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(Just think of what might have been. Or better yet, don’t think about it. Ever.)
Oh, Ken Shamrock. Somehow the controversy over whether you cut yourself on purpose or whether you were just unlucky/dumb has been overshadowed in the past few days by other EliteXC controversies. It’s almost as if people have completely forgotten that it was supposed to be you who got paid extra to stand and trade with Kimbo Slice. Instead, you didn’t make a dime and ended up being but a footnote in this sad spectacle.
But fear not, MMA fans, for Ken Shamrock has composed (read: asked someone to write for him) an open letter explaining what went on this past Saturday and what he’d like to do about it. Take it away, Ken:
On October 4th, I was set to fight Kimbo Slice on the EliteXC/CBS Saturday Night Fights in a highly anticipated event. Unfortunately, because of a training accident and the intervention of the Florida State Boxing Commission, our fight did not happen. I suffered a cut above my left eye that required six stitches, and the cut was significant enough to cause the Florida State Boxing Commission to refuse to allow me to fight.
The scheduled bout with Kimbo on the EliteXC/CBS Saturday Night Fight card was a great opportunity, and it is unfortunate that I was unable to face Kimbo as planned. I want to apologize to all of my fans, and to the EliteXC and CBS executives who worked so hard to put this fight together. I also want to apologize to Kimbo, Bas Rutten and their entire camp for what happened. I recognize that I put them in a very bad situation, particularly Kimbo. It’s difficult to walk into the ring after training for one opponent only to find out hours before the fight that you have to face some you don’t know or have never seen fight.
Over the years there have been many great times as well as disappointing times and I know Saturday the fans were as disappointed as I was. I was worked up so I decided to train with my partners in order to stay focused on the fight. I was just doing a light roll to check holds when I got caught by a head butt. It was a freak accident and I didn’t think anything of it until I saw drops of blood. It appeared to be a deep laceration so I had my physician look at it and we immediately went to the emergency room. When they said the cut would require stitches, my heart sank because I knew that the Florida Boxing Commission would not let me fight. I was disappointed because I knew this was an opportunity to give the fans, my friends, and my family something to cheer about. It has been a hard couple of years for me, and for my fans. I have suffered some disappointing losses. I definitely regret my decision to train on the day of the fight.
I promise that I will make this up to all my fans. I know that there is nothing I can do about what occurred, but I plan to get back into the ring soon. I would like it to be against Kimbo Slice. Hopefully EliteXC/CBS will still be able to put a fight together. It’s is the right thing to do. The fans want it and I want it.
I would also like to congratulate Petruzelli on his win. He did a phenomenal job. Seth not accepted the challenge of facing a new opponent; he also had to move up in weight class. He came in, dominated Kimbo and walked away with a great victory.
To the fans, I appreciate all of your support.
Thank you and God Bless.
Ken Shamrock
Yeah, Ken, about getting that fight with Kimbo now? I don’t know. Before, it seemed kind of sad and a little exploitative for EliteXC to match you and Kimbo up, for many reasons. But now, after you had to pull out of the fight and EliteXC got really, really mad at you and then Kimbo got TKO’d in fourteen seconds against a mediocre light heavyweight, it seems downright bizarre. Kind of like getting fired from your job one day and then coming in to the work the next and acting like nothing happened. They are not going to play along. Trust me. They are going to call security. And it only gets uglier from there.
Written by admin on October 9th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on CBS and Seth Petruzelli and cut and letter and fight and General and EliteXC and Kimbo Slice and Ken Shamrock and MMA.
(Just another day in the organization for Jared Shaw.)
The Kimbo Slice fairy tale is over now. At least it ought to be. The “street certified” brawler got himself knocked out in fourteen seconds by a guy who calls himself a “part-time fighter.” A guy who isn’t in the same weight class and isn’t thought of as anything more than a mediocre also-ran in the weight class he normally calls home. To call this a worst case scenario for Elite XC is putting it too mildly. This is an absolute disaster. Which means, of course, that they will now try to convince us that it is not.
Announcer Mauro Ranallo got that ball rolling almost immediately after the fight by suggesting that this should be considered a “mulligan” for Kimbo, since he didn’t plan on fighting Petruzelli. Do we dare mention that Petruzelli also didn’t plan on fighting Kimbo, a heavyweight, in the main event? Apparently not. Instead we start playing up the predictable Rocky Balboa angle, forgetting for the moment that Rocky fought Apollo Creed, the world champion. Unlike Kimbo, the fictional Apollo was both style and substance, and he didn’t go down to a tentative jab.
This is the point where Elite XC makes excuses for Kimbo and tells us that a star is born in Petruzelli. Just watch Jared Shaw working from this script in his interview with Ariel Helwani and see if you don’t find yourself feeling a little sorry for him. His cringe-worthy performance includes transparent lies such as, “it’s just another day in the organization,” and “(Pertruzelli) is a very promotable guy; everybody in this sport is promotable,” and my personal favorite, “we’re gathering all our other nuts.”
This, from the same guy who could be seen having a total meltdown at cageside while Kimbo was getting pounded out on live network TV.
The person who seemed least bothered by last night’s events was Kimbo Slice himself. He hyped his after-party in the post-fight interview and showed up forty-five minutes late to the press conference, where he interrupted Elite XC Head of Operations Jeremy Lappen and made a very brief statement, laughing about his swollen eye, and then disappeared again.
Lappen came to his defense, saying,
“I think Kimbo’s a huge star. Again he’s been thrust onto the scene. People are interested in watching him. And I think people will continue to be interested in watching him. …He showed heart. And stepped up on an hour notice and backed up anyone, anyplace, anytime.”
It’s interesting that Lappen uses the passive voice there. Kimbo has “been thrust onto the scene.” That’s true. Lappen conveniently ignores who did the thrusting, though.
As for the “anyone, anytime” rhetoric, it flies in the face of rumors that Elite XC had to sweeten the financial pot just to get a reluctant Kimbo to accept the fight against the 205-pounder Petruzelli. The backstage CBS interview alone revealed a very unhappy fighter who exuded anything but confidence and enthusiasm before the fight.
Kimbo was exposed on Saturday night, sure. But he wasn’t exposed as anything other than what most of us already thought he was: an amateur fighter rushed into the spotlight by desperate, unscrupulous promoters. It was Elite XC who was truly exposed. They built their reputation on Kimbo’s curious brand of celebrity, and fate conspired to grind their cash cow into hamburger.
Their strategy was to only make fights that Kimbo could win, then shout his name from the rooftops when he did. Last night they got a lesson in the unpredictability of MMA. Now they’re left shouting excuses. They found out the hard way that you can only play the squash match shell game for so long before a former karate champ comes along and ruins it.
They can call it a mulligan for Kimbo and they can try and turn it into a big push for the very average Petruzelli. But the best thing they can do is learn from this catastrophe. Where they go from here, with respect to both Kimbo and Petruzelli, should tell us whether they have.
(-Ben Fowlkes)
Written by admin on October 5th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on CBS and Interview and Jared Shaw and Jeremy Lappen and Seth Petruzelli and Elite XC and fight and Kimbo Slice and Commentary and knockout and press conference and MMA.
(What, no odds on whether Gina will make weight?)
If betting odds are any indication of how competitive MMA bouts will turn out to be, expect a lot of one-sided blowouts on Elite XC’s CBS offering this Saturday night. Not that it’s any surprise, really. In fact, with five fights crammed into a two-hour time slot CBS is going to need some quick beatdowns if they don’t want to run way over and have to cut into precious local news time. In any event, Best Fight Odds supplies the most gambler-friendly betting lines for ‘Elite XC: Heat,’ and they break down like this:
Kimbo Slice (-325) vs. Ken Shamrock (+329)
Jake Shields (-550) vs. Paul Daley (+524)
Gina Carano (-550) vs. Kelly Kobald (+525)
Ninja Rua (-196) vs. Benji Radach (+210)
Andrei Arlovski (-428) vs. Roy Nelson (+385)
Some thoughts…
‘I Can’t Believe It’s So Close!’: the line on Radach-Rua seems at first like it’s worth taking a chance on “Razor”, but then there’s that stuff about him not training until five weeks ago. That ought to be enough to scare you away from a bet on Radach. If it’s really true that he had ballooned up to 230 pounds after suffering through more injuries and not hitting the gym, it’s surprising that the line isn’t more lopsided in Rua’s favor. Radach hasn’t fought in over nine months. Five weeks isn’t going to erase that kind of ring rust.
Best Place for That Money You Don’t Want Anymore: So you’re looking at these odds and you can’t help but wonder if that +525 on Kelly Kobald isn’t your key to beating this whole economic crisis thing. You’re saying to yourself, ‘Gina Carano can’t even make weight, plus she’s got all these media obligations. She’s totally overrated and I’m the only one who sees it!’ All right, wise guy. Go ahead and put a bet on Kobald. Then when she gets in the cage and you see why she’s 0-2 in her last two fights maybe you’ll remember that this is Elite XC, where only two fighters matter: Gina and Kimbo. And neither of them gets a fight that isn’t served up on a silver platter.
Underdog Most Likely to Turn a Profit: Of the underdogs on this card, Radach still has the best chance of actually winning, but the long shot you might actually make serious money on is Roy Nelson. Now, I know some in the Potato Nation think this is a walk-through for Arlovski, but it’s not. If Nelson plays to his strengths (submission grappling) and avoids Andrei’s (knocking suckas out), he could pull off the upset. It’s still far from being likely, but that’s why they call it gambling, you wuss. If you need another reason to believe in a “Big Country” win, how about the fact that Affliction is admittedly banking on this as an opportunity to “showcase Arlovski.” If the screwy MMA world has taught us anything, it’s that saying something like that before a fight is the best way to make sure it doesn’t happen.
Written by admin on October 1st, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on betting and CBS and odds and gambling and Roy Nelson and Ninja Rua and Kelly Kobald and Affliction and Elite XC and Andrei Arlovski and Ken Shamrock and Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano and Benji Radach and fight and Features and MMA.
(Props: MMA Scraps)
Things that you have to love about this Ken Shamrock video:
1) He doesn’t blame you for thinking he’s washed up based on his last few fights.
2) He continually refers to the sport as “the MMA,” just like your father might.
3) He apparently trains exclusively in slow motion with a piano tinkling in the background.
All kidding aside, this video makes me both excited and sad for Shamrock’s fight with Kimbo Slice on Saturday. The man’s will is still there but the flesh is, well, not. He’s doing a great job of crafting a narrative (around the 11:00 mark he starts talking about Kimbo, and at 14:15 he explains that Kimbo “is walking into my sport, and he hasn’t earned the right to be there.”), which has always been one of the things Shamrock does well.
But after what we’ve seen from him in recent years there’s just no reason to think he’s going to go out there and beat Kimbo. There is every reason to think that one of the sport’s pioneers is going to go out there and lose badly and it’s going to be a damn shame to see.
Who knows, though. He seems acutely aware of why Elite XC brought him in, and maybe he will indeed “completely blow up their party” on Saturday night. If he does I hope the CBS cameramen have the good sense to pan to Jared Shaw immediately afterwards. That look on his face? It will be the ‘That son of a bitch just blew up my party,’ look.
Written by admin on September 30th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Elite XC and Interview and CBS and Saturday night and fight and video and Videos and Kimbo Slice and Ken Shamrock and MMA.
(Rashad Evans looks very happy about clocking Steve Cofield one.)
- Rashad Evans can’t even escape Chuck Liddell at the movies. (Yahoo! Sports)
- Talking Shamrock, Kimbo, Noons and more on the radio. (MMA Rated)
- “The Secret” explained, in a manner of speaking. (Fightlinker)
- Ryan Schultz to get another shot at Sengoku 5. (MMA Mania)
- Thiago Alves has a lesson he wants to teach Diego Sanchez. (Tatame)
- Dana White promises UFC will be bigger than NFL and World Cup, then discusses a near-death experience. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
- “Day of Reckoning” official website. (Affliction)
- UFC in talks with CBS to supplant Elite XC? (Fightline)
- Sammy Hagar rocks great moments in history. (Holy Taco)
- Tough beer choices this Labor Day weekend. (Wall Street Fighter)
- Eight awesome movie prisoners. (Screen Junkies)
Written by admin on August 29th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on beer and CBS and Ryan Schultz and Labor Day and NFL and The Secret and Sammy Hagar and Affliction and "Sengoku" and Rashad Evans and Chuck Liddell and UFC and Dana White and News and Elite XC and General and MMA.
KJ Noons became the latest Elite XC fighter to release an official statement, as he finally dished on what’s been keeping him from taking a fight with Nick Diaz on the October 4 CBS show. Noons sent his screed to MMANews.com, and it is full of fun little quips and nuggets about life in Elite XC. Noons’ grievances range from the financial to the probably merely perceived to the petty, but he puts it all out there with enough attitude and anger to make up for all the time he let Jared Shaw run his mouth without consequences. Among his complaints:
In the Elite XC’s DVD where Diaz and I fought there are two (2) baseball cards of Diaz and Kimbo. Hello! I won the fight and Elite XC’s promoting Diaz after I beat him? Or how about the day Elite XC flew Diaz in to do a signing on the DVD where he lost. Wow, that must have been uncomfortable Nick? Signing a DVD, and it is a fight that you lost. Why wasn’t I flown in for the signing?
[…]
Consider when Elite XC gives a couple thousand tickets away at their CBS show in Stockton.
Elite XC gives me a hard time about comping me one extra ticket for my cousin that helped me train for my fight. I only get four tickets per show. I am the main event in Honolulu, my home town! I did not ask for any tickets for my family and friends and they gave me a hard time about one extra ticket!
Or how about when Elite XC brought Diaz into the ring after my last victory in Hawaii to disrespect me and my family.
Chuck Champion (President Elite XC) threatens me, my family and my manager with lawsuits and how he’s going to sue me. HAHA. Pretty hard to sue a guy who does not make jack with your company. I’m glad $kala disclosed how much I make, which breached the confidentiality clause of the contract. I will break down the real numbers for you. I am the defending world champ, I have been the main event for Elite XC three out of four times on Showtime. In almost two years I have made approximately $83,000?
Of course, Noons then goes on to tread familiar ground for fighters, explaining that he has to pay his trainers and managers and (gasp!) taxes with that money, so he figures he’s really only making around $300 a week, and his friends who are bus boys make more than that (he really said that).
The Diaz situation rears its ugly head in all of this, and it seems that their request to have Noons face him in a rematch on CBS was what really set “King Karl” off:
But the straw that broke the camel’s back is they want me to fight Diaz for the second time. Diaz is not the number one contender and they are paying Diaz three times more money than me. Diaz complained after the Stockton fight, he was not paid enough. How do you think that made me feel? Yes you can argue that Diaz gets more for the draw, therefore I do not deserve as much compensation. If that is the case, it is a result of Elite XC terrible job promoting me. Instead of promoting me as their champ and upcoming athlete, Elite XC has resented me for ruining their plans to make Diaz their champ. That is just total disrespect. So it comes down to money and what is fair. I am tired of being bent over by Elite XC with no Vaseline.
I am right when I say Diaz is not the number one contender. Elite XC is trying to force this fight for their ratings. Eddie Alaverez is the number one contender and anybody with half a brain knows that a fight with Eddie is a way harder fight for me than Diaz. I will fight Diaz, but Elite has to be fair. I’m not ducking Diaz, why the hell would I be scared of someone I already beat.
Noons concludes by saying that he plans to fight Diaz eventually, but not on the October CBS card, and that he also plans to focus on his boxing career, where he feels he can make more money. He also claims that no one is talking about Elite XC’s October card apart from the Noons-Diaz match that isn’t happening on it. He does know about the whole Kimbo Slice-Ken Shamrock thing, right?
Here’s a crazy idea: if Noons is upset that Diaz is making more money and getting more of a push, why not go out in front of the CBS audience and give him a whipping? After all, he’s not a top contender, so it should be an easy paycheck, and after he beats Diaz down Elite XC will have to pay him more and promote him as their champ, right? Plus, think of the extra sponsorship money he could pick up in front of a CBS crowd.
Or he could just sit out and not get that money. Either way. Maybe his bus boy friends know of some place that’s hiring.
Written by admin on August 28th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on money and Elite XC and CBS and contract and Jared Shaw and KJ Noons and fight and News and Nick Diaz and Gary Shaw and Boxing and General and MMA.
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.
(-Ben Fowlkes)
Written by admin on August 25th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Elite XC and fight and CBS and Chuck Champion and Gina Carano Cyborg Santos and Brett Rogers and Pro Elite and UFC and Kimbo Slice and Ken Shamrock and Commentary and MMA.
(Nick Thompson spices up the weigh-in, courtesy of Combat Lifestyle)
It’s another Saturday night of MMA, Potato Nation. We may not have Fedor or Anderson Silva this time around, but we have got Robbie Lawler and a can-do spirit, so we’re going to make the best of it. Like my grandfather used to say, when life gives you Nick Diaz and Thomas Denny, make lemonade. My grandfather may have been completely insane, but he was wise in his own special way.
Anyway, it’s free so we’re going to stop complaining and start writing. We’ll be liveblogging all the Elite XC on CBS action as it unfolds, so jump on board and let’s do this thing. Remember to hit refresh every so often to keep from getting left behind.
As you’ve probably noticed by now, we aren’t covering the Showtime portion of the card because, to be brutally honest with you, the place we’re watching the fights doesn’t get Showtime. So there it is. If you give a damn about those results anyway, here’s how they’re looking:
Drew Montgomery defeats Brandon Tarns via TKO (cut stoppage) at 4:22 of round 3.
Carl Seumanutafa defeats Mike Cook via KO (slam) at 1:22 of round 1.
Wilson Reis defeats Brian Caraway via unanimous decision.
Rafael Feijao defeats Travis Galbraith via TKO at 3:01 of round 1.
Antonio Silva defeats Justin Eilers via TKO at 0:19 of round 2.
Apparently the Shayna Baszler-Christiane “Cyborg” Santos bout just ended with a second round TKO by “Cyborg”. This vexes me since I was under the impression that it would be on the live CBS card, which doesn’t begin here for another half-hour. Now I’m just confused. Confused and sad.
Okay, so it’s on an hour later here for some reason. Turns out that living in the Mountain Time Zone has some drawbacks. Being an hour behind on the “live” CBS broadcast is one of them. Damn.
8:00 pm: …and we’re (not) live! CBS gets things going with a recap of Lawler-Smith I, which they say “could have been the fight of the year” if it hadn’t been stopped. I guess we’re just saying things without regard for whether they’re true. Why not? It’s only network TV.
8:04: Talking about Robbie Lawler, Mauro Ranallo uses the phrase “silent but violent”. Bet he’s proud of himself for thinking of that one. I’m simultaneously filled with disdain for Mauro and yet glad he’s around so I can enjoy hating him. Kind of like the way I feel about “The View”.
Shayna Baszler vs. Christiane “Cyborg” Santos
We get things rolling with our first Gina Carano plug of the night. That didn’t take long. Her ‘awww shucks’ smile riles up the Stockton crowd. “Cyborg” looks jacked as we transition into the Burger King “Rules of Combat”.
Cyborg comes right out gets the clinch on Baszler, but rather than succumb to the sheer aggression of the Brazilian Baszler gets her to the mat and looks for a kneebar. Cyborg is out, standing over Baszler and looking to land some big shots. Baszler gets her back to the mat and avoids taking too much damage. Cyborg tries some hammer fists from the guard as the three-minute round comes to an end. Strangely, knowing the outcome doesn’t inhibit by enjoyment of the fight.
Round two starts with Cyborg coming right after Baszler and hurts her with some hard right hands. Cyborg tosses her around like a child in the clinch, really using her strength advantage. Baszler looks a little overwhelmed and very tired. Cyborg drops her with a series of straight shots and Baszler goes down. It’s not over, though Cyborg thinks it is. She jumps atop the cage and initially won’t come back down to continue the fight. This is looking like a bit of a fiasco early on. Way to make MMA look amateurish. Cyborg finally comes back and finishes Baszler off in brutal fashion with a great left-right combo that puts Baszler down for good. And, of course, there’s Gina again.
8:24: Now we’re talking to Gina, wondering what might happen if she had “time to train”. Maybe she’d even make weight! I’m just playing. She’d still come in heavy.
Nick Thompson vs. Jake Shields
But first Frank Shamrock takes us through some MMA 101, throwing a dummy around. Oh, he’s just so smug about it, too. Talking about the cut on Shields’ face, Shamrock said he advised him to put Preparation H on it. “Gotta trust the legend,” says Shamrock. That’s himself he’s referring to as a legend. Classy.
Takedown right away from Shields, then easily into the mount. That’s not a good sign for “The Goat”. He scrambles trying to escape and Shields locks in a guillotine from the top position. Thompson taps. “The fight lasted as long as Brett Favre’s retirement!” shouts Ranallo. Now that’s how you force a current events reference into your broadcast. An angry twitch has started behind my right eye.
Gus Johnson congratulates Shields as the new Elite XC welterweight champ with all the enthusiasm of a man on his way to the dentist.
8:53: Kimbo shows up, naturally, wearing one of those Samuel L. Jackson hats and sunglasses indoors. Clearly, he is a celebrity now. “My life is no longer a secret,” says Kimbo. I don’t really know what that means.
Nick Diaz vs. Thomas Denny
They are loving Nick Diaz in Stockton, which is the whole point, I guess. But still. Diaz will never again enjoy this kind of broad popularity. We get as far as the pre-fight staredown before the sound is cut due to profanity. Nice.
Diaz looks a little slow to start on the feet, but eventually looks for a kimura on the mat. Denny escapes, but can’t do much with the position advantage. Diaz is looking for a single-leg before abandoning it for the clinch. Diaz is landing some punches on the feet, but they’re all arm punches and his defense is almost non-existent. A right hand on the ear stuns Denny briefly, then a couple of nice left hooks. Diaz is picking up the pace and Denny looks outclassed, though he’s hanging in there. Nevermind, know he’s down and Diaz is rocking him with some right hands as he gets back to his feet. They’re just brawling to end the round, and it is awesome.
Diaz rocks Denny again to start the round and then showboats a little to pump up the crowd. Diaz pouring it on and Denny is down. The camera angle makes it difficult to tell if it’s been stopped. No, it’s still going, with Diaz landing a few unnecessary shots. Looks like we’re no longer stopping fights too soon on CBS. The announcing team plays up Diaz as if he did something other than beat a guy who was a 6-1 underdog.
Diaz turns Gus Johnson’s interview attempt into a rambling shout out, answering zero questions before Johnson wrestles the mic away from him.
After seeing the “highlights” from the Silva-Eilers bout, I have to say it doesn’t seem like I missed a lot there. CBS follows it up with a great deal of backstory on Lawler and Smith.
Hey, there’s Anderson Silva. They’re not shying away from talking about the UFC, either. I have to question how smart that is, at once admitting that Silva is the best middleweight in the world and also having your own middleweight title fight that does not include him. Aren’t you essentially admitting there that your champion is not the best in the world at that weight class?
Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith
Ranallo starts us off with another pop culture reference, this time about Batman. Good leg kicks and combos from Smith early on. Lawler doesn’t look as aggressive as usual here in the early going. Head kick from Smith and Lawler pretends to be dazed. Just having some fun in there. They clinch against the cage and then separate to exchange kicks. The pace is still fairly slow. A few hard punches and a body kick from Lawler and Smith is not liking it one bit. He may have been hurt there, but Lawler doesn’t go after him right away. Smith comes back in the last thirty seconds and Lawler is backpedaling. He may have stole the round with that flurry. Smith seems to have the sense of urgency that Lawler lacks right now.
Smith lands some good elbows and Lawler is cut again, almost in the exact same spot. He comes back and puts Smith’s back against the cage and tees off with some big right hands. Lawler clinches and hurts Smith with some knees. Smith is down, Lawler attempts a couple of awkward kicks to his body before Herb Dean calls it. A bloody Lawler dances in the cage, still the Elite XC champ.
A good night of fights, all things considered. Even if I had to wait an hour longer than the rest of the country to see. Goddamn fascist Mountain Time. I’m out.
Written by admin on July 26th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on fight and Elite XC and CBS and liveblog and Scott Smith and Robbie Lawler and Nick Thompson and MMA.
- Bet you didn’t know that “the majority of fights/attacks last less than three seconds.” That’s a fact if we ever heard one. (Google)
- Takanori Gomi will fight at Sengoku 4, but not in the lightweight Grand Prix. (Nightmare of Battle)
- A Dana White announcement that suspiciously coincides with a competitor’s event? Get outta town. (Pro MMA)
- Rory Singer says MMA ain’t for everyone. And he should know. (Times Herold-Record)
- Fighters you love to hate. (411mania)
- Mark Coleman and “Shogun” Rua to have injury-riddled rematch? (Fightlinker)
- Bob Arum taking cheap shots at Dana White over Affliction card. (Steve Cofield)
- Jay Hieron patiently waiting for a fight. Some time this year would be just great. (MMA Junkie)
- Local TV reporter, please stop saying ‘glory hole’. (Holy Taco)
- Mark Cuban wants them Cubs, and Cuban gets what Cuban wants. (Wall Street Fighter)
Written by admin on July 25th, 2008 with comments disabled.
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(Eilers, jobbing in the “fat guys with shirts” circuit.)
Sam Caplan at 5oz. reports that a verbal agreement has been reached for a bout between EliteXC heavyweight standout Antonio Silva and Justin Eilers, which would go down at EliteXC’s second CBS broadcast on July 26th. Jared Shaw indicated that the league’s vacant heavyweight belt would “more than likely be at stake,” though he stopped short of an actual confirmation.
Let’s just say this is a step down from those Sergei Kharitonov rumors. A 19-6-1 veteran of various MMA leagues, Eilers won his Octagon debut against Mike Kyle at UFC 49 (8/21/04), but was bounced out of the league after consecutive losses to Paul Buentello, Andrei Arlovski, and Brandon Vera (all by first-round KO/TKO). Since then he’s gone 10-1, but hasn’t beaten anybody noteworthy, unless you consider Sherman Pendergarst and Jimmy Ambriz noteworthy.
In short, he’s a successful journeyman, but doesn’t quite deserve to fight for a major title on network television. If this is the best heavyweight EliteXC can scare up right now — and honestly, where the hell is Roy Nelson? — they’d be much wiser to save the credibility of their heavyweight strap while it’s still non-existent, and use Silva/Eilers as a non-title squash match to open the CBS broadcast, introducing viewers to the scary power of Bigfoot. If Silva does well, fans would surely welcome him back to fight for the title against someone legitimate. We’ll keep you posted…
Written by admin on June 30th, 2008 with comments disabled.
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