My Take On MMA 6.02.08: Final CBS/EliteXC Saturday Night Fights (5.31.08) Thoughts

Posted by Larry Csonka on 06.02.2008

EliteXC debuted on CBS to very mixed reaction. All right, that may have been the understatement of the year.



So this was it. EliteXC got the golden goose handed to them, a real primetime network TV deal to put on their fights and to show people that the UFC wasn't the only game in town. They had the face of ladies MMA in Gina Carano on the show, a Middleweight Title Bout with two guys that like to hang and bang as well as the "Internet Phenom" that is Kimbo Slice. Would the show be a success for the promotion or would they fail miserably?


Final CBS/EliteXC Saturday Night Fights (5.31.08) Thoughts~!:


The Fight: HEAVYWEIGHT BOUT - Brett Rogers (6-0) vs. Jon Murphy (4-2)
My Pick: Brett Rogers, Strikes, RD1
The Result: Brett Rogers via RD1 (1:01) TKO
Final Thoughts: Brett Rogers was an angry young man here, simply for the fact that he defeated Thompson with ease, but Thompson gets to main event the show. I would be pissed as well. This was unfortunate for Jon Murphy because Rogers took him out quickly. We got a minute of sloppy striking and a ref stoppage that looked right, for the fact that when Murphy hit the ground Rogers could have really messed him up. It was a fine opener with the (T)KO start they wanted. My only perfect prediction of the night.
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 6.0


The Fight: MIDDLEWEIGHT BOUT - Phil Baroni (10-9) vs. Joey Villasenor (25-6)
My Pick: Villasenor, Dec
The Result: Joey Villasenor via RD1 (1:11) TKO
Final Thoughts: This was a fight I was looking forward to. Baroni is a great talker, very charismatic and is a threat. I was hoping for a good showing here from him. I also like Joey Villasenor, and a win for him could mean a title shot coming soon, a shot at the title he lost. Baroni's pro wrestling entrance is great by the way. I thought Villasenor was in big trouble early as Baroni caught a kick and took him down right away. But Baroni couldn't capitalize, and that would be his only chance to do so. Villasenor would work from a guillotine to, drop Baroni with a right and then batter him against the cage for the stoppage. Villasenor looked awesome here, Baroni, the opposite of awesome. Unfortunately for Villasenor he will have to wait for a title shot due to the no contest in the title bout later in this show, but with three string victories in a row he is making a case to get the title back. As for Baroni he is now 10-10, and officially heading towards the "can" category. But at least he is a can that can talk and sell a fight. Make the move to pro wrestling Phil, you'd be great.
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 7.0


The Fight: WOMEN'S 145lb BOUT - Gina Carano (5-0) vs. Kaitlin Young (4-1)
My Pick: Kaitlin Young, Strikes, RD2
The Result: Gina Carano via RD2 TKO (Doctor's Stoppage)
Final Thoughts: Before I talk about the fight, I was to talk about Carano missing weight again. Now I know that she had a short training camp, I know that she was weighing in at around 155lbs for American Gladiators; but the fact is that this is not a first time thing with her. This is a3rd or fourth time thing with her having issues with making weight. Now, most women's divisions; from what I have seen, compete at 135lbs. But Gary Shaw decided to customize the division for Carano and make it 140lbs. This is nothing new, as he also tried to customize the Lightweight division for Diaz. Tat didn't exactly work out so well though. The point is that the majority of the ladies walk around between 135-140, and some have to come up in weight to face a bigger Carano. And then you have her coming in here nearly FIVE POUNDS over the limit. Sure she gets penalized, but she also gets a weight advantage. I am waiting for Gary Shaw to adjust the weight again for Carano's next fight. For someone who is supposed to be the face of women's MMA, she sure didn't seem all that broken up about missing weight.

All right, rant over and time to discuss the fight. I felt that Young was a dangerous opponent for Carano, since Carano had the short camp and Young has proven that she has KO power. The first round of the fight was a great round, a bit sloppy, but they went out there to hang and bang and they did so. They both connected well, they both got takedowns and I had the round even. The second round saw Carano looking very tired, and this is where I thought Young would be able to take advantage. Carano was able to keep her distance with the straight kicks very well, and then started to punish Young as she was landing good clean power shots. Near the end of the round Carano got her down, had the choke but Young survived and was saved by the bell. A tale of two rounds as this was domination by Carnao, and I had her taking it 10-8. Unfortunately we didn't get the third round, due to the doctor stopping the bout. Young's left eye was busted up, mostly under the eye and I didn't except the stoppage. I would guess the doctor thought it was a danger to her sight. A great fight, I just wish it could have gone to the third round.
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 7.5


The Fight: ELITEXC MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE BOUT - Robbie Lawler © (15-4) vs. Scott Smith (15-4)
My Pick: Robbie Lawler, Strikes, RD3
The Result: No Contest RD3 (3:26)
Final Thoughts: This was another fight I was really looking forward to. Lawler has worked so hard to rebuild his career after his initial UFC run and has really impressed me. Smith loves to throw bombs, and combined with Lawler I thought we would see a war, and we did. Round one started off largely even for the first few minutes as both men were connecting after a little feeling out, which the audience shit on because they just wanted instant gratification. The later part of the round belonged to Lawler as he was landing kicks and punches and doing good damage. The end of the round saw a flying knee and a barrage of punches from Lawler as the bell rang, saving Smith in my opinion. But it apparently woke Smith up as round two was his. Landing good shots, great kicks and really controlling Lawler. This was a great fight.

Lawler was busted open in round three, but his jabs were cleanly getting through. As he went to block a shot he poked Smith in the eye and we had a time out, which would end up signaling the end of the fight. This was very unfortunate and not what Elite needed on their first prime time special, as the crowd was audibly pissed, chanting bullshit. Credit to Gary Shaw, who said that both guys were getting paid their win bonus due to the stoppage. Some will disagree, but I have to agree with the stoppage for one reason. Smith didn't ask for his time first, he said that he couldn't see two times. Once you tell the doctor that, you're done. Unfortunately Smith misspoke and the fight was stopped. I didn't like it, but those are the breaks. This was a great fight and I cannot wait to see the rematch.
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 8.0


The Fight: HEAVYWEIGHT BOUT - Kimbo Slice (2-0) vs. James Thompson (16-8)
My Pick: KIMBO, Strikes, RD1
The Result: Kimbo Slice via RD3 TKO
Final Thoughts: When Thompson came to the ring, I was discussing the show with Harrison and we both noticed the ear made alien jokes, said it should have been drained and that it was something that could cost him the fight. Seriously, why give a striker another entire head to punch at? Thompson, as I already mentioned lost his last fight to Brett Rogers. Most people thought nothing of this fight. Thompson is notorious for having no chin, pretty terrible wrestling, rather horrible jiu-jitsu, and no conditioning. In theory the perfect man to feed to Kimbo Slice.

Round one was a fascinating round. Thompson was able to get Kimbo to the ground, but the fact that Kimbo is so strong and that he has been training allowed him escapes, that quite honestly surprised me. It was an exciting first round, and a round that I had Thompson winning. But I give Kimbo a lot of credit for the work he did. Round two was Thompson taking Kimbo down again, but the real story was when we hit 2-minutes left. Thompson had Kimbo down, in little brother position most of the time, and while Thompson was in no position power wise to knock out Kimbo from here, he hit an insane amount of punches during this time, punches that Kimbo was not answering. He was trying to push off, but Thompson was getting short shots with the fist and elbow. As the round ended, Thompson must have hit 30 shots to the head of Kimbo. The fact that the fight wasn't stopped here is what I found ridiculous. People started claiming that Kimbo was being protected, and really, looking at this it is hard to defend against that stance.

So with Thompson up two rounds to nothing, Kimbo HAD to KO him, which didn't look likely because Kimbo looked blown to hell and was slow off of the stool. They circled and then Kimbo hit the alien life form that was Thompson's cauliflower ear and it EXPLODED; a truly nasty sight. Kimbo unloaded with 3-5 really hard shots and Big Dan the official made the stoppage. Now, I will say that this, to me, wasn't THAT horrible of a stoppage. He made the man's ear explode, the ear looked as if it was going to fall off, he took four or so bad shots in front of the ref and it was stopped. I can buy this, but my issue goes back to the fact that it should have been stopped in round 2 when Thompson hit Kimbo 543 times in a row.

A big problem they have now is that a man with no chin, pretty terrible wrestling, rather horrible jiu-jitsu, and no conditioning totally exposed the "Internet Phenom" and man that they were pushing as their big deal. And the live crowd knew it as they boo'd Kimbo's post fight comments. Also, God bless Gus Johnson but you could tell that he was not happy as he yelled on commentary that Thompson wasn't done. This man was pissed off. People saw this as bullshit and were not happy with it. They needed Kimbo to go out there, be Kimbo, knock a man out in the first round and give a charismatic post fight interview. That didn't happen in any way, shape or form. That being said, this was very entertaining for all of the wrong ways.

Here are my suggestions for Kimbo's next two opponents. Butterbean, Ken Shamrock or Bo Cantrell…in a mask. I hear Dan Severn's working for cheap these days. I say this now, but watch them make the Shamrock fight, Ken heel hook him, win and then personally tell me to fuck off.
Larry's Enjoyment Index: 4.0 (For the ear EXPLOSION~!)

The Overall:
Best Fight(s): ELITEXC MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE BOUT - Robbie Lawler © (15-4) vs. Scott Smith (15-4) 8.0
Worst Fight: HEAVYWEIGHT BOUT - Kimbo Slice (2-0) vs. James Thompson (16-8) 4.0
Final Thoughts: Well it wasn't a homerun for Elite, but it also wasn't the worst MMA show I have ever seen, especially after the YAMMA debacle. The Frank Shamrock video package that explained the finer points of MMA, some of the MMA terminology people would be hearing as well as the ways of victory was a smart video package to run. Gus Johnson was great on commentary and seemed genuinely excited to be doing the show. Some didn't like it, but the CBS presentation was clean and crisp and made the show have a nice feel to it.

Unfortunately I feel that people were turned away due to the questionable stoppages, judging by emails and the comment section. We'll have to see what show number 2 holds for the promotion, if there is a show 2. As of now the original plan for a second CBS show on July 26th appears to be off. Basically they realized that don't have the star power to come back that fast, especially with shows scheduled for mid-June and I believe mid-July. I will say that the ratings growth was outstanding, and in all of the right demographics. But whether or not people come back will be the question.

Show Score: 6.0