MMA, or shall we say EliteXC, decided to make Kimbo Slice the (bearded) face of their organization. It was a conscious decision that they chose to make him into their star, using his brute and daunting appearance as a reflection of the savage nature of the sport. Well, it became quite clear on Saturday night’s EliteXC show on CBS that Gina Carano was the other face they wanted to promote. And what a face to promote. They knew exactly what they were doing when they introduced some of their characters to the mainstream world. In fact, their tagline for Gina Carano was “The face of female MMA.” Funny how most of America had never seen a female MMA fight yet they were already being told that this was the face of the sport, leaving them no room to decide on their own. And between Gina’s KO and Kimbo’s TKO, I have my suspicions that their opponents were handpicked to make sure the evening went “according to plans.” Couldn’t possibly have your two faces lose. Anyway, I’m getting slightly off topic here.
More on topic, this Gina Carano woman is like the perfect person to have represent your sport. How lucky they are to have her, and it didn’t take much brilliance to realize that they were sitting on a goldmine. An attractive, full-bodied, lady-like woman who also happens to kick major ass in the ring? Does it get any better than that? Unfortunately for me, I don’t find her fighting too sexy. She’s too pretty to be doing that, so it doesn’t exactly turn me on. And seeing the chick she fought dealing with a busted ass face — blood and bruises coming out of everywhere — was none too pleasant. Between Kaitlin Young’s bloodied mug and James Thompson’s cauliflower ear gushing red juices like the Kool-Aid man, I certainly had my fill of grossness. Overall, I’m guessing the telecast was a success and probably did some strong ratings.
One serious problem however, is the fact that these fights can’t be aired until the FCC “Safe Harbor” hours which is after 9pm. That just doesn’t work because in these days, it’s too easy to find out results (as I did on the internet). They just need to host events on the West Coast and air it live at midnight on the East. That’s a serious drawback for them. But they definitely have at least one thing going for them: Gina Carano. Quite the asset, I must say.
