So, can EXC make this great shot at a wide audience work? LIVE MATCHES * Kimbo Slice (Kevin Ferguson) vs. James Thompson * Champion Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith (EliteXC Middleweight Title Defense) * Gina Carano vs. Kaitlin Young * Jon Murphy vs. Brett Rogers * Phil Baroni vs. Joey Villasenor TAPED MATCHES * Wilson Reis vs. Justin Robbins * Matt Makowski vs. Nick Serra * Carlton Haselrig vs. Bryan Vetell * Zach Makovsky vs. Andre Soares * Mike Groves vs. Joe Sampieri * Jim Bova vs. Chris Liguori * James "Binky" Jones vs. Calvin Kattar -- Kimbo Slice ain't the guy to be your Heavyweight Champion, but as a drawing card, he has a shot. -- Gina Carano is hot. And can fight. -- I really hope the Carlton Haselrig fight gets aired. Here's a guy that was a six-time NCAA Wresting Champion (Winning the Division II tournament used to get you into the Division I tournament, but not anymore), and beat Kurt Angle along the way. He then went to the NFL without playing a down in college and became an All-Pro Offensive Guard. Then the drugs and the alcohol and the jail happened. Now he seems to have turned things around. I hope he makes it.
Re: EliteXC on CBS I :: 6/1, Newark I'm sorry but this thread was dying for some pictures. BTW isn't this 5/31??
Re: EliteXC on CBS I :: 5/31, Newark You're absolutely right, I've updated the thread title - I had just posted the WEC thread which takes place the next night.
Re: EliteXC on CBS I :: 5/31, Newark Matt Makowski vs. Nick Serra I want to see this one only because I never saw Matt Serra's brother fight before.
Re: EliteXC on CBS I :: 5/31, Newark Champion Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith (EliteXC Middleweight Title Defense) How can anyone take this so called "title defense" seriously Scott Smith is a journeymen who can punch big deal.
Re: EliteXC on CBS I :: 6/1, Newark Phil Baroni the "New York Badass" always puts on good shows especially the intro...too bad he gasses out bad during fights.
Re: EliteXC on CBS I :: 5/31, Newark I am actually more excited to see Lawler, Robby was a ball of energy in ufc.
Re: EliteXC on CBS I :: 5/31, Newark A good opinion piece on why this fight night isn't a good thing for the sport of MMA: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=dw-slice052808&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
Re: EliteXC on CBS I :: 5/31, Newark I'm sorry but that article is retarded. The author thinks that throwing a guy to the Wolves is the best way to do things? Why not get him trained by one of the best MMA fighters ever and ease him into the sport......oh thats what Kimbo is doing. Think mainstream America knows the difference between top class MMA fighters and amateur guys? Of course not. Non-soccer watchers couldn't tell the difference between France vs. Italy and USL1 if you dressed the guys in Battery and Silverbacks kits. Kimbo is bringing people to the sport. The more notice it gets, the more fans will say "this is cool" do a little research and start watching top-class stuff.
So what did you guyz think of the night??? I don't know about Kimbo. Great fight, but man that was a very shaky decision by the refs. I want a rematch!!!!
People are saying Kimbo tapped which is B.S. He was giving the ref a thumbs up sign while he was getting elbowed in the head. If he were fighting someone better he would have gotten his ass kicked, guaranteed. But if the Ref hadn't stopped the fight when he did Thompson would have gotten laid out. Should he have let it go another 10-20 seconds? Yeah, but Thompson was done with another good punch. The Refs were stopping stuff early all night, so I don't know why everyone is going apeshit over Kimbo's fight being fixed.
What I didn't understand is why Kimbo kept going to ground when he didn't need to. He got Thompson in a headlock and slammed him (I don't know the MMA term) which was retarded, because then Thompson would recover and dominate on the ground. If Kimbo had stayed up and punched in the 2nd round instead of trying to go to ground he would have been fine.
Re: EliteXC on CBS I :: 5/31, Newark http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=ki-elitexctv060108&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
overall i thought the card was weak. The two good fights were the Lawler fight and Gina's fight both stopped because of eye inuries. The Baroni fight was ok. That amateur display of Kimbo and the skilless oponent. I was so angry at how many amatuer mistakes were made by both of these "professionals". Don't get me wrong they are both punchers but Elite is the last word that should be used by these two guys. Simple stuff like using your hips to control a man on the ground, and not knowing how to apply a keylock? you gotta be kidding me. I think that will give the average viewer a horrible idea of what mma is about. You can see that fights were stopped early or called before they normally would and to not offend the viewers. I think that was the weakest Big Name fight card I have ever seen. the WEC card of Sunday on the other hand offered two great title defenses with four obviously skilled fighters, I think that is better advertisement for the sport than the sideshow EXC tryed to put on CBS this saturday.
Kimbo isn't ready for prime time, but we knew that already. He's got to be handled very carefully (read: given a bunch of bums to fight) until he gets his skills up. Lots of sloppy overhand rights from Rogers and Murphy. Not the guys to put out there first to show off MMA to a whole bunch of new fans. Any time Phil Baroni loses, I'm happy. Dude's an arrogant jackass and always has been. Lawler/Smith was a really good fight until the stoppage. Both guys won a round convincingly. If you ever find yourself in a regulated fight, don't ever tell the Doctor you can't see. Gina Carano's hot. I don't have a problem with her not making weight - 144.5 looked great on her, IMO. Creates something of an unfair advantage against women that trained down to 140, though. Not the best night of fights, but not the worst I've ever seen. WEC the next night was much, much better, as has been said already.
Re: EliteXC on CBS I :: 5/31, Newark As a huge fan of MMA, I must say...this show was absolute crap. Nothing but a pure circus show. Slice got exposed, and looked very beatable. Hopefully CBS comes to their senses, and approaches the UFC. The only MMA show in town. But based off the huge ratings EliteXC got, they'll get another show. Where they'll likely bomb. What trash.