The bizarre concept of Triller Fight Club presented a mixture of fighting, live music, and robots for nearly four hours on Saturday night.
The event can best be described as a science project where the science is ignored and everything is tossed together with the hopes of an explosion so grand that everyone turns their head while reaching for their wallets.
Its poster child is Jake Paul, a YouTube and social media star that has carved out a niche within boxing that has garnered attention while appealing to an audience that demands spectacle over substance, largely because the latter is being consumed to enjoy the former.
Triller gained the attention of the fight world last November when they put together an exhibition fight between Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. The experiment worked and garnered a reported 1.6 million pay-per-view buys, therefore, necessitating the obvious follow-up and fighters with name recognition understanding a giant payday when it presents itself.
The 24-year old Paul fought on the undercard of November’s event, knocking out former NBA player Nate Robinson. This time, the promotional machine was behind Paul as its headliner and leaning on the Boxing vs. MMA story to carry the show. This led to retired fighter Ben Askren selected for the fight, a world-renowned wrestler but with limited striking skills that were tailor-made for Paul.
With a hip replacement behind him, Askren appeared at Friday’s weigh-in at 191 pounds with a physique that was compared to that of Vince Vaughn and “a bag of milk” by the commentary team on Saturday.
Paul was the quicker fighter and needed little time before connecting with a left jab that set up a right hand dropping Askren in an emphatic fashion. Askren returned to his feet, took the standing eight count, but referee Brian Stutts made the judgment call to wave off the fight at 1:59 of the opening round.
The stoppage was debated by broadcast members Al Bernstein and Mario Lopez, who felt Askren could continue and was as close to serious analysis as you would find on the finish. Snoop Dogg and Pete Davidson had minimal insight and were there for entertainment purposes with Snoop opening a bottle of alcohol to celebrate and Davidson smoking throughout the fight.
Triller is spending obscene money to put these shows on from the fighters they are attracting, production, and the bevy of musical performances that included Justin Bieber, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Doja Cat, Major Lazer, Diplo, The Black Keys, and Saweetie on Saturday night.
The musical performances were heavily advertised but took up way too much of the broadcast as the four pay-per-view fights were spread over four hours. This included two fights that ended early and none of them going past the sixth round.
In the other fight involving an MMA fighter, former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir dropped a unanimous decision to former WBO Cruiserweight Champion Steve “USS” Cunningham. Mir earned the moral victory of lasting six rounds and landed a few clean strikes, but it was Cunningham’s superior boxing skills that earned him the easy decision.
Oscar De La Hoya was a guest on commentary for the fight between Cunningham and Mir and sounded like a mess as he had one of the worst broadcast performances you will ever be privy to hearing. He was there to promote his fight against an opponent yet-to-be-named on July 3rd and it came off very sad to think this man is going to fight at the age of 48 while sounding terrible on the air.
This card will be judged based on the business it generates and not on the quality of fights or entertainment. The goal of Triller is to be a wild and out-of-control party that appeals to a young audience that will hopefully, spend money to either be entertained or take part in the train wreck. They struck gold last November but typically, it’s diminishing returns with these types of attractions. There is no doubt that this card did have a lot of attention in the lead-up through fight night and its success would rest on the shoulders of Jake Paul if the returns are high.
The company is set for another card on June 5th featuring a fight between Evander Holyfield and Kevin McBride.
RESULTS:
*Jake Paul def. Ben Askren by TKO at 1:59 of Round 1
*Regis Prograis def. Ivan Redkach by technical decision (60-54, 60-54, 59-54)
*Steve Cunningham def. Frank Mir by unanimous decision (60-54, 60-54, 58-56)
*Joe Fournier def. Reykon by TKO at 3:00 of Round 3
