New AO article on the demise of EliteXC

[MitchMMA]

As most of you probably already know, last week Elite XC filed for bankruptcy and officially announced that the company would be shutting down. To the casual fans this was a huge shock just due to the fact that Elite XC promoted some of the most watched MMA fights in the history of the sport. However to the fans like me and others who have been following the sport religiously, it is no shock to us that Elite XC crumbled and died. My personal opinion is that the guys that were running Pro Elite are not meant to be running an MMA organization and they had no idea what they were doing. Even though they found success on a big network television station like CBS and even though millions of people around the world were watching, they were still losing tons of money fast.

Elite XC was damaging the sport in my opinion it was just such a horrible product. Don’t get me wrong they had a few good fighters and they did put on some good fights occasionally but their main focus was on a mediocre street fighter named Kimbo Slice. They put everything into Kimbo and they tried to promote him like he was the “baddest man on the planet” and it was such a joke. It didn’t feel like I was watching a sport anymore, it was all about the “entertainment” aspect and “making stars”. These guys that were running this show were not even real fans of the sport. Gary Shaw even admitted in an interview that he thinks the ground game is “boring”. Well newsflash Shaw, going to the ground is a HUGE part of MMA so go back to promoting boxing because you should not be involved with MMA.

After garnering a 3-0 record by defeating a bunch of bums like Bo Cantrell, Tank Abbott and James Thompson, Kimbo was set to fight an over the hill Ken Shamrock on October 4th. Twelve hours before the fight, Ken was forced to pull out due to an injury he sustained in a warm up. Elite XC was faced with a huge problem but in the end they decided to take Seth Petruzelli out of his prelim fight and put him in the main event against Kimbo instead. Seth knocked him out in fourteen seconds, which didn’t surprise me at all to be honest. A semi finalist on the Ultimate Fighter season 2 and a relatively unknown just destroyed Kimbo in fourteen seconds, I was cracking up laughing. Afterwards you can see Gary Shaw jumping around screaming and complaining to the ref like an idiot, it was an embarrassment.

The Kimbo loss was bad for Elite XC but what happened afterwards was even worse. Seth Petruzelli told an MMA radio station that the promoters PAID him to keep the fight on the feet and NOT take Kimbo down. “They didn’t want me going to the ground, let’s just put it that way.” Is what he said. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back; I mean seriously are you kidding me? These guys are trying to fix fights? Get them out of this sport! Apparently Gary Shaw doesn’t think there is anything wrong with paying a guy to stand up thus proving my point that he doesn’t belong in this business. My dream came true because shortly after this Elite XC folded. They were set to sell the company to CBS or Showtime but because of this scandal both networks pulled out of the deal forcing the demise of the bankrupt Elite XC!

Where will the fighters go? Once they are able to get out of their contracts I am sure they will get picked up by another organization soon. Guys like Jake Shields and Robbie Lawler will fit in perfectly in the UFC since they are both considered top five in their weight class. Other fighters like Ninja Rua, Scott Smith, Benji Radach, etc will most likely head to Affliction or Strikeforce or potentially the UFC as well. Nick Diaz and Antonio Silva are rumored to be heading to Japan to fight for DREAM or Sengoku. Unfortunetely the UFC are not interested in promoting female fighters so Gina Carano and the ladies will most likely head to Affliction or Strikeforce. As for Kimbo, his look is perfect for fighting in Japan so that’s where I think he will end up either that or he will go back to fighting bums in his backyard.

CBS on the other hand is still interested in putting on MMA events on their network. They have been rumored to be in talks with Affliction about working out a deal which would be great for the sport. I’d much rather see guys like Fedor, Arlovski, Barnett, etc, on Network television than Kimbo Slice! Kimbo Slice fighting a bunch of bums is not a good representation of what MMA is and I am glad we won’t have to deal with it any longer.

-Mitch Ciccarelli








I'd also like to add, Kimbo seems like a nice enough guy and he wants to get better, he loves to fight so I am not bashing him for that, I'm mostly bashing Shaw and crew for how they promoted him.

[TaNK]

good read as always.

I agree with the Kimbo thing though. I like the guy and I honestly think that he is good for the sport but I absolutely hated the hype that came with him. I hated hearing every frat boy telling me he was the best fighter in the world and crap like that. I honestly think it would kick ass if MMA had a Mike Tyson of that nature. Fedor is unstoppable but he doesn't have the charisma that Iron Mike had.

[MitchMMA]

Thanks TaNK and yeah I completely agree with that. Kimbo is a nice dude so I always feel bad when I kinda bad mouth him but I just hated hearing all the hype.