Jim Rome: 'Had CBS shown Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver they wouldnt have alienated hardcore fans' (ESPN video)

What was said???

XFL sums it up pretty good. Well spoken Jim.

That was a kick ass rant

OUCHHHHHHHHH

good stuff! way to tell it like it was romey. it wasnt kimbos fault, but this show was a travishamockery! that ear before the fight sums it all up.

So TRUE!!!!!

haha i agree with everythinggg, and how the hell do they put a non title fight ahead of a title fight as a main event. that has me fairly confused.

Speak the truth.. Loud and Clear!

I completely agree with everything he said! Rome is the best, and I hope plenty of people listen to this and learn. “Made a living caving in dudes grills”—-classic rome.

Dude is tripping the show was far from crappy. It was an ok show, Gina like usual deilvered sadly the commission didnt want to let the fight go to the 3rd where that girl was almost for certain going to get KO/TKO’d. Smith Lawler was great wish it had kept going. Bret rogers like usual came and added ANOTHER KO to his resume. Man i dont got to say much more it was ok and next time around im 100%sure it will be alot better. Kimbo is exactly where is he supposed to be skill wise, a rookie and improving. Haters can hate all they want the ratings were great and they will almost certainly have another show.

this is why journalism is so bad right now.

1. they couldnt drain the ear due to the likely hood of infection… ask any wrestler.

2. why not mention of Lawler/Smith? a GREAT match for hardcore MMA fans

3. where is the blame to the NJAC for stopping 3 fights way too early? and explaining the EliteXC wanted those fights to continue!

and why mention the “tap” that NEVER happened!!!

Brett Rogers thought he saw a tap, but there is NO evidence to support it and James Thompson himself denied it.

Yup. Lawler v Smith was really good though. The whole event was pretty sweet except the main show. I’m a fan of Kimbo, but I don’t want to see fixed fights.

Jim Rome is like Ron Burgandy, he is boarder line robot, he’ll read what ever his writers tell him to. He doesn’t know shit about MMA.
The whole fight business has been about promoting the right fighter and I don’t mean the best fighter.

Chuck Liddell is almost 40 and he has lost 2 of his last 3 fights. But if you asked Dana White who deserves a title shot, who do you think he will say?

Overall, CBS’s first fight card wasn’t theat bad.
At least let them air a few shows.
UFC ain’t perfect either.
In the last year the UFC have lost Randy Couture, Mikco cro cop, Andre Arloski, Tim Sylvia and tito Ortiz
This sport still needs work.

Hooh, Rome was vicious.
While it was nice to see free MMA and EliteXC for free on CBS they seriously should have rethought the headline. If the Slice/Thompson fight was a prelim fight and Smith/Lawler the main event (as it should have been since it was a title fight) then I think some of the bad vibes could have been avoided.
It’s a shame because a number of EXC shows have been pretty good but all around in regards to fights this show was pretty weak. I just hope EXC puts on a better show next time (with a lot less emphasis on side-show attractions) and people still tune in to watch.

TRUTH

Hilarious.

Wow, someone on national TV saying what we’ve all been saying. I don’t know if this is a good thing because of how he addressed the Faber/Pulver fight, or a horrible thing drawing even more bad exposure to the sport. Anyway, at least he got it out there.

the production of the whole show was a tad immature. no offense if you still watch fake wrestling and believe that shit, but the dancers and the intros to the fighters and the stoppages were all way too over produced. dana was right, bj would find a way to beat kimbo and it would probably be early and easily. scot smith was not by any means out of the fight with lawler. at the very least let go of the woman doctor who is affraid of the possiblility of blood being spilled. women should not be doctors in mma. people like don frye and cabbage carrera should be.

Huh, I thought Red Lasso got a cease and desist. Guess I was wrong.

haha wow everything he said was perfect.

Captain Obvious Jim Rome telling it like it is after the fact…he’s so lame. I mean, yeah, it’s true, but any dolt could do this rant after seeing two of the most talented featherweights of all-time put on an epic battle like that. He’s so safe with these rants of his. He’s always picking on people that aren’t there and can’t defend themselves, and then he’s always kissing ass to the athletes when they’re on his show. The guy’s all style and no substance.

Captain Obvious Jim Rome telling it like it is after the fact…he’s so lame. I mean, yeah, it’s true, but any dolt could do this rant after seeing two of the most talented featherweights of all-time put on an epic battle like that. He’s so safe with these rants of his. He’s always picking on people that aren’t there and can’t defend themselves, and then he’s always kissing bum to the athletes when they’re on his show. The guy’s all style and no substance.

Great job Jim Rome. The Faber fight was an unbelievable fight and would have been a great to show on national television. It had a little bit of everything that makes MMA a great sport.

The respect and showmen ship of Faber and Pulver after the fight would have been enough by itself to give the sport a good name. The way these two guys acted during and after the fight towards each other was awesome. I wish that fight could have been seen by 4 million viewers on Sunday. The talk on ESPN would have been totally different.

I watched PTI and was very disappointed with something that Tony Cornheiser said. He said something to the affect of how in boxing a fighter can win just because of his boxing skills and not his power. He said, that is not the case in MMA.

It seems like because of the display by Elite XC he thinks the only way to win is to throw crazy punches and hope your opponent gets knocked out. We all know that statement just shows his ignorance of the sport. If he is going to make statements like that then he needs to stop talking about the sport. This is what I was worried about. The XC show didn’t showcase MMA in it’s purest form and the critics are ripping it apart because of one night.

About time someone had the balls to tell it like it is, or at least give an opinion that, other than ELitexc employees, Slice nuthuggers and friends/family of Gary Shaw probably 3/4 if not more hardcore mma fans feel.

Props to Rome for not being a “puppet” and trying to make it out as though the event was good for the sport or that Slice had no business being there, well everything he said was awesome!!!

Best rant I heard from a major media outlet!! Great job!!

never watched romes show before but this was a clear and accurate comparison

that was great! he took the words right outta my mouth

WAR Rome!!! I wish all of ESPN educated themselves enough on the sport to hold that view.

agree 100% with rome. Having that as the main event of the first mma broadcast on major networkTV was a huge setback for the sport in what should have been a night that rocketed it into mainstream and showcased true mixed martial artists. Le, Shamrock, Edwards, Diaz, Shields…these are the guys who should have been showcased.

Well, Jim Rome redeemed himself in my eyes. He’s absolutely painful to listen to with his choppy delivery, but he hit the nail on the head with this one. I’m glad ESPN fans got to hear the truth.

jime rome is hilarios

Wow, Rome just gained himself a fan. Very well said.

Right on the button. I’m a Kimbo fan even though he is far from a top notch MMA fighter, but I route for him. This was rediculous however. The whole show was lame and comparing it to the XFL was on the button!!!

And he’s right…..What was up with Thompson’s ear. I can’t remember ever seeing a pride or ufc fight with an ear like that. Again, on the button, production wanted to see that thing explode and knew it might happen even if Kimbo lost. They might as well start tucking razors on their shorts like they old WWF days…….

I gotta tell you, i was pretty sure Kimbo tapped in that choke. I actually started laughing when the fight went on.

And how about Shaw…..trying to be Dana in there. Give it up. I appreciate what he’s doing but when he came out and said how he was gonna pay both fighters their salaries on the no contest……..i was like what? That’s something we read about the next day on a board like this. Why televise it. Trying to be the hot shot.

Elite XC just lost any interest I had. Unless they sign some big names, i’ll find better ways to spend my saturday nights. I’m sure you’ll see rating half of what they 1st show was on the second. I mean, are they gonna have Kimbo in the main event every month?

Not necessarily a Rome fan, but he hit the nail on the head there. There were two god fights on the card (Carano and Lawler-Smith), but the rest of the night, and the production, were a joke. Free or not, I won’t be wasting my time with EliteXC again any time soon.

I LOVE JIM ROME! The dude is always right on about sports and sees every angle. He called every point I had a problem with while watch that disaster! He called it by saying that most watchers would be OK with that show, but true MMAers were very disappointed. If that card was like the WEC’s Sunday night card, I would have been worried for Dana and the UFC!
I agree that most on this site saw Shaw’s product and the production of that product to be substandard compared to the UFC. Now 2 days after the fallout, more bad press is coming from that mess CBS and Shaw forced to the public = BAD PRESS FOR MMA & UFC

Who said this Jim Rome?

You mean this Jim Rome…the Professional guy…

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dOVxitMy47c

Classy

I don’t know why other people are hating on it but I am because it made MMA look bad. I also saw three fights and I wasn’t impressed with Kimbo’s victory. Scot Smith and Robbie Lawler were putting up a great show. Conviction was also entertaining but that stoppage was crap. CBS needs to understand that MMA is violent, and it must show it for the people to understand. I noticed that a lot of Elite XC’s fights are usually stand-up brawls. I really felt disrespected because the annoucers didn’t talk about the rules and techniques these fighter use. Or maybe they did but I just didn’t see it. Kimbo Slice also makes the sport look bad because he just got in it and didn’t put forth the work we all have to to be good in this sport. He’s a marketing scheme, with no true MMA skills. I also didn’t like how he said he fights for the money. I mean qe all are but my first thing is because I love to compete and I want to see how I can push myself. AND its soo much fun! Another thing is I hate the refa in MMA, they need some kind of class for ‘how to be an MMA ref’ or something. I am tired of seeing different refs stopping and leaving fights in the same situation. They need to be consistent. That Kimbo fight should have stopped in the 2nd round.

Rome is the man. His radio is a heck of a lot better than his TV show too. Part of the reason he isn’t like the other ESPN guys is because he’s not an ESPN guy he just has a show on ESPN.

He is the only big time radio guy that I have heard interview REAL MMA fighters like Dan Henderson.

Everyone that is an MMA fan should be happy that the biggest sports radio guy in the US is an MMA fan and one that gets it.

totally agree, respect

pretty damn funny

There is No mention of Lawler because he sucks …
I have seen his last 4 UFC fights and he lost every one.
Nick Diaz made him look like a retard when they fought.

Lawler had actually quit fighting and was only a trainer … until Elite XC gave him a payday.

Scott Smith was never in the UFC or any other league … he lost on the Ultimate Fighter and didnt receive a contract.
He has a decent punch … but he is slow, inexperienced, and stiff to me.

Hate to agree with Jim Rome, but he’s on the money.

Said it before the fight, and I will say it now: If the popularity of the sport is going to eventually go mainstream, jokers like Kimbo Slice is not what this sport needs as a face. The Pulver/Faber match was indeed classic. I watched every second of it, and what is great about it all, is those two actually respect each other. That is something the sport needs.

Well said Romey…..For once your rants finally made sense!