EliteXC and Pro Elite (EXC’s parent company) have entered their final days of business, Sherdog.com is reporting. An EliteXC executive has confirmed the news and the Nov. 8 show has been canceled. The claim that EXC was done after Kimbo Slice was knocked out may be true. 

Apparently, Showtime was in the process of buying the organization, which is $55 million in debt, but the mystery surrounding Seth Petruzelli and his fight with Slice seems to have cooled negotiations, according to Sherdog.com.

On Sept. 17, Showtime Networks filed public notice with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announcing its intention to enter preliminary negotiations for the purchase of the fledgling company….

Discussions of Pro Elite’s purchase were said to have gone well and a deal looked imminent as of two weeks ago when EliteXC held its third installment of “Saturday Night Fights” on CBS. The Oct. 4 event, which was funded entirely by Showtime, drew 4.56 million viewers, which almost matched their initial May offering on the network.

But negative press surrounding questionable conduct before the main event between Seth Petruzelli and Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson have overshadowed the ratings success. Petruzelli, who stepped into the headlining bout on an hour's notice and beat Slice in 14 seconds with a short right jab, intonated afterward on a Monday morning talk show that promoters had given him added monetary incentive to stand with the less ground-savvy Slice.

If that's true, it looks like Petruzelli might have done more damage than anyone expected that night. Unfortunately for him, he now becomes a footnote in MMA history. At least EXC would've built him up as a star or legitimate fighter ... now, he's a nobody again. It seems as if EXC really was as flimsy as Kimbo Slice's chin.