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By: Jason Bent, MMATorch Columnist These are the ten things I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving.
1. MMATorch Readers
I am very thankful for each and every one of you that come to
MMATorch.com and read any of the articles written by any of the columnists but admittedly am especially grateful if you ever take the time to choose one of mine.
Sometimes you wonder if you could reach a larger audience by maybe carving your UFC predictions onto a bathroom stall door in the men's room of a Denny's restaurant and then you get some feedback and realize that more than a few drunks at 3am are actually reading your thoughts.
Thank you.
2. UFC
I could not possibly shine Dana White's ass any further, but I do have a load of respect for all that he has done for MMA and the bang up job of promoting the UFC while bringing us consistently better fight cards each time out.
We just experienced a Super Bowl size showdown between Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar at UFC 91, along with seeing the likes of Kenny Florian and Demian Maia work their magic; and soon we shall be preparing to enjoy UFC 92.
Griffin vs. Evans, Mir vs. Nogueira, Jackson vs. Silva and "The Ultimate" could very well live up to its billing but it will certainly provide maximum bangs for the buck as we get three top fights on one night.
The UFC has a monopoly on MMA, and could get away with bringing us lesser quality shows and still be a success, but they actually try to give us what we want and then some each time out. We can knock them for many things but not in this particular case. The UFC is fan friendly to say the least.
3. Elite XC
I needed some laughs, and from dragons billowing smoke to girls in hot pants shaking their asses as fighters took twenty minutes to even make it to the ring, this company made my sides split.
Elite XC was such a comedy of errors that they could make the Three Stooges look like 'Schindler's List.'
By no means am I knocking the fighters. Being associated with $kala and company could make many a man wish to don a disguise and pretend they were never there, but I never laughed at the fighters or even the fights; it was the futility of the organization that was laughable.
I am sad for the fighters who chose to ply their trade for an organization who couldn't even sell candy bars door to door with a high school band, and only wish them all the best in 2009 as they try and move forward in their careers.
If 'Tropic Thunder' was Hollywood's way of poking fun at itself in 2009, Elite XC was its MMA equivalent.
4. Brock Lesnar in the UFC
Love him or hate him he has made you all care, and has served to draw more eyes and dollars to this sport that we love so much. Lesnar was a Kimbo Slice who could actually figh,t and he very well may be the prototype of tomorrow's heavyweight; or he's a once in a lifetime athlete but we all will be watching his every move in the future.
Anytime someone can actually succeed after having been hyped ad nauseum is a success in and of itself, and Lesnar has certainly been a success at both the box office and inside of the Octagon.
If you hate him, you are wishing to see Nogueira or Mir make him tap; and if you love him you will be hoping to see him make those fans even angrier.
The main thing is that you will be watching and so too will be more viewers than most other PPVs and for the future of this sport this is a good thing. I am very thankful for anything that means success to MMA.
5. That Quinton Jackson's "Rampage" was not deadlier
A woman who was in a vehicle which was struck by Jackson suffered a miscarriage. There has been nothing to prove that he did in fact cause this to happen, but he certainly didn't help matters. So, the fatalities from this day stand at one and while it is hard for me to say this is a good thing when someone dies, I can do so because so many more were put in harm's way.
I am a fan of Jackson's in-ring career, and this did nothing to change my views of his fights in the past, but it does make me question those he will have in the future.
I want to see Silva vs. Jackson but not right now. I just feel he needs to lose something in order to realize what he did that put so many in jeopardy of losing their lives. I cannot rationalize that he simply went without sleep and lost his mind for a moment.
I can however feel anger over the fact that he could have killed people, and it seems like no one even cares just as long as they can see him howling and wearing his trademark chain.
I wish him the best of luck in the future, but I don't wish for him to skate away as if nothing happened nor do I want him to lose it all either. I just hope he has a moment of clarity in which he realizes the gravity of his situation without instead trying to blame it all on Juanito Ibarra and their relationship.
I am sad that Holly Griggs lost her baby, and even more sad that most care more about Jackson's fighting future than the fact this child never got the chance to look forward to one. I am thankful that this however was the only fatality and that there weren't more who lost their life due to supreme criminal negligence on Jackson's part.
6. Fedor Emelianenko
I am simply thankful for this man and the fact that he actually fought this year. Watching him decimate Tim Sylvia was a thing of beauty, and also served as a commercial for t-shirts, but this guy is one of those special athletes that you will be telling your grandchildren about in between asking who left the door open and soiling your diaper.
Fedor will be fighting against Andrei Arlovksi in January for Affliction, and who knows what will be next for this true King of heavyweight MMA fighters. I am hoping that we could see the day where he finally enters the UFC Octagon, but even if this never comes to fruition I can take solace in knowing I got to see him do that which he does best, which is better than anyone else in the world.
7. Ken Shamrock's Cut
I am glad that Ken Shamrock decided to spar the day of his scheduled fight with Kimbo Slice, as this saved us having to see him lose once again and allowed us to see Jared Shaw lose his mind cage side.
I have nothing against Kimbo Slice, and would definitely want to keep this man on my good side, but it was a bad thing that he served as the face of MMA to so many; and his loss was a necessary one.
Slice will be back and he will be a better fighter. He may never be as great as anyone ever hoped he could be, but this is a man who does respect this sport and we cannot be angry at him for taking advantage of opportunities and cashing paychecks. I doubt any of you would turn your boss down if he offered to pay you double for your efforts. I can also guarantee that you have bitter co-workers wishing to see you fail.
I wished to see Kimbo Slice lose, but I was not looking to see him fail. We failed him by putting a weight on his shoulders that he could not carry; and Elite XC failed itself by hitching their cart to his unproven horse.
Ken Shamrock should not fight again, and I am thankful that he was spared the chance to be the first fighter who was destroyed on basic cable as well as network television, and hope he retires for good.
If he chooses not to retire then I hope he continues believing that sparring the day of the fight is a great way to get ready and that the scar tissue continues to let him down.
8. Cris Cyborg
While this woman looks like she wears underwear with a dick hole, and would probably kick my pasty ass for suggesting such a thing while wearing nothing but them, it was great to see her emerge in 2009.
Gina Carano has been the only name in female MMA and she could probably fight herself and draw a crowd of viewers. Hell, she could weigh-in with her Dad holding the towel with his shaky hands and folks would queue up for the chance to gaze at her sideboob as if they were 12 yr. olds ogling the underwear section of a clothing catalog and claiming you could see something through the fabric.
Carano will never truly become anything more than eye candy unless she has a foil, and Cyborg could be just that; and we could possibly see it in 2009 somewhere.
If female MMA wishes to become a reality then this fight needs to happen; and if Carano is for real, we would soon find out.
This woman has a cool tattoo, a cool name, and again looks like she should be hanging out with Alexis Arquette, but she definitely can fight; and I would enjoy seeing her meet up with Carano in the future.
I am not really all for female MMA, but if I am going to have to watch it then it had better be a fight worth watching, and I feel Cyborg-Carano could be just that fight.
9. Goran Reljic
This man is a professional MMA fighter who competes in the UFC, and he is doing something for a living that few of us could ever dream of and fewer get to do. He is in the select percentage of people who are skilled enough to become professional athletes, and as an undefeated one he is in even more select company.
On October 15, 2008 this man did something even fewer of us will ever do, and much like fighting was something that most of us just don't have the stones for.
He saved the lives of two men.
Two young men were in a car that crashed into the sea around 3am on this day. Reljic heard the crash, jumped out of his bed while only wearing his underwear and jumped into the sea. He then proceeded to break the windshield and pull both men to safety on the land.
When asked about this, Reljic said "The only satisfaction I get is that both young men are alive and healthy, I don't need any praise, I simply did what anyone one would have done in that situation."
Yeah.
Look, I wouldn't leave the house in only my underwear on a dare, and my ass doesn't even know how to swim. This man left wearing nothing but BVDs and running on bravery as he risked his own well-being to serve that of two of his fellow men; and he is not asking for a damn bit of praise or an award for doing so.
If any of us unjam the copier at work we want a damn donut and bulletin to be posted as a show of gratitude, and this man wants nothing of the sort.
It takes quite an a man to be a professional fighter and one hell of an athlete to be a professional MMA fighter.
It takes more than all of this combined to do what he did on October 15, and I am thankful for men like this in our world and would like to think I could be even one tenth as brave and giving of myself in order to save someone else.
10. MMA
Yes, this seems like saying that my favorite part of the turkey is the turkey but trust me this one will make some sort of sense.
I am thankful that this sport which I love is not filled with the likes of self-serving assholes such as those who permeate the NFL, NBA, MLB and probably the NHL.
Admittedly I do not watch hockey, and couldn't tell you if Sidney Crosby can hit the five hole in a game or the number two hole of a groupie outside the arena; and while he can probably do both in the same night, I still would just shrug it off.
The entire Cincinnati Bengals roster is nothing more than your local police blotter come to life, if they could wrangle all the deadbeat dads and drug dealers together and put them into shoulder pads and helmets.
Adam "Pac Man" Jones of the Dallas Cowboys is risking a permanent ban from the NFL if he even farts in the direction of Roger Goodell or smells of alcohol. This clown "made it rain" in a strip club and caused a fracas which left one man paralyzed, and he has zero respect for society or the game he is so blessed to get to play for a living.
Michael Vick of the Federal Justice System and formerly of the Atlanta Falcons is a herpes-infected, financially and morally bankrupt man who headed up a dog fighting ring which electrocuted dogs, as well as held them into "rape stands." He was once the highest paid man in the NFL, and blew through $17 million dollars in two years before heading off to the pokey for being a bastion of animal cruelty and piece of excrement.
Sure, MMA has some unsavory characters, but by and large it is a sport of honor contested by some of the best examples of honor and respect in all of professional sports combined.
I picked on the NFL specifically but we could be here all night if I would select an example from each sport and my articles are already long enough as it is.
MMA is the best sport going today, and I am proud that the few times our sport gets mentioned on national television that it is not always due to the criminal acts of one of the fighters. Quinton Jackson is an example of the wrong kind of media attention, but I am giving thanks to MMA for consisting of athletes who will never make the police blotter, and deserve a little something for just doing the right thing.
It is sad that Goran Reljic got less media attention for what he did than anything Adam "Pac Man" Jones may ever do; but I am thankful that our sport has men like Reljic and is not simply a band of barnacles on the ship of society such as Jones and Vick.
I would like to give thanks to all that is great in my life, such as my family and my beautiful fiancee Amanda who I shall be marrying in March of 2009.
I am thankful for this wonderful gift of life and the equally wonderful gifts of eyesight and hearing and the fact that I can walk. These are things we take for granted and just the fact that we can walk to our living rooms in order to see and hear a UFC PPV makes seeing a fight such as Kalib Starnes vs. Nate Quarry from UFC 83 not seem so bad.
Ok, it was bad and maybe you did want to take a fork to your eye or wish that Kalib could no longer run, but you get the gist of what I am trying to say.
I am thankful to be a part of MMATorch and to be associated with some of the fine folks on this team. I am again thankful to you for reading this and in order for you to have something to be thankful about, I am going to end this article now and not go on and on like I usually do.
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, and here is hoping that the upcoming Holiday season is even better, but my main hope is for us all to be a little more thankful each and every day and not just on a Thursday in November.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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