It was a warm and sunny June day at the LA Coliseum in Los Angeles. The crowd, a supposed 50,000 strong (says the promoting organization after they bought most of their own tickets), was ready for the newest MMA challenger to face his first test. Our celebrity fighter, ex-pro football player turned Mixed Martial Artist Johnnie Morton, was up against then 1-0 Bernard Ackah, a Tae Kwon Do fighter from the Ivory Coast. Not long before the fight was set to take place, Morton acknowledged in an interview that he wasn’t ready for his big league bout against Ackah:
“Those guys are like the NFL level and I’m like the junior high school level, so I’m a long way from facing those guys.”
Morton, despite his lack of MMA experience, decided he still wanted to fight in the K-1/Strikeforce event. The outcome was no surprise to anyone. It was only 20 seconds later, another win chalked up for Ackah, and Morton was taken out of the ring in a stretcher.
Sherdog writer Jake Rossen said it best:
10:38 p.m. The bell rings. Morton looks like a spaz out there, unloading a flurry that catches nothing but air. There’s no restraint, no polish. Morton tries a takedown, but can’t cinch it.10:39 p.m. Morton wades into the pocket without keeping his hands up and is knocked out cold. He’s actually snoring. Thirty seconds goes by and he’s still not moving. It’ll be another two minutes before he even opens his eyes.
10:43 p.m. Morton is carried out on a stretcher and sports a neck brace. The scene is morbid as all hell and endorses the idea that trained fighters are another breed.
10:44 p.m. K-1 officials attempt to usher a Christian and a lion out to the ring; they appear confused when the Commission intervenes.
So why was Johnnie Morton allowed to fight? Better yet, why didn’t we learn from our mistakes? Celebrities and professional athletes need to regularly train MMA before professionally fighting. Unless you have been wrestling and bar brawling for the past five years, a short training stint is not enough to take on a full-time Mixed Martial Artist. Don’t forget to take off your wrestling shoes. No broken bottles inside the cage either.
That brings me to the focus of this article, billionaire Mark Cuban and his reality show idea. Now before I start throwing out my “MMA Opinion”, I want to reiterate the fact that I am happy we have Mark Cuban on our side. With the recent financial issues regarding the UFC and the IFL, we need more MMA corporations with a lot of money to throw at legitimate MMA fighters. I’m not looking to make any more enemies with this article. FightOpinion already thinks we hate them and I’m sure Fightlinker doesn’t like us either (this could be attributed to the fact that we are not Canadian). I think Sprawl-n-Brawl might like us, for now at least. Anyway, our extremely rich MMA enthusiast friend wants to believe that celebrities should be fighting. He thinks that these ex-athletes and B-list actors should be stepping into the cage with real MMA fighters. Cuban wants to make a “Fighting with the Stars” reality series to showcase this talent to the rest of the world. Please don’t confuse this show with Spike TV’s “The Ultimate Fighterâ€; they have a few genuine mixed martial artist on that show. Mark Cuban wants to use everyone’s least favorite outfielder Jose Conseco and former pro football running back Herschel Walker.
Didn’t we all watch Johnnie Morton fail miserably only a few months ago? Fine, I’ll be realistic. Can someone please send the clip of the fight to Mr. Cuban so he can watch Johnnie Morton fail miserably a few months ago? Maybe we can do something good for society and avert this forthcoming disaster? I may not be the biggest Jose Canseco fan (I never could respect him as an outfielder after he let a baseball bounce off his head), but I really don’t want to see him lying in a pool of blood on television. I’m only trying to help out Jose here.
And it’s not just about the skills inside the cage; there are also rules and regulations that should be followed. I’d suggest that each of those celebrity fighters read about banned substances before claiming to have never heard about Nandralone or better yet, horse steroids. I’m guessing Johnnie Morton made that same mistake when he refused to take his post-fight drug test after Ackah made quick work of him. Speaking of drugs, whatever happened to Jose Canseco and his baseball career? Oh yeah, he admitted to taking anabolic steroids and human growth hormone (HGH). He made some money promoting his drug use in a book as well.
So I have outlined what I thought was the problem and it wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t offer some sort of fix. So, here is my solution to Mr. Cuban: follow the Team Takedown model. If you are not already aware, Team Takedown is made up of former Division 1-A wrestlers who are being turned into talented fighters thanks to legitimate training at Xtreme Couture. That’s right, the same gym that produces fighters like Forrest Griffin, Karo Parisyan, Stephan Bonnar, Wanderlei Silva, and Chris Horodecki. Team Takedown recently took part of the Masters of the Cage promotion on September 28th and came out victorious in two of their four fights. Let’s face it; wrestlers are at an advantage when it comes to crossing over to MMA. I’m looking at just some fighters that casual fans would recognize: Randy Couture, Gray Maynard, and Sean Sherk. There are many more. Football and baseball players, on the other hand, are not at this same advantage.
Maybe I’m barking up the wrong tree with this rant. Maybe Mr. Cuban is looking to get some new fans interested in the sport. Well, if anyone thinks they are going to break through a totally new demographic, they won’t steal many viewers from the largely female “Dancing with the Stars” crowd. The UFC is making millions through PPV buys, merchandise, and sponsorships that are focused towards the same ole’ male demographic. And if you take a look at the ratings for “The Ultimate Fighter”, you’ll notice that it works. These small organizations should play the game for a little while before trying something new; they just might be successful for a little while. It certainly doesn’t hurt to have those deep pockets to keep things operating smoothly through the tough times.
So in closing, I offer Mr. Cuban this: please forget about your reality TV idea and send me some money instead. You and I both hail from the wonderful state of Pennsylvania and we both enjoy some good ole’ fashioned MMA. Or, you could spin off of and established and successful model and take athletes with some existing relevant MMA skills to a whole new level. (I have a fantastic idea! Why not take some boxers and pit them against wrestlers? It could be the standup guys against the ground guys.) But, if you would rather send me money to shut me up, I will not complain.
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