May 31: EliteXC on CBS

[Warriorfan 0]

Thompson didn't react suddenly to the stoppage, in fact I think he took an instinctive shot at the ref. I would never advocate letting it go for 2 more shots which would've ended it definitively but it would've sent the crowd home with what they wanted.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Well I don't know, I think it's sort of obvious they were pushing for Kimbo to win...a few times at the end of the second where it didn't look like he was protecting himself. And at the stop, Thompson looked like he could have kept going...

 

But I guess they're saying it was stopped for the ear.

 

also quite a few times where it looked like Kimbo had a guillotine for sure, but couldn't lock it. Guess because he isn't trained for that.

 

You can't pull a guillotine from side control on anyone but a 150 lb white belt who is a bitch and panics at the first sign of trouble.

 

Fixed it for you.

[v.2 0]

Well I don't know, I think it's sort of obvious they were pushing for Kimbo to win...a few times at the end of the second where it didn't look like he was protecting himself. And at the stop, Thompson looked like he could have kept going...

 

But I guess they're saying it was stopped for the ear.

 

also quite a few times where it looked like Kimbo had a guillotine for sure, but couldn't lock it. Guess because he isn't trained for that.

 

You can't pull a guillotine from side control on anyone but a 150 lb white belt who is a bitch and panics at the first sign of trouble.

 

Fixed it for you.

 

Thanks. I knew there was an easier way to say it.

[The Buzz 0]

I personally think Kimbo could have knocked him out in another 30 seconds, but if it went back to the ground the fight was definitely Thompsons.

[Darthtiki 0]

I'm watching the West coast feed and even the open left me thinking "this is gonna be a train wreck"

[Warriorfan 0]

I'm just looking for a concensus. A fighter is staggering, hands down and is leaning against the cage, what should the ref do?

[Dandy 0]

If dude's ear wasn't hanging by a thread and bleeding, I would say they let Kimbo get the knockout punch. I mean, he was out on his feet, it appeared.

 

It's funny, though; I watched Kimbo's first EliteXC fight the other night, and it looked like the dude took a dive. EliteXC definitely favors it's meal ticket winning right now.

[Youth N Asia 0]

You know Shaw was shitting bricks watching Kimbo get pounded in round 2. I think the ref gave Kimbo a little more room there then maybe he should of cause for Elite XC to be a success Kimbo needed to win.

 

Total bullshit call on Lawler/Smith

[naiwf 0]

I'll just chime in with this thought, if they had stopped the fight when Thompson was slapping at Kimbo's head late in Round 2 when neither guy was really doing anything, I think that would have been the worst decision of the night. As it was, seeing a man's ear explode seems like a decent enough reason to stop the fight and if Smith said he couldn't see there's no reason to have him continue. Would they have been better off having the two questionable calls earlier on in the night? Of course, but that doesn't mean a guy should take a few extra shots to put him out if the doctor/ref calls it off a bit early. I'm probably in the minority on this but I've seen enough fighters (mainly boxers) take 5 or 10 shots too many to get pissed off when someone takes 2 or 3 too few.

[tigeraid 0]

Holy fuck, where to begin... that was the worst night in the history of MMA. Thank you EliteXC for setting the sport back 15 years. Dancing girls, shitty hip-hop music, "thug style" everywhere...

 

Every single fight was a clusterfuck... the commentators lied out their ass left right and center overhyping everything... editing mistakes left right and centre... complete trash.

 

First two fights were MASSIVE early stoppages to make TV time, clearly fixed. Even if you don't see that as fight fan, you can see it in the way Gary Shaw talked to the fighters after, and the way Phil Baroni in particular was COMPLETELY stone-faced about the stoppage. He just didn't care--why? Because he knew the fight would be stopped early anyway.

 

Then the third fight, which was shaping up to be interesting, is ALSO stopped early due to a cut UNDER THE EYE. UNDER THE EYE. CLEARLY a call by CBS because of the potential for blood and further violence--cuz y'know, you don't want violence in mixed martial arts.

 

Then to make matters worse, Carano makes a complete fool of herself and the sport by basically admitting "ya I just won a fight against a supposed tough opponent despite being overweight, out of shape and putting no effort into the training... oh and thank God."

 

Then the title fight, which was shaping up to EASILY be the fight of the night and would've saved an otherwise shitty show, with Scott Smith showing a true warrior's spirit and getting the fans to rally behind him... Then he gets an unfortunate eyepoke, and that dumbass doctor who clearly isn't qualified to be a fight doctor AT ALL stops the fight, rather than giving Smith the time he needed to blink it off and keep fighting. Absolute bullshit.

 

Then the main event, which SHOULD'VE come second to Lawler/Smith, was an even bigger clusterfuck. Had it followed the pattern of the rest of the night, the fight would've been stopped and Kimbo would've LOST, he ate a DOZEN unanswered elbows on the ground, and you could just picture that crook Gary Shaw pleading the ref not to stop the fight--absolute bullshit.

 

Poor Mauro Renalo and Frank Shamrock... they spend the entire show pushing the "fighting spirit" and "warrior" and "gladiator" deal ("this isn't street fighting, this isn't thugs, this is the elite, the best athletes in the world"), only to have EliteXC turn around at every goddamn chance and talk about Kimbo Slice being a street fighter and a brawler... the entire show has a "thug" theme to it, with the hip hop and the stupid dancers and Kimbo and his "thug crew."

 

Anyone tuning in who wasn't an MMA fan before probably thinks exactly what they thought when they tuned into UFC in 1995: "buncha fuckin savages and thugs."

 

[Youth N Asia 0]

There's a reason why the UFC is #1. After tonight the UFC is to WWE as Elite XC is to backyard wrestling.

 

Not a knock on any of the fighters, but the whole show was ugly

 

I don't think MMA made any new fans tonight

[Darthtiki 0]

Then to make matters worse, Carano makes a complete fool of herself and the sport by basically admitting "ya I just won a fight against a supposed tough opponent despite being overweight, out of shape and putting no effort into the training... oh and thank God."

 

I'd rather have her being honest about her lack of prep, but I get where you're coming from and your overall review of the show had some good points.

 

I'm wondering how many CBS execs shat a brick when Gina pimped Gladiators

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Holy fuck, where to begin... that was the worst night in the history of MMA. Thank you EliteXC for setting the sport back 15 years. Dancing girls, shitty hip-hop music, "thug style" everywhere...

 

Every single fight was a clusterfuck... the commentators lied out their ass left right and center overhyping everything... editing mistakes left right and centre... complete trash.

 

First two fights were MASSIVE early stoppages to make TV time, clearly fixed. Even if you don't see that as fight fan, you can see it in the way Gary Shaw talked to the fighters after, and the way Phil Baroni in particular was COMPLETELY stone-faced about the stoppage. He just didn't care--why? Because he knew the fight would be stopped early anyway.

 

Then the third fight, which was shaping up to be interesting, is ALSO stopped early due to a cut UNDER THE EYE. UNDER THE EYE. CLEARLY a call by CBS because of the potential for blood and further violence--cuz y'know, you don't want violence in mixed martial arts.

 

Then to make matters worse, Carano makes a complete fool of herself and the sport by basically admitting "ya I just won a fight against a supposed tough opponent despite being overweight, out of shape and putting no effort into the training... oh and thank God."

 

Then the title fight, which was shaping up to EASILY be the fight of the night and would've saved an otherwise shitty show, with Scott Smith showing a true warrior's spirit and getting the fans to rally behind him... Then he gets an unfortunate eyepoke, and that dumbass doctor who clearly isn't qualified to be a fight doctor AT ALL stops the fight, rather than giving Smith the time he needed to blink it off and keep fighting. Absolute bullshit.

 

Then the main event, which SHOULD'VE come second to Lawler/Smith, was an even bigger clusterfuck. Had it followed the pattern of the rest of the night, the fight would've been stopped and Kimbo would've LOST, he ate a DOZEN unanswered elbows on the ground, and you could just picture that crook Gary Shaw pleading the ref not to stop the fight--absolute bullshit.

 

Poor Mauro Renalo and Frank Shamrock... they spend the entire show pushing the "fighting spirit" and "warrior" and "gladiator" deal ("this isn't street fighting, this isn't thugs, this is the elite, the best athletes in the world"), only to have EliteXC turn around at every goddamn chance and talk about Kimbo Slice being a street fighter and a brawler... the entire show has a "thug" theme to it, with the hip hop and the stupid dancers and Kimbo and his "thug crew."

 

Anyone tuning in who wasn't an MMA fan before probably thinks exactly what they thought when they tuned into UFC in 1995: "buncha fuckin savages and thugs."

 

This might go down as one of the bigger over-reactions to a show ever. Take notes.

[Hawk 34 0]

I think someone is on Dana's payroll.

[Youth N Asia 0]

That show did more for the UFC then they could have done themselves. Seeing how smooth a UFC show runs compared to this crap...

 

I am just waiting for the sports writer assholes who know nothing about MMA to rip on the entire sport for this awful show

[Lord of The Curry 0]

I'm not seeing a ton of awful but then again I wasn't expecting a lot after seeing Shaw embarrass himself at the press conference. The first three fights were perfectly acceptable MMA, no question that Lawler/Smith was BS and if you are shocked that Kimbo got leeway against Thompson in the second I can't really help you there. Can they improve on time? Absolutely but this was no worse then, say the Swick vs Burkman UFN in January.

[Youth N Asia 0]

I don't think the stripper dancers won them any points with anyone

[Lord of The Curry 0]

They don't offend me. I'm used to seeing them in previous EliteXC shows. I got over it fairly easily.

[Darthtiki 0]

I don't think the stripper dancers won them any points with anyone

 

I saw that and thought wait MMA is Nitro

[tigeraid 0]

I think someone is on Dana's payroll.

 

Not at all. I'm critical of anything that deserves it. In fact the last EliteXC show, with Frank Shamrock/Cung Le, was awesome, and I loved it. I've also critiqued poor UFC cards in the past.

 

This show would've just been a "half-assed, poor show" in any other situation, and I would not be "over-reacting" to it. But given that this is MMA's first "prime time exposure" and this is supposedly where "millions of people" will see MMA for the first time, it's a really, really bad example that hurts MMA way more than it helps.

[tigeraid 0]

I am just waiting for the sports writer assholes who know nothing about MMA to rip on the entire sport for this awful show

 

Indeed.

[Youth N Asia 0]

They don't offend me. I'm used to seeing them in previous EliteXC shows. I got over it fairly easily.

 

I've seen them before as well. I don't think they added a single bit of entertainment to the show.

 

I really wanted to like this show, awful reffing, and bad production hurt that

[Warriorfan 0]

I think the CBS execs will live with the cross-promotion as Gladiator fans will want to see Carano in a real fight. I have been looking at some of the reviews from what could be considered mainstream fans and it seems to be a hit. The saving grace seems to be Thompson's ear exploding and "blood/pus/skin falling to the mat in HD" "It was Awesome".

 

There were enough brawls and blood to satisfy most newcomers and I think they will probably return.

[RepoMan 0]

I'm sort of a newb to MMA, only having seen two or three UFC cards in the past. I just caught the last two matches. I loved Lawler/Smith, and was super pissed we didn't get to have a decsion. I just think the Dr. was being an overprotective cunt, but if it some bullshit to make me want to see a rematch, mission acomplished.

 

I wasn't impressed at all by Kimbo. If Thompson didn't have a freakish culiflower ear and could of got Kimbo back on the ground, he should have won the fight.

 

Overall, I'll defintly watch again. Despite the BS, I was really entertained, and I'm too poor to pay to see UFC PPVs.

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

If this Elite XC show bugged you, then you have clearly not seen the dregs of MMA. This was what it was. Elite XC is playing to a different audience then UFC seems to, which was reinforced by the crowd. I have not heard a more pissy, fickle group of fans in a long time. They'd go from booing Smith/Lawler to cheering the hell out of them, to booing them again within three minutes. It was goddamn baffling. These fans just want to see fighting, and Elite XC tried to deliver. You can harp on them playing to the MMA stereotype all you want, but in the end, it was UFC that left this gap in there for Elite to use. Regardless if this show hurts or helps MMA, Dana White and his insistence on having it his way all the time left this gap that Gary Shaw tried to fill. Elite XC does stupid shit, and the constant rap music got old, but I can't honestly say I am bothered by the dancers that everyone else seems to take offense with, when UFC is parading ring girls around the ring in usually equivalent or worse attire in the middle of fights. Same thing, different way of doing it.

 

The idea that these fights were stopped early for "TV time" as Tigeraid proposed is some of the more ludicrous claims I've ever heard, and I've seen quite a few. The fact that the show went NEARLY AN HOUR OVER proves this. If they were working things, that would not have happened.

 

Baroni was done. Why should Baroni care if he lost? The guy isn't PAID to win. He is entertaining. As long as Phil Baroni can be Phil Baroni, he'll be around. He doesn't care at all about winning or losing. Just another day for Baroni.

 

The Woman's fight was seemingly stopped because the other chick had a HYOGE mouse under her eye which seemed to be affecting her ability to see. There's also the fact that Gina had beaten her half to death right before then. If a fighter isn't responding well, then it's the correct decision to end the fight. The fight could have been quite frankly stopped when Gina was teeing off on her standing, and the chick had no response other then to punch herself in the face due to Gina hitting her arms. She was *done*.

 

Smith/Lawler, it's hard to say...but if Smith really did say that he couldn't see, then the blame lays upon him. That is fighter code 101 for "I'm done, get me out of here", which any doctor knows. Beyond that, we do not know how bad that was. If Lawler's fingernail got him just right, he could have pretty nasty damage to it. Really, any time a finger gets the eye, or a knee hits the junk, a fight can end. It all depends on the fighter, and how bad it is. Shit happens.

 

The main event was awesome. It was just two relatively unskilled guys throwing shots. Some people might not like it, I dig it when it's fast paced like this. Kimbo's punches looked good, and he was teeing off for most of the fight, but he's GOT to work on his sprawl if his ground game is that bad. The end was fine. I dunno what people want, really. Thompson was clearly on his way out anyway, and there's the fact that his ear was mutilated and pouring out goddamn blood to help spur the ref to get in there. I'm sorry, but if a fighter is about to go down and is suddenly almost SPURTING blood out of his fucking ear, I'd probably stop it anyway. Why risk it? He's going down, he may suffer permanent damage in the meantime.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

I've never seen a finger to the eye end a fight before.

 

At least not that I can remember.

[Youth N Asia 0]

I've never seen a finger to the eye end a fight before.

 

At least not that I can remember.

 

Yeah, it was a poke. They didn't even give him the 5 minutes they promised.

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

Don Frye/Gilbert Yvel.

 

Granted, that was more or less because Yvel wouldn't quit fouling ,but he raked Frye's eyes a couple times, leading to it.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

I meant accidental poke. I'm assuming that wasn't accidental.

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

He certainly claimed they were accidental.