Mixed Martial B0nes

EliteXC Saturday Night Fights came and went like wildfire on the networks this weekend. Let’s just get this out of the way: EliteXC and CBS have a real winner here. This event was an unquestionable success. Never mind what all the UFC/WEC elitists are saying on the radio and the Interwebs… Kimbo brought his show to Network TV and smashed the living daylights out of the ratings. We are going to see more of EliteXC.

I say, bring it on! Sure, there was crap TV and a bunch of crap fights. But, there was some great and compelling action as well. The hardcore UFC audience is having fits right now but EliteXC and CBS have the last laugh because the hardcore freaks *TUNED IN*!!! Sure they hated it! All three excruciating hours of it and when it comes back (and it WILL) they will hate the next three hours of it too. Honestly, what were you going to watch on Saturday night? Hockey??!!? They’re battling for the Stanley Cup and didn’t get the ratings that this thing did! No, hard core freaks had better hope that with the increased exposure, EliteXC attracts better fighters. So, what the freak (as in SHOW) happened?

Brett “The Grim” Rogers vs. Jon Murphy After waiting for what seemed forever (20 plus minutes of “this is MMA,” (they could have just read MY intro), a little bio and trash talking from both the fighters, then a WWE-esque walk to the cage with rappers and ring girls, plus analysis and whatnot from the announcers) we finally get to see the first fight. Every fight after this would enjoy the same treatment. I actually kind of like the ring girls… wait. Fighting. Oh yeah, it was mostly a pretty tame standup game with a wicked right coming from The Grim to knockout Murphy early in the first round. Jon really wasn’t looking too good and I think the doctors did him a favor even though a lot of UFC purists thought he could continue. Not much to go on here as far as whether these two are any good. We’ll have to see who they get matched up with next.

Joey Villasenor vs. Phil “The New York Badass” Baroni I’m still sorry. Phil’s nickname “New York Badass,” earned him the beatdown that I predicted. It happened a few minutes into the first like the earlier fight. I must admit, it wasn’t *that* much of a beatdown. The ref stopped it as soon as he saw blood gushing from Badass’ nose. The doctors swarmed in on him as well and forced him in his seat even when he wanted to stand up to congratulate VIllasenor. So this is another source of hardcore UFCfanboy criticism. I think that since this is playing on Network TV you can’t have the same standards of bloodiness that you can on basic cable. They’re just protecting their investment folks and it’s going to pay dividends sooner or later.

Gina “Conviction” Carano vs. Kaitlin Young *THIS* was the fight everyone was waiting for. It was definitely the most action packed of the night. Forget about the garbage Kaitlin was talking after the fight: She got owned! Convicted! In two rounds, Gina Carano was in total control and Young didn’t have a single answer for her. If she went another round with Gina, her face would have fallen off from the punches and kicks. This fight was also full of good submission work as well. It doesn’t hurt that Gina is easy on the eyes as well but let’s not downplay what she did: She WORKED Kaitlin Young like she was a pathetic American Gladiator trying to beat her at the pugil stick. Good work girls. Let’s hope we see more ladies in action. They certainly showed that they could fight in *this* match.

Elite XC Middleweight Champion “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler vs. Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith This could have been the best fight of the night. Both Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith were having a great standup battle trading punches and kicks. Just mercilessly attacking each other. However, Lawler had the upper hand most of the three rounds this went. At the end of both the first two rounds, Smith was in a daze and had to grab on to the cage to keep standing. In the end though, a eye poke ended the match. The judges scored it a no contest but I think Lawler would have eventually destroyed Smith if it continued further. He was just too much for Smith. Of course, the real losers were US in the audience: Robbed of a great MMA fight by twitchy doctors and officials.

Kimbo Slice vs. James “The Colossus” Thompson What can we say? Kimbo Kimbo KIMBO! He wanted to take it to the ground to show what Bas Rutten has been teaching him. So that’s exactly what happened. What also happened is that he was exposed for what he is: a poor ground fighter. Even the commentators mentioned that Kimbo didn’t know what he was doing once he got caught underneath the Colossus. The first round was actually the best of them. Both fighters did some damage in the standup and ground games. I’d say Thompson had a very very slight edge on the ground with Kimbo taking the standup like he should. The second round looked as though it should have been Thompson’s. He really nullified Kimbo’s standup and controlled him in ground and pound fashion. Even after the ref stood him and Kimbo up for whatever reason… (fix? That’s what EVERYONE is saying…) James got him back down on the ground and crushed Kimbo’s head repeatedly with big elbow shots. Why didn’t it end in the second? (fix?…) The third saw Slice just destroy the cauliflower ear that the Colossus was sporting. After a few more smashes to James’ temple, the ref decided to give Kimbo the victory we knew he was going to get for this debut on national TV.

Well, love it or hate it. EliteXC is here on CBS. We’ll be seeing more and more of this. Hopefully the fights and the fighters get better and the fixes not so blatant! Oh, did I type that out loud??!!

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Well, it’s finally happened. MMA has gone from a 2AM also ran show to full on Network TV Sporting event. The CBS EliteXC Saturday Night Fights are coming tomorrow, uhhhh Saturday Night, May 31st. With it, we are being thrown a freakshow of a fight card. I don’t know what to make of it other than the appearance of Kimbo Slice in a ring fighting on an actual TV network. Oh yeah… chick fights!!! “Crush” of the New American Gladiators will be squaring off with another tough female opponent. Here are all the fighters that will be squaring off on TV tomorrow night. I don’t know much about them so you may want to check out ELITEXC’s page for details and pictures (Especially of Crush / Gina Carano! my new girlfriend… in my mind…) Here’s the main event stuff:

Kimbo Slice vs. James “The Colossus” Thompson This will be *THE* fight everyone will be waiting for even though Slice really isn’t anything more than a really really tough dude.

Elite XC Middleweight Champion “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler vs. Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith Here’s the best actual MMA fight of the night. Lawler has been there done that all over the place. We’ll see if that translates to a win.

Joey Villasenor vs. Phil “The New York Badass” Baroni I’m sorry. With a nickname like “New York Badass,” Phil is just asking for a beatdown. I just don’t know if this Joey character can deliver.

Gina “Conviction” Carano vs. Kaitlin Young Carano has seen plenty of MMA herself with a 12-1 Muay Thai record. Playing “Crush” on American Gladiators gives her some practical training/experience with the pugil stick. Hey, if it’s good enough for the Army, it should be good enough for a MMA fighter. It doesn’t hurt that she’s easy on the eyes. Just watch out and don’t get fresh with her because she could turn both of those creepy eyes black!

Brett “The Grim Rogers vs. Jon Murphy Brett is an undefeated fighter and Jon just looks scary. Clay Guida scary! They both tip the scales at 265 pounds so expect to see a bit of banging followed by a wicked KO.

Sorry I don’t have much for this. As we get more matches under our belts, EliteXC’s fighters and events will get more exposure here. Well… as long as the matches are good and we get more Gina! Oh yes… you will be mine… Cue pugil stick to my cranium. POW!

This past week has come over me like a storm and I’ve been amiss in commenting on the MMA action from WEC and EliteXC that went down. We’ll cover just a little bit of each because I have to get my head straight for what will be another packed month of action. There were championships on the line in both the WEC 33 and EliteXC events. We got to see some action from Doug Marshall and Brian Stan on the WEC side. Cung Le and Frank Shamrock were battling on the EliteXC side. Who would stand and who would fall? Let’s find out!

Both champs underestimated their opponents. Let us begin with my favorite organization, the WEC. Doug Marshall came out swinging like a mad man and was seemingly doing ok with Stann in the standup game. This was his undoing. Stann was the bigger man with a better reach. At about a minute and a half in the first, Marshall fell like a brick. He might have had a chance in the ground game as Stann is relatively new at this but Marshall hasn’t showed a lot of submission work so far. Stann looks like the real deal and it will be difficult to come up with a fighter that can match him. There’s probably a few guys in the UFC that are fighting at the crowded light heavyweight division there that might chance it.

Other fights in the WEC 33 event were pretty great as well. Chael Sonnen gave the unbeaten Bryan Baker a clinic in submissions and takedowns. This puts him back into contention for the championship against Paulo Filho. Maybe this time he won’t get his arm caught in a weird position at the very last minute? Steve Cantwell took down and submitted Tim “The Wrecking Machine” McKenzie. Rich Crunkilton bloodied up Sergio Gomez something fierce. I thought they would stop the fight but Gomez didn’t seem to be affected by all that blood sloshing out the back of his head. Next time keep your hands up Gomez!

OK, EliteXC. I’ll be covering this more when the Saturday Night Fights come into play on CBS. For now, lets just say that a new King of San Jose was crowned on Saturday, March the 29th. King of San freakin’ Jose???!? I guess that makes me the King of South East La Mesa 7-11’s Back Alley. Frank Shamrock had no answer for Cung Le’s legwork. I wish I could have seen this in person. Finally! A MMA’r that knows how to kick! Cung kept piling on the kicks to Frank and kept him at arms length which is exactly what kicks are great for. Shamrock was able to get inside a few times and lay the wood down on Le, but it was too little too late. He complained in between rounds that his arm was killing him. He was right, there was a fracture and he couldn’t continue. Cung is KING! well… of San Jose at least.

Holy Smokes! We’ll be getting a bunch more action from both WEC and EliteXC later this month. EliteXC will get major support from CBS TV for its Saturday Night Fights. It also helps that Kimbo (Flippin’) Slice will be headlining that card. WEC 34 will feature a title match between Little Evil Jens Pulver and Uriah Faber. Wow. That will be something else. Best part of all? It’s all free as in BEER! Let’s all pop a frosty beverage and get comfortable for some good old fashioned head smashing!