FanHouse JimRome

ESPN is increasingly paying attention to mixed martial arts, but I still get the sense sometimes that the on-air talent views MMA more as something they have to cover to attract young male viewers than a sport they're legitimately interested in. The exception to that, however, is Jim Rome, who has a real passion for MMA and speaks about it often, as he did Thursday in discussing Saturday night's fight between Matt Hughes and Matt Serra at UFC 98.

If there was any doubt that the New York Giants and running back Derrick Ward will part ways this offseason, Ward erased that doubt in an appearance Wednesday on ESPN's Jim Rome Is Burning.

"I'm anxious to see what's out there," Ward said. "I feel that I'm a quality starter and I can help a team win."

I'm back home after spending a week in Tampa covering the Super Bowl, and that means I was surrounded all week by hundreds of sports journalists representing newspapers, magazines and TV networks. I was there to cover football, but I also spent a little bit of time on the mixed martial arts beat, and I came away realizing how far MMA still has to go before it can really be considered a mainstream sport.

The latest installment of UFC President Dana White's UFC 91 video blog:

White gets his makeup applied before his appearance on Jim Rome Is Burning, where he promotes Saturday night's Brock Lesnar-Randy Couture fight.

He concludes by showing us his tombstone for dead MMA promotions.

Jim Rome of ESPN showed again today that he's one of the few members of the elite sports media who really gets mixed martial arts, using the intro of his show Jim Rome is Burning to talk about Mike Brown's win over Urijah Faber last night at WEC 36.

"For those of you who have not jumped on the MMA bandwagon yet, this is exactly what they're selling and what you're missing," Rome said. "Any fighter can win at any given moment. It's not any given Sunday, it's any given shot. Faber was and probably still is a top 5 fighter, pound-for-pound. He's definitely the best thing the WEC has going, and while Brown had won his last seven fights coming in, nobody expected to see the ref pulling him off Faber last night, let alone the first round. ...

"That's what makes MMA so electric. There's no margin for error, the stakes are that high every second of every fight. ... This was not a case of Faber underestimating the opponent, or not being ready for that fight. He was a world champion at the top of his game, and he got caught, and it was over before it even started. That's MMA. Get on board because you can't get that sort of thing anywhere else."

At a time when MMA is still dismissed as barbaric or irrelevant by many of the sports media elites, it's nice to know that Rome recognizes the greatness of the sport, and uses his show to spread the word.

Jim Rome is one of the few on-air ESPN personalities who understands mixed martial arts, so I was glad to see that he took some time to address the controversy about EliteXC allegedly paying Seth Petruzelli extra money to stay on his feet against Kimbo Slice:

"I'm not saying that EliteXC was looking to fix the fight, but of course they were looking to manipulate the outcome," Rome said. "Knowing their guy was vulnerable on the mat, and that that would be Petruzelli's best chance to win, is it possible that they made it worth his while not to go down there? Possible. Who knows? This much I do know. If you really are choreographing fights and manipulating their outcome, then you're no better than pro wrestling, which isn't a sport but a soap opera. Which is fine, because we all know pro wrestling is fake. But we're assuming what we see in the cage is legit."

EliteXC hasn't done a good enough job of addressing this, and until the folks at EliteXC are more forthcoming, they should expect to take more lumps in the media.

Score that two former USC players running smack ahead of the Ohio State game. Everyone's favorite not-so-slightly doughy back made sure to let everyone know what he thinks of Ohio State before ESPN cameras. There's some context of course, as it was a friendly -- if random -- comment as the Jim Rome show followed Titans lineman Kevin Mawae for a feature.

Audio

Sayeth Rome: "White's comment was a complete non sequitur"

The segment will broadcast Friday on "Rome Is Burning" (4:30 p.m. Eastern, ESPN), the game will be played Sept. 13th in Los Angeles. The Trojans would probably be heavy favorites with White, but the continued noise coming from former USC players can only have the effect of working against USC in Las Vegas.

(Via: Sports by Brooks)

In my opinion, ESPN doesn't devote enough coverage to boxing. But Jim Rome is an admirable exception. Rome had an interesting look today at Freddie Roach, the trainer for Manny Pacquiao, who will fight Juan Manuel Marquez Saturday night:

Said Roach of the preparation for Saturday's fight, "This is the most focused I've ever seen Pacquiao, since the first Barrera fight. He's in great shape. .... He's the most conditioned athlete I've ever seen in boxing."

Of Pacquiao's popularity in the Philippines, Roach said, "He's bigger than Ali was in America, or Jordan."

We'll have a live blog of the Pacquiao-Marquez fight on Saturday night.

How obvious is it that USC freshman O.J. Mayo is only stopping by USC for a year before he leaves for the NBA? So obvious that USC coach Tim Floyd told Jim Rome that it would be "irresponsible" for him to ask Mayo to come back for another year:

As much as it would be nice to think "student athletes" are actually students, Floyd is right: There's no reason at all for a player who can be a Top 10 draft pick to stay in school.

In other news, Floyd says Mayo scored a 29 on the ACT, which would put him in the 95th percentile, and that Mayo is the only player he's had who tested out of USC's freshman English requirement.

Although Mayo shoots too much for my tastes, there's no disputing that he's a great talent. And apparently a smart guy, too.

We're about 12 hours away from UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva taking on Pride champion Dan Henderson at UFC 82, and although the sports media aren't paying a whole lot of attention to this fight, it has the potential to be one of the best fights in the history of the sport.

In fact, UFC President Dana White says it is the best fight in history in the 185-pound weight class.

That's a lofty, perhaps hyperbolic, statement from someone trying to get some more pay-per-view buys, but that doesn't make it wrong. Silva has absolutely dominated his four UFC title fights, but if there's anyone in the 185-pound weight class who can beat him, it's Henderson.

That makes it all the more a shame that this fight isn't getting more attention. Aside from a Henderson appearance on Jim Rome's show, I haven't seen anyone in the mainstream sports media talking about this one. A lot of fans are missing out on a great athletic competition tonight.

We'll be live blogging Silva vs. Henderson, and the UFC 82 undercard, here at FanHouse.