Come See the MMA Sideshow, Featuring the Extraordinary Exploding Ear!

So, I went out of town for the weekend to western North Carolina where they have no use for televised sports. The only competition they enjoy involves tie-dye and Frisbees (hint: Asheville). Upon my return, I settle in to catch up, and I’m greeted with dude’s freakin' ear’s exploding. First, before I share my thoughts on this bloodbath, here’s what went down on CBS Saturday night as Kimbo Slice reconstructed James Thompson’s head:
That. Was. Awesome! And possibly somewhat staged. Obviously, even to a novice MMA fan such as myself, the point of this primetime broadcast wasn’t to display the kick ass skills of MMA fighters. It was meant to be a circus sideshow in which physical freak and Youtube sensation Kimbo Slice mercilessly beats some unknown Brit to a pulp.

Kimbo, however, was struggling with Thompson, and, had he not been saved by the bell in the second, would’ve lost the fight. Perhaps knowing this, and perhaps realizing that the object here was for Kimbo to win, the ref stopped the fight prematurely after Slice made that thing on Thompson’s ear go “boom” and landed a few decent haymakers.

Whether the fix was in or not isn’t really worth concerning ourselves with here -- this was meant as more of an exhibition of Kimbo’s scariness than as a legit fight anyway. What does seem to be concerning people in the aftermath of the fight is if it was appropriate for primetime broadcast television. St. Louis News-Dispatch’s Bryan Burwell thinks the fight was a sign of the apocalypse. Seriously:

Welcome to the American Apocalypse, a dark and sad place that celebrates the absurd and the obscene, and can't tell the difference between good ratings and good taste. Jumping headlong into this disturbing abyss comes the CBS television network, which Saturday broadcast the first of three prime-time events it calls "EliteXC Saturday Night Fights."

...

Ultimate fighting and all the other ultimate fighting leagues want the world to embrace their bloody human cockfighting as a replacement for boxing as a real combat sport, and now they have CBS as a co-conspirator in this fraud.

Clearly, MMA doesn’t really mark the end of our society, nor is it anywhere close to cockfighting, because in cockfighting there is no winner until one of the birds is dead. No one has ever died in an MMA fight. Plus, cocks can’t use their hands – they lack opposable thumbs.

Having said that, I could see how parents with impressionable young boys could be alarmed by exploding ears. I don’t have any kids (that I know of), so I’m not totally qualified to speak to this, but for me, this falls into the same category as any other violent television: It’s the parents’ job to ensure their kids don’t see it.

Of course, the other argument against MMA on primetime TV that I’ve heard from some is that MMA just isn’t worthy. Although the ratings would beg to differ.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.