Would you watch 'MME'?

[Ty]

Well, a few things have got me thinking that last few days. So, even if you strongly knew that MMA was fixed to some degree, would you watch 'mixed martial entertainment' if it were really exciting and with good storylines?

I guess a backstory to what I'm thinking. Back on New Years, I was at the Dream New Years Show in Japan (Dream: Genki Desu Ka! or Dream: Fight for Japan! based on the language) and I got to see Fedor fight. I would wager everything I owned that the fights were fixed. From the corner-men's reactions to watching the fighters move during their fights to having it end at precisely the perfect time in order to get the New Years Countdown with all the fighters in the ring, it was clear that it was scripted. Like as a lot of people know, I'm kinda big into MMA. Been training and fighting a long time and so I trust my gut and my eyes with these things. My wife who has no experience outside of Judo in school knew something was not right too. We were only about 8 rows back, real good seats.

With Dream announcing their resurection for one night to hold one more show, i got me thinking.

The other thing was of course watching Bellator on Friday night. As people who know Bellator's CEO story (lying about co-promotion with Strikeforce got Bellator a lot of promotion despite being a lie, holding contracts despite never wanting to use a fighter in an attempt to claim stars, lawsuit to keep fighters from the UFC, suing Sugar Ray Leonard and losing horribly, being described as a cancer to boxing, rumoured to have fixed many boxing bouts, being sued by former boxing clients for holding contracts randsome and not making due on contracts, his close partnership with Bobby Mitchell who is in jail now for fight fixing from during the time they worked together, his company being caught fixing fights which led to ESPN cutting ties with them, being sued by UFC for stealing trade secrets, trying to ruin Dave Herman's career.... etc etc), I've come to assume much of Bellator is corrupt as well.

Between Dream and Bellator providing great fights, if you knew that a fight was fixed but it was an awesome slugfest, would it still be worth seeing for you.

[Ty]

(A bit of Bjorn's history in case anyone wants to read up on it http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2010/10/30/1783965/strikeforce-and-bellator-bosses-telling-two-different-stories-on )

[Flins.]

I think it's hard to judge whether a fight is fixed. It might be easier for someone with training in the sport, I only have a slight background competing so for me atleast, it's hard to judge. There are lots of rumours about Pride fixing fights, but the only fight I have seen where i thought it could've been scripted was the Mark Coleman vs Nobuhiko Takada fight. In fact, a lot of the fights that involved the popular pro wrestlers looked to have that scripted style to them, Don Frye vs. Yoshihiro Takayama another example.

That being said, there have been so many moments in Pride that were shocking and out of nowhere that I don't think there was much fixing. Biggest example I can think of is Randleman knocking out Cro Cop in the Heavyweight GP, there was so much hype behind Cro Cop at the time I can't imagine them ever wanting that outcome haha. Nino 'Elvis' Schembri knocking out Sakuraba, Vovchanchyn beating the snot out of Mark Kerr (who they were trying to make a star of early on), lots of examples of results going against what would be good for the business.

With Bellator, I think it is the same thing. I don't watch it regularly because I am not a fan of the format, but I usually check out the fights when I can, and I don't think I have seen any cases of match fixing. The do a lot of questionable stuff, but is there an MMA company that doesn't? I don't agree with a lot of the stuff that goes on behind the scenes, but the fights seem genuine.

To answer the question though, no. If I knew it was a fixed fight, it wouldn't be something that interested me. I think in Japan there is a bigger connection between Pro Wrestling and MMA with all the Shoot Wrestling and what not, so I can see why the lines can across over there. But I don't think there is a market for it over here, where the biggest wrestling organisation focuses on the entertainment rather than the wrestling.

With the way a lot of fans act at UFC events in the states, it wouldn't surprise me if they'd be up for that kind of fight. I see a lot of comments about the fighters having a responsibility to entertain, which is bullshit in a professional sport, but probably stems from that Pro Wrestling/MMA crossover.

It does make me wonder if the WWE has had a negative impact on the perception of grappling and MMA in the US.

[Crazy Kyd]

I haven't exactly thought about any fights that would be fixed but I have thought about "MME." I don't think the idea would work. I think it would be entertaining but I don't think there is a market for it.