The More He Talks MMA, The More You Wonder if Michael Wilbon Knows Anything About Any Sports
I grew up reading both Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser when they were columnists for The Washington Post. While Kornheiser has no special insights into sports, he's a great writer and his articles were always amusing. On the other hand, I held Wilbon in high regard as he discussed the Redskins, his hometown Bulls (who featured a certain Michael Jordan at the time), and generally looked at sports from a responsible social angle.
So, it was no surprise to me that the two were paired up on PTI on ESPN, a show which I generally enjoy. However, I've begun losing respect for Wilbon as he opens his yapper about a sport which he clearly knows nothing about: MMA. While I expect Kornheiser to be stupid with his MMA-related comments, I was taken aback by Wilbon's thoughts when he decided to weigh in on the Kimbo-Petruzelli controversy on last night's show.
I've looked for video of that segment on ESPN.com but haven't been able to find any so far. But, AOL Fanhouse has a partial transcript of Wilbon's discussion with fill-in Dan Le Batard.
"That was a more phantom punch than Ali had to knock out Liston in that fight in 1965," Wilbon said of Petruzelli knocking Kimbo to the canvas. "Kimbo Slice, your boy, is a fraud."
Wilbon's on-air partner Dan Le Batard then said, point blank, "Are you saying it was fixed?"
Wilbon replied, "Yes."
Le Batard then noted that mixed martial arts is a legitimate sport that is very popular among young men and added, "That was not fixed, Mike."
Wilbon replied by comparing MMA to professional wrestling, saying, "It was fixed. Wrestling was fixed, I loved it all my life. It was fixed."
As Le Batard tried to defend MMA, Wilbon told him, "Danny, you don't want to defend this because your credibility will be at stake. He's a fraud, it's a fraud, get off the stage."
During a brief look-in on the next commercial break, Wilbon said, "I don't know what Kimbo's ties are. Kimbo still could have taken a dive while others are trying to prop him up. He could have gotten paid."
While these comments are damning, what AOL Fanhouse did not include in its transcript are Wilbon's statements about MMA fans. He called us "sycophants" who don't care whether the fight was fixed or not.
Wilbon, how dare you presume to know what we think. MMA fans are more sick about all these accusations than you could ever imagine. You know why? Because an incident like this gives mainstream, ratings-whoring dolts like you an opportunity to spout your venom and showcase your ignorance to the masses and unfortunately damage the sport even more.
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Comments
I can not believe that a
I can not believe that a journalist with the credentials that Wilbon has would spew that sort of venom and proceed to tell the fans what they think. I hope ESPN has enough common sense to get this guy the education he sorely needs. ESPN's coverage of MMA has been growing ever so slightly over the past year and whatever progress the sport has made in the mainstream media gets pushed back because of morons like this making idiotic and uninformed statements on a sport he obviously knows nothing about.
This goes back to the problem MMA is facing. EliteXC, Jared Shaw & his father Gary have made a mockery of this great sport. In pushing a youtube backyard brawler who promotes his thuggish image they are spitting in the face of the fighters who have spent a lifetime honing their craft and trying to show the world what incredible athletes and human beings they truly are. I have never seen the type of sportsmanship in any other sport that is seen between the combatants in MMA. EXC has thrown that all out the window when they main event a guy who has no skills in front of such fighters as Jake Shields, Robbie Lawler and Frank Shamrock. They have made a spectacle of this great sport. Instead of promoting MMA as it should be promoted they would rather promote it in a way where they can make the most profit from it.
Again I do not blame Kimbo for this as he is taking advantage of an opportunity to secure a better future for his family. I blame Elite and the Shaw family for this debacle. I truly hope they go under or someone else with a better vision and more respect for the sport takes over. All the work the UFC and smaller promotions like Strikeforce have put in to educate the public will be for naught if these people continue to run Elite like an asylum.
Godfather and all-around Mafia Aficionado
Co-Founder of The MMAFIA
Live Blogger for Fightticker.Com
Canadians Are Nothing More Than America's Bit***s.
wilbon is a grade A
wilbon is a grade A douchebag.
wilbon is not much of a journalist and i believe his role, like most other media contributors has denigrated to little more than opinion-provider. he is no more qualified than any one of us bloggers, the only difference is, he has national outlets to incite people with his baseless opinions.
wilbon was one of the race-baiting trumpeters taking up tyrone willingham's flag when notre dame fired him after 3 years of unisinspired coaching and recruiting ... apparently cutting the cancer before it spreads is racist ... washington got the message and they held onto his cancerous coaching outlook ... look where its gotten them in 4 years ... 6 total wins in the pac 10, recruiting voids, burned redshirts, an 0-5 start ... yep, wilbon called that one all right ... RACISM.
this guy is a total idiot ... check that phantom punch on some of the multiple replay angles ... its called a quick jab, dickhead
i can't stand those 2
i can't stand those 2 anymore. i want to throw a pie in wilbons face. jk. but seriously, i haven't watched their show in so long, just because they obviously don't know what they are talking about. if it's this hard for them to understand a simple sport like MMA and are quick to compare it to fake wrestling, and saying MMA is fixed, then i don't care to watch it. kornheiser is as much an idiot that wilbon is, or vice versa. being on ESPN where you talk about sports and you say "I have no idea wtf is going on in MMA" how can you can you be on TV??
and whenever they have MMA people on ESPN, there's always a dumb line of questioning like, "You ever punch a house down? You like beating people up for no reason, you take joy out of that right? you don't have to listen to your mom because you can beat her up. You can beat me up so i won't say anything. I'm a douche."
Underboss MMAfia
Head of the West Coast Family
not impressed with anything
what i found on yahoo's mma
what i found on yahoo's mma blog by Maggie Hendricks (about this very same wilbon guy who hates mma) someone commented:
"Waaaaa
Waaaaa Mike Wilbon is trashing MMA
Waaaaa
Waaaaa
I guess you are not understanding his sarcasm. He doesn't like the sport, doesn't believe in it, and isn't a fan. Big deal. He can say what he wants, if you don't like it, shut it off. He is paid to give his opinion as you are paid to give yours.
I guess the difference is he get an enormous amount of listeners and readers, and you have 10 blog posts saying what a clown you are.
Btw - I am sure he really cares how much you respect him. "
if the only thing people are hearing about mma is from 2 guys who don't know what it's about, then it only reinforces peoples belief that MMA is not a legitimate sport....yeah, lets ignore everyone bashing MMA. riiiight.
Underboss MMAfia
Head of the West Coast Family
not impressed with anything
yeah, I watched that segment
yeah, I watched that segment and its pretty disheartening to hear Wilbon say that since I really respect him and Kornheiser. Pardon the Interruption is easily my favorite analytical sports talk show because of the two of them and their back and forth banter.
I want to believe that that's all it was, that Wilbon was merely trying to rile Lebatard up since Lebatard wrote that Kimbo piece for ESPN the magazine back in May and is clearly behind MMA.
I think we have to give him the benefit of the doubt. Wilbon is a smart man, very well educated being an alumni of Northwestern and has been in this business a long time.
the_general wrote: yeah, I
yeah, I watched that segment and its pretty disheartening to hear Wilbon say that since I really respect him and Kornheiser. Pardon the Interruption is easily my favorite analytical sports talk show because of the two of them and their back and forth banter.
I want to believe that that's all it was, that Wilbon was merely trying to rile Lebatard up since Lebatard wrote that Kimbo piece for ESPN the magazine back in May and is clearly behind MMA.
I think we have to give him the benefit of the doubt. Wilbon is a smart man, very well educated being an alumni of Northwestern and has been in this business a long time.
the benefit of the doubt? what does that mean? there is no doubt that what wilbon said is completely wrong. the statements he made are not well educated and does not sound like it's coming from a man who has been in this business a long time.
Underboss MMAfia
Head of the West Coast Family
not impressed with anything
And if he was trying to goad
And if he was trying to goad Lebatard then he needs to grow up.
Godfather and all-around Mafia Aficionado
Co-Founder of The MMAFIA
Live Blogger for Fightticker.Com
Canadians Are Nothing More Than America's Bit***s.
PTI is to sports
PTI is to sports news/analysis what WWE is to actual sport ... entertainment disguised as something sports related
to call it sports analysis is more generous than offering dollar lapdances
if wilbon gets any credit for anything, its knowing how to rile people up by pretending to be a journalist