The reports out today, less than 12-hours after EliteXC shut and locked its doors and canceled its upcoming November 7th show, cite that the final nail in the coffin for the promotion was the controversy surrounding Seth Petruzelli's admission following his fight with Kimbo Slice on CBS. Petruzelli claimed that EliteXC brass paid him money to stand and exchange punches with EliteXC posterboy Kevin 'Kimbo Slice' Ferguson on an Orlando radio show. His published salary for the event (roughly $50,000) directly contradicted his claim to have made "six-figures" for the fight, leading many to conclude he was paid tens of thousands of dollars under the table. Recently word has gotten out that EliteXC discouraged Petruzelli from using Muay-Thai kicks and knees against Ferguson because the aforementioned fighter hadn't trained or prepared to defend that type of attack, further compounding their tampering charge. EliteXC brass including adviser/consultant Gary Shaw, his son Jared, and executive Jeremy Lappan scrambled to explain their offer to Petruzelli but contradicted each other and tried to lie the problem away. The fallout of the incident led to the company being investigated for fight fixing by the State of Florida--which could've led to a destructive investigation by the FBI. Showtime, owned by CBS, was on the verge of purchasing ProElite and their MMA brand, EliteXC, but decided against purchasing the company at the eleventh hour. The mishandling of Ken Shamrock's injury and the clusterf--k that was the main event of EliteXC: Heat (including Jared Shaw's childish and suggestive antics cageside) served as a warning against purchasing the company. EliteXC is the second major fight promotion to go out of business this year following the demise of the IFL this summer.
the mickey mouse way they ran Elite XC makes me happy they are gone, but the UFC having competition is not a bad thing IMO. It stops them from being content and underpaying fighters.
I'm glad it's over. I didn't like Elite because of how they promoted Kimbo and stuff, but in all fairness it wasn't really crossing any lines, and it put MMA on free tv, so it was not all bad. But then as soon as it came out with the stand up and we will pay you crap, I'm glad it's over. I don't want that any where near MMA. Giving money for great shows or great fights is fine, but not for askign someone to fight a certain way. If Kimbo can't go to the ground he should take up boxing or kick boxing. I hope I never have to hear the name Gary Shaw again.
agreed with the Kimbo stuff etc, but they still had good fighters and good fights on their fight cards that didn't involve Kimbo.. so I'll miss those fights.
On one hand I think competition for the UFC is essential, but on the other I'm scared of what incompetent and irresponsible people might do to the sport. It doesn't seem like EliteXC and the IFL folding is good for anyone at this point.
I think competition is good, but not if they are going to cheat themselves and the sport by tampering with fights. I didn't like Elite because of the Kimbo crap, other then that I thought it was good that there was another league out there, but I'm glad the moment it is let out that they were tampering with at least one fight, I'm glad it's all shut down. Can't feel bad for Nick Diaz, considering he is a douche bag.
