter who develops his mind, his body and his craft wins, and that sometimes that guy comes from the school of hard knocks, and sometimes he comes from priviledge.

The sport offers us at least as much in terms of fantastic stories and tragic failings as any other sport. Some people love football, and just because, as my grandfather once described it to me, "it's just a bunch of fat guys running into each other," that doesn't mean they aren't entitled to watch it and that the networks aren't entitled to carry it. (for the record, I'm a football fan, go Raiders)

If Bill O'Reilly would attack the rights of a network to carry the fastest growing sport in the country, it just makes him come off like an angry pissant who's upset that it's not on his network. The money that the UFC has made Spike has turned the heads of every network executive who isn't an idiot. Obviously, this is why FOX is late to the table on this issue.

Big Bad Bill has tried to attack the sport for years, saying that he honestly believes that this sport is deteriorating the moral fabric of our nation. Really, Bill O'Reilly?

Is it deteriorating the moral fiber our country as quickly as you would like to deteriorate a network's right to broadcast anything you don't like?

Bill O'Reilly has bastardized and trivialized the rights of Americans, and makes every show he does an attack on somebodies right to do something for no other reason than because it doesn't straighten out his lap pinky. He's a shock jocky, but most importantly he's a hypocritical psycho who thinks that, for some reason, his opinions matter more than the facts.

If Big Bad Bill wants to get in touch with me, or anyone wants me to post their thoughts on this, feel free to send me an email at jstein.ironsport@gmail.com

Comments are welcome.

I realize that this is an old video, but it really is something that makes me want to puke when I see an idiot like O'Reilly try and justify his bigoted bullshit with no data and no knowledge of the topic he's flapping his lips about.

A Response to Kimbo Slice

... and anybody else who thinks that they should be fighting the best fighters in the world without any real MMA experience.

I posted the abridged version in the comments of our little Kimbo section on MMA opinion.

Here's the long, ranting version:

If you're going to be a fighter, shut your mouth. There's been a long tradition of great fighters who don't talk shit, and there are days that I wish that would extend to the ridiculous gimmick fighters in the smaller shows. Still, I guess that's not how it works.

Obviously, it's important to be real with Kimbo, because the guy is not a legitimate fighter and he should know that. He's fun to watch, he's explosive, he's got a cult following. But all of those things are true for Butterbean, the only difference is that Kimbo's management is arrogant enough to push him as the greatest fighter in the world.

It's like the kid in school who always acts the toughest and peacocks, acting out and disrespecting people. Being loud and obnoxious and arrogant. Then he gets into a fight with the real powerhouse at the school and his freinds, who spent that whole time talking shit too, have to clean his ass up off the pavement.

The point is, one of these days Kimbo is going to go on youtube and make a bad yo' mama joke about Fedor, and the King is going to show up at his gym, dangeda-dangeda Baz Rutten's old ass through a wall and then proceed to beat Kimbo down like the rookie he so clearly is.

Nothing annoys me more than people who don't show respect to the guys who have built this sport up from nothing. Honestly, when Tito did it that was totally different, because he was trying to get attention for the sport and draw in fans. All Kimbo is trying to do is build up the fanbase for his beard.

Maybe he has a God complex, maybe he thinks that he's beloved everywhere because he got to have his last fight in his home town. Let me tell you, though, Kimbo has a major problem with most of the MMA community at this point, because everybody is sick of him disrespecting the guys that built this sport with their bare hands.

What was Kimbo doing while Chuck was knocking out NCAA wrestling champions? Videotaping his grimy-ass backyard pit fights?

I'll point this out again:

Kimbo has yet to fight a serious athlete. He's fought two over the hill, out of shape brawlers. I love Tank as much as the next guy, but even in his prime he wasn't much of a fighter, and now that he's past that point, it's done.

If Kimbo really wants to fight Chuck, he should start by scheduling a rematch with Sean Gannon, to show that he actually knows enough now that he doesn't need his manager to jump in and protect him every time he eats a serious shot, because if one of those punches came from Chuck, Kimbo's beard would not be able to absorb the force, contrary to what superpowers some might believe it has.

So that's all for Kimbo, and I hope he fights Ricco Rodriguez, so that fat, unconditioned hot-air bag can ground and pound Kimbo into respect.

Knock That Shit Off (a note to some MMA writers)

Now, there are writers I disagree with. I don't agree with alot of the guys at sherdog, I don't agree with alot of the guys that the UFC hires to write hype pieces. Still, I respect those guys, because they respect the fighters and do some research.

But when you step into the arena of "MMA commentary" and throw out a piece where your first reference is to Hulk Hogan, you need to reevaluate your decision and head back to the WWE forums.

I would like to say that this is just a shot at John Curry, but he's not the only one doing this. Still, since I got emailed a link to his article, I think I'll point out exactly what bothers me about this guy.

First, look at the guys he's criticizing:

Chris Leben, who holds some of the most exciting knock out victories. He knocked out Alessio Sakara, Terry Martin, Jorge Santiago, Jorge Rivera and Jason Thacker (not to mention submitting Edwin Dewees and going the distance with Patrick Cote and Luigi Fiorvanti). I don't think there's any surprise that they keep him around, since he pretty much promotes himself.

Jens Pulver. I'll get to my problem with that listing in a minute.

Tim Sylvia, who is hardly overrated, as he's one of the most disliked fighters in the sport and is now fighting with a small show no one cares about.

Ortiz and Evans. Obviously, his failure to mention that Tito Ortiz is a six time UFC lightheavyweight champion and his comparison of Ortiz to Hulk Hogan says enough, but I think what says more is that he totally ignores Evans' knockout of Jason Lambert and the fact that this guy won TUF after being the last pick in his weight class and by beating a guy who is almost a whole foot taller than him.

He mentions Kimbo Slice, who is a product of his own hype, not of his organizations, and while he's not the best fighter, he doesn't claim to be. He's a generally modest guy who's matchups get alot of publicity because he's fun to watch.

Now, even if we ignore that this numbskull left Brock Lesnar off of his list and put Lyoto Machida (one of the most unhyped fighters around, despite coming off of a chokeout of the man many of us thought could bring down top guys in the 205 pound class) on, it makes alot more sense when you look at some of the ridiculous and fallacious factual errors that he makes.

He suggests that Jens Pulver dropped down a weightclass after he returned to the UFC and lost to BJ Penn and Joe Lauzon. Never mind the fact that Pulver had been competing as a 145 pound fighter since 2003. Never mind the fact that Pulver is 10-0 with 10 finishes in that weight class. You can say that he dropped down because he felt like he couldn't compete at 155, that's true, to some degree. But it's also true of Urijah Faber, who commited to fight full time at 145 after losing to Tyson Griffin.

Anyway, I hope I've made my point. There are some great guys in newmedia, and some guys with ideas that I disagree with. But there are also guys who just make stuff up to fit a bizarre Hulk Hogan fetish, and we could pretty well without them.

Why I Don't Like Sherdog?

In fairness, there are lots of other reasons, but this is one of them. For those who don't know, this was posted where they usually put news.

The Affliction vs. The UFC dispute, I can understand, but what Anderson Silva wears after he pounds someone's face in? Come on, this isn't US magazine; you're covering a sport, not the dresses at the Oscars.