The 'Winners and Losers' article on the front page...

[shinwaLEO*]

good read read tho, if not a little pointless

[perfectzero]

I must admit, at first I was happy to see words like "defenestration" used (which, by the way, means to throw someone through a window), but upon reflection, it really seems like Luke was just using big words to impress the readers. It's actually a sign of poor writing if you are not writing to your target audience.

I am aware that the average sherdogger is a 15 year old, sucking back hot pockets in his mom's basement, and I'm not suggesting it should have been written with more "lol" and "OMG" in it, but trying to write as high foolotin' as possible just obfuscates your message. There can be happy medium between clarity and eloquence.

[Irenaeus]

I didn't have any problems with it, and I'm not a native English speaker. It might be a bit to flowery, but I have fewer problems with it than the constant "He dropped him like[insert witty simile here]" that plague MMA journalism. Variety is king.

To repair what ails them would require an untangling of a Gordian knot so complicated and interwoven Hercules himself would balk.

Where is that from, and what does Hercules have to do with it? It was Alexander who solved that one.

[FetalDefense]

Originally Posted by Lolwut

seems contrived

That's exactly what it is.

Great writing is not simply throwing in 10 cent words here-and-there, but actually making a compelling and thoughtful piece for your audience to read.

His words are an empty picture frame hung up to conceal a large, gaping hole in the wall.

[YourFriendDario]

Remember when in like, grade 7 when your teacher was all like "use your thesaurus" and told you about "5 dollar words and 20 dollar words?" It was a lie.

Writing should seem natural, and when a writer goes out of their way to use so many complex words that are not commonly used, it makes the article seem forced, and it makes it hard to read.

You don't constantly interrupt your own speach to consult the thesaurus, so why would you do it to your writing? It just doesn't sound natural.

[pumpingiron2k]

Have you seen the payouts

Other EliteXC payouts included:
Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos -- $4,000/$4,000 win bonus
Yoko Takahashi -- $2,000
Conor Heun -- $2,500/$2,500 win bonus
James Edson Berto -- $6,000
Mikey Gomez -- $2,000/$2,000 win bonus
Lorenzo Borgomeo -- $1,500
David Gomez -- $1,000
Bryan Hamade -- $500/$500 win bonus
Jorge Boechat -- $1,000
Nicolae Cury -- $750/$750 win bonus

Some of these are ridiculously stupid.

[KJGould]

I agree with what the core of the article is getting to, but Luke Thomas was trying to be far too clever in writing it. Keep it simple and concise.

[BrianFantana]

Originally Posted by VeNoM_2K5

I did!

And I still got this;

"A sharp distinction here needs to be drawn between parent company ProElite, the bureaucratic conglomerate machine encumbered by debt and ineptitude, and the fighting promotion EliteXC."

This is more an attempt to deride EliteXC more than you could with small words. Otherwise, it is a very straightforward sentence.

May you should get yourself a dictionary... and use it.

[Croatia_K1]

Atleast it didnt have too many lame ass ****phores like all of jake rossen's shitty ass articles, most sherdog writers are amateurs anyways who know little about the sport.

[Shauro]

I'm a former English major and this was ridiculous. No need for the pointless words. He was sitting there with thesaurus.com open the whole time