Kevin James is a UFC Fighter? And We're Not Supposed to be Horrified by That Notion?

The meteoric rise of Mixed Martial Arts into the cultural mainstream has been nothing short of a modern-day miracle. This is literally a sport that stood on death’s door a decade or so ago. Now with the UFC leading the charge, MMA’s acceptance into the mainstream continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Many believe that any exposure is good exposure, but I’ve recently found out something that makes me question that belief. It’s recently been revealed that Kevin James, the comedian/actor best known for his leading role in the long-running TV series “King of Queens”, has been tapped to star in an upcoming action/comedy movie that would see him put into the role of a UFC fighter.

Here’s how it all breaks down according to Deadline.com: “James is attached to play a physics teacher whose school faces drastic cutbacks. In an attempt to save his best friend’s job and the music program his students love, he moonlights in the octagon as a mixed martial arts fighter, ultimately leading to brawling in the UFC.”

I’ll start with the obvious: this movie contributes absolutely nothing new in terms of plot. It’s the kind of movie that is all stunt gags and cheap one-liners. We get it: Kevin James is fat but he continues to play roles where he has to do athletic things. Hilarity ensues. Or is supposed to ensue. If “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” taught us anything, it’s that James can be painfully unfunny when he’s forced to work around a paper-thin script. And it doesn’t get much more paper-thin than this.

Point number two: despite having some commercial success, just about all of James’ movies have been ripped apart by the critics. This movie will likely continue the trend. James and the entire Happy Madison cast of regulars know their audience and make films for them, not for the critics. What we get are a few misses, some decent hits, and all-around critical scorn. The last thing we need is for the UFC name to be attached to a Kevin James vehicle that gets ripped to shreds by people who take their movie-watching seriously.

And speaking of seriously, that’s my last point: this is a freaking action-comedy. No one is going to take this film seriously, and it won’t do any favors for the sport. The absolute last thing the UFC needs right now is to be showcased in some run-of-the-mill comedy that presents Kevin James fighting in the UFC as yet another Kevin James fat joke. It completely undermines and belittles the long years of hard work it takes to become a member of the world’s most elite MMA organization.

This is coming from someone who thinks that “King of Queens” was immensely under-rated: screw this movie. I’m not going to support a film that mocks the sport, mocks the athletes that compete it in, and makes a joke out of the UFC. It’s not funny. It’s moronic. It could make a fortune, but the media backlash will be as big as just about every other Happy Madison production, and the UFC will find itself right in the middle of all that harsh criticism and negative feedback. Any publicity is usually good publicity…but this will be one giant step backwards for the UFC and MMA as a whole if the movie goes forward as planned.

And what do you think, fans and friends? How do you think this will affect the UFC? Is this a movie that interests you? And how commercially/critically successful do you see this film being? I have a pretty strong opinion on this subject, so let’s get some debate going.