Gary Shaw's Worst Nightmare

Never have I seen a major sports debut go so, so wrong as last night's EXC prime time network debut on CBS. Almost anything that could go wrong went wrong and I've gotta think they're absolutely reeling this morning in shock.

Timing on the show was absolutely horrific. We saw about twenty-five minutes go by before they went up to the cage for their first fight of the night. That's absolutely unforgivable and had to be a major turnoff for first time viewers. Imagine hearing all this hype about an exciting new television show - and getting nothing but hype and chatter for 25 minutes. They also went over their timeslot by a huge amount. I ended up setting my DVR to go 30 minutes past the scheduled end time and still didn't get the whole show. Thank god for the ability to rewind live TV back an hour or I would have missed the finish to the Main Event.

Match quality was middling at best as well with the women's match and the Lawler/Smith match being right on line with what they needed. Everything else should be considered an embarrassment to EXC and to MMA in general.

I understand the desire to set up matches that they believe will be slugfests. The current view of the MMA novice is that they want to see people stand and throw and have no stomach for the matwork. I get that. But you have to imagine that getting first round knockouts were not what they had in mind.

As I said, the women's match was entertaining - although the announcers selling how badly Gina's conditioning was turned out pretty irritating. But they showed good fighting spirit, decent execution, and it was a fun showdown. The problem with this fight?




You know that's not the image of women's MMA they wanted to present to a world where a lot of people are already squeamish at the thought of two women beating the fuck out of one another. They were hoping for a clean KO with little damage before it or a swank submission but not that.

On that note, the refs/doctors seemed extremely quick on the stoppages tonight - maybe a word in the ear from CBS? Seemed very odd to me.

So, let's see... early KOs, weird stoppages, exciting fights cut short by doctor stoppages, bad timing, very second-rate looking production values, falling waaaaaaay short of their "anticipated" sellout... what else could go wrong for Gary Shaw and EXC?

Oh yes, their meal ticket proved the MMA world completely correct [as well as myself by the way!]

Against an opponent with a well-advertised weak chin - an opponent that was very obviously selected to provide Kimbo Slice with a very public early and impressive KO - the big star of the night got taken down time and time again by someone with relatively little skill on the mat. He got pummeled once he got down there. And no amount of, "Oh, did you see that sweep counter?" or "He had a guillotine locked in!" will make up for the fact that Kimbo Slice is still a freak show fighter who just got badly exposed tonight.

I will admit the man gives a good promo. I will admit he has an image that well sell as well as a backstory to generate buzz.

But right now, he simply does not have the skill to be put in there with anyone who is not going to just stand and throw.

Sure, he ultimately beat Thompson but he didn't get the big KO they wanted. He looked like he was going to pass out after it was over. He was breathing so hard at times, I was legitimately frightened for him. Many think he tapped out... many think it should have been stopped when he was getting pummeled in the crucifix position. Thompson was winning that fight when it was stopped - no doubt.

They need to go back to the drawing board with him. If you can't find someone who won't try to floor him, don't bother until he gets his ground game somewhere approaching passable.