Friend of our site


MMA Headlines


UFC HP


Bleacher Report


MMA Fighting


MMA Torch


MMA Weekly


Sherdog (News)


Sherdog (Articles)


Liver Kick


MMA Junkie


MMA Mania


MMA Ratings


Rating Fights


Yahoo MMA Blog


MMA Betting


Search this site



Latest Articles


News Corner


MMA Rising


Audio Corner


Oddscast


Sherdog Radio


Video Corner


Fight Hub


Special thanks to...

Link Rolodex

Site Index


To access our list of posting topics and archives, click here.

Friend of our site


Buy and sell MMA photos at MMA Prints

Site feedback


Fox Sports: "Zach Arnold's Fight Opinion site is one of the best spots on the Web for thought-provoking MMA pieces."

« | Home | »

That Never Back Down movie must be lousy…

By Zach Arnold | March 14, 2008

Print Friendly and PDF

  1. Denis Martins: Paulo Fliho in rehab, out of WEC fight
  2. WEC HP: Company statement on Paulo Filho
  3. Mike Coughlin: Thoughts on the DREAM debut event
  4. The Princeton Daily Clarion (Indiana): Ex-PCHS grappler John Turner dreams of ultimate fighting crown
  5. The Daily Record (UK): Cage fighters look for respect despite ‘cockfighting’ claims
  6. The News & Observer: ‘Never Back Down’ — someone should have backed down
  7. Film.com: Review – Never Back Down should Never Be Watched
  8. The Kansas City Star: ‘Never Back Down’ – 1 star
  9. The Winnipeg Sun: Karate Kid on ‘roids
  10. The Globe and Mail (Canada): From the couch to the cage
  11. Steve Sievert: UFC welcome in Mark Cuban’s house

Topics: DREAM, HDNet, Media, MMA, UFC, WEC, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

12 Responses to “That Never Back Down movie must be lousy…”

  1. salvatore says:

    I like “Never Back Down” the first time it came around as this movie

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111174/

  2. Zack says:

    I’d rather just watch the Eliminator on DVD…at least that way I can see the Mario Sperry vs Bas Rutten dream match.

  3. Marcus says:

    Sherdog’s review of the movie looks exactly like my concerns for such a horrible movie aren’t without merit.

    And does anyone know when DREAM starts EST ? I’m probably going to catch a stream of it.

  4. GassedOut says:

    Y’know, the more I hear about the movie, the less I like it. It seems like someone with the “human cockfight” mentality isn’t going to have their mind changed of the sport by this movie.

  5. Bobby Karimi says:

    I saw the movie on weds (sneak preview). Wouldnt have gone had I not got free passes. As a cheesy action movie it was ok. but it wasnt a mma movie and glorified the “bad” aspects. If someone believes mma is underground cockfighting, they will leave this show convinced it is.

    There isn’t a single regulated mma fight in the whole movie. Every fight is “underground”.
    The only rules are no eye gouge and something else (groin shots I think). Soccer kicks happen a ton in the movie. Girl vs Guy fights are shown once. etc

  6. Ivan Trembow says:

    The problem that I have with “Never Back Down,” based on the commercials, is that it’s promoting illegal underground street fights.

    You know, kind of like how EliteXC does the same thing when they push Kimbo Slice, sending the message to aspiring fighters everywhere that they, too, could soon be in an EliteXC main event if they gain enough notoriety from filming videos of their illegal street fights…

  7. Never Back Down – Someone should have backed down…

    LOL… priceless headline.

    The movie looks absolutely terrible, and I have no desire to actually see the trainwreck of horrible plot that it will impose on my brain. Mixing O.C. teens into MMA has already proven to be bad news, ask Rob Emerson.

  8. Nick says:

    “…sending the message to aspiring fighters everywhere that they, too, could soon be in an EliteXC main event if they gain enough notoriety from filming videos of their illegal street fights”

    I disagree. Anyone else who tries to become a “star” in the same manner as Kimbo will be seen as an imitator and not looked upon in the same light. Lots of teens imitated the Jackass guys but none of them are making movies or tv shows. I know you loathe Kimbo, but he’s actually a pretty damned good boxer and with Bas rounding out his game he’s only going to improve. He’s not Tank. He’s actually trying to become a Martial Artist.

  9. Zack says:

    Kimbo is gonna get that bread…ALL DAY.

  10. Jim Allcorn says:

    Yep, he’ll keep on getting his “bread” as long as he keeps winning, but let’s see what happens the first time he’s in the cage with someone capable of hitting him back or getting him down on the mat with them.

    Sure, he was able to take the blows from that one untrained individual who’s eye he wound up damaging in that one video & he may have taken a couple of shots from one or two others in those underground contests before Sean Gannon wore him out in their match, but it’ll be a whole other story when a properly taped & gloved professional is delivering the blows. THEN we’ll see what Kimbo’s made of …

    Yes, his career in sanctioned fights is only in it’s embryonic stage right now, but he chose to take the stage as a main event fighter in order to get these big paychecks & there are only so many Bo Cantrells & Tank Abbotts that can be pawned off on the public. Especially since all indications are that Gary Shaw plans to feature him on CBS.

    One would hope that the broadcast network’s quality control people will demand a higher standard of opponents than has Showtime thus far. If not, then I’m afraid that the CBS – EliteXC relationship will be an unsuccessful short one.

  11. Ivan Trembow says:

    “Anyone else who tries to become a “star” in the same manner as Kimbo will be seen as an imitator and not looked upon in the same light. Lots of teens imitated the Jackass guys but none of them are making movies or tv shows.”

    You think that’s going to stop people from trying, based on the example that has been set?

    And I don’t despise Kimbo personally. I do despise what his hiring and subsequent push represent: ie, beat up a bunch of non-fighters in illegal street fights, and get hired and pushed to the moon when videos of those illegal street fights garner you a lot of notoriety on the Internet.

    This is the same reason that I was vehemently against Zuffa hiring Sean Gannon (which they did for the same exact reasons that EliteXC hired Kimbo). At least they didn’t put Gannon in main events, and at least they didn’t name any of their events “Street Certified.” Apparently, if fighters like Robbie Lawler or Jake Shields are accomplished mixed martial artists but haven’t been in illegal street fights that have been videotaped and posted on the Internet, they’re not “street-certified.” That kind of ignorant mentality is a step backward for the sport.

  12. ‘Bloodsport’ is bad for MMA. All the fights are of dubious legal standings and one guy even ends up in the hospital! I think JCVD actually kills a dude near the end. What kind of message are we sending to people?????

Comments to Ivan Trembow

*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture.
Anti-spam image