Shark vs. Shine
Jake Rossen Sep 10, 2010
If you’re a DirecTV subscriber, you’ve got fewer entertainment
options than usual this weekend: You can catch “Cops” or you can go
play team trivia at a bar where a beer belch is an acceptable
response. No MMA for you.
The satellite carrier has chosen not to air either the Shine Fights or Shark Fights pay-per-views. Shark is headlined Saturday by UFC exiles Trevor Prangley and Keith Jardine; Shine is hosting an eight-man tournament format Friday unseen on American dials since Yamma changed the face of the sport back in 2007. (It was, to continue that metaphor, horrible disfigurement.)
But let’s say you’re a lucky cable or Dish customer. Does either of
these programs deserve your $29.95? Or more importantly, your
time?
I am no particular fan of Shine, which wasted the talents of contracted athletes back in May when they succumbed to an 11th hour injunction by Don King over the participation of Ricardo Mayorga -- interference Mr. Magoo could’ve seen coming. But judging them based on past impropriety has become a popular Internet sport that’s grown tiresome. We know their management deserves scorn. What about the fights themselves?
It’s also outmoded and frustrating. Because of the talent level that exists today, it’s more difficult to breeze through preliminary rounds and stack up the shark/fish bouts the way the UFC’s previous owners did. Worse, they prove nothing other than the winner happened to be the luckiest -- not necessarily the most talented -- of the show. In football terms, it’s like going back to playing with leather helmets.
That antique approach didn’t charm Virginia’s athletic commission, which forced Shine to move its operations to Oklahoma over concerns regarding both fighter safety and the guarantee of payroll. Even if you ignore Shine’s questionable business practices and abrasive fighter relations, it’s still not a card worth staying home for.
Shark Fights, which airs Saturday, is the first live television effort for the Texas-based promotion. Their first show in 2008 was headlined by Shannon Ritch; the 13th features Prangley and Jardine. This is progress.
But unfortunately for Shark, it’s not a main event that’s going to Hoover up money. Jardine -- cut by the UFC after several consecutive losses -- is game but relies on a plodding boatyard striking attack that he depends on to outlast opponents. Prangley is a better grappler, but having spent much of his career at 185, he may not have the power to be effective; a co-main between Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou and Houston Alexander probably won’t last as long as your nachos. When fights don’t mean much, they need to be exciting: The only bout of the weekend that virtually guarantees that is Shark’s welterweight bout between Paul Daley -- he of the late punch on Josh Koscheck -- and Jorge Masvidal, who has Daley’s aggression if not his striking. It’s a terrific match, and worth your time.
(Better: Shark’s broadcast team will consist of Don Frye and Bas Rutten as color commentators. Frye is essentially a blunt-force object on the microphone; Rutten, while overbearing at times, works for this kind of mid-tier competition. HDNet’s Ron Kruck will be expected to get a word in as the play-by-play man. Good luck with that.)
If you have the $30 to spare, opt for Shark -- but only with the understanding that the UFC’s polished broadcast is the exception that proves the rule. Television production is a major undertaking, and it takes years to provide something even slightly coherent. (Look at early episodes of your favorite series: or better, don’t. It’s depressing.) If you want an error-free broadcast, you’ll be disappointed. If you want a couple of good fights, you’ll get your wish.
The satellite carrier has chosen not to air either the Shine Fights or Shark Fights pay-per-views. Shark is headlined Saturday by UFC exiles Trevor Prangley and Keith Jardine; Shine is hosting an eight-man tournament format Friday unseen on American dials since Yamma changed the face of the sport back in 2007. (It was, to continue that metaphor, horrible disfigurement.)
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I am no particular fan of Shine, which wasted the talents of contracted athletes back in May when they succumbed to an 11th hour injunction by Don King over the participation of Ricardo Mayorga -- interference Mr. Magoo could’ve seen coming. But judging them based on past impropriety has become a popular Internet sport that’s grown tiresome. We know their management deserves scorn. What about the fights themselves?
The tournament concept -- the hinge for Friday’s event -- is
essentially the instantized form of promotion. A cast of unknowns
can easily capture an audience’s attention by their second or third
bout of the night; there’s real drama in fielding eight competitors
and knowing you’ll have seven losers. It’s gauntlet fighting, and
it’s what the sport was built on in the 1990s.
It’s also outmoded and frustrating. Because of the talent level that exists today, it’s more difficult to breeze through preliminary rounds and stack up the shark/fish bouts the way the UFC’s previous owners did. Worse, they prove nothing other than the winner happened to be the luckiest -- not necessarily the most talented -- of the show. In football terms, it’s like going back to playing with leather helmets.
That antique approach didn’t charm Virginia’s athletic commission, which forced Shine to move its operations to Oklahoma over concerns regarding both fighter safety and the guarantee of payroll. Even if you ignore Shine’s questionable business practices and abrasive fighter relations, it’s still not a card worth staying home for.
Shark Fights, which airs Saturday, is the first live television effort for the Texas-based promotion. Their first show in 2008 was headlined by Shannon Ritch; the 13th features Prangley and Jardine. This is progress.
But unfortunately for Shark, it’s not a main event that’s going to Hoover up money. Jardine -- cut by the UFC after several consecutive losses -- is game but relies on a plodding boatyard striking attack that he depends on to outlast opponents. Prangley is a better grappler, but having spent much of his career at 185, he may not have the power to be effective; a co-main between Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou and Houston Alexander probably won’t last as long as your nachos. When fights don’t mean much, they need to be exciting: The only bout of the weekend that virtually guarantees that is Shark’s welterweight bout between Paul Daley -- he of the late punch on Josh Koscheck -- and Jorge Masvidal, who has Daley’s aggression if not his striking. It’s a terrific match, and worth your time.
(Better: Shark’s broadcast team will consist of Don Frye and Bas Rutten as color commentators. Frye is essentially a blunt-force object on the microphone; Rutten, while overbearing at times, works for this kind of mid-tier competition. HDNet’s Ron Kruck will be expected to get a word in as the play-by-play man. Good luck with that.)
If you have the $30 to spare, opt for Shark -- but only with the understanding that the UFC’s polished broadcast is the exception that proves the rule. Television production is a major undertaking, and it takes years to provide something even slightly coherent. (Look at early episodes of your favorite series: or better, don’t. It’s depressing.) If you want an error-free broadcast, you’ll be disappointed. If you want a couple of good fights, you’ll get your wish.
