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It doesn't matter what would have been better for Elite. I agree, it would have been better for them as a business had Kimbo won; and had the fight lasted longer. But even if Kimbo did win; and even if the fight lasted longer...the outcome of the fight, the length of the fight, and even the fighter that Kimbo fought...has suspect reason for both CBS and ELITE. I'll tell you why...
When Elite joined forces with one of the major networks (CBS) that outbid the others for a contract to show MMA type fights...little was it foretold how strong the negative reaction would be to the first CBS fight between Kimbo and James Thompson.
However, there was already a huge contract (mainly in advertisement dollars) inked for future fights to be shown on CBS. For CBS to breach the contract...it would have been extremely costly. Instead of doing that; and to save face (and dollars) for both Elite and CBS; they went ahead with the Kimbo/Petruzelli fight...on certain mutual conditions as follows...
1.) That the fight last for as short a time as possible...to minimize the airtime because of the reaction the first fight between Kimbo/Thompson received.
2.) That Petruzelli be replaced for Ken Shamrock to set-up even more excitement for a future fight between Kimbo/Shamrock later on that doesn't have any time/image constraints. This way when Kimbo was set up to lose to Petruzelli; and set-up to fight such a short fight...there's a future fight to look forward to for both the naysayers and proponents of Kimbo and Shamrock.
For one; I never stated airtime is porportional to ALL advertisement-profit losses. You know why? Because a lot of the advertisements are pre-paid to CBS and Elite...there is always a clause in Live-event type of contracts (particularly for fights); that dictates there is no guarantee of the length of the fight time*. The asterik is for the assumption that the fight runs a natural and un-adulterated course.
CBS and Elite would mainly lose out on advertisement dollars for future events that were written into their contract. And in all the gain/loss in monies...CBS would have been the greater winner/loser; therefore they had more vested interest in not breaking the contract.
And of course I didn't state that the porportion of fight time has nothing to do with early termination penalties.
Man, and you were so close to actually achieving in trying to one-up me publically trying to post that and add the sarcastic-laced thumb-up.
This isn't a true loss...trust me. But at the same time; I agree that you can't take a 'wild horse' like Kimbo who is a street-fighter; and hold him to the same expectations as a 'trained horse'; as fighters in more disciplined/strategized/style'ized environments are.I think Kimbo is HIGHLY overrated, but has the potential to be a decent fighter. If he learns from this loss, it will only make him stronger down the road. He has A LOT to learn about the world of MMA. You can't just go in there with a street fighter's mentality and expect to come out on top. MMA is a physical chess match and 75% of the time, the victor is the one who has the better strategy.
Even the smallest of reactions gives away the bigger picture. When Petruzelli got off of Kimbo after the referee came in...he threw his arms up, threw his mouthpiece outside the cage, and did his victory dance even before technically hearing the decision...which came after some time.Last edited by Hi-Definition; 10-07-08 at 09:48 PM.
10-07-08 09:44 PM
