EliteXC found out the hard way – a deal isn’t always a deal.
By signing up with Showtime and CBS, EliteXC thought that it had mades way into mainstream America. Heck, they had substantially more penetration then even the UFC. But there was a reason for that.
UFC did not want the contract.
That should have been a serious red flag. Why wouldn’t UFC want to be on national television and premium cable? The reason is simple – they did not want to be at any network’s mercy. Spike gave them carte blanche to do what they wanted, and, as the understatement of the year, the deal worked out perfectly for both sides.
EliteXC didn’t care about control. They just wanted to get their name out there in the worst way, and they took the worst path. Not only did they sign away everything to CBS, but they then pushed a pseudo-fighter to the moon. Kimbo Slice had no business being in any main event match anywhere. Does Slice deserve a chance in mixed martial arts? Sure, but please don’t brandish him as a top of the card fighter.
It’s hard to blame Slice in all this though. What guy from the mean streets of Miami (or what guy from any street in any town for that matter) would turn down the money and opportunities he was offered? The answer can be counted on less than one hand.
What did EliteXC in was the CBS deal. CBS forced EliteXC to have shows when they were not ready (see the ratings for the July card headlined by Scott Smith and Robbie Lawler.) Then, they forced Elite’s hand a second time when Ken Shamrock bowed out of the fight to an injury. Slice had no business fighting that night against anyone outside of a Bo Cantrell rematch.
Without a focused training camp, Slice had no chance to defeat a seasoned fighter. Seth Petruzelli is not a world-beater, but Kimbo Slice isn’t even a state. When Elite made that fight, they likely panicked. They wanted their gravy train to defeat Petruzelli by any means possible. As the story goes, Petruzelli agreed to keep the fight standing. For EliteXC’s sake, what he should have done was keep his mouth shut.
By making the inflammatory comments, Petruzelli ratted out EliteXC’s management.
Not only were they left with no main event fighter; they were now left with no credibility. What was really left of EliteXC without Slice and CBS’s backing? We can see now – nothing.
Sure, there were other seriously flawed decisions. The website was a disaster. No one went there for MMA news. What ProElite wanted to do was turn it into a place for all fans and fighters to interact and watch fights, but it just did not happen. The website was not a must-see destination. On top of that, they bought other promotions like Icon Sport and King of the Cage to name a couple. Why exactly did they do that? People never heard of the promotions before, and people don’t know of the promotion now. If they wanted the fighters, EliteXC should have just signed the fighters. No one goes shopping and buys the store. They pick and choose what the clothes they like.
That being said – it was still the CBS deal that ended the promotion. They did not have the talent roster to draw crowds on a regular basis, nor did they have the talent depth to fill out cards on a regular schedule. CBS expected them to have both.
