Jose Canseco's MMA Debut Is a Massive Failure

He lasts a minute before quitting

By JOSH ALPER

Updated 11:42 AM EDT, Tue, May 26, 2009

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On the day that Manny Ramirez was suspended 50 games for violating baseball's drug policy, Jose Canseco held a press conference in California. It wasn't a very well attended affair, which was a bit surprising given Canseco's flawless record when it comes to identifying baseball players who have used performance enhancing drugs.

On Tuesday morning, however, Canseco provided a reminder of why he isn't a particularly respected member of society. He made his mixed martial arts debut in something called the Super Hulk Tournament in Tokyo. His opponent was a 7'2", 330-pound South Korean by the name of Hong Man Choi, whose imposing size wasn't matched by an impressive record in MMA. That didn't make him any less of a favorite against Canseco, who wasn't able to win boxing matches against the 5'9" Vai Sikahema or 5'6" Danny Bonaduce.

The fight didn't last very long. Canseco tried to throw a few punches and kicks while running around to avoid Choi, but he got hit hard once which seemed to sap him of his desire to fight. He appeared to injure his knee, although it seemed quite well-timed, fell to the ground and quickly quit when Choi approached. All told, it was a little more than a minute of work. The fight was on live on HDNET at 5 a.m. Eastern, and will be replayed on Friday. It's also on YouTube, if the first day back from a long weekend isn't keeping you too busy.

It's stuff like that that makes it easy for the general public to snicker at Canseco even as he has been a loudspeaker blaring in advance of every moment in baseball's recent steroid history. He'll never get the credit he deserves for that because he's willing to be a carnival sideshow, and, well, no one would believe the bearded lady if she was hawking information about Osama Bin Laden's whereabouts either.

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Canseco's next bid for respect and/or money to keep his electricity on will be a boxing match against the 6'4", 300-pound Bill Simmons on June 24th. That's not ESPN writer Bill "The Sports Guy" Simmons, mind you, but chicken wing eating champion Bill "Wingador" Simmons.

Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.