Curse of the Gifted: Investigating the Anti-Climactic

Remy Rutledge

When's the last time somebody actually finished a fight?
Munoz maybe?
Jesus.

And when did the P4P elite quit putting contenders to sleep and turn their sedative savvy against me? After a string of recent disappointments for WEC, Strikeforce, and UFC main events, tough questions have to be asked about the nature of the big one. Why do I hang around until 11:30 and dole out $50 only to see the gods of war putting their Ferraris on cruise control? Why do the fights get worse as the talent gets better? I need answers.

Is it match-making?
Is it pressure to win?
Is it the format, the rules, the styles?
What's the skinny on the recent trend of main events with spectacular talent and insane anticipation that have me switching over to check tennis results by the 3rd round?

I fucking hate tennis.

The unfortunate truth is this may be a sign of things to come. Here's why: it's been happening for a long time with some regularity in other combat sports, and MMA is just now catching up.

Take NCAA wrestling for example. Year after year the best athletes from around the country come together to compete in the NCAA Championships. And year after year the tournament is filled with incredible action, inspiring stories, and truly epic matches . . . until the finals. You might say the tournament is akin to the under card of a big event; unknown hopefuls filled with raw aggression, wild risk taking, and an all-or-nothing hunger to finish and score big. The finals, however, are inevitably a more cautious affair; filled with conservative tactics from evenly-matched opponents that often cancel each other out and end in razor-close, indecisive, and sometimes uneventful decisions that can be, in a word, anticlimactic.

These disappointing trends are clearly beginning to emerge among the higher eschelons of MMA. Fighters at the top have infinitely more pressure, more to lose, less to gain by overt aggression, and are typically matched with opponents who are well equipped to counter and capitalize on any false moves. It's a scenario that demands hesitancy -- and that's gay. They've also paid their dues with spilled blood and reckless abandon on many an under card for $2 grand a night, and do not recall fondly the darker days of prelim fodder and bounced checks. The top of the hill is sweet and seductive and what kind of moron is going to come out guns blazing in a sport where one tiny cut, one shot to the temple, one slip on the mat can send you hurdling back into obscurity faster than you can say Iceman. It all adds up to a finale that can fizzle; and of late they've done just that.

It's easy, too, to sit back and judge from the safe and anonymous surroundings of fandom, but human behavior doesn't lie. And when the social and economic pressures push athletes toward winning rather than fighting, the result is unmistakable: we get Anderson and Aldo refusing to put lame horses out of their misery; we get Penn and Edgar point fighting for half-an-hour; we get Shields and Lawal dry humping their way into our hearts; we get GSP and Melendez playing the equivalent of combat bumper bowling. And who, besides we drunken buffoons with no frame of reference or comparable experience, can blame them?

So, now what?
Yellow cards, bigger incentives to finish (KOTN bonuses), stalling calls and point deductions, revised scoring systems that reward effort to finish over mat control or isolated take downs, sudden death overtime ala K-1? How do you create a sense of urgency for millionaire professional athletes who have to deal with constant and unpredictable risks that vastly outweigh the rewards? Can anything be done?

While the answer may not be clear, the answer is clearly yes, and I leave it to the sport to show us the way forward as it has so many times before when we spectators and participators could not have dreamt where it would lead us. And after all, isn't that the beauty of MMA: seeing the evolution of martial arts in real-time? Seeing new techniques, strategies, styles, and prototypes succeed and fail in the most Darwinesque of dances, yielding the most definitive proofs of what may come. To this effect, MMA has changed more in a decade than NCAA wrestling has in a century, and it will adapt and thrive where wrestling has come to a stalemate -- we need only sit back and let it, and not pretend we have the knowledge or authority to guide it.

That is earned.

Small Show Supernova: On Birth and Death in the B Leagues

Mid-American Promotions pit Local Talent against Big Show Vets
Remy Rutledge
March 11, 2010

Huddled at smoky sports bars across the land, armchair toughguys often muse aloud on their unrealized greatness. "If only I'd get my shot, I could hang with the big dogs. If I took it seriously, I could be pretty good. I'm not saying I could take Kimbo, but . . . the openings are there. "

You've heard it; I've heard it; we all know the chords.

Last January, 5150 fight promoter Ginny Myers gave a handful of local hot heads a chance to prove it.
And prove it they did.

In arguably the biggest show in state history, 5150 Promotions, in conjunction with Dale Cook's XFL, brought half-a-dozen seasoned UFC and Pride veterans in to Tulsa, OK, to face local standouts at New Year's Revolution -- an 18-bout mega card that saw 11 subs, six TKOs, and one . . . yes ONE decision.

The most consequential bout of the evening featured Joey "The Mexicutioner" Beltran taking on the feared-but-faltering UFC brawler Houston Alexander. Beltran combined elusive striking with effective wrestling to frustrait and eventually stop Alexander with a devastating 2nd round TKO -- something Kimbo Slice, Keith Jardine, and Alessio Sakara were famously unable to accomplish.

That's how stars die.

Beltran's win catapulted him into consideration for a late fill-in spot opposite the UFC debut of Rolles Gracie just weeks later; where, again, Joey used versatility and pressure to end the fight with a devastating 2nd round TKO. Beltran is now slated to take on the highly touted Chad Corvin at UFC 113.

That's how stars are born.



In other action, local grappler John Brown took former UFC title challenger Jeff Monson to a controversial split decision in what was, by any standard, the least eventful match of the night.



Not all big names came up short in T-town. The veteran's veteran Jeremy Horn picked up a solid submission win over Victor Moreno in what Horn estimates was his 140th fight. Sherdog has his total at 108, but who's counting? Horn almost missed the event, though, showing up for fighter check-in without mouth piece or cup and unable to leave the building, the fight was in serious doubt. No stranger to such situations, Horn pulled his hood over his head and slipped out the back door and through the parking lot, returning 20 minutes later with a brand new boil-and-bite mouthguard ready to rumble. Horn said he'd like to keep fighting as long as he's physically able and has no real ambition to return to prime time.

Former UFC slugger Tim Boetsch also looked sharp in his bout, nabbing a 2nd round guillotine over then XFL LHW champion Rudy Lindsey. Tim said the cut to 205 was tough having come down from 230ish over the past 4 weeks. He was around 220 at fight time and appeared calm and almost pleasant just minutes before his scrap (see video below). Tim said he feels like he's starting to peak and sees himself making a serious run at the UFC strap in 5 years.



His opponent, Lindsey, was recently in action against former UFC MW and Oklahoma State wrestling prodigy Jake Rosholt in the very same venue. The two met just last weekend at a catch weight of 195 lbs as a co-headliner for another of Cook's XFL shows. After scoring early with low kicks, Lindsey found himself badly outmatched on the mat. The fight ended by RNC late in the 1st.



Easily the most competitive fight of the night featured local talent and former Olympic speed skater Mike Budnik squaring off against TUF graduate Rich "No Love" Clementi in a 23-minute scramble that ended mid-way through the 5th when a slowing Budnik gave up his back and his claim to the XFL 155lb title.




Fight Night Video Excerpts:




Other highlights included special guest announcer Beau "One Man Army" Taylor of Kimo-is-dead infamy and special guest Forrest Griffin in an exhibition bout against a break dancing midget. I shit you not. Ever the entertainer, Griffin told me that his next goal is to try to actually win a fight. He admits that he doesn't have the chin or the power to contend at HW and enjoys being a large 205er. He said he currently weighs around 1,007lbs and that since breaking his foot in training he's become noticeably hungrier. Griffin did say that he'd like a rematch with Keith Jardine at some point but that he's taking things one fight at a time these days. He also revealed that he's never slept with a porn star - sure buddy - and that his dream fight is Bill O'Reilly vs. Bill Maher ending in a double KO. Somebody book that.

Big night for a small town; chock full of reality checks and ticket punching. We saw a former t-shirt vendor put on a truly spectacular show. We saw a small town tough guy finish off a PPV punisher. We saw that, much like American Idol, a no-name kid from the middle of nowhere with a little talent and a lot of balls can be just as big and bad as the Vegas-groomed superstars that get a one-way ticket to Spike TV. Most of all, we saw and were reminded why we love this sport -- because once that cage door closes, all the bullshit fades away and we're left with something so real and so primal that no hype or reputation or entourage can penetrate the barrier or detract from the essence of what goes inside these walls: we fight. And when that bell rings it doesn't matter where you're from or what PPV you headlined; it's you and me and only one of us is walking out of here a winner. That's how stars die and how they are born in the firey womb of war.