Bringing MMA to New York: I Don't Like Bob Reilly

"Kickboxing...sport of the future"
- Lloyd Dobler

Really, who is to say anything against Lloyd Dobler? The man is DA MAN. Say Anything could be a perfect movie.

The friends at Cage Potato have been covering the Bob Reilly factor when it comes to sanctioning MMA in New York. There has been much debate and talk over this issue but as a excitable MMA fan The KCB doesn't like the logic that Mr. Reilly uses in his arguments. Sure it's not for everyone but to deny a sport that would bring millions of dollars into the local economy (say if there were cards at MSG) and also totally ignore how the sport has developed into a legitimate enterprise really shows how idiotic Reilly is being. I'm all for arguments even for stuff that I enjoy or back, but none of the words coming out of this guy's mouth remotely make sense or show that he did his homework (which often comes from very staunch 'opinions' that don't respect MMA as much and therefore have a skewed view, such as ESPN or Sports Illustrated). Dinosaurs....

What's worse is that he represents Albany, the area from which I'm originally from. That sucks. Next time I'm up there I'll let him know that he has illegitimate reasoning. And then I'll go to the track to mullet-watch.

Anywho, CP is suggesting a bridging of Reilly's political interests with his lack of support for MMA and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) more specifically. Check out the article here.

Such is a tricky situation if this is the chain that leads to Reilly's perspective on MMA in New York. In the end greed sort of wins out on either end, and that's sad, because as a fan you hate to see an intellectual argument (or not) to validate the sanctioning of MMA in this state pared down into political and financial tug-of-war.

Fighting movie trailer - A Guide To Recognizing Your Fists

Lloyd Dobler was so right when he said kickboxing was the "sport of the future". At least partially.

I'm a pretty big mixed martial arts fan, my initial interest materializing as a child when I started learning Shotokan karate and watching first pro wrestling, then UFC when my friend Mark came to me with some VHS tapes of the first UFC events which featured our favorite at the time, Ken Shamrock.

Currently I favor guys like Lyoto Machida (who has a highly anticipated matchup later this month against Thiago Silva) and Cung Le (who is featured in this trailer, he's the Asian fighter in Tatum's first underground fight) who started with more traditional martial arts and branched into other facets.

With Never Back Down, Summitt Entertainment tried to branch into a real theatrically released film involving mixed martial arts, and this spring we have Fighting (what a boring title) which chronicles Tatum's character Sean Arthur as he battles poverty by getting involved in underground fights.



Cinematically it makes sense to seduce the audience into thinking that there's this dangerous and alluring underground system, a la Fast and the Furious. The story is typical, but with the twist being that the combat is something relatively newer.

The director, Dito Montiel, should be able to get some great footage of New York, as he is a native and used to be in a NY hardcore outfit. The other great thing it has going for it was Montiel directed A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints, also with Tatum, which was a terrific little slice of Queens way back when and had a great natural feel.

Strictly speaking from the perspective of say, someone who wants MMA to succeed in the mainstream as a legit sport (which it already is, and really is breaking ground), a film like this probably will not further that cause. Now technically, New York State has not sanctioned mixed martial arts, so the fact that the film revolves around underground fights makes sense. But the corruption and lack of rules and organization which the sport has managed to stay away from kind of doesn't bode well for someone coming in knowing nothing about MMA, if they don't like it, they might get the wrong impression. David Mamet's Redbelt took a story and used it within a legit fight circuit, which presented the idea of MMA as a sport rather than something for thugs to get into.

The movie had been filming all over the city last year, including some massive staging with some kick ass fake rain.

However, I'm sure Fighting will be entertaining. It's like Step Up (also with Tatum), but with fight fights, not dance fights.

For more on Fighting, IMDb it here. Or go to the official site. It releases on April 24th from Rogue Pictures.