"Reality" television as of late has become anything but reality. The first two seasons of MTV's The Real World was the last true Reality TV... Since that time it has been anything but real. Everything is now manufactured. We now have plots and story lines, games and challenges, jobs and tasks.... Everything planned to cause conflict or generate the outcome that would be best for ratings...
Now it seems that Dana White and the UFC have fallen into this same story line.
The Ultimate Fighter started as a talent search of young amateur fighters wanting to be in the UFC. Hungry and raw, these guys had a fire and desire to be part of what Dana White was growing with the UFC brand. It is also the reason the ratings for the UFC skyrocketed as it brought a personal aspect to the sport and showed that a "regular joe" had a chance for greatness in the most electrifying sport in the world.
Now I like Dana White, I like what he has done thus far for the sport, but this season of The Ultimate Fighter is really starting to piss me off. It really seems that they had a plan to manufacture a winner or a set outcome. There are two obvious sets of contenders. One set has been training over the past year with UFC fighters and the others are guys hungry and wanting a shot but need to be trained... Or as they seem to have been lined up... they are patsy's.... Destined to fail.
Unless these younger amateurs come out the gate and knock someone the fuck out, they are going to lose.
Now I don't know what was up with the first fight of the season, I don't remember Abe even throwing a punch so I'm not sure why he was chosen unless it was just to fill a void and lose.
The second fight put Shivers against McSweeny.
Now if you watch this closely you hear Shivers talk about how he wants this, this is his one shot to do something great and honestly he hasn't had the opportunity to train everyday as he should have for this, he is a regular guy, training as he can and wanting the opportunity to do great things.
McSweeney talks almost brags about spending the last year training with Raschad... Hmmmm... Who is going to win this fight?
First round Shivers gets some nice hits on him, making McSweeney go backwards and even takes McSweeney to the ground. Granted he was tired after two minutes but he still had more hits and a takedown as well as ring control. I gave this round to Shivers.
Second round went back and forth with both fighters obviously worn out, hands on hips, hard to score this round, but we will assume it goes to McSweeney as a worst case scenario.
One judge gives it a 19/19 score which was fair. The other 2 judges gave both rounds to McSweeney... Really???
There is no way he won the first round! Obviously some bias here, and if McSweeney has been training with Raschad for a year, he should have dominated Shivers, which he did not do!
Now we have Kimbo vs Big Country...
We all know that Kimbo was picked to win this, and was the one that had to come out and shine. Going into this I didn't really have a lot for Kimbo. He always came across as a thug and brawler and more of a Tank Abbott tough man contest kind of guy. Watching him the past few weeks has changed my opinion. Kimbo seems to be very humble and wanting to learn. Wanting to do better. Wanting to be the best in the sport and he listens and takes criticism very well.
In the fight however, Big Country gets rocked on the stand up game and gets Kimbo to the ground only to lie his Fat Ass on top of Kimbo for both rounds to win the fight.
Kimbo wasn't being hurt, but, wasn't able to defend himself either..
Roy "BIG COUNTRY" Nelson claims a weight of 264 to be in the heavyweight class (265 and over are super heavy weights) but, I don't believe he weighs less than 265..
So when you got some fat ass like this lying across you chest, unless you bench 300 lbs you're not moving this big bastard.
So kimbo lost... and immediately Dana White gets upset and starts complaining about Roy Nelson's win.
Was it ugly? Hell yeah! Did it piss me off? Hell yeah!! However, these are the rules...
It really seemed that Dana was more upset that "The Plan" was messed up more than anything. Kimbo's fight did bring one of the highest if not the highest ratings of this show in history. There were pay-per-view number of viewers..
I really want to ask Dana, sit with him and just ask him, What The FUCK? Why are you trying to manufacture the ratings? You have been doing fine as the head of this sport. You are the most powerful man in MMA. Please, don't fall into the trap of reality tv and try to create problems or manufacture a winner in the interest of ratings. I know this is a competitive sport but, in the years since you have taken over all I have heard and seen is how Dana White is a stand up guy with good ethics... Please remember you grew this sport with those values... Please don't turn this sport into the same thing Don King did to boxing.. Keep this real, keep it true, Keep it honest....
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