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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News and notes from MMA, boxing, and pro wrestling …

I understand why everyone is bothered with the idea that Seth Petruzelli was told that he would be paid more money to stand with Kimbo. On the surface, I can see why people are up in arms. But I’m not so bothered. Actually, I think that Petruzelli’s lack of consistency in his story is the bigger issue. Originally, he mentioned that the promoter “hinted” to him that he should stand with Kimbo. And then in the same sentence, he said they paid him more money to stand with Kimbo. Petruzelli was, and still is, a lower level fighter. It’s not to say that he’s not good at what he does, but in no way is he in the upper level. So it makes sense that he wants to promote his win as much as possible. It also shows what happens when you put people in main event situations who aren’t ready to be in them. Do you think Ken Shamrock would’ve flip flopped his stories as much has the same thing happened to him?

ESPN.com reported that there is an investigation underway.

After repeated calls from ESPN.com, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation — which oversees the State Boxing Commission — said Thursday that it has opened a preliminary investigation into the matter.

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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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According to many MMA news sites (including MMA Junkie), Ken Shamrock was injured and cut and is not medically cleared to fight tonight. He was scheduled to be in the main event against Kimbo Slice. There’s no word yet on the replacement.

I gave my thoughts on this fight over a month ago and I still feel exactly the same way. This is the only fight that EXC has on the table right now that even strikes an interest with a casual MMA fan. That’s the fan that will make the ratings good or bad, which are a key factor for EXC to survive.

Two of my FightGameBlog brothers have similar thoughts about the fight and I wanted to give them the floor.

(The photo is by Jeff Sherwood.)

These are Duan’s thoughts on the fight.

From a business perspective, the fight makes perfect sense. EXC doesn’t want to risk their main draw being exposed against someone with no name value. If Kimbo loses to Shamrock, he loses to a legend in a huge fight. If all goes according to plan, Kimbo gets a massive win over a big name opponent and they can use that to build future fights. From a sporting perspective, it’s almost laughable. It is not a main event caliber fight, but the last CBS card showed us that main event quality fights alone won’t get people watching. Names will.

Alan also chimed in.

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Photo by cotton_man

When I first saw that the main event for CBS’ next Saturday Night Fights card was going to be Kimbo Slice versus Ken Shamrock, I knew that “die hard” fight fans would be up in arms. They think that EXC is protecting Kimbo Slice. They think that EXC is trying to be pro wrestling. They think that Ken Shamrock shouldn’t be in the main event of any fighting show in the year 2008.

Let’s just be thankful that these die hard fight fans aren’t running any MMA companies.

The name of the game for EXC is drawing ratings. They have to draw a good rating for their next show or else possibly risk being off national television. And the way to do that is to book the best possible fight for the largest possible audience. The goal isn’t necessarily to make fight fans happy. The goal should be to make “the most” fans happy.

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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 …

- We have a full write-up on the latest EXC from last weekend featuring Kimbo Slice knocking out Tank Abbott.

- Speaking of the fight, there’s a ton of media surrounding the outcome.

The Miami Hurricanes newspaper has thoughts on Kimbo.
The Miami Herald has it’s take on Kimbo.
What’s next for Kimbo Slice?
What did Kimbo and Tank make for less than a minute of fighting?
Bryan Alvarez reports that Showtime did 522,000 viewers for the fight.

- HDNet Fights and Randy Couture apparently have a contract together that starts when his contract with UFC is over.

- Dave Meltzer has more on HDNet and Mark Cuban entering the fray.

- Brock Lesnar looks to have done a top five UFC buyrate.

- Frank Mir says he needs one more win to be in line for a title shot.

- Floyd Mayweather Jr. may have been talking to Mark Cuban, but he’s working for Vince McMahon.

Talking Points

EXC took a lot of flack from the hardcore MMA fan base for putting Kimbo Slice up against Tank Abbott as the main event of their big show last weekend. As I said last week, it’s a much different approach from a show that also happened last week, WEC 32. That event showcased smaller fighters and more technical bouts, while the EXC show was fixated around the freak show main event. At the end of the day, as far as I’m concerned, it’s about having a business model that works. If the EXC can utilize main events that help them make money that might not be your prototypical MMA fight, so be it. Watching that show, Kimbo Slice looked like a huge star. They need to figure out a way to keep him at that level and find more eye balls. I don’t know if they are THE ALTERNATIVE, but they definitely have someone who can draw a crowd in his hometown (over 7,000 in Miami vs. a little over 4,000 for Carlos Condit in Albuquerque) and possibly get some folks to give it a shot.