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.
[adinserter block=”1″]Now at this point my background in pro wrestling fan kicked in. I thought, “Hmm, so Strikeforce just put on their worst MMA show to date on CBS. How could Strikeforce attempt to get millions of fans, television executives, and their live audience to forget about the fact that they were bored to death for over two hours? I don’t know, maybe end the show with a brawl? Nobody would ever script an angle in MMA right?”
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?
[adinserter block=”2″]If there is one thing I have learned from blogging about pro wrestling and MMA and talking about both on my radio show is that there is no crossover for MMA fans. More pro wrestling fans enjoy MMA than there are MMA fans that enjoy pro wrestling. Most people that I have talked to in the MMA world despise any trickle of pro wrestling flowing into their sport. I think at the end of the day that not only are more people going to be turned off by this, but they will also see through the obvious angle and reject Strikeforce even more.
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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So, if you're in a fight – without a ref – could that be considered assault and battery? If someone presses charges, then we'll know.
I don't have any idea whether that was staged or real. Would you trust this crew to stage a fight?
I don't know. All I know is, it feels like my kids just acted out in front of company. I don't have any kids, but if I did, I'd be having a frosty conversation with everyone involved. Where's the discipline? People must say challenging things to professional fighters all the time. Not cool to lose your cool, boys.
.-= Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny´s last blog ..The Original Kenny Florian Trivia Game for UFC 101 =-.
Btw, bare knuckles no gloves. Glove hits might take some time to swell, but bare knuckles cut and do immediate visible damage. Again, it was staged. The only good that came out last nights fight is bringing Alvarez and Melendez one step closer. Shields not so stellar victory over an overaged past his prime Henderson does not bode well for top condensers. Should have been able to close it out with that many rounds with full mount. Mo was the highlight, he was out classed but his heart was bigger and his opponent was too subdued. Alvarez vs melendez will be the fight of the year when it happens, both are unequaled in heart and stamina.
With 12 guys on you, you are going to get raped and your face will immediately be unrecognizable. These are skilled fighters not drunken frat guys. Fake 100%.
I think both points are good, was it planned was it a fluke. In my opinnion i would say they went to shut their camaras off and thought "hey why not try and see if this will help raitng" thats most likley why they re televised it after a 6 min os advertising, if it was planned could have been better rating for the rematch between them if Jake desides to stay with strike force due to his contract being up. I i where to guess it wasent planned thats who the diaz brothers are , angry sucker-punchers with the love me hate me additude that some like and others hate, and for miller not being knocked out or look like he was hurt well swelling takes a while and when your covering up and holding you on to some one close tends to stop the from getting hit in the face, and the kicks being that Nick was using did not look fake! What i am trying to say is it was probly real and CBS took a hold of it and let it role….. who wouldnt want to see the rematch now against Jake and Miller?? or the whole brawl I think it is a very bad night for all MMA and there image and promotion.
Fake. A dozen skilled fighters can't take down miller and no one tries to land a punch. Miller is good, but with those odds he would have gotten tagged so many times. His face was untouched. Are we to believe shield's skilled camp of fighters, couldn't KO miller?
i completely agree with everything that you have said. all the fights were lackluster and it seemed like a push for their "local" norcal fighters more than anything.
I love how your entire argument rests on the brawl at the end of the show, yet at the end you refer to a "boring" fight and say you can't see how mma fans could enjoy a show with fights like it…then you disconnect from the brawl argument and make a statement "So whether the Strikeforce brawl was a WWE charade or a true brawl won’t matter at the end of the day". So if it won't matter and the end, why build on this for 6 long paragraphs? my friend at the ned of the article you have 3 links for UFC related websites…way to be transparent, I'm going to say you get some money when people click on those, but you get nothing from strikeforce. Furthermore, I bet the next time StrikeForce is live on CBS you'll be watching…so please take the sticj out of your butt, you are a fake. I would much rather watch it for free, even if some think it wasn't as good, than to pay PPV rates to watch a champion spit on the camera or dance in the ring and avoid the fight. I don't know who you are but what caught my attention wasn't the material you wrote about, it was how obvious it is you think your personal opinion is the law and how bias it was. I have news for you, your opinion is one out of a million and just putting it on some website doesn't make it better or more valid than anyone elses.
Casual – Apparently my opinion matters somewhat since it inspired such a lengthy comment from you. You have obviously never read my writings before because over the last three years I have been on the Strikeforce bandwagon. I have written many times about how I feel that Strikeforce puts on overall more entertaining shows to me. It may not appeal to everyone, but I have loved all of their shows up until this point including the Elite shows. So if you think that I am out here with a UFC badge on my sleeve you are mistaken. I have been way more critical of UFC over the last several years than Strikeforce. Hell, I had about four blogs this week about how disgusted I was for wasting $45 on UFC 112. But let's be serious for a second. That show was terrible last night. I can definitely appreciate a great technical MMA fight but Aoki and Mousasi's performances last night were a disgrace. There was nothing technical about a guy running away from punches for five rounds and another guy doing nothing in hopes of tiring out his opponent. I didn't like it and if that makes me a hater, hey so be it.
dude. don't know what kind of a fan you are. definitely not boring at all. you must not be a true mma fan!