I just thought it was curious that SportsCenter decided to include Dan Henderson’s knockout of Michael Bisping in its Top Plays this morning. Viewers saw ESPN play the image of The Elbow at normal speed, then the knockout punch in slow-mo, and then The Elbow again in slow motion. Obviously, it was better quality than what we have above (for now), but you get the idea. And Hannah Storm’s remarks, while not as typically abrasive as other anchors’ toward non-traditional sports with whom they have no broadcast agreement, were somewhat terse.
“It was a little bloody and it was early in the morning and that’s all I’m saying.”
Maybe I’m reading into the top plays too much, but I found its inclusion to be curious (but fair) reporting. I can’t remember SportsCenter ever showing a UFC highlight in the past, and good luck to you if you’re looking for any semblance of a UFC 100 recap to appear on the front page of ESPN.com (It was on the daily poll) And I haven’t seen any mention of Lesnar’s win in the event on today’s show, either (UPDATE: They’re running a segment on it right now, including an appearance from Dana White on First Take).
Is ESPN using this clip out of context to fuel the “I Told You So” naysayers that think of mixed martial arts as lawless bloodsport and nothing else? Or am I just overly critical of the monolith for my own reaction to the clip? Had it not been for Lesnar’s post-fight rant, wouldn’t this be the centerpiece of everyone’s water cooler discussion of MMA? How many consecutive questions can I ask without answering any of them? What, you mean now I have to count them now?
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Hannah was just explaining her menstruation. Although I could see how you might get the two confused.
And I haven’t seen any mention of Lesnar’s win in the event on today’s show, either.
I had ESPN on for like ten minutes tops yesterday and still managed to catch this Lesnar interview. So they’re not exactly ignoring it.
“Late” hits like the one shown wouldn’t happen if they would just implant control chips into the fighters’ cerebral cortexes like I’ve been advocating for years.
Who gives a damn about the late hit. The fucker never shut his mouth outside the octagon so if you ask me I think the Brit deserved to get his jaw hammer crunched like that.
Have fun drinking your meals, dipshit. Maybe next time you’ll keep your mind on the fight and your mouth shut.
Lesnar has been in the top 10 I believe. I think it was when he lost to Mir.
And how early do football games start? I’m just saying.
After her shift ESPN makes Hannah Storm sit on top of the building to keep birds from landing.
Very late Saturday night ESPNEWS had highlights of the Lesnar win, including clips from both Lesnar’s and Mir’s post-fight interviews. They also showed the Bisping KO with no mention of the late hit. In the Sunday morning SC they even had a minute or so of Rogen and Goldberg recapping the fights over the same highlights they’d shown Saturday night. Yet another thing UFC has over boxing, you’ll never see highlights of a big PPV or SHO/HBO fight for free on ESPN.
One other thing to remember is that the weekday morning SC is actually a rerun of the late edition from the previous night, so the top plays are from Sunday. I’d assume the Bisping KO was too late to make it into the Saturday SC Top Ten.
Lesnar’s win was one of the headlines all day on Sunday.