Thursday, March 18 3:41 pm PT: Taking responsibility for shaky behavior is an admirable thing. Unfortunately, very few athletes tagged with infractions ranging from fouls to substance use ever find value in copping to it. Hermes Franca’s candid “I did it because I felt I had to” confession after being popped for steroids in 2007 was met with sympathy and no appreciable loss of respect; fighters who deny even looking at cough syrup are fooling only the very naïve.
This is why James Irvin’s comments to TSN.ca this week are so remarkable. After being fingered for painkiller use in a summer 2008 fight with Anderson Silva, Irvin took his suspension, dropped off the radar, and resurfaced only after his nagging injuries had healed. Rather than shovel mounds of excuses, he admits to making a mistake.
"It wasn't until a time that I just stopped taking them [painkillers] that I realized I needed them just to keep on functioning," he said. "At that time I had become an addict and I was hooked on them…If I have an injury bad enough where I have to take a narcotic, then I don't compete, then I have to sit out a fight. I'll never put any of those things in my body the rest of my life, again.”
In terms of orthopedic torture, MMA athletes have more in common with pro wrestlers than boxers. Grapplers, real or fictional, experience day after day of grinding, muscle and joint-torquing practice. Painkiller abuse is going to be a marked problem for any athlete who gradually sees connective tissue erode over time.
The day is coming closer when we will meet a number of mixed-style prizefighters in their 60s and beyond. And when we do, we may not like what we see.
Thursday, March 18 12:58 pm PT: Plumbers! Auto workers! Bouncers! Auditions are available now for an April 17 booking against Bobby Lashley -- according to MMAJunkie.com, the latest addition to Strikeforce’s primetime network card.
Since debuting in late 2008, Lashley has taken on a who’s-who of less than intimidating competition. Lashley frustrates not because he’s not any good, but because audiences seem to have more faith in his potential that he does.
Considering that a quality heavyweight is unlikely to take a fight on less than a month’s notice, it’s a trend that will probably continue. If that’s Lashley’s preference, fine -- but why subject network television audiences to it?
Thursday, March 18 10:24 am PT: So much of MMA’s aesthetic centers around the biker ideal: tattoos, close-crop cuts, and apparel that looks like Ray Harryhausen threw up on the silk screen printer.
Bellator does not appear to be too invested in this. The production of shows during the league’s first season did not -- to my recollection -- use any heavy metal, sound effects, or KISS props. It feels dignified. In MMA, that’s unique.
Wednesday, the league announced a partnership with boxing supplier Everlast to sponsor their fight gloves, training equipment, and cages. It’s the kind of affiliation that only serves to enforce the idea that Bellator wants to be perceived as something more coherent and tactful than the norm: Everlast has a lineage that extends as far back as Jack Dempsey. In combat terms, it’s as pervasive a brand as Coca-Cola.
Open-ended: whether this kind of arrangement will prompt the UFC to cut Everlast out of existing sponsorship relations on television with UFC-affiliated athletes like Gray Maynard or Randy Couture. Couture has several items like gloves, hats, and a “dragon tee shirt” I’ll happily ignore in order to not make that third paragraph invalid. Bellator’s second season premieres in April on Fox Sports Net.
Thursday, March 18 12:41 am PT: I’ve never been, but people who have attended the 40,000 to 70,000 seat stadiums and vast arenas during the heyday of Japan’s MMA scene describe it as more religious experience than sporting event. There’s probably something to the idea that the bigger the crowd, the better the communal experience -- unless you’re jammed so far up the nosebleed section that your ears pop.
Despite its popularity in the states, MMA has never entertained the whole ocean-of-humanity thing. That could change with news that the UFC is considering running an event at Cowboys Stadium in 2011. Dana White, who attended last weekend’s Pacquiao/Clottey fight, walked away impressed enough to consider it a possibility. And he’d be doing well to pursue it, for a number of reasons.
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