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I think the fight sums up MMA pretty well.
A heavyweight fighter at least 8 years past his prime against a guy simply fighting in a different style & under different rules.
It isn't a sporting contest, its a circus act.
It is literally the stuff of college boys sitting round asking "who would win, Superman or Hulk, Bruce Lee or Mike Tyson, a Boxer or a Wrestler"... the fans claim to see "unpredictable fights", I see clumsy mis-matches and farcical fights... the point is a wrestler will probably win a wrestling match and a boxer will probably win a boxing bout - MMA *wants* to be some kind of free-for-all WWF without scripts, super-violent kind of sport. But without the chair shots and all the fake finishing moves, wrestling is basically just two guys rolling round trying to get a hold on each other... it might require strength and bravery - but once you learn all the basic holds and counters - very little skill (hence even the fighters that are called legends in MMA only win 75% of fights, because the result if pretty much down to luck as much as skill)
Cheap shots, the majority of the fight spent watching the fighters roll around trying to twist each others arms, the ref even taking a cheap shot at one of the fighters... it sums up the whole experience - classless and boring.
Perhaps some people who have a technical appreciation of different ways you can twist an arm or a knee might enjoy watching minute after minute of two men rolling round each trying to twist the other guys arm... for me utterly boring.
And from the fights Ive seen - knee's in the groin, stamping on feet, refusing to let go of a submission hold... shows an ugly character to go with the boring action.
Do I claim that all boxers are angelic and no rules are ever broken in boxing? Of course not... but in a major televised bout at least there is an attempt to keep to the rules. In this fight the knee to the groin (which is illegal) was not even noted by the ref... he seemed more intent on getting into a fight with someone himself than actually refereeing the fight.
Ray Mercer held a version of the heavyweight title, he has a place in history.
Whether Timbo Slice twisted his arm and made him quit in a circus ring when he was 40 years old makes no difference to anyone, and while Ray Mercer's name will still shine in the record books of the sweet science, no one will remember who Timbo Slice even was in 20 years time.
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"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."
The Gospel of Thomas
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