First thoughts on “Iron Ring”
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- March
- 19
BET aired back to back episodes of its mixed martial arts based reality show last night. As promised, I reserved all judgment until I actually watched the show.
I’ll continue watching “Iron Ring” because I am an MMA fanatic, but so far the show is awful at best. I hope at some point it becomes more about the fighters and less about the owners. The rappers add nothing. The coaches are, for the most part, nobodies in the MMA community. If I hear the word “AKA” one more time, I might watch the rest of the series on mute.
I found the first episode pretty useless. Instead of meeting the fighters or learning the rules of “Iron Ring”, we were introduced to the celebrity team owners Nelly, T.I., Lil Jon, Ludacris, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Based on some of their commentaries on the sport, it is pretty apparent that these guys have little to no clue what mixed martial arts is really about. Lil Jon had the best insight on the show, “You can kick, punch, grapple—there’s so many different ways of winning a fight and getting excitement for the audience. I think it could one day pass boxing,” he said. One thing we did find out is that there are three weight classes in the show – lightweight, middleweight, and heavyweight.
Each team owner has a “legendary mixed martial arts trainer” to help select fighters and train their team.
Ludacris’ Team
Coach: Abdul Mutakabbir
Notes: Abdul is an accomplished martial artist and was a New York State Triple Crown Champion for 20 years. He is well known in the martial arts community. Most of his martial arts training, however, is practical street fighting for self defense. Highlight reels show Mutakabbir training with swords and knives. All of this training is useless in mixed martial arts. While Abdul may be a legend in martial arts, his status as a “legendary trainer” in mixed martial arts is in question.
Nelly’s Team
Coach: Jermaine Andre
Notes: I wouldn’t call him a “legendary trainer”, but Andre is a pretty legit fighter. He is a Muay Thai specialist and holds a 13-4 mixed martial arts record. Not a bad selection.
T.I.’s Team
Coach: Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett
Notes: Charles Bennett is a freakshow in the MMA community. He comes out hard and heavy for every fight. He throws bomb and after bomb early and often . If one of those punches lands, there is a good chance you are getting knocked out. His fights rarely go out of the first round because you’ve either been knocked out, or taking advantage of the fact that he doesn’t do cardio. On the show, Bennett boasts that he has “probably trained 2 times in his life for a fight”. He has 36 pro bouts. EliteXC aired a pre-fight special once that contained some footage of Bennett’s cardiovascular training. He was playing basketball with his friends in a park somewhere. Is this the guy you want coaching your team? Ironically, TI’s team is named “Grand Hustle”. Something tells me Bennett won’t be making his fighters “hustle” during training.
Dipset’s Team
Coach: Novell Bell
Notes: Loud. Obnoxious. Annoying. Bell seemed intimidated in the presence of Abdul Mutakabbir; he kept running his mouth and dropping F bombs in an effort to overshadow Abdul. He even tells his fighters he doesn’t want to see any submissions, he wants “cats that can knock cats out” and “none of that grappling stuff” . I don’t know any “legendary MMA trainer” who would preach such a philosophy.
Lil Jon’s Team
Coach: Shonie Carter
Notes: Shonie Carter is a UFC veteran and has fought in 61 pro MMA bouts. He was a contestant on “The Ultimate Fighter: The Comeback”. He has a decent stand up game and is known to pull off a submission or two. His experience in the game will make him one of the more legit coaches on this show.
Floyd Mayweather’s Team
Coach: Roberto Traven
Notes: Roberto Traven is a jiu-jitsu fighter who has a 6-3 pro MMA record. I’ve never heard of him until this show , but his MMA experience will be beneficial to Mayweather’s team.
I think it’s safe to say that BET used the phrase “legendary mixed martial arts” trainer pretty liberally.
In the second episode we got a little more information about the fighters, but not much. Dipset’s team and Ludacris’s team were holding tryouts in a gym somewhere in New York. The whole session seemed unorganized and messy. I couldn’t figure out who was more obnoxious, Novell Bell or the show’s narrator. I could do without the both of them. At the end of the episode, Team Dipset and Team Luda’s coaches selected the fighters that made the first cut. They picked about 10 names from the packed gym and much to the dismay of Rhino Fight team’s Alex Aquino, he was not chosen. Aquino throws a fit, claiming he can beat anyone in the gym and that he has the best record in the place. Next week, Aquino gets a shot at one of the middleweights selected in the first cut. If he wins, he has a spot on the team. The drama ensues.
Next we down south to TI’s “Grand Hustle” tryouts. TI selected his fighters a little differently. Fighters paired off and fought one five minute round. The fighters that made the best impression on TI would be selected. Throughout the episode, BET kept replaying this clip of TI saying “If you take the head the body will follow!”. What does that even mean? I could see “If you take the head, clinch and throw knees” or “If you get the neck, go for a choke”, but if you take the head the body will follow? How? Why? Where? It makes no sense. One of the fights goes to the ground and TI is shouting this new catch phrase. Jamie Yager, the fighter on the offense at this point, sinks a rear naked choke on his opponent and TI is yelling “go for a submission!” as the downed opponent is practically tapping out. At least he is enthusiastic about it. It seems that athletic commissions are not sanctioning these fights either. Jamie Yager was throwing knees and kicks to a downed opponent and the referee didn’t seemed phased in the least. I wonder if he even knew they were illegal in US MMA.
The show still hasn’t told us how a fighter can win the whole competition. We do know that the winner will receive 100,000 dollars. I find that number a little humorous, considering that most of the team owners had more then 100,000 dollars of jewelry hanging off of their necks.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 at 12:16 pm by Larry Vollmer.
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“If you take the head, the body will follow.” What the heck was up with T.I. It’s “Take the head and the body will follow.” I love your takes LVJ. Great analysis. Luda seemed like the only guy taking things serious. I love when rappers who have never taken a punch talk tough. But I’m still gonna watch. I am a self-proclaimed reality TV junkie, and this is MMA for free on TV. I still want to see what happens. WTF is wrong with me? Hopefully, they start focusing on the fighters.
larry please do your research before u trash me the show was done last year! last year i was undefeated! so how is that a lie? i don’t trash u, and u would have been mad to if u were me. the tryouts were bullshit. please apolligize! thanx
The referee for TI’stryouts was Roan “Jucao” Carneiro so he knows the rules, there were a couple of borderline kicks and knees but I guess, as you said, the fights aren’t sanctioned.
DROC
Droc – I did not know that. That is a good piece of information. Thanks.
Alexis – I was not aware this show was shot so long ago. Also, I was not trashing you. Sorry if it came off that way.
Larry,
I think your assessment of the first show is pretty fair and much more even handed then some of the other reviews I have read on-line. Like most reality shows (TUF included) it’s not the kind of programming you win academy awards for. I tuned in for a chance to be entertained and an opportunity to watch some young developing fighters. The first two shows satisfied the entertainment part of the equation. Now they just need to put the rappers and coaches in the background and focus on the fighters.
It’s pretty obvious that the involvement of the rappers is just a way to lure viewers who usually don’t watch mixed martial arts programming. But I was not nearly as annoyed with the rappers as I thought I was going to be before the show aired.
As an mixed martial arts fan, I’m all for young fighters having an opportunity to gain exposure and experience, so I will continue to watch.
Living in Queens New York I am very familiar with Abdul Mutakabbir. Here is a link to a Daily News article on Mutakabbir that’s an interesting read.
It documents the murder of his son by local drug dealers and how he assisted the police in the arrest of the three suspects.
http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/ny_local/1998/09/14/1998-09-14_they_knew_he_was_my_son__cru.html
Thanks for the info Chris. I was not aware of that. I will read the article now.
I very much agree with your thoughts on letting younger fighters get some exposure, no matter what the medium is.
Thank you for your contribution.
No problem Larry. Keep swinging.
Larry,
Great read from you I did not expect anything less from you my friend.
You gave an indepth look at “Iron Ring” in my estimation you are right on the money there are too many ‘dimwits’ posers’ all these Rappers seem to really want are their face’s on TV and to make FUN of MMA by putting up a facade of so-called show business fronts with MMA taking the ‘back of the bus’.....
Bennett is a “joke” at least in Shonie Carter they have a real MMA fighter. But will the Rappers give him the respect he deserves? Floyd Mayweather is a incredible boxer who loves himself more than anyone, or anything. He denigrated MMA by saying “These MMA guys are a bunch of street thugs who fight on the street and bars!”
The problem with the huge popularity of the UFC and MMA in general is possibly leading to so many venues and fight opportunities, that something ‘BAD’ is waiting round the corner? What that is; I would prefer not to even guess!
Thanks, Larry for your great insight.
Doc’ Manchaca-Davis
Doc – Thanks for the comments. And I think you hit the nail directly on the head when you say that these rappers just want their face’s on TV.
They don’t appreciate the art of the sport, just the shear violence. The one guy at the end of episode two was placing bets on “who was leaving in the ambulance first”. What a joke.
This show is entertaining, but puts MMA in a poor light. You have legitimate fighters who are sticking their necks out and you have these wanna be tough-guy rappers who are trying to put a steet-edge to it. What for? The UFC’s inaugural event put martial artist vs. martial artist. This show is trying to make it like it’s some sort of ghetto-scrap. This is the unfortunate result of MMA going mainstream. Everyone thinks they can do it. So far, in all three episodes I’ve watched I don’t know who the fighters are and you don’t even know what the criteria of how they chose their fighters. Most of the coaches want guys who want to duke it out but that’s just gonna favor all of the strikers. This is like the ghetto version of the ultimate fighter; it’s like an expired coupon, makes no cents. They need to remove the guys who are just talking loud and probably don’t even train at 24hr fitness let alone in any kind of martial art. This is like a C-movie. I’ll probably still watch because I wanna see Shonie submit Mayweather.
Thanks for the comments, and I completely agree.
Floyd Mayweather is very annoying. His segment of the show is all about him, how much money he makes, and how he is the best fighter in the world. You would think he is competing in the show.
I have seen MMA grow from its birth to its present state, with this said and as a practioner of the sport i have a great respect for MMA. I dont think the rappers feel the same they think its like dog fighting my pit bull verses yours MMA is a very technical sport which requires alot of skill and technique. when you hear TI talking about WE DONT LOSE! WTF your not fighting! And that BIG mouth BELL “WE JUST WANT KATS THAT KNOCK KATS OUT”! Are you serious! even Mayweather thinks he is superior to the sport. id like to se him fight an MMA champion! Also Alexis Aquino had every right to be mad he had a record of stepping in a ring an actually fighting and winning, when half of these guys havent even seen the inside of a cage or ring, SO WHAT WAS THE CRITERIA HOW MANY PULL UPS CAN U DO. I think this is degrading to the sport of which so many people have worked so hard to bring up. Boxing is slowly fading away and MMA IA TAKING ITS PLACE.
I have been ignoring the rappers as they are just being entertainers. Roberto Traven is a great Jiu Jitsu coach and a former world champion. I am interested to see how the show turns out. The first two episodes were questionable but I see some good fighters in there so hopefully they will highlight them more. Next year I think the show will be taken more seriously if they xnay the rappers. MMA fans will watch, with our without them.
The only problem is that the rappers are featured more heavily then the fighters. The show is only a half hour and I am completely unsatisfied when the show is over. I want to see the fighters, the training, the fights, and maybe some rapper interaction peppered in between. The show should be an hour. They could do a half hour alone on Floyd Mayweather talking about himself and his money.
WAKEY WAKEY!!! Can’t people see this farce for what it really is!? This is a group of rich and famous people using that fame and notoriety to make even more money off the back of this rising phenom called MMA i mean come on, there is only two or three guys in there who i would call bonafide MMA fighters and really i can’t understand why they have decided to get mixed up in this. If i felt at all like this was about the fighters and the sport i would be all for ir (such as TUF) these jokers are just trying to make more money off the success of TUF! We all know most boxers only pretend to like MMA when really they view it as a threat to their own chosen proffession as boxers! each to their own though eh?
Guys, since this show has started, Ive been visiting the iron ring blog on bet.com regularly, and have come to the conclusion that no one watches this show. I cant stir up any serious discussion about the sport their at all. The black community (of which I am a part) on the whole is not intrested in mma. I personally am a martial arts enthusiast and an MMA fan. I think we should take the show for what it is, laugh about it, and take heart in the fact that there probably won’t be a season two.