Kimbo Slice and EliteXC: Fraud Exposed

I took away two things from watching EliteXC's show "Heat" last night on CBS.  First off, they have some very good fighters in that organization, and two, their management are complete idiots who were looking for a cheap fix.  Instead of building you talent and showcasing it, they gave the keys of the kingdom to Slice, a guy who no MMA experience - and unlike Brock Lesnar - no background in any discipline.  He was completely exposed a couple months ago where James Thompson had him beat.  But this was unreal - Ken Shamrock gets a cut opened up on his eyebrow and the boxing commission won't let him fight -  a good call btw.  So instead of canceling the fight to protect Kimbo, they seem to serve him up Seth Petruzzelli, only for Petruzzelli to TKO Kimbo in 14 seconds.  Unreal.

But here's the thing, EliteXC has good fighters and they should be working to make stars out of them.  Jake Sheilds and Benji Radich won impressively last night, as did Andrei Arlovski.  There are other guys too, like Nick Diaz and KJ Noons and Robbie Lawler, all accomplished MMAs.  To put your attention and your effort behind an internet street brawler ahead of real MMA fighters as a way to forfeit the work you have to do to build a company properly was pathetic.  

EliteXC could be in trouble, and I doubt we see another CBS show.  They are already hemmoreaging money - and perhaps their best bet will be to merge with Affliction - who has good fighters like Fedor and Barnett and Arlovski.  

All I know is I was cheering for Kimbo to lose, and I wasn't disappointed.

  

Comments

[UFC 90 Fan]

It was a joke to see Ken push Kimbo on the weight ins and then to see him bail out with a cut.

[mmafan]

Fraud? C'mon man he's had 4 fights. You can't blame him for being easily marketable to the mainstream. He's good for MMA. Brings people in. He got caught, oh well.

[The Northern Virginia Conservative]

Kimbo seems like a good guy, but come on, think what Fedor or Andrei would do to him.

[Chris]

Its not Kimbo's fault, its EliteXC. Its a fraud that he's that high on the card being pushed.

This is the big difference between the UFC and all the rest. The UFC was counting on Liddell defeating Evans so they could set up the huge Forrest Griffin/Rashad Evans fight. And it would have been huge. But they have spent a good two years building Rashad up as well, so when he wins Rasahd is a known quality and they can sell Griffin vs. Evans as well. Certainly Dana White has his favorites (Couture, Liddell, Bisping) but they do a great job at promoting both fighters in all their fights so when an upset happens they can keep moving forward.

Elite XC sells Kimbo as an unstoppable force that nobody can beat, and they feed him terrible and/or over-the-hill fighters. The problem with Seth Petruzelli was he was neither.