He's A Lover, Not A Fighter

by Odie Henderson July 9, 2008 12:38 PM
He's A Lover, Not A Fighter

When I read in Variety that Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat, Da Ali G Show) was up to his old tricks again, I hoped that they were talking about the trailer for the Madagascar sequel. "They've got to be joking!" I yelled before my screening of Kung Fu Panda. Unfortunately, that's really happening. What wasn't happening was the mixed martial arts match advertised in Fort Smith, Arkansas, on June 6th. Courtesy of Baron Cohen's gay Austrian character, Bruno, a competitive cage match turned into a love connection. Cameras recorded the ensuing mayhem, and it'll be on a screen near you in May of 2009.

On the same day Damien from The Omen was born, patrons looking for "Blue Collar Brawling" got the hell scared out of them. When something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. The event poster, seen here, should have been fair warning that something wasn't kosher. $5 admission to one of the hottest tickets in sports today, $1 beer, hot chicks, and a chance at fighter fame in front of the cameras. 1500 people showed up. Nobody noticed the ruse until the scheduled fighters stopped hitting each other and started hitting on each other, taking the UFC to the logical conclusion I keep thinking will occur whenever I watch The Ultimate Fighter. After tearing off their clothes and making out like a bunch of rejects from John Cameron Mitchell's Shortbus, the faux fighters were pelted with beer, chairs and audience insecurities.

You gotta love Mr. Baron Cohen. He shows up, he plays people's fears against them, then he records it for his own financial gain and Oscar nomination glory. These pranks cause a stir, but they're not a new phenomenon. Decrepit old people like me remember when Allen Funt from Candid Camera did a similar thing by having naked women show up unannounced at various public places. People complained about that too, presumably because there was no $1 beer. Despite the actions of the audience at Blue Collar Brawling, the most telling thing about them is that no one asked for a refund. Freud would have a lot to say about that, if he weren't dead.

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