Fight Game Blog

The promoters kind of hinted to me and they gave me the money to stand and trade with him.

It’s been reported by most MMA sites (including Josh Gross at SI.com) that ProElite, Inc., owner of EliteXC, is closing down the MMA company after CBS/Showtime decided not to purchase them. Even after a very good TV rating for their last CBS show, the possible underhanded actions by the promotion seemed to scare CBS/Showtime away.

After Seth Petruzelli uttered the quote above to an Orlando radio show, it took everything out of the sails for one of the biggest upsets (that wasn’t really an upset) in MMA. Petruzelli claimed that he was hungover when he said it, but it was too little, too late. For EXC, the damage was done. The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation has decided to step in and investigate that manner, and it seems like that’s what it took for CBS/Showtime to get cold feet.

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EXC’s two most marketed fighters were put on stage last night to showcase the EXC brand, and more importantly, MMA to a CBS audience. Commercials for the event were placed throughout CBS’s Sunday football games. And last night, it was finally time to see if EXC MMA on CBS was a one time thing, or if it was going to be something that would draw ratings and add audience 3 or 4 times a year. With Ken Shamrock vs. Kimbo Slice, this was their best shot at securing a big rating. Unfortunately for EXC, Ken Shamrock was held out of the fight after sustaining an eye injury. The doctors wouldn’t let him fight with stitches over his left eye. It was a deflating experience.

I was watching the show with some very casual fans and when they heard that Shamrock was out of the fight, there were two responses. One, they were disappointed that Shamrock was out of the fight. But two, they wanted to know who Kimbo was going to kill. When Seth was announced as the replacement, they then said, “Who?”

Obviously, the fight was a disappointment. Petruzelli backpedaled immediately at the sound of a bell, as if he was scared and by looking at Kimbo’s face, I can’t blame him. When Kimbo attacked and Petruzelli hit him with a short check right hand, I didn’t really think anything of it. It wasn’t necessarily a hard shot. It’s the kind of shot a boxer throws to stick and move. But Kimbo wouldn’t get up and when he was on his back, he looked like a turtle on his back who couldn’t get to his feet. Petruzelli threw about 5 or 6 straight rights in a quick enough manner to simply overwhelmed Kimbo. I don’t think he was necessarily all that hurt, but you got the thought that maybe one or two or three more of those shots could’ve done some serious damage. After watching the check right hand in slow motion, you can see that it caught Kimbo flush.

It’s unfortunate for EXC that Shamrock got hurt, and also that their meal ticket lost to a guy who you can’t really market around. At least if Shamrock beat him, you could do something with Ken. Mauro Ranello tried to say that Petruzelli was like a modern day Rocky Balboa because he was the underdog, but UFC fans saw many weeks of Petruzelli on The Ultimate Fighter, and there was really nothing there. Can Kimbo be rebuilt? I’m not sure. You can’t build a fighter as Superman and have him lose like a pedestrian. The aura is gone. He can sneer and look as nasty as he wants, but as boxing fans saw with Mike Tyson, once that aura is gone, all he is at that point, is a regular fighter. He doesn’t have that early advantage anymore.

At least Gina Carano held up her end of the bargain. There’s just something about her that is special. I’m not sure that she’s even going to beat Cristiane Cyborg. But she has the look, the personality, and maybe even more importantly, there’s something about her that makes you want to root for her. It’s that X factor that is hard to describe. She beat Kelly Kobold in a very matter of fact manner. She beat her with what she does well, and if the fight went any longer, probably would’ve finished her.

I’m not sure what’s next for EXC, but it doesn’t look good. The bloom is off the Slice rose, but at least they have the biggest female MMA star. I’m just not sure what that means right now.

EXC is back on CBS tonight for the third time. Headlining the show is the much talked about Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock match up. The undercard includes the Affliction sponsored bout of Andrei Arlovski vs. Roy Nelson, and a welterweight title fight between Jake Shields and Paul Daley.

There has been a lot of drama in the hours leading up to this show, as a result of the Ken Shamrock situation. It looks like Ken will not compete, and with kick off time approaching, a replacement is yet to be named. At this stage, we will just have to wait and see what happens.

They start the show by announcing that Seth Petruzelli is taking Shamrocks place in the main event. They then show a pretaped interview with Shamrock. He basically says he’s disappointed, and that he has fought through much worse injuries in the past, but the doctors just wont let him fight.

The announcers are trying to push the strength of the card even without Shamrock. They emphasize that the Arlovski vs. Nelson fight could main event any show on its own. Frank Shamrock buries Ken, saying that he should have been training lighter, and that he’s disgracing the Shamrock name. You just know Frank is still trying to build towards a future fight with his brother. Middleweights are up first.

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First off, thanks to my cable company (Charter in Gilroy), I wasn’t able to see the latest TUF show from last night. Many DVRs were affected by scheduling issues, and mine was one of them. I’ll have the show recap sometime later this week.

We’re going to be covering the CBS Saturday Night Fights EXC show with Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock, the Smackdown My Network TV debut show, and WWE’s No Mercy featuring Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho in a ladder match. So come back this weekend for coverage.

Fight Girls was an all girl muai thai kick boxing show on the Oxygen network, that wasn’t a ratings hit, but was an excellent show. Gina Carano was one of the trainers and the show featured Master Toddy training American girls who were to face Thai girls in Thailand. One of the American fighters on the show was a young woman by the name of Michelle Waterson. She was the smallest of the women, yet made one of the larger impacts both because of her fiery style and good looks. Michelle, going by the terrible nickname of “Karate Hottie”, is going to make her Strikeforce debut on Friday in Colorado underneath Duane Ludwig vs. Sam Morgan and Frank Trigg vs. Falaniko Vitale (full fight card here). She faces Tyra Parker.

Photo by Strikeforce PR

Gina Carano has been doing the media rounds of late and has been great in promoting herself for her big fight against Kelly Kobold underneath Slice and Shamrock. Here’s a clip of her from “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson”.

We had play by play coverage of the EXC show, but didn’t have live coverage of the Cotto vs. Margarito fight. But we do have some thoughts afterward. Here’s the aftermath.

Miguel Cotto vs. Antonio Margarito

Duan

Show overall rating: Thumbs way up

This was easily my favourite fight this weekend; a great performance from both men. Margarito was absolutely relentless. He took everything Cotto had in his stride and continued to press the action. It was really dramatic watching as he clawed his way back into the fight, after Cotto established a big lead early on. I had the fight pretty even going in to the 11th round, where the knockout took place. Cotto started showing signs of disillusionment from the 7th round, and it became a matter of whether or not he could ride out the last few rounds and sneak the decision. By the 11th round it was evident that he just had nothing left to give. His corner made the right decision to pull him from the fight at that point. It could be a tough loss for Cotto to rebound from, as he was defeated both mentally and physically.

EXC - Lawler vs. Smith II

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The first three fights of this card are on Showtime and the rest on the CBS show.

The announcers are Gus Johnson, Mauro Ranallo, and Frank Shamrock.

1. Wilson Reis vs. Bryan Caraway

These guys are fighting at a weight of 140 pounds. There must’ve been some heavy blood in the dark match as there was a few different splatterings of blood on the mat inside the cage. Caraway started off by throwing two big rights that made Reis stumble a bit. But Reis immediately took him down. Reis is a BJJ guy and Caraway is a “cowboy karate” guy, whatever that means. Reis stayed more active and was able to keep Caraway on his back with the single legs.

Caraway is hitting Reis at will, but the second he does, Reis immediately takes him down. The crowd is booing the ground action, but this is not simply controlling someone on the ground. Reis has been active in trying to move forward, while Caraway is active in trying to combat Reis’s jiu jitsu.

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News and notes from around the MMA, pro wrestling, and boxing world …

- Tons of media for this weekend’s Miguel Cotto vs. Antonio Margarito fight.

Cotto is ready for business.
FoxSports interviews Miguel Cotto.
Cotto vs. Margarito is a throwback fight.
There are two sides to Miguel Cotto.
De La Hoya to watch Saturday’s fight closely.
Cotto and Margarito go to war.

This file is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License

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In the MMA world, this show needs no introduction. But in the sports world, it probably does. Elite XC is putting on the first prime time network MMA show. No, the UFC didn’t beat them to the punch. This show needs to be successful for the good of the sport and they are putting all of their money on Kimbo Slice to help them draw the necessary ratings.

Gus Johnson, Mauro Ranallo, and Frank Shamrock are the commentators.

There was a nice little lead in for the fighters where each person fighting tonight was introduced in a pre-recorded deal, but it was a little less than what I’d have expected. It was a bit subdued.

They are pushing the arts in martial arts fairly hard, though Shamrock said that anyone could punch you or choke you to death, talking specifically to the home viewers. He also looks very nervous in the booth.

I know why they did it, but I didn’t like the long intro. I think they should’ve gone to a fight first and during the first fight, do a bit of educating, and then talk about the sport and tell the viewer what they are watching after. You could’ve put Phil Baroni and Joe Villasenor in there knowing that Baroni just swings away and gasses early to start the show off with a bang.

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News and notes from around the MMA world …

- Where does Matt Hughes go from here?

- Thales Laites is out of UFC 81 because of injury.

- Sam Caplan predicts his breakout stars for 2008.

- Adam Swift chooses his 2007 awards and summarizes 2007’s power players.

- Tank Abbott vs. Kimbo Slice is on for February.

- What’s next Mirko Cro Cop?

- Dave Meltzer recaps the business of 2007 and and foretells the business of 2008.

- How well do you know MMA? (I scored 7 out of 10. If you take the quiz, let me know your score in the comments section.)

- Guess who’s back, back again?

- It looks like Diego Sanchez is staying at welterweight.

- Look at how they are building up Brock Lesnar.

Talking Points

Two big MMA names are on prime time network television, and there’s not much buzz about it. Tito Ortiz is one of the contestants on Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice and Gina Carano is a gladiator on American Gladiators. I missed the first episode of Celebrity Apprentice because of DVR difficulties, but I’ll be watching it from here on out. Based on previous episodes I’ve seen of the show, this is tailor made for Ortiz and he should do well. As for American Gladiators, based on the Sunday Night premiere (I haven’t watched Monday’s show yet), Carano isn’t really show cased and doesn’t stand out, but she is the prettiest of the female gladiators (though really, that’s not saying much). I’m interested to see how she does because by being natural looking, she’s not memorable right off the bat.

If you get the chance, make sure you check out the UFC 81 site that I linked above. There’s a trailer where they show Brock Lesnar with his WWE belt and in the hype video for Mir and Lesnar, they even talk about his pro wrestling background. I think it’s great that the WWE allowed the UFC to use the footage, and let’s face it, it probably helps WWE just as much as it does UFC to have WWE footage on UFC TV. I especially liked it when Lesnar called Mir, Frank Mur.

News and notes from around the MMA world …

- Phil Baroni failed a steroid test according to MMACalifornia.net. They also reported that Carter Williams also failed a drug test, but it wasn’t for steroids. It was for cocaine of all things.

- UFCmania.com reports that Sherdog.com has pulled back their original report that B.J. Penn was set to face off against Diego Sanchez in August. Penn’s camp has stated that the fight wasn’t going to happen in August, but they wouldn’t rule out another possible date.

- Sherdog.com also has an article on Greg Jackson, trainer for Rashad Evans (who fights Tito Ortiz this weekend) and many others.

- With drug testing being a bigger deal now because of the Chris Benoit situation (I have more on Benoit below), Mike Sawyer talks about how people are passing drug tests on F4Wonline.com.

- Mike Coughlin has a long preview (in which he goes over almost every facet of Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans) of UFC 73: Stacked, which is this weekend.

Talking Points

There are things to be learned by the Chris Benoit situation. For the small few who don’t know about the Benoit situation, I posted something on my personal blog the day after it happened, logging how I saw the story breaking. More and more is coming out about how depression, possible shots to the head (wrestling bumps), and pain killers could’ve had an effect on Benoit at the time of the murders. In today’s MMA world, not much is different. Throw in steroids, and you have a fairly strong concoction which can change behavior. I don’t want to say that something like this will happen in the MMA world, but those who are treating their bodies and minds similarly as Benoit did should take note.

On a lighter note, for those who constantly need a fighting fix on television, check out Fight Girls which is an all girl Muay Thai fighting show. Much like UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter, it’s an elimination show. But unlike UFC’s show, the girls that win, will go on to fight the best Muay Thai girls in Thailand. It is a little softer as far as the training aspects and so far, the girls are more mature than their male counterparts, but it’s still entertaining. The fights aren’t shown as they were fought in the ring. Instead, they are shown much like the fights on Mark Burnett’s Contender were, with different camera angles, in slow motion and with music. Gina Carano is a trainer on the show and she’s reason enough to watch.

The most talked about fight on the UFC 73 card is Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans. If Tito Ortiz is fighting on a show, even if he’s not fighting for a title, it’s going to be the most talked about fight on the card. Though it’s not a title fight, it is the main event and main draw for the card. Evans is up and coming and an exciting fighter, but I don’t think he’s veteran enough in the sport to beat someone like Ortiz yet. Ortiz is bigger and stronger and knows all the tricks. Evans is more athletic and beating Ortiz puts him on the map and in line for a title shot. But I still think Ortiz is going to do just enough to pull out a split decision. Much like he did against Forrest Griffin, I think he’ll eek out a victory, and more than likely, it will be an unpopular decision.