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You may call Gary Shaw sleazy, but is he right about his MMA booking philosophy and right about Kimbo Slice?
By Zach Arnold | June 8, 2010
INTERVIEWER: “Kimbo Slice got cut by the UFC. What do you feel about that situation?”
GARY SHAW: “I think the UFC made a huge mistake. Once again, Dana’s ego’s probably gotten in the way. I think Kimbo Slice could be a draw wherever he goes around the world. I think that they matched him up wrong. I would have put him in against just stand-up fighters. I would have built to a PPV with James Toney. So, you know, my way of doing business is obviously different than Dana’s and UFC, I don’t knock them, they got a great product, they make a ton of money, so God bless them. But, I sure wouldn’t have promoted Kimbo Slice you know like they did and I hope Kimbo comes around and gets in a boxing ring with me.”
INTERVIEWER: “How do you feel business philosophy-wise the UFC and Dana White act cutting fighters like that just so quickly?”
GARY SHAW: “Well, look, I don’t believe in it. I believe in loyalty. If you’re going to ask for loyalty from your fighters, you need to give them loyalty. So, to have two fights and cut ’em, I don’t get it. Plus, he is a star. I mean, when he walks in a room, he captivates the room.”
INTERVIEWER: “James Toney/Randy Couture, do you think it’s a good idea for James Toney even crossing over into MMA?”
GARY SHAW: “Look, I don’t plan anybody’s life out. If James wants, and I like James a lot, if he wants to try MMA, then God bless him, but he needs to be in against the Kimbo Slices, the guys where he stands and he uses his skills as a boxer. He’s way too old to develop all the skills of these real good MMA guys. Impossible.”
Related: Do we need to give credit to Gary Shaw for what he did with Kimbo Slice?
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
No,. Shaw does not deserve extra special credit for Kimbo. Like I said yesterday, it was a no brainer to sign him and push him as a star. He had been a cult figure online for a year or two and people were all saying “I wonder how he would do in MMA.” So it’s not like he plucked him from obscurity and masterminded the whole thing; it was handed to him.
But he is right that UFC should have run Slice/Toney and not Couture/Toney. If Toney beats Couture, MMA will never hear the end of it from boxing. But if Kimbo lost they could brush it off with the “Oh well, he isn’t a respected fighter. But Couture will have no excuse if he gets KOed. But like everybody I really doubt that will happen, though. Instead I’m sure Randy immediately takes him down and keeps him there.
Again, why should we the fans care about what mnakes the promotions money.
Kimbo couldn’t hack it. Who should’ve he been put in the cage with that was worse than the two guys he fought? Any of the stand up guys he’s talking about at the UFC level would’ve done the same thing Mitrione did. Sure the UFC could’ve made some money off a Kimbo-Toney matchup or even Kimbo-Seth 2, but do they really need it? They’re not exactly at a loss for money making fighters at the moment…
Matched him up wrong? Mitrione was pretty much the worst fighter they had, unless they wanted to bring in some can with a 5-11 record. I know it’s standard practice in boxing to go recruiting at the local homeless shelter so your guy can pad his record, but I’d sooner watch whatever is playing on Lifetime.
I think the UFC played their hand perfectly when you look at their motivation and goals. They get huge ratings on Spike, they put Kimbo on a couple of shows on the lower half of the main card for a ratings boost and they finish by showing that UFC fighters are a cut above guys like Kimbo and then release him. Kimbo may still get some ratings, but there’s no more talk about him ever being a good MMA fighter.
On a side note, Rampage was on Monday Night Raw last night, mostly doing the Mr. T gimmick, which was strange because most “guest hosts” come on as themselves and not a movie character (the only exception being the MacGruber episode) I instantly thought they’re doing this because they’re petrified to say anything about the UFC. But when they did identify who he really was, he was referred to as “MMA fighter” and “UFC” was never uttered. They also did a strange skit where Roddy Piper showed up randomly and thought he was Mr. T. It was awful.
Gary Shaw’s promotion of Kimbo at Elite made sense because they had no brand power, there was nothing to lose. The UFC is doing spectacularly and has legitimacy with an established fanbase, why risk sacrificing it just to get one or two good buyrates?
They do a good amount of freak shows as it is, it’s always a delicate balance. Kimbo’s 3 UFC fights were all pretty embarrassing, it was time to let him go.
I agree with this, except that the UFC does have a sort-of subsidiary brand with its Spike ventures. The pay-per-views, live events, video game, t-shirt sales, market expansion, and stuff like that are certainly built on the UFC’s legitimate brand, but the reality show, fight nights, and other stuff on Spike definitely have a different appeal and probably fairly different sub-demographic. This is where the UFC mildly screwed up the Kimbo thing in my opinion– making him a mid-card pay-per-view booster instead of a fight night headliner. Heck, they could have even built a mini reality show around Kimbo, something like ‘watch Kimbo train against all obstacles for the biggest fight of his life.” They could have taken us inside ATT, shown us first-hand how tough and complex MMA training really is, portrayed Kimbo as an underdog who just wants to prove to people that he’s not a freak show. Then even if he loses (on a Spike-televised card) he’s still a fan favorite because he gave it his all.
A while back Dave Meltzer said that Kimbo didn’t want to fight James Toney:
http://www.mmaconvert.com/2010/05/13/kimbo-slice-didnt-want-to-fight-james-toney/
So if Kimbo wouldn’t drop to Light Heavyweight, wouldn’t take the fight with James Toney and couldn’t even beat the most inexperienced heavyweight in the whole company then what else was left for him in the UFC? I’m sure Shaw would of brought in some hand picked cans to try and build him up but we already went down that road with the guy and he was having problems then too. At some point in time the guy has to either compete or hit the bricks and it’s been shown that he just doesn’t have the talent or skill to compete at a very high level in the sport.
Meltzer said a while back that it was Kimbo who didn’t want the James Toney fight. If he wouldn’t drop to light heavyweight, wouldn’t fight James Toney and couldn’t even beat the most inexperienced heavyweight in the UFC then what was left for him there? I guess they could of done like Shaw would do and bring in handpicked guys just to build him up but he was even having trouble back in the EliteXC days. He just isn’t that good and he can’t compete at even a low UFC level, beyond the Toney match that he wouldn’t take what else was there for him in the UFC?
Exactly. Might as well cut him. He’s just another Houston Alexander otherwise.
Shaws opinions are laughable the guy, put his company on the shoulders of a guy who couldn’t fight at any type of top level. Elite XC is looked at as a debacle and him and his reputation are forever damaged the idea that he can even begin to try and tell Dana how to book fights in the UFC. Shows just how out of touch with reality and how in denial this guy is, he doesn’t deserve credit for anything because if he had any idea what he was doing he would still be in the mma biz.
[…] Wait until you read his answer about watching the Gray Maynard/Kenny Florian fight. Hint: He channels the same spirit as Bob Ryan & Mike Felger along with Gary Shaw’s mentality. […]