Mail Bonding

Of Slice and Men

Brutal but very true article about Kimbo Slice and Ken Shamrock. Obviously you need a deep organization to avoid these types of blood baths (and you need to breed consistent talent). Having one organization helps that, but then again you put all pricing power in their hands. Where do you sit on the monopoly vs. competition issue for MMA?
--Aarish Patell

It’s impossible to make the argument in favor of a promotional monopoly. The pull for talent is significant enough for athletes to finally get paid a number approaching what they truly deserve. Would Andrei Arlovski have netted a seven-figure paycheck in the UFC? Worse -- would fans have appreciated both Arlovski and Tim Sylvia in endless rematches? Talent needs to be cycled in and out. Both of those guys now have a lot of fresh opportunities in Affliction.

Competition breeds change.

Didn't quite know who to send this to because the article was credited to "The Sherdog.com Staff,” so I thought I'd throw it your way....

First, congratulations to Seth Petruzelli for making quick work of Slice. He caught him and finished him decisively. But I think it's a pretty sad day when you hear a statement like this from a professional fighter:

“......I wanted to keep the fight standing for myself because I knew that was what the crowd, the promoters, and everyone wanted to see because that’s more exciting than just taking someone to the ground,” Petruzelli told FiveOuncesOfPain.com. “That was my thing only. I wanted to keep it exciting, so I decided to keep it standing."

He wanted to keep it standing because it's more exciting than taking someone to the ground? MMA is multi-dimensional, and more than just two guys punching each other in the face. In fact, I find the ground game to be THE MOST exciting aspect of the game, but if a fight does stay standing, I won't necessarily think it any less exciting. If that's the way it plays out, then fine. Watching someone like Shinya Aoki practice his craft on an opponent is absolutely mesmerizing to me.
--Chris Cook

Let’s face facts: The vast majority of promoters and fans in this industry want to see a mediocre kickboxing match with four-ounce gloves. The stand-up rules, the restarts, the round durations, the illegal blows (no knees on the ground) all work to discourage ground fighting.

This is a business, and business dictates that extended stretches of patty cake inside someone’s guard is box office death. It’s why you saw Art Davie screaming for John McCarthy to stand up Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock at UFC V, why Liddell claims John Perretti told him to keep his first fight at UFC 19 standing and avoid the ground if he wanted to be invited back, and why EliteXC is currently mired in a public relations nightmare over what they did or did not say to Petruzelli about taking Slice down.

The fighters have been so ingratiated into this practice that you can have a bout between an amazing wrestler in Sean Sherk and an amazing jiu-jitsu artist in B.J. Penn decided by nearly 25 minutes of striking.

This industry rejects at least 50 percent of its own product. It’s like Hostess trying to get rid of the filling in a Twinkie. Insanity.

Great article! Oleg Taktarov vs. Slice could be billed as "Internet sensation vs. the Movie star!" I like the prospect. Oleg would win the same way Shamrock would have won: knee bar/ankle lock.
--Joe Rivera

CBS and Elite really miss the point of what should be an exciting relationship. Taktarov is an actor, and not a bad one, so why not stick him on as the bad guy in one of their endless “CSI” installments, get 17 million people familiar with him and then hype the hell out of a real fight?

It’s a dopey idea, granted, but shouldn’t something come out of this affiliation besides a Craig Ferguson spot?

And finally…

I'm not trying to be funny but do you have anything to back up your "…against genetically modified behemoth Brock Lesnar" [quote]? I'm not trying to imply I believe Brock is all natural. I am just really interested in what he has done if anything to look the way he does.
--Rob Narolewski

There is not a steroid in the world that could turn an average-sized man into someone of Lesnar’s dimensions; you’re born with it or you’re not. By “genetically modified,” I was implying that he may have been descended from a silverback gorilla.

That being said, it’s worth noting that Lesnar was arrested in 2001 for receiving a box of supplements that law officials believed were steroids. Testing proved that they weren’t, but the best description Lesnar’s lawyer could provide was that the pills were a “vitamin type of thing.” Does anyone else smell smoke?

I think there’s a definite divide in sports over whether human growth hormone is ethically acceptable or not. I would also venture to say that anyone who claims they don’t use steroids -- and Lesnar is vehement that he doesn’t -- doesn’t include HGH use in that equation.

If an effective test is indeed implemented for the drug in the future, we will see a definite change in fighter physiques.

For comments, e-mail jrossen@sherdog.com