I don’t know why I was so discouraged to hear that Elite XC had decided to match Kimbo Slice against Ken Shamrock, with a Brett Rogers option reserved for some possible version of the future. I should have expected this. I guess I’m just too much of an optimist. I thought Elite XC might try for a competitive, somewhat meaningful fight instead. I’ll never learn.
It’s not that I don’t understand what Elite XC is thinking. If anything, that part is all too obvious. They want a name to put on the marquee next to Kimbo’s. Someone with drawing power, yes, but not someone who stands a good chance of winning. Preferably, they’d also like the next Kimbo victim to be susceptible to knockout. So they called on Shamrock, an over-the-hill legend who has been getting KO’d by a list of fighters that starts out fairly impressive and then gets less and less so as we near the present. He’s perfect, given their priorities, but that only tells us how screwed up their priorities are.
But it’s not just Shamrock-Slice. Look at another high profile Elite XC fighter, Gina Carano. Instead of matching her up against “Cyborg” Santos — a fight they were already hyping by the end of Santos’ victory at “Unfinished Business” — they’ve decided to put Carano up against Kelly Kobald, who’s coming off two straight losses. They’re not even bothering to try and come up with a compelling explanation for it, just ask Pro Elite CEO Chuck Champion:
“It’s giving both an opportunity to further develop their fan bases and develop further excitement around the potential of them coming together,” Chuck Champion, CEO of ProElite, which runs the EliteXC brand, told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “If Chris destroys another opponent, people are really going to be clamoring, especially if Gina gets in and clobbers hers. It’s just really about letting the fighters develop, letting them grow in their skills and their character development in order for them to eventually meet one another.”
In other words, they’d rather string us along with a few squash matches first. The fact that they aren’t even intended to be competitive, that doesn’t seem to bother Elite XC. And that’s what’s really disappointing.
This begs the question, what are we watching for? Is it to see a good fight, or just a good beating? Is it because we want to know who wins, or because we want to know how bad it can get?
The worst of it is that Elite XC is squandering a great opportunity. They think that people will tune in to CBS, see Kimbo beat down Shamrock and Carano demolish Kobald, and then we’ll all be foaming at the mouth to see a pay-per-view where they actually make legitimate fights for a change. But what they’re really doing is intentionally putting an inferior product on live network TV. Someone please tell me, how does that help them build a fan base?
Maybe it wouldn’t be so irritating if they weren’t so glib about it. Elite XC has got to be the only MMA promotion in the world where being a talented fighter can keep you out of the main event. The sole reason Brett Rogers isn’t getting his shot at Kimbo on CBS is because he might win. You can’t even argue that it has to do with his lack of name recognition among casual fans, not after they put Kimbo against James Thompson in their first CBS offering.
It’s not that Shamrock can’t win, either. Any guy who knows his way around a submission the way he does always has a chance. But we all know who Elite XC wants to see come out on top, and that’s not how a fight promotion is supposed to work. Not if it wants to be taken seriously, anyway.
They know what they’re doing with these purposely one-sided fights, and they know that we know. Either they think it’s what we want, or they don’t care. Neither option is very encouraging.
(This seems like something we should relive on network television, right?)
The rumor mill has been churning this week as to who Elite XC will get to take on Kimbo Slice on their October 4 CBS event, which is being called something of a make-or-break show for the organization. In a new article on Si.com, Josh Gross adds another name to the list: Sean freaking Gannon.
As in, the Boston cop who defeated Slice in an ugly, amateurish brawl back in 2004. As in, the guy who later got a shot in the UFC, only to be trounced by the unremarkable Brandon Lee Hinkle. As in, the guy who is officially 1-1 in MMA competition. That Sean Gannon.
Gross says that difficulty signing Ken Shamrock and concerns that undefeated heavyweight Brett Rogers would actually beat Kimbo (apparently that’s enough to nix an opponent for Slice) are making the Gannon bout a very real possibility at this point.
There are many, many reasons why this is an idiotic idea. To name just one, Gannon isn’t an MMA fighter. He hasn’t competed since 2005, doesn’t seem to be actively pursuing a career in the sport, and hasn’t done anything that would suggest he should be fighting professionally on CBS. He’s just a tough guy who once fought and outlasted Kimbo back in his street brawling days. In other words, this fight would be a major step back for MMA, not to mention one that would happen on network TV.
Let’s all hope that this is nothing more than a vicious, hateful rumor. Let’s hope that when Elite XC executives hear of it, they scoff out loud. Let’s hope that when Brett Rogers hears of it, he doesn’t murder whoever is closest to him. Let’s hope, but let’s not be too shocked if it turns out to be true.
Drop whatever it is you’re pretending to do and watch this highlight reel (props: KingAtRock), which covers the year’s best knockouts from the UFC and EliteXC, starring Kala Kolohe Hose, Wilson Gouveia, Tim Boetsch, Chris Leben, Brett Rogers, Yves Edwards, and Kimbo Slice.
Also: If you need proof of Dana White’s rumored iron-pumping prowess, check out the wacky video after the jump.
Skip to 3:46 if for some reason you find The Garv unbearably annoying.
Recently dug up by MMA Scraps, here’s the video of a totally bald Brett Rogers winning the vacant EFX heavyweight championship in February ‘07 by knocking out Josh Melichar in 9 seconds. Whoever that announcer is, he’s giving Scott Ferrall a run for his money. (“Are you ready to crank it ahhhhhhhhh, BAY-BAYYYYY!”) Another, somewhat less impressive performance by “The Grim” is after the jump.
Apparently Kimbo Slice appeared on Dan Le Batard’s radio show today and claimed that he would be fighting Brett Rogers sometime in October:
Slice appeared on Dan Le Batard’s radio show today and said he’ll fight Rogers next, “probably in October.”
“They called me out, and now they got the fight,” Slice said of Rogers and [...]
Elite XC heavyweight Brett Rogers hijacked the spotlight in the wake of “Primetime” on CBS “Saturday Night Fights” last weekend, calling out Kimbo Slice for his lackluster performance against James Thompson in the main event of the evening.
Rogers — who knocked out “The Colossus” in the first round at Elite XC: “Street Certified” earlier this year — made a point to needle Slice in the post-fight press conference, which nearly led to an altercation on the podium.
“Da Grim” has kept a steady drumbeat of criticism rolling throughout the week, saying that Slice should either “step up or step aside.” Slice has remained silent for most of the public relations attack … until now.
While nothing is official, Slice has accepted Rogers’ challenge, telling Dan LeBatard on ESPN.com radio that the fight is on — perhaps sometime in October.
Here’s a snip from Kimbo:
“Considering Brett Rogers is as ignorant as he is, he’s probably looking at it like Kimbo Slice can be a meal ticket. Instead of making the fight at more of a business tip, this is going to be personal. This shit is personal now. If he wants to call me out, considering he’s going to get big money to fight me, then you know, from a business point of view, whoever was in his ear, they did their part, and now they got the fight.”
Short of calling out Kimbo’s mother, Rogers did and said just about everything he could to make this fight happen.
And apparently it worked, even though Elite XC Live Events President Gary Shaw indicated immediately following the fight that it wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.
If it is indeed accurate — and Rogers and Slice didn’t just set this up themselves in the media — it could start a trend. If it’s as easy as posting a challenge up on a Web site and saying some harsh words at a press conference, then Kimbo might have a line out the door after his next fight.
If he wins, of course.
Stylistically this is a fight Kimbo should want. Sure, Rogers is the bigger fighter and Kimbo just had a tough time with Thompson’s size, but Rogers is a different fighter than Thompson. He wants to stand and trade with his opponents, which is Kimbo’s bread and butter.
Be careful what you wish for, Mr. Rogers.
The knocks on Kimbo have been his inexperience and ground game. Nobody has ever questioned his stand up, and now Brett Rogers will most likely look to prove Kimbo is all hype by beating him at his own game.
We’ve all begged to see Kimbo’s ground game get tested. Perhaps now we’re finally going to see his stand up get tested. Add in some animosity from Kimbo’s side and we got ourselves a heck of a fight to look forward to this fall.
Kimbo mentioned the fight would probably take place in October, which may or may not be the next event on CBS. Either way, is this a fight anyone is going to want to miss? I think not.
Here’s what Kimbo had to say when asked directly from Letard if he was fighting Rogers next:
“Yeah, hell yeah, I got to fight him man. This man just called me out.”
Aright Brett, you got want you wanted. Now lets see if you can back those words up with a win. Stay tuned, October is a long way away — this will certainly get a lot more interesting before then.
“He’s probably looking at it like, okay yo, Kimbo Slice could be a meal ticket, but his corner needs to tell him there’s ways to do it, and that just was not one of the ways. Instead of making the fight up more on the business tip, this is gonna be personal.”
Le Batard asked if that meant he’d definitely be fighting Rogers next, to which Kimbo replied, “Yeah, hell yeah, I’m gonna fight him now, the man just called me out.” As for when the fight could take place? “Probably October.” Slice doesn’t expect to fight before then, partly because of injuries sustained to his thumbs.
In another interesting moment from the interview, Kimbo acknowledged all the pressure he was feeling from his bosses to win the fight:
“If I was gonna lose the fight, it would have been a major letdown to CBS — that’s like [*bleeeeeep*] CBS, you know how big-time that is — and then you got Showtime, and EliteXC, ProElite. You got all these huge, major companies…and everyone depending on this one guy to win this just one fight, and if he doesn’t win this one fight, it’ll just be a major letdown, it would have just been a disappointment to all these people.”
Of course, Gary Shaw could still throw a wrench in Kimbo’s plans, but for now it’s looking like the Grim’s pleas will be answered. Listen to the rest of interview to hear Kimbo’s full analysis of his fight with James Thompson, and an embarrassing parody tribute song by fake-Cameo that Kimbo gives a “[*bleep*]’n strong 7.”
“We want to fight the best and right now everything; judging by the money, the publicity and the billboards; that is Kimbo. Has Kimbo earned that spot? We are not convinced. So we are calling Kimbo out. If this is a challenge he does not feel ready to accept; that is cool. That we can understand. But it is somewhat unreasonable to ask everyone to play second fiddle – to fight tougher opponents for less money while another fighter makes bank on the also rans. Brett has fought three very tough heavy weights with legitimate skills. The result in every one of those fights was a first round KO. No decisions, no controversy just straight up cart them off wins. Yet every interview and every place he goes he hears Kimbo this, Kimbo that. Hell, if we were not asking to fight Kimbo, Gary would be ashamed of us and would be wondering what type of wimps he had fighting for him. If Kimbo is the badest man on the planet; then lets do this thing. All due respect … step up or step aside.”
Elite XC heavyweight fighter Brett Rogers and his camp, Team Bison, issue a formal challenge to Kimbo Slice through a letter posted on his official Web site. In the lengthy letter, Rogers also talks about his future with Elite XC as well as a possible fight against Antonio “Big Foot” Silva. Check it out if you have some time.
Rumors have been running rampant on highly-trafficked message boards during the last 24 hours claiming that EliteXC heavyweight Brett Rogers has been released by the promotion.
FiveOuncesOfPain.com elected to followup on the unsubstantiated rumors and contacted Mike Reilly, Rogers’ trainer at Team Bison in Minnesota.
When asked about the rumor, Reilly categorically denied it and expressly stated [...]
