Larry Merchant on MMA

[Fijeeto]

Totally agree, and I have a similar experience. I was introduced to UFC by when Ken Shamrock came over and was hyped as this demon-winged ass beater. I'd seen some fights, but I didn't really get into MMA until Ken made his return and Tito ate his soul.

It's ironic to me that I hate wrestling now, have for about 12 or 13 years, and love MMA. Literally everyone I know that likes MMA used to like wrestling and moved on when they got a little older and realized how silly wrestling is.

Im in the same boat. My friend and I rented UFC 2 (on VHS!!!) because we thought it was another wrestling organization. WWF...WCW...OVW...UFC... it just had to be another wrestling promotion that we werent aware of. Boy, were we pleasantly surprised.

Looking back, I can understand why we loved wrestling so much, but we could never go back after seeing real fighting. Suddenly, our wrestling sessions in the yard started featuring more RNC's and armbars and less sharpshooters and figure-fours.

 

[whougonnacall]

Sorry. My bad.

HBO needs to fire your ass

 

[TriangleMan]

TS is bad at story telling.

 

[The Soothsayer]

Im in the same boat. My friend and I rented UFC 2 (on VHS!!!) because we thought it was another wrestling organization. WWF...WCW...OVW...UFC... it just had to be another wrestling promotion that we werent aware of. Boy, were we pleasantly surprised.

Looking back, I can understand why we loved wrestling so much, but we could never go back after seeing real fighting. Suddenly, our wrestling sessions in the yard started featuring more RNC's and armbars and less sharpshooters and figure-fours.

Texas Cloverleaf on the neighbor's trampoline... Taking me back....

 

[SeattleFightFan]

Absolutely agree.

I'll be flipping through and stop on their product for 5 or 10 seconds, and I honestly wonder if it was always that ridiculous (it was always ridiculous, but was it THAT ridiculous?) or did we just grow up? Back in the day Bret Hart and Sting and Diesel and Undertaker were what my friends and I lived for. Now it's an absolute mystery to me how adults can watch it. Crazy stuff. It's interesting how many people share those views, too.

i only enjoyed it before i knew it was fake. about ages 6-9. certainly not middle school.

i clearly remember my older brothers and cousins telling me it was fake, and me thinking they just didn't know the truth lol

and i'm pretty old and grew up with only local wrasslin and TBS (4 Horseman, Junkyard Dog, Ted Bundy, etc). by the time Rocky III came out i was introduced to Hulk Hogan i was already too old. that being said, yes, i think today it's more ridiculous than it used to be.

 

[Fijeeto]

ya, i wonder about that myself. many mma fans rip on wrasslin, but all of em seem to know something about it. is it because every kid grew up watching wrasslin and some of those kids became mma fans as adults, or did only some kids grow up watching wrasslin, including all soon-to-be mma fans???

but ya, count me as one of those who is totally and completely flummoxed about how & why adults can watch it. but there is no doubt that many do. including a couple friends & family. they can't really explain it in a way that makes sense to me either. i went to a cousin's house a few years ago and he had it on, and when i asked him why, he just said "cuz it's entertaining". next thing i knew some huge Islander guy had stuck his ass in another dude's face, called it the "Big Stinky" move or something, dude fell over (from being unable to breath i guess) and got pinned, and my cousin and his wife thoroughly enjoyed it. color me confused.

Lol. I have a friend in England who loves pro wrestling and plays every single wrestling game that comes out. He knows it fake, but watches because of all the drama. He isnt afraid to admit that he is basically watching a soap opera with some wrestling.

However, Ive also talked to grown adults that still have the "its still real to me, damn it" mentality. I was smoking outside with some of them one day and they were actually going over what Cena(?) needed to do to counter The Big Show's right hand. They really believe the matches to be real and not scripted. :redface:

Absolutely agree.

I'll be flipping through and stop on their product for 5 or 10 seconds, and I honestly wonder if it was always that ridiculous (it was always ridiculous, but was it THAT ridiculous?) or did we just grow up? Back in the day Bret Hart and Sting and Diesel and Undertaker were what my friends and I lived for. Now it's an absolute mystery to me how adults can watch it. Crazy stuff. It's interesting how many people share those views, too.

I think its both the fact that we grew up and wrestling really lost its luster, IMO, when WWF changed to WWE. Back in the day, a fight would start because one wrestler brushed shoulders with another wrestling in the locker room. Now it seems like a fight has to have months and months of backstory before the match even takes place.

My opinion isnt the best though since I havent watched wrestling for over a decade. Hell, last time I tuned in, there was drama about Kane getting Lita pregnant or something like that.

 

[Fijeeto]

Texas Cloverleaf on the neighbor's trampoline... Taking me back....

No joke, the Texas cloverleaf fucking hurts if you apply pressure properly. Lol, I still remember the Razor's Edge being outlawed because we thought it was too dangerous to perform on each other.

Those were the days...

 

[Righteous Jon]

MMA is taking over boxing because I think we're all chasing that high of a crazy flying spinning toe kick or the flying heel hook Lauzon almost pulled off.

Also, the fact that when a fighter is dropped, he doesn't get 8 seconds to try and get up, he has to truly show what his heart and soul can do sometimes like JDS did a few days ago. I think we all want to see what the human heart is capable of, and it is an astonishing thing to see when fights like that happen.

 

[kpt018]

Did Larry give an opinion? No offense, but we are more interested in what he said then you TS.

 

[SeattleFightFan]

However, Ive also talked to grown adults that still have the "its still real to me, damn it" mentality. I was smoking outside with some of them one day and they were actually going over what Cena(?) needed to do to counter The Big Show's right hand. They really believe the matches to be real and not scripted. :redface:

i see your story and raise you one

when i was a kid there was local wresting, called "Big Time Wrestling", out of Portland. when i was 19 i went to college with a kid who's dad was the announcer. he brought me to the very last event to sit in the "crow's nest". my 8 year old self would have jizzed myself at this opportunity.

it was soooooo bad. but there were girls there who were waiting outside trying to get an autograph and a lay. poor white trash girls. ages 15 to 50. one wanted MY autograph because i was sitting in the crows nest.

i probably should have fucked her, but i was too stoned. and the whole scene was just so utterly.....Jerry Springer.....it was almost embarrassing.

here it is:



Sandy Barr the ref always wore that stiped shirt Playboy Buddy Rose got big i think.


EDIT: Ahhhhhhhhhhhh a quick glance at youtube and i see that my childhood hero Billy Jack (later called Billy Jack Haynes) actually made it big as well http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiSj9WpORhE. and he was there the night Portland local wrestling ended. i now remember, he made headlines the next week (for about a day) telling anyone who would listen that he did roids with Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon. his 15 minutes of fame lasted about 15 minutes.

 

[Biocoug1**]

usually stories have a point----------------->. <------------ here is a point, get to work

 

[IlFenomenoVero]

dont fuck with larry merchant man... remember if he was 50 years younger he would kick your ass

He ain't shit lol

 

[Scythe]

I like both. I think what Merchant is saying is partly right, but not for the reason he's thinking.

Larry is attacking the sport as a sport. The reason a bunch of those things link to MMA, today, is because it's marketed to a more modern audience than boxing.

But Larry is taking shots at MMA as a sport as if it's something lesser than boxing.

There just isn't an enormous boxing audience today outside of the big fights. The few "boxing over MMA" fans that I know watch less boxing than I do. They'll argue vehemently in its favor and mostly call MMA too brutal/dangerous but in the end they're also not excited by modern boxing whether they want to admit it or not.

 

[Trollinator]

He also said people get title shot to soon

I agree, they do -- But I don't have a problem with it at the moment because MMA doesn't have the depth that boxing has. If in years to come the depth has increased substantially and people who are in the single digits/ or relative newcomers get title fights; then I'd see it as an issue.

 

[Elysianwing]

So the basic sentiment from the crotchety old, drunkard, boxing-representative is that MMA fans are essentially less sophisticated?

Love boxing, but never really cared for Larry.

 

[The Soothsayer]

i see your story and raise you one

when i was a kid there was local wresting, called "Big Time Wrestling", out of Portland. when i was 19 i went to college with a kid who's dad was the announcer. he brought me to the very last event to sit in the "crow's nest". my 8 year old self would have jizzed myself at this opportunity.

it was soooooo bad. but there were girls there who were waiting outside trying to get an autograph and a lay. poor white trash girls. ages 15 to 50. one wanted MY autograph because i was sitting in the crows nest.

i probably should have fucked her, but i was too stoned. and the whole scene was just so utterly.....Jerry Springer.....it was almost embarrassing.

here it is:



Sandy Barr the ref always wore that stiped shirt Playboy Buddy Rose got big i think.


EDIT: Ahhhhhhhhhhhh a quick glance at youtube and i see that my childhood hero Billy Jack (later called Billy Jack Haynes) actually made it big as well http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiSj9WpORhE. and he was there the night Portland local wrestling ended. i now remember, he made headlines the next week (for about a day) telling anyone who would listen that he did roids with Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon. his 15 minutes of fame lasted about 15 minutes.

A few years back, I went to a local community center when a good friend from my childhood invited me to a local wrestling show.

It was so utterly horrible, and the people there were unspeakably unspeakable. And headlining it was the crazy dude that wrestled Mickey Rourke in the wrestler. I forget his name, but he has a beard and like staples his own nipples and shit during the show. And they went through the whole crowd and set things on fire.

My buddy and I laughed our asses off, but I was glad to get out of there when it was over. I was so ashamed being there I wore a hat and sat in the back and everything... Funny stuff.

 

[buddahead]

Anyone who says boxing isnt exciting is only watching the major fights. If you payed attention to boxing the way you do mma you would be thoroughly entertained and appreciate the skill it takes to figure out your opponent. Hands are your only option which takes a significant amount of skill. There is nothing to fall back on when that doesn't work. Watch closely because usually the punches come twice as fast as in mma.

Watch Joselito Lopez vs Victor Ortiz if you wanna see a headhunting sluggest from last year and try to tell me boxing is boring.

Every fight in mma isnt a barn burner either. Check the last PPV.

 

[Draggin99Si]

Larry who

 

[The Taxman]

He doesn't know shit about boxing!

 

[Trollinator]

Anyone who says boxing isnt exciting is only watching the major fights. If you payed attention to boxing the way you do mma you would be thoroughly entertained and appreciate the skill it takes to figure out your opponent. Hands are your only option which takes a significant amount of skill. There is nothing to fall back on when that doesn't work. Watch closely because usually the punches come twice as fast as in mma.

Watch Joselito Lopez vs Victor Ortiz if you wanna see a headhunting sluggest from last year and try to tell me boxing is boring.

Every fight in mma isnt a barn burner either. Check the last PPV.

This.