People are talking about the Strikeforce Nashville MMA show on CBS and it isn’t the disappointing show that is on people’s minds. The brawl between Jason Mayhem Miller and Jake Shields following Shields dismantling of Dan Henderson is the buzz of the MMA world. Was this a classic moment or pathetic WWE sideshow?
Like many I was bored to sleep as Strikeforce wrapped up what will probably be their final show on CBS. Jake Shields rebounded from a poor first round to close out four dominating rounds over Dan Henderson. However, the entire Strikeforce audience was tired of seeing a fight that consisted of nothing but Shields grounding Henderson by the end of the fight. Who knew that after two and a half hours of some of the most boring MMA you will ever see, the fireworks would begin courtesy of Jason “Mayhem” Miller.
Somehow Jason Miller entered the ring after the fight as Jake Shields was being interviewed. Mayhem interrupted the interview and asked Jake Shields about a rematch. The audio suddenly went silent, the camera panned away, and the next thing you saw was a full out brawl on Strikeforce. Nick Diaz and his brother Nate Diaz were not surprisingly right in the middle and it was a full out war. Like it or not, it was far and away the most consecutive action show on the entire Strikeforce show.
I was still on the fence but my suspicions were confirmed when Strikeforce came back from a commercial break showing clips of the brawl and talking about it. Okay one thing I do know from my days working in pro wrestling and television is that nothing gets on live television that isn’t supposed to be on live television. It is very easy for the production crew to cut out and even easier for them not to replay a clip of the brawl. Confirming my suspicion was former pro wrestling announcer Mauro Ranallo talking about what a disgusting moment it was in his best pro wrestling voice. C’mon Mauro, don’t insult my intelligence.
The Strikeforce brawl came off as an incredibly desperate attempt to save a poor show. This isn’t the first time Strikeforce was involved in this kind of controversy. A similar incident happened at a show between the Diaz brothers and K.J. Noons. So to think that Strikeforce is adverse from doing something like this would be incredibly naïve. The bottom line here is that most anticipate terrible ratings for the show and the only way to save something like this is to go viral. Pathetic yes, but is it smart?
I predict that tonight was the swan song for Strikeforce tonight on CBS. The irony here is that the final MMA show for yet another company on CBS will be marred by controversy. Prior to Strikeforce, Elite XC had a deal with CBS. The deal fell apart when there were rumors of Seth Petruzelli being paid to stand up by Elite XC in his fight against Kimbo Slice. Between the controversy and the poor ratings, CBS moved on to Strikeforce. My gut is that once the dust settles CBS will move on from Strikeforce. I can’t imagine any casual MMA fan sticking with tonight’s show midway through the King Mo vs. Gegard Mousasi fight.
So whether the Strikeforce brawl was a WWE charade or a true brawl won’t matter at the end of the day. MMA fans just want to see good fights and casual MMA fans want to be entertained. Nobody was satisfied tonight and that should be the story here and not this pathetic attempt to save a bomb of a Strikeforce event.
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