CBS Elite XC Saturday Night Fights

by Extreme John on June 1, 2008 1,724 views

After two months and plenty of hype, Elite XC and MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) made their National Television debut with a six fight card that started at 9pm. The main fights on the card featured Gina Carano vs Kaitlin Young, Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith vs “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler and the main event featured James “The Colossus” Thompson vs Kimbo Slice.

All of the fights on the card were excellent fights and you could clearly tell they were designed for Prime time TV coverage. If you watched the fights you will quickly know what I mean if you don’t already and those of you that didn’t watch it, well you missed out on an action packed night of fighting. If you were looking for a ground and pound fight card or a fight card that would display a tremendous amount of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu than you weren’t going to be very happy. Each and every fight on the card contained fighters that are known for throwing and throwing punches hard, the chance for a knock out tonight was huge and I think Elite XC did the right thing putting the fight card together that way which would most likely captivate more first time viewers.

The first three fights on the card went off excellent, no boring laying on the back bullshit, just hard paced, hard punching fights all ending in Knock Outs. The Gina Carano and Kaitlin Young fight was an excellent addition to the card, both girls came out swinging and all though it was thought by most that Gina would destroy Kaitlin things didn’t look as if they were going to go according to plan. In the second round Gina Carano stopped Kaitlin Young with big shots. After that we were all in for a treat that fetured hard swinging Ultimate Fighter and former UFC Fighter Scott Smith vs Robbie Lawler, also a previous UFC top name fighter. This fight was for the belt and as always Robbie Lawler showed up to fight, that’s one thing I njoy about watching Robbie Lawler fight and thats the fact that he brings it every time he hits the ring, it was no different on Scott Smith’s side of the ring, Scott came to fight and he did exactly that, even being rocked numerous times Scott Smith kept the pressure on, Scott clearly lost the first round and there were even a few points in the first round where it looked like Scott wouldn’t make it out of the round. Scott Smith some how made it out of the first round and came back looking great in the second round, he was establishing his strikes, and delivered a nasty upward elbow that cut Robbie Lawler instantly, The second round easily goes to Scott Smith as he controlled the action and delivered some excellent Cup kicks that scored and opened up scoring chances. Moving into the thrid round both fighters were spent, the thrid round was back and forth but it was clear that Robbie was starting to pick Scott Smith apart with clean crisp snapping jabs and punch combo’s, it didn’t help that Scott kept ending up against the fence. About two thirds into the third round Robbie acciedntly poked Scott Smith in the eye, after the Doctor questioned Scott he stated two times that he could not see and that he would take the 5 minutes allowed to recover, the Doctor’s decided Scott could not continue which destroyed an excellent fight and closed out the excellent effort with Scott Smith and Robbie Lawler ending with a No Contest.

It was 11:30 and it was time for the main event, the 25 minutes it took Elite XC and CBS to get through the opening crap, complete with dancers and fireworks that I think are useless to the sport. The dancing girls slide by because, well they are dancing girls. The much hyped Elite XC star and just featured on the cover of ESPN Magazine Miami native Kimbo Slice taking on what was most likely planned to be a tomato can fighter in James Thompson. Now Thompson has suffered some very brutal knock outs in his MMA carreer but he has also beat some of the best MMA fighters in the world, I think there was more risk here for Kimbo and Elite Xc than Elite Xc promoters probably saw when putting this fight together. It was time for all of the hype to come to an end, it was time to show the MMA world, many who are doubters of Kimbo Slice and his MMA ability just how much of a dominate bad ass Kimbo really is.

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After the big scary stare down from across the octagon and in the center of the cage the bell rings, Kimbo comes out and races across the cage, a few quick punches by both Thompson and Slice there was no doubt every punch had bad intentions. I liked Thompsons idea of getting Kimbo to the mat which he did pretty quickly, Kimbo has never been tested on his back and James Thompson was about to do exactly that. The first round was close and I would have given the edge to James Thompson for controlling more of the action in the first down and for his take downs. Kimbo landed some thunderous shots but Thompson stayed up and controlled the first when Kimbo wasn’t scoring with big shots.

The first round took a lot of steam out of both guys, by this point I was already questioning Kimbo’s conditioning with Lisa, Michele, James and Sam. Even looking tired both fighters came out swinging, Kimbo with more accuracy and much nastier intentions on everything he threw. He rocked Thompson a few times again before Thomspon took him to the canvas for the last 2 minutes of the round, Thompson continued to land elbow after elbow and strike after strike on Kimbo while his arms were trapped in a Crucifix, I will be honest in saying all though the punches Thompson was throwing on the ground weren’t effective his elbows certainly were and I also got the feeling the fight wasn’t being stopped because it was Elite Xc’s self created super star layed out on his back, what would happen if the mighty Kimbo was stopped by someone everyone that he would destory? What if Kimbo loses? What happens than? They can’t build Elite XC on James Thompson and a fight stopped just before it with an eye poke. No stopage and Kimbo survives the round, losing the round decisively and in my opinion maybe even a 10-8 round. Kimbo is slow getting up, visibly exhausted and looking very frustrated as well as swollen on the left side of his face. The Elite XC superstar didn’t look like much of a Superstar any more.

It’s the third and final round, Kimbo is exhausted and Thompson also looks equally exhausted. Both fighters come out, like both previous rounds there’s some hard punches, some are landing on both parts but Thompson isn’t throwing with the accuracy that Kimbo is or with as much force either. As the round goes on you can see where Thompson seems to run out of gas, hands down throwing soft punches and getting clipped with big punches, the second round took a lot out of Thompson. Kimbo catches Thompson with what could have very well been the last bit of flurry he had in him, upper cut, right hook, straight shot all perfectly placed, this right after Kimbo nails Thompson in his blood filled cauliflower left ear and causes it to burst, bleeding instantly. That ear bursting and the blood changed the fight instantly, throw in the combo above and Thompson was on KO lane, before Thompson would have a chance to feel Kimbo’s true power the ref stopped the fight. Kimbo Slice defeats James Thompson by TKO.

In closing I think CBS and Elite XC did o.k, some people will piss and moan about the two fights being stopped but bottom line, the fights delivered from top to bottom. The aggressive fight card paid off for Elite XC and CBS with big knock outs that I am sure created some new MMA fans. As for Kimbo Slice, I find myself exactly where I was when everyone started making a big deal of him when he signed his first fight, than again when he signed the Elite XC contract. I think Kimbo hits like a mac truck, I think Kimbo is a very intimidating guy, however I don’t think Kimbo has proven himself to be a top MMA guy or the one they are trying to make him out to be. I think James Thompson made that very clear tonight.