This thread is made of epic win. Mostly due to awesome contributions by BigPapa and Dmac. Seriously guys, I had a ton of quotes I wanted to comment on by the time I was half way through this thread, and I realised that I simply wouldn't be able to use the quotes as well as actually comment at the same time cos there was just to much stuff, so I'm gonna adlib my way through this and hopefully touch on the main points made.
Firstly, on-topic, Kimbo in the house makes sense given the weightclass, his popularity and the fact that I remember Dana basically challenging Kimbo to come on TUF and see if he could win. I'll admit that's pretty much all I do remember of anything White said on the subject of Slice so I can't comment on any hypocritical actions made, but I would say everything White says should be taken with a handful of salt, as he is basically the Mr. McMahon character, but for real. He says what needs to be said when it needs to be said. He belittled Kimbo because he was part of the competition, just like he belittled Fedor when he was. I will say this though, it's not like Dana has now come out to say that Slice is the be all and end of all of MMA, he's just using the popularity Kimbo garnered for himself to pop the ratings for TUF10 which in my eyes is a very, very smart move. I would also say (and this is something I've mentioned before) that Dana will likely be gone in the next five years, at least from his spokesperson role in the UFC. He is brash and cocky, and that worked for a while, but now the UFC wants to break new ground and accomplish even bigger things he comes across as rude and uneducated (which you could say he is, having never finished high school). The man has a great head for MMA and the business within it, but as a
PR guy he is starting to wear out his welcome.
As for the whole boxing/MMA discussion, I would point out that while boxing has now been around for decades (centuries even) it still has it's detractors. Mostly women, granted, but many still see two guys beating the crap out of each other and see it as barbaric... And I agree with them. Boxing is focused almost entirely around punching your opponent repeatedly in the head and as such can cause serious brain damage. MMA on the other hand concentrates on being the superior all round fighter, not simply on striking, thus the risk of brain damage is significantly reduced. The fighters are also much more respectful of one another and will often shake hands and even hug after fights, hell even Serra and Hughes hugged after their fight at UFC 98! That is a rare occurance in boxing, that's for sure. The leaps and bounds MMA has taken towards garnering not only respect, but also mainstream acceptance, in it's short time in existance is phenomenal and I would hazard a guess that in another ten to fifteen years UFC and MMA in general will have overtaken boxing in popularity.
Linear Mode
