EliteXC has had its last show; promotion to fold

[Lord of The Curry 0]

With ProElite cancelling upcoming EliteXC and Cage Rage events the future doesn't look good for the mixed martial arts corporation.

 

Today ProElite requested an extension on their SEC filings (source)

 

Some significant quotes from the filing:

 

"The Company is spending significant time and resources seeking required financing, including significant efforts by the financial and accounting staff, and as a result is unable to complete the consolidated financial reporting needed to file our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2008 with the Securities and Exchange Commission by the deadline without unreasonable effort and expense. Such efforts include analysis of impairment of goodwill and acquired intangible assets, as described further below.

 

Therefore, the Company requests additional time to file its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2008.

 

The Company expects to file its Quarterly Report by August 19, 2008."

 

"Even if the Company successfully closes on such financing, it expects to report in its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q that its capital resources are sufficient only until the end of the year, and only if the Company makes significant reductions in operations and expenditures. The Company is also actively seeking additional financing beyond the $3.0 million to enable the Company to execute its operating plans without significant reductions in operations, but there is no assurance as to whether any such financing will be available on reasonable terms or at all."

 

 

If it goes under it'll also takes King of The Cage, Cage Rage, Rumble on The Rock and SpiritMC with them. So, that leaves UFC....WEC. Maybe Affliction. Yikes.

[Guest]

It was only a matter of time.

 

Its been really real.

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

Zach Arnold basically summed it up with his post last night.

 

If Elite XC goes under, they will have done what UFC would have never done: Kill any place in MMA for young fighters to fight as a whole. Elite XC bought up so many of the small promotions that UFC will have a virtual monopoly on everything now. White was on record as saying he'd never target the King of the Cage's or Cage Rage's, or any of them because they were useful for grooming talent for UFC. Elite XC targeted them all.

 

Elite XC's plan seemed to be to buy all these companies and then use it to keep fighters from UFC, mainly young ones. A good idea in theory, kind of the "starve them out" idea...but the problem is, Elite XC has never been financially viable, and they put themselves in the hole big time. You can't "starve them out" when you are bleeding to death.

 

If the October show does not excel and convinces CBS to help them more, their done.

 

And unless a miracle happens, I wouldn't count on Affliction being viable for much longer.

 

People in MMA, even fans sometimes fail to realize that it really doesn't matter who the best fighters in the world are or how great your cards are. What matters is money. These groups like Affliction being the prime example just thought if they got the best fighters they could, they'd make money. It just doesn't work that way.

 

DREAM's on death's door as well. If the next show's rating is not a success, they will have funding cut. They NEED the next show to be a rating's success to survive. It does not look good. With DREAM dead, the floodgates open on alot of talent there as well. UFC will have pick of the litter...but I don't expect them to sign everyone. How could you? UFC's already got a huge roster without figuring in Elite's talent, or DREAM's or any of that.

 

For the fighter's this is a nightmare. Pretty soon it will be UFC and WEC alone. And they can't employ *EVERYONE*.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

This sounds retarded but I'll throw it out there: Would Dana (or Zuffa money in general) ever buy/rebuild another promotion?

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

I could see it. WEC is proving to be a success.

 

If all these promotions fold, they may HAVE to. I can't see Dana knowingly letting guys like Alvarez and Hansen sit on the sideline. If nothing else, Dana's a good man to the fighters. He'll feel to some extent that he has to employ some of these people.

 

The problem is identity. WEC is for smaller fighters. What would the third promotion be? Exactly like UFC? You'd be competing with yourself. Maybe if you did it in another market, but again...Where? UK? That may work. Japan if DREAM goes down is *DEAD*, plus it'd never work there.

 

Another option would be severely scale up the amount of UFC shows. UFC could easily pull off some type of stunt where it's an event every two/three weeks without fail. It wouldn't really be hard at all, and then overload each show with guys. That might work.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Well, Hansen rejected their offer but yeah I get what you're saying.

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

The only other promotion in the world that will be able to sign these people will be Sengoku, which I dunno how has seemingly lived through all this. Sengoku really doesn't have any expectations like DREAM did, and they don't really employ anyone that costs a lot. So while they don't sell out, they don't seem to be bleeding money severely.

 

I could see Hansen or Eddie Alvarez ending up there, depending on their demands. Most of the DREAM Japanese talent probably will go there, again, depending on price. I don't see Yoshida breaking his company just to sign a few names. The man main evented against MAURICE SMITH for gods sake.

 

If Sengoku goes down, then there's no one left. In the entire world. Unless you consider Pancrase or DEEP within the equasion, and quite frankly I do not. They are what they are. They are nothing more then that.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Clearly Mark Pavelich and Stephane Patry are forming an uber-sleazy Canadian Alliance and about to make their move.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

....Financed by Calvin Ayre. The Triforce of Sleaze shall be completed, as the prophecy foretold. Not even Dana White at male pattern baldness/checkered sports coat-wearing best could top that.

 

I am all for the destruction of EXC. The less work Mauro Ranallo gets, the better.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Truly, a tumultuous time for fans of the pugilistic arts, proverbially speaking, of course. Submission magician, Croatian sensation, durka durka durk.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Quicker then a Las Vegas marriage.

[The Niggardly King 0]

You know what would be the ultimate MMA commentary team that would make me just mute whole fucking events? Ranallo, Trigg, and Couture. If those three ever announce an event together... I don't even wanna think about it.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Wha? Randy is so much better than those two. Him and Bas commentating Fedor/Nog III was awesome.

 

The UFC puts on so many shows now that it doesn't really matter to me if we lose EXC, or Affliction. It's nice to have those other promotions for some flavour once and a while, but they all run shows so infrequently and don't really have a system in place to build actual divisions, that they won't really be missed.

[Lei Tong 0]

*insert typical "Who didn't see this coming?" comment*

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

Shotime has apparently made an offer to buy Elite XC 100% outright. This will be interesting to watch. Elite XC, even if they do a good rating on this upcoming show, are still bleeding money. And if Shotime does buy them then what happens to the CBS deal?

 

Intriguing.

[Guest]

Showtime's parent company is CBS, so, um, likely there would be more discretion in what makes it to the big boy network and what doesn't. It would be fun.

[BruiserKC 0]

I know we had the EliteXC Heat thread but thought this was more appropriate here, especially in light of their gravy train getting KTFO'ed.

 

This from Yahoo Sports and Dan Wetzel.

 

 

Petruzelli in center of Elite XC storm

 

 

Seth Petruzelli, after going from nobody to national celebrity for punching out Kimbo Slice, went on the radio Monday. He delivered a shot potentially more powerful than anything he threw Saturday.

 

He said his original plan against Kimbo was to get him to the ground and exploit his weak wrestling skills and submission defense. It made more sense than trading punches with a street brawler who outweighed him by 30 pounds. Petruzelli said he changed his mind though.

 

“The promoters kind of hinted to me, and they gave me the money to stand and trade with him,” he told “The Monsters in Orlando” radio show. “They didn’t want me to take him down, let’s just put it that way. It was worth my while to try to stand up and punch with him.”

 

The quote spoke of an attempt to if not rig the fight, then make it favorable for Slice, the main star and cash cow of the EliteXC promotion.

 

Such an action would be a disaster for mixed martial arts as it attempts to convince mainstream audiences it isn’t scripted pro wrestling or a farcical Toughman contest. If EliteXC gave Petruzelli money to fight one way, it would open itself to all sorts of investigations.

 

The allegation rocketed around the country, making bigger post-fight news than pictures of Petruzelli in drag (more on that later. Needless to say, it’s been a wild couple of days for him).

 

EliteXC’s Jared Shaw immediately denied the fixing charge to Yahoo! Sports and fellow executive Jeremy Lappen did the same to Sherdog.com.

 

Tuesday, Petruzelli said he got the story confused.

 

“What that meant was they offer a knockout bonus, submission bonuses, fight of the night bonuses,” Petruzelli said in a phone interview. “I think it just got misconstrued. I wanted to have an exciting fight and I wanted the knock out bonus so I wanted to keep it standing.”

 

So did they say anything about keeping the fight off the ground?

 

“They just said, ‘we want to see an exciting fight no matter what happens.’ I took it as I wanted the knockout bonus.”

 

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That explanation won’t appease some conspiracy theorists, if only because the original statement sounds more believable.

 

Then there is the general distrust of the organization, where the cards often seem more show than sport. Although the last two televised cards were mostly strong, memories remain of exploding cauliflower ears, silly introductions and using the popular but unproven Slice as a headliner.

 

Besides, it’s no secret Elite XC had a vested interest in Kimbo winning. Jared Shaw even charged the cage and screamed at the referee that Slice had been hit illegally. Shaw has since apologized for that reaction.

 

“He spent a lot of money to build up Kimbo,” Petruzelli said. “If I saw one of my guys I spent millions on getting his face pounded I’d get upset also.”

 

Then there’s CBS, which gave up any pretense of journalism in favor of unseemly propaganda.

 

The network previously embarrassed itself by comparing Kimbo to great sports figures such as Tiger Woods. This time, Gus Johnson’s declaration that Petruzelli’s triumph was “the most incredible victory in the history of mixed martial arts” was laughably ridiculous.

 

The worst was Johnson repeating the party line that Slice didn’t hesitate to switch opponents from an injured Ken Shamrock. That was simply a lie. Slice demanded a cash bonus on top of his $500,000 payout just to get in the cage with Petruzelli, according to Lappen.

 

“We made it up to him,” Lappen said.

 

For a stretch, the replacement wasn’t going to be Petruzelli but Frank Shamrock, Ken’s brother. Frank said Saturday he was even cleared by the Florida commission to fight. Lappen said he didn’t think that was true, although he did admit there were discussions with Frank.

 

CBS was certainly privy to that information since Frank was at the arena as its color commentator. It was never mentioned on the air though. Frank told Yahoo! Sports Saturday it was CBS officials who blocked him from taking on Slice.

 

When the broadcasts have no objectivity, perspective or news value and the promoters are openly rooting for one fighter and not the other, how can anyone believe anything these guys say or do?

 

 

 

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For his part, Petruzelli said he wishes he hadn’t made the original comment. He swears no one from EliteXC has called him and pressured a retraction.

 

The entire thing has put a damper on his sudden surge of fame. That and the pictures on the internet of him in drag, of course.

 

“Man, people aren’t going to let those down, are they?” he said. “Everything in costumes was (for) Halloween. I always dress in crazy stuff. All the leather and that sort of stuff, it’s all done in fun.

 

“I want to put that to rest right now. I’m officially 100 percent not gay,” he said. “I’ve been happily married for two years and been with her for five years.”

 

He laughed at the entire speculation. He laughed at a lot of things Tuesday. And who can blame him? Last week he was a part-time fighter who was competing on the non-televised undercard for a four-figure payout. His main job was owner of a Smoothie King stand.

 

Now he’s an overnight celebrity after 4.59 million people watched him TKO Kimbo.

 

He just wishes he could do it again. He’s begging for a rematch and the big payout it would bring.

 

“But I don’t think he was receptive to that,” Petruzelli said. “Kimbo doesn’t want the rematch. He wants no part of that.”

 

He said that dropping Slice with a single short right despite leaning back on one foot was no fluke and he can do it again.

 

While Kimbo had a reputation for taking punches from his YouTube videos – he often let guys take free shots that didn’t faze him – Petruzelli said there’s a big difference between a professional fighter and those dudes.

 

“The thing is, they are arm-punching,” Petruzelli said. “It’s like little flicks with their arms. There’s no weight behind it, there’s no turning of the hips. It’s how you throw it and where you throw it.

 

“If we fight again, the same thing will happen.”

 

EliteXC should make it happen. Only this time demand its executives stay seated and its broadcast partner at least attempt professionalism.

 

Everyone could use the dose of credibility.

 

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If this is true, EliteXC is screwed. UFC has gone out of their way to make sure people know that MMA is legit and if EliteXC did do this to protect their gravy train, the whole of MMA takes a serious blow for its credibility.

 

[Warriorfan 0]

I don't think things are that dire in terms of the damage that Petruzelli has caused qith his comments. I have been watching ESPN and even the all sports news version hasn't made much of the loss besides the PTI guys on Monday; and the potential fixing has not been mentioned at all.

 

I think they ride this out and feed Kimbo and debut Ortiz on the same show. Hotshot the Pay-Per view between the right away and try to gain some traction.

 

The other scenario which is highly unlikely given Petruzelli's candor; is that they have Petruzelli fight Ortiz and still give Kimbo a can. Ortiz should win but if he doesn't Petruzelli comes off as the real thing and you can make the rematch with Kimbo.

 

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Elite XC down for the count

 

Several fighters with Elite XC have gotten word today the promotion is down for the count after CBS pulled out of talks to purchase the company. The death of the deal was the Seth Petruzelli statements causing the investigation by the Florida Boxing Commission on the Kimbo vs. Petruzelli fight.

 

As of this moment, the Nov. 8 show in Reno has not been officially canceled, but that word is expected shortly. Fighters on the show have gotten word that the show is off.

 

Members only on F4.

[BUTT 0]

Someone should write a book about this whole story when it's over. It's absolutely amazing that what was supposed to be their biggest show ever turned out to be their death knell. I knew watching it that it was the beginning of the end, but I didn't know it actually WAS the end. Just freakin' incredible.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Goddamnit Shamrock, look what you did.

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

If what Seth Petruzelli said about Elite XC is true, then they deserved to die. It's one thing to offer bonuses, or try to encourage fighters to try and win, but it's an entirely different matter to try and influence directly the fight.

 

The fact is, Kimbo was fucked no matter what happened, so really, Elite XC just shot themselves in the face for no reason.

 

Dave Meltzer has been dropping hints that a form of this happens in UFC as well. He's being cryptic for a reason, referring to the "undisclosed bonuses" UFC hands out. If they do anything to this level, only Dave knows, and for his own career he's not saying. I would doubt they do, because it's like playing with fire, but it's hard to say. The fact that UFC keeps these bonuses completely under wraps is suspicious to say the least.

[Youth N Asia 0]

So does this mean Dana's going to bring in Kimbo? He talks so much shit about guys...till he signs them

[The Niggardly King 0]

More like that pink haired faggot...

 

THEY ALMOST HAD TITO!

 

That was such a magical night to witness. The announcement, and the uninterested and almost sad Kimbo interview will forever be a part of the legacy.

 

 

 

 

[Lord of The Curry 0]

I don't think Dana's shit-talked and then subsequently signed anybody as bad as what he's said about Kimbo.

[The Niggardly King 0]

I could imagine if he they ever bring in Kimbo, they would try and feed him to his top HW prospects outside of Lesnar. Cain and Carwin.

[geniusMoment 0]

So is Gina done then? She can't go to UFC

[The Niggardly King 0]

Man no Alvarez/Diaz fight :(

 

It'll be interesting to see Lawler back in the UFC. I also can't wait to see Shields get back down to earth when he finally steps into the Octagon.

[Youth N Asia 0]

yeah, Lawler's career has jump started back up, he still has options, but I would like to see him return to the UFC

[Lord of The Curry 0]

In terms of top-shelf competition UFC would be stupid not to sign Antonio Silva, Lawler and Shields at the very least. I'd also like to see them bring in Rafael Feijao, Joey Villasenor and maybe even some of the FW's to WEC.