I like the plan. That, or have EliteXC "rent" fighters from WEC (Pulver Faber II ???) and UFC, so Dana can do what Dana does best (cash checks!) Elite & Shaw can be the dealmaker, Dana & UFC/WEC are the talent suppliers. They'd have to put egos aside, so there's no way it'll happen.

Very imaginative, yet, of course, too imaginative and savvy for an egocentric, greedy buffoon like Shaw. The fights you described would go just as you have described, and would, perhaps even crystallize the authenticity of the UFC while exposing Slice as brand-bloated impostor,and Elite XC the WWF of MMA.

are you f###ing serious??

if anything Liddel would be a good fight for kimbo.. due to the fact they are both mainly standup fighters with punching power.

ELITE XC = KIMBO SLICE?? I'm so sick of listening to this crap. It completely negates any other fighter in the organization. Kind of reminds me of Dana White, complete lack of respect for fighters, even his own.

Great in the end Dana White gets to reap the rewards? Are you out of your mind. You may not like Gary Shaw but for mma to succeed you need more then the UFC.
Was the Slice fight a bad fight... yeah it showed Kimbo to have a lot of flaws but you know what it drew. It wasn't Faber/Pulver that's for sure, but either was any fight from the UFC last week. And most of the people who are not fans of mma enjoyed the Slice fight. Was it as bad as Pride putting in Butterbean or K1 putting in Shannon Briggs? No, names draw! Wow, what a concept!!! Get over the "I'm a purist" chip on your shoulder, that your too good for elitexc... and stop drinking Dana White's Kool-aid. You live in Cincinatti ffs you should be used to watching lousy sports games..

You left out one carnival fight, Slice vs. Butterbean.

i emailed the article to Gary Shaw Productions.

Marc- Yes, Dana White profits from this series of fights and as much as you may hate him, he's got the best fighters in the world and puts on the best shows. There's no debate here.

At least Dana White knows MMA, Shaw is just out for the cash.

Clayton- I am serious. Chuck Liddell-Kimbo Slice would not be a good fight. Liddell would destroy him. Slice isn't a good enough fighter that it requires anything special to take him down.

MMA-Hole- talk to Gary Shaw, because Kimbo is the face of EliteXC and that's are they are pushing him. They are trying too hard for the quick cash and that's why their promotion has been reduced to Kimbo and nothing else (maybe a little Gina Carano).

Dudes, you all make good points.

Take this into consideration, I have been watching MMA and am a martial artist (Shaolin Kempo Southern)for over 12 years. I wanted to give this CBS thing a shot, since I appreciate a good fight no matter who is fighting.

My wife (new to MMA [or any type of fighting for that matter] watched the first 8 minutes of this show and called it before the fights ever got under way, "this is gonna suck hairy monkey balls... the fights on UFC's "The Contender" knockoff show on Spike TV are better..." and believe me, that says a lot...

I'm not a "purist" I really wanted this to work, gives more fights to watch but it just didn't.

Frank Shamrock is a fighter not a commentator, it hurt more to watch him try to read the teleprompter than knowing off the bat, that the kimbo fight was gonna get stopped when I saw that huge ass "alien life form" on the Colossus' ear...

Too bad I will have to sit thru 3 more of these stupid things..hey..I like to have stuff to talk crap about.

Isn't it worth it just to watch Baroni get his ass handed to him again and again?

12 year martial arts guy, The Ultimate Fighter was before The Contender reality seriesLook it up. so if theres a knock off show its The Contender

Lawler/Smith, Lawler/Rua, Rua/Villasenor, Villasenor/Baroni, Shamrock/Baroni, Shamrock/Le. Just a few of the good fights I can recall from ELITE XC. Yet all the focus is on Kimbo. How long did Dana keep Tank around? For what? His skill? No, for money. Anyway, I don't understand what people expected from Kimbo/Thompson. They're both mid to bottom-tier fighters. I saw exactly what I expected. Whatever, go ahead and plop down $50 to watch Hughes/Silva at the next UFC. Yawn. Thanks Dana.

Excuse me, Hughes/ALVES, and again, YAWN.

I wouldn't say that Dana White "knows" MMA. He knows how to promote fights, but his company has a lot to fix before you can say that White "knows" the sport.

His fighters complain of mistreatment, the pay is low for new fighters (in the "best organization in the world - his words in a nutshell, not mine), and he shows blatantly disrepect to anyone else in the MMA scene.

It's OK to be the top guy and flaunt, but it's not cool to act 15 all the time.

As for Shaw, he's doing what everyone else would have done. You take somone who can draw viewers and you headline them. It worked, didn't it? Win or lose, Kimbo Slice will be back because some people want to see him win, some want to see him lose, and others, including Bas Rutten, want to see him grow as a fighter.

Finally I don't think that EXC is exempt from putting on a real MMA event, but they are catering to a different crowd now that they are on prime time. Forget the diehards, this isn't about them. This is about the sport growing into new homes. Just like when kids in the punk rock scene get mad at the new kids who loved Green Day, you have the MMA enthusiasts taunting the TUF Noobs left and right. It's nothing new.

Note: If you have problems with judging of ref'ing, call the NJACB.

Bottom line: expect growing pains.

Ya I think this guy is an idiot! First of all leave productions to the professionals. Second, get out of whatever dream world you're living in! Tyson would never get back in the ring unless it was staged, he would get hurt and he knows that. Also, im a Liddell fan, but i think the fight would be a better match for Kimbo then for chuck, chucks washed up and kimbo fights to eat. His fight wasnt pretty the other night but he won and he's just getting started! You need to let the cards play and spectate!

This is idiocy and shows a complete lack of knowledge, and respect, for the numerous talented fighter under EliteXC. When did every "hardcore" MMA turn into UFC shills?

The focus on Kimbo is no different than Dana's focus on Ken Shamrock well after he was a main event fighter. Or his focus on Brock Lesnar with his 1 fight. There is sizzle and steak in both organizations, get over it. It's just ignorant to come here and act like Kimbo is the only thing EXC has going on. I expect this sort of nonesense from journalists who don't know MMA. You owe your readers a lot more than this garbage. How about an article on the upcoming EXC event featuring Diaz vs Corberry and Noons vs Edwards?

Well put. It would be a shame to negate every great fight, or fighter, in this organization because of Kimbo. Kimbo is no worse than a handful of fighters that Dana has kept around in the UFC, for the sake of making a buck. Seriously, Kimbo/Thompson was more entertaining than Sylvia/Arlovski, Sylvia/Monson, or half of Sylvia's fights. Dana is the "f***ing idiot", as he called Tito, someone who has helped make him who he is, and a buttload of money. I hope that more fighters start to jump ship. I've supported the UFC from the start, with my time' and money. But I'm done. In the UFC, DANA is the star.

Sylvia/Arolvski III, that is.

Stop hating Mark, you a hater !

Plus you have a Froggie last name, which calls into question your patriotism.

You sound like you came straight out of Sherdog or are a hardcore nerd fan.

The UFC was put-down the same way when PRIDE was around, and it succeeded .. you know why ?

Becasue it was wildly successful to it's core audience -- the white, low income trailer kids of America who comprise the majority of UFC's fanbase .... EliteCX are targeting the SAME demographic, and shouldn't listen the "hardcore fans", because it's the casual fans that bring in the ratings and views.

Trailer boys from Kentucky to Maine, they ARE the audience, and they'll eat up Kimbo the same way they ate up Tank and Tito back in the say - they want blood and excitement, the hillbillies.

American MMA fans overwhelmingly are retarded bloodthirsty wusses.

Comprendez ?

Meet me at Cameldog ( www.cameldog.net) to tussle with Sheikh Zubeer !

I'm about 99% sure that this is a sarcastic take on the whole thing, could be wrong but thats just what I think.
Anyways someone mentioned Dana hyped the Lesnar fight, which he did but at least lesnar was an extremely accomplished wrestler in college not just some dude brawling in backyards.
Kimbo would get owned by chuck, and to whoever said he's washed up did u see his last fight against Wand?

Oh and i just have to say shiekh zubeer guy, you make fun of americans call chalifoux a hardcore nerd fan and then challenge him to some sort of duel over the internet, what does that make you?

To Mark,

It is clear that you are a new fan to MMA, because if you were a hardcore fan, you would know that Dana White let Chuck Liddell fight in PRIDE on two occassions. First in beating Allistair Overeem, then losing to Quinton Jackson. Hell, Dana White was even on commentary for atleast the Overeem fight. Sorry man, but you are FAR from being a hardcore MMA fan. Unless you have been watching for atleast a few years, and watch non-Zuffa related stuff, you are nothing more than a casual fan. Nothing wrong with that, but don't kid yourself. Oh, and if you are wondering, I have been following MMA since UFC 5 in 1995.

And there is nothing wrong with EliteXC. They have put together quite a few good cards. Maybe the CBS show wasn't all that great, but EliteXC is still a good fight promotion. But I do hate Gary Shaw, so we agree there.

Chuck,

You're right, I forgot about Liddell in PRIDE. I think I even remember something about Dana White placing a large wager on Liddell in the grand prix. I was a PRIDE fan long before I was a UFC fan. I suppose my original remark was more in vein with what I've heard Dana say in the few times I've talked with him and in the handful of press conferences I've attended. No way Dana would let anyone fight for a different promotion now.

I disagree that there's nothing wrong with EliteXC. By pushing Kimbo the way they have, you can't help but question what their motives are. If they wanted to build their promotion, they wouldn't have made Kimbo the face of it. It's a cash grab, nothing more.

"If they wanted to build their promotion, they wouldn't have made Kimbo the face of it."

So you're saying that if they wanted to build their promotion, they wouldn't have capitalized on their most marketable, most popular, most well known fighter? Why? Just because he's not techinically sound yet (which 90% of the people watching MMA don't get or care about). That's just naive. Even his holiness Dana White put a washed up Shamrock in the main event when it meant selling tickets. This is no different. If you are a Pride fan you should recall that Pride often put guys out their who had name recognition but not much talent (they even fixed a fight for Takada early on).

And, again, articles like this 1.) Just feed into the Kimbo hype you claim to hate and 2.) are completely disrespectful to the numerous high quality fighters in Elite XC.

Chuck didn't look too washed up against Silva. He would destroy Kimbo, as would any accomplished MMA fighter.

I like the Butter Bean matchup as Kimbo needs a bit more tunning.I have never seen anyone run out of gas as hard as The Slice.Well,maybe me.

It really sucks how bad Gary Shaw is so bad for this sport, and that he's turning it into a joke. On a better note, did you hear that Dana White just signed a deal with Jakks Pacific to start churning out UFC action figures!!!! That's what this sport needs!!!! Now they can market the UFC to children(who by all rights, shouldn't even be watching these events), and make even MORE MONEY!!(Which they won't share with their fighters) Way to go Dana White and Zuffa!!!!!.......If Gary Shaw is bad for this sport, that Dana White and Zuffa are an ABSOLUTE DISGRACE!!

DANG EVERY ARTICLE IVE READ OF URS UR HATING ON EVERYBODY EXCEPT THE UFC GET OFF DANAS NUTTS

I think that the fad of MMA will be gone in the next 3 years, and that will be that. You sure do seem biased towards UFC though, are they paying you?