Word: sport
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...While the move is a risk for CBS, it's major milestone for MMA, whose growth has been one of the decade's most stunning sports business success stories. For the first time a live MMA fight will be broadcast on one of the big four networks, an extraordinary feat for a sport that, just 10 or so years ago, was roundly derided as "human cockfighting." At first, the caged bouts were fought in the shadows, since the sport was banned in almost every state (it is now sanctioned in 33). But MMA now draws strong ratings on the cable...
...will have to be spoon-fed MMA 101. "The challenge is that we have to serve two audiences," says Kahl. "We don't want to talk down to the hard-core fans, but we also can't alienate first-time viewers." Also, the network isn't exactly offering the sport prime real estate on the schedule, though CBS insists this is the best way to ease novel programming into the mainstream. "Because it's new, Saturday nights is a way for us to dip our toe in water," says Kahl. "Saturday night fights just felt right. And the whole idea...
...biggest potential challenge is probably also its biggest appeal - the level of violence itself. True, MMA is no longer an anything-goes spectacle. Rules like weight classes and timed rounds have made it a much safer sport. But unlike pro wrestling, the violence is real, and unpredictable. "The sport is brutal," says James "The Colossus" Thompson, a British fighter who will take on Kimbo Slice this Saturday. "You can't sugarcoat it. I will try to hurt Kimbo." Kimbo says his mind-set in the ring is to "seek, kill and destroy." Sanctioned MMA fights have resulted in one death...
...Just wait for the first news report about two eight-year-olds that went after each other because of something they watched on CBS. It's going to happen." Kahl scoffs at such fears. "I find that statements like this come from ignorance, from a snapshot of what the sport was 10 years ago," he says. "Yes, it's violent. But so is pro football and boxing. There are plenty of violent sports out there. These guys aren't walking out of a bar into the cage. They're walking out a gym into a cage. They are world-class...
...athletes, MMA fighters like to think of themselves as performers at heart, as skilled at marketing as they are at their athletic moves. "Watch the Colossus conquer Kimbo," Thompson says. "It's going to be a great night for whole family." Then again, if too many families watch the sport, CBS could find itself the one getting beaten...