MTV

(Remember him?)

Shocking allegations from MMATKO (via TheGarv) that could shake the foundations of an American television institution:

Look, I know you have to suspend disbelief to some extent whenever you're watching a "reality television" show — we know that none of those women are really there for the love of Ray J , and Heidi and Spencer are actually cousins in real life — but was it too much to ask that real bullies would get their comeuppance on Bully Beatdown? How you gonna do us like that, Mayhem?

All right, I’m done trying to force myself not to like “Bully Beatdown.”  The moment Michael Westbrook showed up to unleash a whipping on a guy who seems like a genuine jackass, that’s the moment I became a fan.  Not surprisingly, the less scripted “Mayhem” Miller is, the better he gets.  In this one he actually has a little bit of trouble convincing the bully in question to agree to certain doom, but manages to push the guy over the edge when he says, “You got one ball, please tell me you got two.”

Did I mention the bully was holding a basketball at the time?  Because it’s kind of crucial to this particular burn.

Again, this isn’t really MMA, and it probably isn’t especially helpful to the sport’s overall image (though I also can’t see how it’s all that harmful), but dammit, it’s fun. 

(Props: DC Sports Blog, via Cage Writer)

(Mayhem discusses his opus with the KTLA morning news jackasses.)

I want to hate Jason "Mayhem" Miller’s “Bully Beatdown.”  I really do.  Not only is it an incredibly stupid idea that bastardizes and trivializes MMA and bullying (both of which are close to my heart), it also features Mayhem acting the fool for MTV.  And yet, after watching episode one (which doesn't work when I embed it for some reason), I was actually somewhat entertained.  

Miller brings in Tony “The Gun” Bonello (who was bullied pretty bad by “Ninja” Rua in his last outing) to rough up a guy who’s been bullying his older brother while also paradoxically sporting a tattoo that reads “Family First.”  What follows isn’t even close to MMA (one round of grappling followed by one round of kickboxing is obviously some bullshit), but it is oddly satisfying in the way that seeing a bully get bullied always is.  Think of it as "Pros vs. Joes" with more personal acrimony and less time wasted on soccer and swimming and other nonsense.

After the jump, something only kind of related to MMA, but close enough.

What better way to introduce MMA to the tweenage MTV generation than by having Jason Miller's crazy ass host a show where bullies get their asses kicked by professional fighters? Premiering Sunday, March 22nd, at 9:30 p.m., MTV's Bully Beatdown is being produced by Mark Burnett Productions (Survivor, The Apprentice, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?). Basically, pencil-necked geeks come crying to Miller about the people who have been picking on them, and Mayhem gives the bullies a chance to "pick on someone their own size." If the bullies win, they get to pocket $10,000, though it's very unlikely that any of them will actually be able to collect. If they lose, their victims get the ten grand — which will most likely be bullied away from them as soon as the Bully Beatdown crew leaves town.

Below: One day before he was killed in a car accident, TapouT's Charles "Mask" Lewis did an interview and photo shoot for DUB Magazine. The footage is below. Above everything else, let's remember Lewis for the endless passion he had for the sport of mixed martial arts.

(Props: CageWriter)

The smirky dude above is Kristopher "Kit" Cope, a former Muay Thai champion with an unfortunate MMA record of 1-4. You might know him as the dude who used to be engaged to Gina Carano, or the guy who got hit with a steroid suspension after getting steamrolled by Rob McCullough at WEC 25, or as one of the subjects in MTV's True Life episode "I'm a Muay Thai Fighter." According to his Wikipedia page, "He once armwrestled a warewolf [sic] and won."