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Feeding the beast: The media can’t stop talking about Kimbo Slice

By Zach Arnold | June 4, 2008

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  1. Bryan Burwell (NBC Sports & St. Louis Post-Dispatch): With Kimbo-mania, CBS has jumped into the abyss of human cockfighting
  2. Mike Chiappetta (NBC Sports): Some MMA coverage deserving of beatdown
  3. The Missoulian (MT): Kimbo, CBS don’t put new sport’s best fist forward
  4. The Dayton Daily News (OH): The demand for MMA doesn’t justify airing it
  5. The Baltimore Sun: A plan for EXC to get out of the MMA game
  6. Eddie Goldman (audio): The belittling of the role of grappling in MMA
  7. Fox Sports: Flaws aplenty in MMA’s network debut
  8. Fox Sports: Q & A – Mark Cuban talks about EXC on CBS show
  9. The Telegraph (UK): Michael Bisping ready for Jason Day
  10. The Seattle PI: Going around the Matt Hughes-Thiago Alves horn
  11. Setanta Sports (UK): Marcus Davis on Mike Swick
  12. The Canadian Press: Mike Swick looks to put on a show against Marcus Davis
  13. Setanta Sports (UK): Michael Bisping says Jason Day’s making a big mistake
  14. Inside the Octagon: UFC 85 pre-fight analysis and predictions
  15. MMA Betting Blog: UFC 85 Vera vs. Werdum fight breakdown
  16. Jared Barnes (Houston Chronicle): UFC 85 predictions – picking Hughes, Bisping, Swick, and Marquardt
  17. USA Today: Affliction finally gets Andrei Arlovski, Donald Trump
  18. MMA Analyst: You’re Fired! Trump becomes a partner with Affliction, signs Arlovski to fight Ben Rothwell
  19. Kevin Iole (Yahoo Sports): Chuck Liddell moves on after injury

Topics: Affliction, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

9 Responses to “Feeding the beast: The media can’t stop talking about Kimbo Slice”

  1. fenrsz says:

    lol check out this nice quote from article number 4…

    “Mixed martial arts finally reached mainstream television Saturday night, May 31, when street-fighting legend Kimbo Slice met British brawler Kevin Ferguson on CBS-TV, and the Elite Xtreme Combat match supplied the blood-thirsty fans of that so-called sport exactly what they wanted.”

  2. D.Capitated says:

    The comparison of Olympic TKD and the sport of MMA made in the NBC Sports article is astonishing. Really, has that guy ever actually seen point fighting?

  3. Leslie says:

    I want everyone to notice that Mark Cuban didn’t take his interview as an opportunity to bash the competition. He gave them their respect, unlike that classless, dishonest clown Dana White when he was on ESPN.

  4. cyph says:

    I would’ve love to watch a Fight Club version of Kimbo VS Ferguson. I’m speechless at these “professional writers.”

  5. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    Cuban has to respect EliteXC. The success of the promotions that he televises requires fighter loans from EliteXC. To whit, Dream.3.

    They aren’t his competition, they’re his business partner.

  6. The Citizen says:

    The still photographs have never looked better. The one thing the CBS showed was that if you light your event like its taking place in god’s backyard on a bright summer’s day you can make American Gladiators look like kick boxers and backyard brawlers like MMA Championship contenders.

    Stand up Nick Serra!

  7. David says:

    Can’t blame Shaw for being a shrewd, shrewd promoter and getting a peak of 6.5 million viewers in the 9pm PT/ET time slot on CBS for a Saturday night.

    I was promoting the event HARD at my university, every party, social event, class, I was telling everybody, CBS @ 9pm Sat night, KIMBO KIMBO KIMBO. Who knows how many of those people watched it but it definitely got people talking.

    MOST IMPORTANT point of the publicity is.. well, the publicity. Corporate sponsorships are more important than uneducated writers.

    BIG CORPORATE capital goes a lot further than pathetic lobbyists or conservative politicians who want to ban the sport. Big corp sponsorships means more airtime for EXC and more money and exposure for the sport.

    He HAD to put Kimbo on the front page of every publication, tv program, etc. He is the promotional tool, the symbol that people know and love, and remember. Lawler and Carano can not carry a live network debut, so Kimbo was Shaw’s foot in the door, now it will be interesting to see what he can make happen for the TRUE fans 🙂

  8. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    Why do anything for the true fans? He got several million curious people to rubberneck a car crash with billboards erected to the left and right. The ad space is selling like hotcakes. Changing anything might jeopardize that.

    IIRC, on one of the commentaries on the U2 Elevation: Boston DVD, they indicated that half the light = twice the show based on their experience lighting for the cameras on night one, and then lighting for the show on night two. Needless to say, night two made the DVD.

    There are definitely competing demands, and it’s up to the event director to balance them.

  9. iain says:

    Ok ok, enough of this positivity. I would like to know how 6.5 million viewers means nothing and only Dana White knows this and that’s why he’s never been on network t.v.

  10. Chuck says:

    The dude at the Baltimore Sun is a clown. If you get someone to write about MMA for your website/newspaper/magazine and he/she considers him/herself a “hardcore” fan of that specific product, then shouldn’t you have followed it longer than a year and a half? And I have to laugh about when he mentioned about Dana White never allowing his fighters to fight in other orgs. He should have done his homewrok, because if he did, then he would have known that the UFC sent Chuck Liddell to PRIDE on two occasions (a win over Alistair Overeem, and a loss to Quinton Jackson). Hell, Dana White himself did commentary for I think the Overeem fight.

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