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by Lee Casebolt

Two things happened for the very first time last night:

 1) I watched a full hour of BET and, not coincidentally,

2) BET introduced MMA programming with the debut of Iron Ring.

It’s a safe bet I am not BET’s (or Iron Ring’s) target audience.  I listen to 80s metal and watch current sitcoms, rather than listening to current hip hop and watching 80s sitcoms.  To be perfectly frank, I don’t know who half of these “celebrity owners” are, and don’t care to.  Floyd Mayweather (aka, “Shut the Fuck Up, Floyd”) I know.  Ludacris I know.  Nelly, sure.  T.I.?  Juelz Santana?  Jim Jones?  Lil John?  Don’t know, don’t care.

Those guys are sideshow.  Of more interest to me are the coaches.  If you’re reading this, you know Shonie Carter.  “Mr. International” was an easy choice for Iron Ring coach.  The King of Bling has exactly the image the Iron Ring producers are trying to portray and has both a wide range of skills and a wealth of ring experience.  He’s got the sizzle and the steak.  From a television perspective, he’s pure gold.  As a Carter fan, I’m glad the man got a job that doesn’t involve getting punched in the head, because along with that wealth of experience has come a wealth of head trauma.   

In St. Louis, Nelly likewise struck gold with Jermaine Andre.  Andre’s been out of the public eye for the last few years, so newer fans may not be familiar with his work.  The man brings a 13-4 record, including a win over Joe Villasenor.  He’s a dangerous Muay Thai boxer with solid wrestling and a decent ground game.  He is, frankly, a guy I like all out of proportion to his actual talent level or accomplishments.  If there’s a downside to Andre, it’s that he’s a little quiet compared to the people surrounding him.  I wonder how much face time (not to be confused with hair time; he’ll have plenty of that) he’ll get. 

Having Charles Bennett for an MMA coach is like… like…  Like nothing else in the world.  Seriously, would you want a coach who claims to have never actually trained for a fight in his life?  Bennett has talent, of course.  He’s ridiculously strong for his size, isn’t a bad striker, and a decent wrestler with some spectacular throws.  Any chance he’ll pass any of that on to his charges?  Probably not.   What he will do, for better or worse, is project the kind of street-tough image that Iron Ring appears to be going for.

Roberto Traven was reported to be a coach for Iron Ring.  If so, he’s in full stealth mode; Traven never appeared on the broadcast.

Abdul Mutakabbir is a guy I frankly know next to nothing about.  I can tell you I’m going to get really tired of the various translations of his SWAM acronym, though.  He’s an old-school karate competitor who won trophies up and down the East Coast in the 70s and 80s.  How that will translate into MMA training is very much in question.  “Traditional” martial arts in general, and karate in particular, haven’t had a particularly good run in MMA.  Mutakabbir has a Jim Brown tough-old-man vibe to him, though, so maybe he can bring something to the table.

Something other than pissing off Novell G. Bell, that is, though if that’s all he accomplishes, that’ll be enough for me.  Bell is a bagua instructor from Harlem better known by his youtube moniker of “Blacktaoist”.  Now, I spend entirely too much time on youtube, and I’ve seen more than a few of his videos.  There’s some good stuff there.  Bell, though, is saved from being completely ignorant of grappling only by “knowing” some things that just aren’t so.  Anybody who tries his neck wrenching single leg defense, for example, is likely to end up flat on their back.  Bagua is the kind of thing that can supplement a complete MMA fighter’s game, but what I’ve seen of it looks like a poor base.

Those are the stars so far.  The fighters have been background material, and mostly forgettable background material at that.  The “highlight” thus far may have been Wes Sims appearing in Where’s Waldo fashion as the first cuts were announced.  Sims is a limited heavyweight, but there aren’t a lot of quality heavyweights available.  His experience and, ah, personality should put him in the spotlight quickly.  The single fight to be broadcast demonstrates to me that top notch in-ring action is not going to be the primary drawing card for Iron Ring.  Nor, based on the 5-2 Alexis Aquino claiming to be undefeated, is an honest depiction of the fighters, though by now TUF should have taught us to be aware of such chicanery.  To the credit of the Iron Ring producers, though, the majority of the broadcast time was dedicated to either a fight or fighters training, which is what I look for in an MMA show.  If the narrator is annoying, hey, I sit through Mauro Ranallo play by play, I can sit through anything.

It’s not top notch MMA.  It is MMA on TV.  It’s not going to break new ground or bring in a new audience; there’s a better chance of Iron Ring bringing MMA viewers to BET than BET viewers to MMA, in my opinion.  The production and fight quality doesn’t look like it’s going to be good enough to make a real impact on the MMA scene.  Iron Ring won’t replace the UFC.  It won’t dislodge EliteXC as ZUFFA’s main competitor.  It’s a low-budget BoDog, with an empty warehouse replacing Calvin Ayre’s beachfront.  Enjoy it for what it is, if you can, but keep your expectations low.