Five Ounces of Pain 1.25.07: 10 Things You Should Know About EliteXC
Posted by Sam Caplan on 01.25.2007
"Five Ounces of Pain" isn't in the business of assuaging the feelings of television executives but Sam Caplan might have been off the mark a few weeks back when he skewered upstart MMA promotion Elite Xtreme Combat. Sam is back with "10 Things You Should Know About EliteXC" along with news on Kurt Angle's future in MMA, a slew of recent signings by PRIDE, new UFC matches booked, Jake Shields' future, and much more!
As a reporter who has covered the NFL and Major League Baseball, I'm sometimes taken aback by the way certain mixed martial arts companies conduct themselves in their dealings with the media.
The degree of professionalism in which the NFL and MLB display is different than that of a certain major MMA promotional company. That is, unless you're packing some heat as a reporter with "60 Minutes" or MSNBC. In which case you're actually acknowledged as being a real human being and the red carpet is rolled out for you.
The thing is, I'm not Scott Pelley and this isn't "Warrior Nation."
Let's be candid (as if we're anything but?), there's a big difference between being a journalist for 411 Mania and CBS News but not everyone I deal with in the MMA media feels it's necessary to remind me of that fact.
Based on my past experiences with certain MMA companies it's safe to say I was definitely surprised when contacted by the Showtime Network a few weeks back. They contacted me in reference to some comments I made about EliteXC in a previous column.
While I still stand by a lot of what I said in this very same space three weeks ago, in the end I had to admit that there was a lot more I didn't know about EliteXC compared to what I actually did know. I'm not especially proud to admit that fact but then again, up until recently Elite hadn't exactly done the best job in getting the word out.
"Five Ounces of Pain" isn't about assuaging the feelings of corporate executives. However, this column is about MMA, which is why I present to you ten things that you may not know about EliteXC but should:
1. Showtime is in the MMA business for the long haul. Even if EliteXC isn't an overnight success both Showtime and Elite are ready and willing to admit faults and make changes. The plan is to do four shows this year and with hopes of doing 6-8 next year and possibly 8-12 the following year.
2. Showtime isn't necessarily looking to conquer the MMA PPV market. Showtime's priority is to give monthly subscribers as much value as possible. The subscription-cable network wants to offer you the best matchups available without charging you $39.95 per card. Showtime also doesn't have a predetermined amount of pay-per-views planned and will only offer a PPV if they feel it's warranted.
3. The Frank Shamrock vs. Renzo Gracie match is signed, sealed, and set to be delivered live from Southaven, Mississippi on February 10. Even though there were some questions about Frank Shamrock's availability in regard to his relationship with Strikeforce the situation has been resolved. All indications are that his Strikeforce fight scheduled for April 20 against Phil Baroni has been postponed. Yes, it's safe to order Showtime.
4. The UFC and HBO view EliteXC and Showtime as legitimate threats. UFC president Dana White has said that EliteXC is being run by people who don't know MMA and that he doesn't consider the company to be competition. He may or may not be proven right but Zuffa was concerned enough about EliteXC that they went out and purchased select assets from the WFA in early December.
According to Showtime's Senior Vice President and General Manager for Sports Programming Ken Hershman, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson was on the verge of signing with EliteXC. In an e-mail from company president Gary Shaw, he told me that the Zuffa's decision to buy select assets from the WFA was made solely to block them from signing "Rampage."
All is far in love, war, and big business so Elite and Showtime aren't complaining about the UFC's move to snatch fighter contracts from the WFA. However, White's claim that he doesn't consider EliteXC to be competition doesn't carry much credibility since Zuffa's decision to spend millions on the WFA dictates otherwise.
Zuffa isn't alone in their concern about EliteXC, as HBO is standing right alongside them. HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg is no fan of MMA but HBO is about to jump on the MMA bandwagon to directly counter Showtime's move. They don't want Showtime to get too much of a head start in televising MMA out of fear of losing some of their market share.
5. The UFC was interested in airing fights on Showtime. The UFC's acquisition of assets from the WFA aren't the only actions that contradict White's critical comments of EliteXC and Showtime. According to Hershman, the UFC had been talking to Showtime about possibly televising fights up until early-December.
6. EliteXC is not biased against ground fighting. The company did a poor job of properly explaining their plans for a 15-second clock. Some people's understanding of the rule was that a 15-second clock would start ticking as soon as a fight goes to the ground. Not so. The clock will only commence if a referee feels a fighter isn't being active enough on the ground. The referee will issue a warning and will then have the option of activating the clock. The fighter will then have 15 seconds to begin to advance the fight while on the mat or be stood up.
When you stop and think about it, EliteXC's rules are more favorable towards action on the ground compared to other promotions. In other promotions, a fighter can be stood up with little or no warning whereas a fighter in EliteXC will have a formal warning and 15 seconds to convince the referee that the fight should stay on the mat.
7. Gina Carano is more than just a pretty face. Carano gets a lot of attention for her looks but she's a legitimate fighter and wants to be viewed as such. She made that clear to Shaw during a lunch meeting several weeks ago "Gina Carano, looks-wise, is a 12 to a 15," Shaw stated during a recent conference call. "I went to lunch with Gina. I told her I wanted her to be the woman's face of MMA because she is beautiful inside and outside. She let me talk like a promoter for 20 minutes and then she leaned over and I thought she was going to kiss me. Instead, she stuck her finger by my nose and said, ‘I heard you, but let me tell you something. I can fight.'"
8. The undercard will be worth watching. While the undercard on February 10 lacks star power outside of David Loiseau, there are some interesting stories worth watching. K.J. Noons vs. Charles "Krazy Horse" Bennett stands to be a pier six brawl that could steal the show. Noons has a strong boxing background and has signed boxing and mixed martial arts contracts with Shaw. Shaw believes Noons could be the first fighter to ever simultaneously hold titles in MMA and boxing. Scheduled to fight on the preliminary card is Edson Berto. Edson's father is a mixed martial artist and his brother is Andre Berto, one of the top young prospects in boxing. I've never seen Edson fight but I've watched his brother box, and if he's half as good as Andre then he has a bright future in MMA. Seth Kleinbeck and Javier "Showtime" Vazquez are also on the preliminary card. Kleinbeck is a licensed physician while Vazquez was once a top fighter who will be fighting for the first time in three years after his career was sidetracked by injuries.
9. Talent acquisition announcements are forthcoming.EliteXC is pleased with the lineup for their first card but not everyone is blown away by it. Whether you're happy with their roster or not look for Elite to continue to build their roster up. Shaw has assured me that the company is in negotiations with several fighters and that announcements are forthcoming. I've asked Shaw several times about Brandon Vera and while he's denied having had contract talks with him, he did mention that Vera "is a great guy outside the cage." That means he's had to have spoken with Vera at some point.
10. Mario Lopez and Bill Goldberg are only a part of the announce team. When Lopez and Goldberg were announced as Showtime's commentators for the February 10 event no mention was made of their roles. Some of us (myself included) falsely concluded that they would be the lone broadcasters in the booth. However, Lopez will be an arena correspondent while Goldberg will be joined by a yet to be announced play-by-play announcer.
EliteXC isn't trying to dethrone the UFC. Instead they just want be to be a viable alternative, which is something that every true fan of MMA should be rooting for.
News & Notes:
• Kurt Angle was an impromptu guest Tuesday on the "Bubbla the Love Sponge Show" on Sirius Satellite Radio. Kurt called to respond to a guest that was on in a previous segment who was talking about Angle's chances in MMA (his comments weren't favorable). According to Angle, he's going to be involved in an MMA-related event within 6-12 months. He said the company he's talking to right now "is a company working with Showtime." One can only assume he was referring to EliteXC.
• While on the topic of pro wrestlers in MMA, don't be surprised if EliteXC president Gary Shaw tries to get MMA color commentator and former pro wrestler/NFL football player Bill Goldberg to fight for the company by late-2007 or early-2008. Goldberg studied traditional martial arts during his wrestling career and has trained in mixed martial arts since leaving wrestling.
• UFC president Dana White was the guest at a UFC Fight Club member chat last week. When asked about a lack of coverage of the UFC by ESPN, White responded, "We are working on that right now. I promise I will have the ESPN thing fixed this year." He was also asked about the possibility of Wanderlei Silva returning to the UFC, to which White replied, "I would love to have Silva in the UFC. It's always my goal to get the best fighters in the World to fight for us. Hopefully we will see that fight in 2007." We can only assume when he said "that fight" he was referring to Silva vs. Chuck Liddell. For an extended version of the chat transcript, check out: caplanmma.blogspot.com
• UFC 70 is tentatively scheduled to take place on April 21 in Manchester, U.K. White has already confirmed that Michael Bisping will be on the card and there also are plans to have both Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin fight in separate bouts.
• We were premature in our reporting last week that Caol Uno has re-signed with the UFC and will fight Joe Stevenson at UFC 68. While the UFC is talking to Uno, a deal has yet to be officially signed. If Uno does sign he could still end up fighting Stevenson at UFC 69 on April 7 in Houston, Texas.
• Added to UFC 68 is Renato "Babalu" Sobral vs. Jason Lambert. This will be Sobral's first MMA bout since losing to Chuck Liddell at UFC 62 back in August. A win could put Sobral in line to fight Tito Ortiz.
• In other UFC fight news, Matt Hamill's opponent for UFC 68 has been changed from David Heath to Rex Holman. Heath, who is undefeated, would have been a tough challenge for Hamill. However, Holman isn't exactly a tomato can. He's 4-1 in his MMA career and is a former NCAA wrestling champion.
• Production on the fifth season of "The Ultimate Fighter" began on Monday. The new season will focus solely on lightweights with Jen Pulver and B.J. Penn serving as coaches. Nathan Diaz (Nick's younger brother) and Matt Wiman are rumored to be a part of the cast. The season premiere is scheduled for April 5.
• The season premiere for the fifth season of "The Ultimate Fighter" will be preceded by "UFC Fight Night 9." There's talk that Pete Sell could face Thales Leites and that Kendall Grove will fight Alan Belcher. Kenny Florian is already slated to battle Dokonjonosuke Mishima and Wilson Gouveia may end up fighting Hector Ramirez. The Luke Cummo vs. Josh Haynes bout talked about last week could be moved to UFC 69.
• According to Tito Ortiz's web site, his long-awaited exhibition boxing match against Dana White will take place on March 24.
• According to White, the UFC has until September to schedule Brandon Vera for the remaining fight left on his contract.
• Instead of holding their fights inside of an eight-sided cage EliteXC will be holding fights inside of a round cage.
• Jake Shields is expected to fight for BodogFIGHT in February and then participate in EliteXC's second card on Showtime this May, which possibly could be held in Atlantic City, NJ.
• A week after signing with EliteXC, Nick Diaz signed a two fight deal with PRIDE last week. Diaz will debut for PRIDE at PRIDE 33 in Las Vegas on February 24. His EliteXC debut will take place on their May card.
• Diaz's signing is just one in a slew of recent talent acquisitions by PRIDE. We mentioned James Te Huna several weeks back but the company has also inked Frank Trigg, Travis Wiuff, Joe Doerkson, Josh Neer, and Mac Danzig. Cung Le has not officially signed a contract but it's considered a formality that he'll be fighting at PRIDE 33.
• Four matches for PRIDE 33 have been announced in addition to the main event of Wanderlei Silva vs. Dan Henderson II. Takanori Gomi will fight Nick Diaz at 160 lbs. in a non-title match. Trigg is slated to fight Kazuo Misaki, Wiuff will take on Kazuhiro Nakamura and Danzig is scheduled to face Hayato Sakurai.
• Various reports claim that Joachim Hansen has re-signed with PRIDE for five fights. Hansen is expected to be one of the favorites to win PRIDE's Lightweight Grand Prix tournament later this year.
• "Five Ounces of Pain" would like to wish a speedy recovery to Kevin Randleman. Randleman has been hospitalized with an undisclosed ailment, according to the Nevada State Athletic Commission. This is the latest in a string of health issues for Randleman, who broke his neck in 2003 and suffered a collapsed lung in 2006.
• The Fedor Emelianenko vs. Jeff Monson bout scheduled to take place for BodogFIGHT is off. Stepping in for Monson will be Matt Lindland. The fight could take place in St. Petersburg, Russia this April. Lindland announced last week that he's signed a three fight deal with Bodog and confirmed his first fight for the company will be against Fedor. Lindland, who fights middleweight, will have to beef up and fight as a heavyweight.
• World Extreme Cagefighting and the cable television network Versus formally announced their partnership last week. As a part of the deal, which starts this summer, Versus will televise three live WEC fight cards in addition to six one-hour highlight shows.
• Versus will also be televising at least 27 hours of Chuck Norris' World Combat League in 2007, starting on January 25. The WCL is as about as close to MMA as MTV's "Final Fu" but I thought I'd give it a mention anyway.
• The IFL reached a pact with Warner Home Video earlier this week to have its DVD releases distributed by the company.
Sam Caplan is a Philadelphia-based sports talk show host and freelance sportswriter. He's also an amateur mixed martial artist (and we do mean amateur) who trains out of the Mixed Martial Arts Academy of Philadelphia. Sam can be reached via e-mail at SCaplan8@comcast.net or you can check out his blog at: caplanmma.blogspot.com
