Live Event Reports
ENNIS: Thoughts While Watching Kimbo vs. Tank (February of Shawn, Day 6)
By by Shawn Ennis, MMATorch Columnist
Feb 18, 2008 - 12:08:00 AM

Yesterday was my wedding anniversary, so I’m getting around to watching last night’s EliteXC show right now.  Let’s see how this goes.

You know, I get that Bill Goldberg is recognizable, but what credibility does he have as an MMA announcer?  And let’s not forget the post-fight interviews he conducts.  As we’ll surely see throughout the event, those things are painful.  So why add Goldberg to the booth when you’ve got Stephen Quadros and Mauro Renallo?  Renallo drives me nuts sometimes but he’s okay when he’s on, and Quadros is always solid.

In the first fight, James Thompson vs. Brett Rogers, Thomson once again showed his propensity to get knocked out, while Rogers showed some very heavy hands.  Once he hit Thompson, “The Colossus” never had a chance.  He’ll be an interesting guy to watch.  (**+)

Why did Yves Edwards and Edson Berto fight at160 pounds?  There is absolutely no reason to have a 160 pound weight class, and this is the only promotion to showcase it.  These are both 155 pound fighters (Berto even weighed in at a little over 158).  Why water down the talent pool?  As for this fight, I enjoy watching Berto, but I’ve got Edwards winning.  And sure enough, right before the end of the first round, Edwards gets a beautiful knockout with a knee to Berto’s head while Berto had a hold of his other leg.  That was just fantastic.  (***)  Berto looked pretty good during the round, but there was nothing he could do about the knee that Edwards landed.  As Renallo said, Berto went down “faster than the stock market in 1929.”  Leave it to Mauro to bring us those up-to-date references.  And then Goldberg says during the post-fight interview, “You’ve fought over a million times around the world and now you’re back.”  Over a million times.  At least he’s not prone to hyperbole.

Okay, I’ve left it alone as long as I can.  These dancing girls have got to go.  Why are they there?  And before the Smith-Noke fight, we’re treated to two horrible backstage interviews with Kimbo Slice and Tank Abbott.

Next we’ve got Scott Smith in his EliteXC debut taking on Kyle Noke.  I’m taking Noke in this one, since Smith has never impressed me on the ground, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Smith ended up with the knockout if he can keep it standing.  That having been said, the first stanza goes to Noke after an all-standup round.  The crowd was ridiculous, showering the fighters with boos less than 30 seconds into the fight when they didn’t come out recklessly swinging punches.  This is what you get when you promote a card called “Street Certified”.  And right when I finish typing that sentence, Smith knocks Noke out cold with a straight right hand to the chin.  He landed one more for good measure after Noke hit the ground, but Noke was already out.  I’m not sure why Noke never tried to take it to the ground, because that’s the kind of result you risk when you stay standing with Smith.  Smith wins seven seconds into the second round.  (**+)  After the fight, Goldberg sticks with his tradition of asking every fighter if he wants a shot at the title.  Then he throws it up to a video package of himself training with Kimbo Slice, which is actually a pretty good piece.  If Goldberg stuck to doing those instead of commentating, I’d be cool with that.

Next up is Ricco Rodriguez vs. Antonio Silva, and I’m taking Silva.  I haven’t seen enough out of Rodriguez lately to make me think he has anything for Silva.  Silva is a monster and Rodriguez will likely gas within a minute or so.  The announcing team spends too much time in the first part of the fight talking about Rodriguez being fat and not enough time actually calling the fight.  That having been said, I’d give the first round to Rodriguez, though not by much.  He was picked apart on the feet for a while until he got a takedown and was mildly successful in landing some ground and pound.  Silva takes round two, and the round was stopped momentarily while Rodriguez had a cut on his eye checked out.  Silva looked for a gator roll into an anaconda choke, but it didn’t happen.  Would’ve been pretty, though.  Round three brings an end to a largely plodding fight, where I dozed off a little during the final round.  Silva mentioned in the post-fight that he tore his MCL preparing for the fight.  (*+)

For reasons that escape me completely, we get an impromptu performance from a rapper that no one’s ever heard of.  He gets a long intro from Jimmy Lennon, then raps down the aisle into the cage, and then goes back.  Again, why? 

Tank Abbott makes his way down the aisle to a chorus of boos, and Renallo calls Abbott “more Public Enemy than Flava Flav.”  I don’t even know how to respond to that.  Kimbo gets a hero’s welcome since, you know, he’s from Miami and all.  I’m taking Kimbo all the way in this one.  Tank is not his old self anymore, and Slice is way too fast and way too powerful to let Abbott hurt him.  Not to mention he’s more well-rounded than Tank ever has been (or at least that’s what we’re led to believe if we listen to Bas Rutten, right?)  The fight is stopped twice early on; once for strikes to the back of the head as Slice nailed Tank directly in the back of the head when Tank went for a takedown, and again when Slice’s mouthpiece came out right after the restart.  Slice then picked up his mouthpiece and threw it into the crowd, prompting the fight to be started again.  Shortly thereafter, Slice got a quick knockout, showing impressive technique in the process.  Abbott never had a chance.  (**)

All in all, there was a lot to like about this show.  The fights were all good with the exception of Silva-Rodriguez, the entrance ramp is a nice addition to any event, the pre-fight vignettes weren’t overly long and they flowed well, and Mauro Renallo didn’t drive me crazy when he was calling the fights.  Between bouts, the analogies and weird sayings weren’t my favorite, but the actual calling of the action was good.  Also he omitted the “Yo yo yo and here we go” catchphrase that makes me want to throw things every time I hear it. 

On the other hand, there were some things that nagged at me.  The dancers for one, which I’ve already mentioned, are pointless (along with any rap performance by Pitbull, or whatever his name was).  Also the way that the show was promoted made it feel like less of a legitimate sporting event and more like street fighting.  I guess that was kind of the point, but it didn’t help that they gave out signs saying “Kick Ass Kimbo”, and that Goldberg said, “I don’t care about traditional mixed martial arts; this guy puts asses in the seats.”  See, I understand that you’re selling a product here, but is that really the image you want?  Instead of marketing this as a bout between two street brawlers, couldn’t you have just marketed it as a clash between the old-guard brawler of MMA and the guy who used to be a street fighter, but now trains as a well-rounded mixed martial artist?  Kimbo Slice might sell tickets, especially at the University of Miami, but he’ll never have any real credibility until he’s not marketed as a street fighter.  And let’s say that he never does shed that mantle and ends up being an elite fighter.  How does it look for MMA that a guy who’s known as nothing more than a street brawler can take out top-level MMA fighters?  So to me it’s in everyone’s best interest that Slice isn’t marketed as a street tough.  That’s not to say that he should stop being who he is, mind you.  But EliteXC could stand to play up the amount of training that Slice does, and how he’s got skills other than knocking peoples’ heads off.  In fact, why not put him in there with a wrestler, or a BJJ fighter next time?  Not necessarily someone that can beat him, but an opponent that will let him showcase a larger variety of skills.  But hey, that’s just my two cents.  We’ll see what really happens down the road.

To contact me, Shawn Ennis, shoot me an email at ennistorch@sbcglobal.net or visit my zone on the forums.