Michael Wilbon suggests MMA is fixed

[Fedorlei Gomipierre]

I've watched PTI religiously for about 7 or so years and am a very big fan of Michael Wilbon, but he is terribly ignorant about MMA and has over the years put his foot in his mouth almost everytime he talks about MMA. A year ago, he said that Kimbo/Rampage is the only fight that would be of any interest in watching!

I'm a huge follower of PTI and Tony Kornheiser is even worse, when he talked about Shamrock, he didn't even seem to comprehend who he was or what he'd done! They're totally oblivious to MMA and just don't get it and when they do talk about MMA, its about Kimbo or Rampage's legal stuff and it's really over their heads.

I think in a way, he was trying to say why it would be better fixed like oldschool pro wrestling and he also was kinda just arguing with Lebatard(the guest cohost who's a total douchebag) and saying it for the case.

He called MMA fans sycophants(spelling?) and hope they'll suck it up no matter what and was just being an asshole for the sake of being an asshole.

I still love him to death and he's still a trillion times better than Jim Rome. I emailed Wilbon a while back and basically told him to educate himself if he didn't know what he was talking

[Noise Chopped]

Lost a lot of respect for Wilbon.

[atj-lucko]

Originally Posted by Ramma

MMA fights can be fixed, just like boxing can be fixed, just like kickboxing/K-1 can be fixed, just like Basketball players can be paid off, etc, etc, etc.

But to say all of MMA is fixed is just a bit unrealistic. The guy is a moron.

Just like Basketball ref like Tim Donaghy who made calls to manipulate the outcome. That is bigger than anything that has happened in MMA in the U.S.
Of course fixed fights go on in Japan but thats another story.
Its really nice how everyone has swept the whole Tim Donaghy under the rug, no independent investigation nothing!!.

Thats why I wish Seth wouldn't have said anything, it just gives guys like this more fuel to hate on mma, they are just looking for anything to bash mma with.

[stevequalude]

Originally Posted by Nasty

I don't think he was arguing that the Kimbo KO was a work, just that the writing is on the wall that EXC was setting Kimbo up for an easy win by paying his opponent a bonus to keep it standing and not take the fight to the mat. If they're willing to shell out some extra cash to steer the fight in the direction they want it to go, then it's not out of the question to think they could've tried to fix the fight.

I just wonder how many of Kimbo's previous fights were done in a similar fashion? I've always thought Bo Cantrell took a dive (and a particularly bad one at that) and I've questioned the Tank Abbott fight as well.

I agree and if anybody watched the show they would have seen what they said he never said that Elite Xc was the face of mma he said Kimbo was and to alot of casual fan's that is true. Now was he wrong in saying FIXED yes but did he mean it like everyone took it no . He was saying that IT was fixed in the way that ELITE XC was throwing him can's . Obviously he's not that smart about MMA . It was just a few days ago they were doing the percent of the chances that Kimbo had to beat Shamrock and he said Kimbo had a 99 percent chance. So when he calls Seth a can and thought Shamrock was better than Seth he must've been given Seth no chance to win . He just worded it wrong but I agree with him that they did try to set it up for KIMBO to win .

[GEEZER]

Originally Posted by atj-lucko

Just like Basketball ref like Tim Donaghy who made calls to manipulate the outcome. That is bigger than anything that has happened in MMA in the U.S.
Of course fixed fights go on in Japan but thats another story.
Its really nice how everyone has swept the whole Tim Donaghy under the rug, no independent investigation nothing!!.

Thats why I wish Seth wouldn't have said anything, it just gives guys like this more fuel to hate on mma, they are just looking for anything to bash mma with.

It was dumb of him to say it the way he said it at first . It's obviously made
for a big black eye on the sport , and something big for the blowhards who
love to try and stir up controversy on their shows to grab onto. Now hordes of sports fans will associate all MMA with Elite, and Elite may become the mainstram face of MMA . What a shitstorm . Thanks Elite. Fkin idiots . , oh and fck you Wilbon , go talk about Baseball. The potential upside is that an investigation would either clear or condemn XC , but at best that's only fixing something that wsn't fcked up before they fcked it up. Grrrrr... (Wilbon's OT !) Maybe it's a good thing Seth said what he did , so that XC can be exposed and hopefully repaired , or cleared , before the sport suffers more at the hands of the talking boneheads. Some now , rather than perhaps a lot more dow the road when XC is bigger , and the potential damage worse.

DS

[crosshearttat]

I mean if it was fixed why would that one skala dude get pissed for at the end of the fight? That dude looked hurt. I've always hated Wilbon and I'm glad he opened his fat ugly mouth for everyone to see a reason why. He is a fat Carltonesque biggot in my opinion.

[foutch550]

There's a difference between fighters being protected and mma being fixed. Feeding someone cans and hyping them up to be the next superstar is one thing. Paying someone to take a dive in a fight is another. It takes something like this to lure all the journalists who know shit about mma to come out of their holes. EVERY sport has its skeletons. Some scandal; some integrity issues; some big story. To use this to come out and say "I TOLD YA SO" is just stupid. I knew Tony Kornheiser was a jerk off...I guess Wilbon has proved to be one too.

[phunt]

This guy is becoming to MMA what Jack Thompson is to violent gaming....

[valheruking]

It's kinda ridiculous when someone admits they don't know the full facts of the situation but proceed to express opinions as strong as suggesting mma as a whole is fixed. I don't know if these guys understand the concept of debating, but it usually helps to have some knowledge of the subject matter, not just yelling their opinion the loudest.

[Highlander]

I completely agree with "Vimy Ridge", these guys are fucking jokes. They're like the bill o'reily of sports, just yell real fucking loud, not educate yourself completely, and continue with yelling real loud.