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« | Home | »

Elite XC 2/16 Miami

By Zach Arnold | February 16, 2008

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There are a lot of MMA fans online who are uploading the Kimbo vs. Tank fight on the various video sites (YouTube, Daily Motion, etc.) Go out of your way to catch a replay of the show on Showtime if you can (TV schedule here for replays).

Event results: MMA Weekly | Sherdog | The Fight Network | MMA Junkie | MMA Mania | Five Ounces of Pain | 411 Mania

Meanwhile, Kelly Pavlik defeated Jermain Taylor in their re-match tonight in Las Vegas.

Reaction: Sportsnet | The Sweet Science | CBS Sports | Miami Herald | Dave Meltzer | Steve Sievert | MMA Opinion

Steve’s comment about Kimbo vs. Ken Shamrock being a ‘mismatch in Kimbo’s favor’ may draw some heat online.

It’s fights like Kimbo vs. Tank that give Bob Meyrowitz inspiration that his blast-from-the-past ideas can still work with American MMA audiences.

Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Zach Arnold | 29 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

29 Responses to “Elite XC 2/16 Miami”

  1. Haha, Tank. At least he got paid.

  2. Total MMA says:

    My security word was “worked.” Fitting. Live blog at total-mma.com

  3. Jonathan says:

    Couple of things:

    1. Get the f*ck off of Ricco’s back about his weight. Sure, he was heavy, but then again, he is a heavyweight. He fought an exciting pace that was far above that of many heavyweight fights.

    2. Antonio Silva surprised the crap out of me with that takedown.

    3. Props to Kimbo for coming in to fight and not taking the easy way out…i.e. taking Tank down and choking him. It was a very very very entertaining fight….regardless of the fact that any heavy with a ground game would have had a field day.

    4. Edson Berto still looks really good…up to the point where he loses his fights. I think that he showed laot in that fight, and Yves Edwards just happened to be one hell of a stud tonight with the ability to do that jumping, single-leg takedown, KO. Major props to him.

    5. Scott Smith landed the cleanest and flushest punch that I have ever seen in MMA. He really exemplified what it means to punch through your target.

    6. EliteXC did a really really good job of putting on a show with lots of good, entertaining, and important matches. This card was really high quality, and it shows that MMA can be more than just a one horse show.

  4. 45 Huddle says:

    I think the Ricco/Silva fight did more to bring Silva down a notch in my eyes then anything else. He looked human in that fight. And definitely beatable.

    The funniest part of the evening for me was Mauro saying that Kimbo was basically a real deal for beating Tank. What a joke.

  5. Chuck says:

    Oh my God Huddle, did you really watch a non-UFC or non-WEC MMA show? I’m shocked! Any who, I do actually agree with your points, but that Ricco/Silva fight was a good fight though. And I agree with Jonathan about Scott Smith’s KO win, that was a fantastic punch. Most MMAists don’t know how to throw a proper punch (most do looping roundhouses with no leverage in their punches) so I did love his punching techniques. Not just the KO punch, but that entire flurry was great. He countered EVERY punch his opponent threw at him. Bravo to him! The knee shot from Edwards was great too. Good night of fights. The Kimbo/Tank fight went almost EXACTLY as I thought it would.

  6. The Gaijin says:

    Silva’s stature as a HW really took a hit in my books tonight. He really looked bad imho.

    Kimbo looked pretty competent, but beating Tank really doesn’t mean a whole hell of a lot in the grand scheme of things. He certainly didn’t “legitimize” himself by beating a guy that was 1-7 coming into the fight. But he did show that he’s not afraid to stand and bang with a dangerous puncher and that he’s got some pretty powerful hands. He’s basically a “Brock Lesnar” in that he seems like a potentially big fan favourite and has some potential as a fighter in the future – but the jury is still out.

  7. 45 Huddle says:

    Chuck,

    Shocking, isn’t it? I ordered Showtime just to watch EliteXC. My ultimate goal was to have DirecTV, and also have HDNET, but a stupid neighbors tree ruined that dream.

    As for the Silva/Ricco fight…. It was the fight I was most looking forward to. Yet Antonio Silva was taken down by some sloppy shots by Ricco. On the ground, he didn’t pose much in the way of submissions. He won that fight on my scorecard, but his MMA Stock took a huge hit.

    Smith & Edwards fights were fun to watch, but they still aren’t top level guys. I keep telling myself that Scott Smith is still the guy that got beat by Ed Herman. And Edwards is the guy who was coming into this fight at 3-5 over the last two years.

    Either way, a decent night of fights. It was what I expected. I am looking forward to the March 29th card much more. I can’t stand Cung Le or Frank Shamrock, so it is nice to know one of them will lose. And Fickett/Shields should be a decent fight.

  8. karat3 says:

    I have to agree with the above posters that Silva’s image as some kind of future worldbeater (and fedorbeater) took a big hit, ricco looked better then he has in a while but he still has a long way to go.

    And yes I think kimbo could beat ken shamrock pretty easily at this point in time, not saying ken doesn’t have a shot if he tries to take the fight to the ground.

  9. What are you guy’s talking about? Silva has always looked beatable. If anything, he looked quite good.

    He’s still prospect, IMO. Heavyweights always are until they fight a top 10 type of guy. It’s a difficult weight division to get established in, cause it’s so hard to be taken seriously with such a weak crop of elite fighters.

  10. Ultimo_Santa says:

    “I can’t stand Cung Le or Frank Shamrock, so it is nice to know one of them will lose.”

    I know…I hate those guys who never have exciting fights.

    Get out your ‘Best of Tim Sylvia’ DVD if you want some REAL excitement! Oh wait, the disc is blank.

    *rolls eyes sarcastically*

    No big surprises, aside from the fact that Silva looked very human, and very beatable, as mentioned previously. I expected him to score an easy TKO, but Rocco looked good. Well, he didn’t LOOK good, but he fought well (if you catch my drift).

    Kimbo vs. Tank was exactly what we all expected. With nuclear crowd heat and a highlight-reel finish, I think overall it was a success. I’m interested to see what the ratings were.

  11. Jim Allcorn says:

    Aside from the main event, last night’s show was pretty entertaining. But, watching Ranallo & the boys mark out over Kimbo & Rondo Hatton er … I mean, Antonio Silva made my gag reflex act up by the end of the show.

    Now, I had admittedly gone with Tank on a longshot before the show, but those hopes were dashed as soon as I saw the look in Abbott’s eyes during the pre-fight interview by Goldberg. It was clear at that point that he was basically a “dead man walking” looking to collect one last paycheck.

    And, sure enough, by the time he made his way to the cage, it was obvious that he just wanted the formalties over with, so that he go off into the sunset as soon as possible.

    Tank may have gone through the motions of training hard for the fight, but once the bell rang, he just looked old, uncoordinated & painfully slow. And once he was hit, by even cuffing blows, it was as clear as a bell that his punch resistence was virtually non-existent. As we should have known by his recent blow out losses to Paul Buentello & “Smiler” Turner, but those were explained away as short notice losses. WRONG. Tank just can’t take even a modest punch anymore.

    So, where does the Kimbo show from here?
    Well, apparently in another old, shot “legend’s” direction in Ken Shamshock. Assuming he gets past Buzz Berry next month. Which is, by no means, a given seeing as how Shammy has spent the past few years getting his lights taken out by 185 pounders like Rich Franklin & Kazushi Sakuraba. Oh & being Tito Ortiz’s personal heavy bag for a while as well.

    Which leaves one to wonder just where Gary Shaw plans to go with this Kimbo circus act of his. After Shamrock, what?
    A legit run at filling the vacant EliteXC heavyweight title or a endless series of mismatches to fill the public’s appetite for “freak show” fights & “special added attractions”?

    I would imagine that the latter is the course of action for now, as Shaw can continue to milk big live gates out of Kimbo while booking him with the likes of Sean Gannon & Butterbean for the forseeable future rather than risking him against a live body like Silva. Though, he certainly did nothing to place himself anywhere near the top level of the heavyweight class in MMA with last night’s performance. Top 10 yet? No way.

  12. cyphronkd says:

    It looked suspiciously like Tank took a dive after that punch. But regardless, when will Kimbo move up to a real MMA fighter? How about Brett Rogers? That guy can throw some leather.

    Scott Smith’s got power in his hands. But his fight was truly boring until the KO. If he was more aggressive, he’d still be in the UFC.

    James Thompson: What can I say? MMA is just not for him. At least put up a fight before you roll over, although I thought the ref should’ve given the time to recover.

    Yves Edwards: Pretty sick knee although his opponent didn’t basically put his chin out there for the KO.

    The only competitive fight last night was Silva VS Rodriguez. The format was almost like Pride. One competitive match, and the rest was mismatches, pitting known fighters against relative unknown. What did we find out last night other than Ricco is washed up and Kimbo can beat a has-been non-MMA brawler?

  13. 45 Huddle says:

    I believe Mauro & crew are paid by Showtime and not EliteXC (could be wrong on that). But they don’t even try to be objective. It makes Goldberg look legit by comparison.

  14. another MMA mark says:

    Kimbo/Tank was awesome.

  15. Chuck says:

    Oh man, I feel a chill coming on, but I agree with Huddle, again. The commentary of the EliteXC crew is pretty awful most of the time. It isn’t even the biasness that I get pissed off at (it helps though) but it is Mauro’s mannerisms that piss me off. His weird pronunciations (watch him covering a Choi Mu Bae fight in pride, and Mauro calling Choi’s “suplaighs”) and his corny jokes. Oh, and his voice (deep radio voice) doesn’t match what he looks like (four-eyed and whimpy looking nerd). Stephen Quadros is okay sometimes, but he can be drole at times. I thought it was especially funny seeing Kimbo’s crew (especially Bas Rutten) wearing Reality Kings t-shirts. For those who don’t know what Reality Kings is, well, look it up. Oh, and make sure you are at school or work when doing the search.

    And Huddle, if you plan on keeping Showtime, check out “The Tudors” and “The L Word” and Pen and Teller Bullshit! Great shows.

  16. Andrej says:

    Jim Allcorn – I think the Butterbean/Kimbo match Kimbo Slice has to much to loose it that match. Ken Shamrock or Sean Gannon fight would sound more reasonible at this point.

  17. Brandt says:

    Chuck: What are your solutions to the commentating problems?

    While I don’t agree or listen to what Goldberg says most of the time, I realize that he is catering to the 98% of people who are watching free MMA because they don’t care enough to buy a boxing PPV. Aside from a couple of really stupid comments, he could have been a lot worse. I’m trying to be positive for a smaller promotion because I’m getting tired of the Zuffa antics of dropping fighters, suing promotions, and other stupid bully tactics. I give EliteXC a solid 8/10 for their show.

  18. 45 Huddle says:

    Oh, I’ve already checked out The L Word. What an amazing show in every sense of the word.

  19. Chuck says:

    Brandt:
    They could get rid of Mauro, but his corniness is sometimes too entertaining to pass up. And they could toot the company horn a LITTLE less. Yeah Mike Goldberg in the UFC has the same problem. I do understand it is the company who wants them to say what they say (another comparison to pro wrestling) but I would LOVE a little more objectivity. I could expect that from Quadros though. And I have been liking EliteXC since the start. You can tell it has Gary Shaw’s DNA all over it (the dancing chicks all over the show).

    45 Huddle:
    Oh, good choice as to stick around after EliteXC ending to catch The L Word. I encourage ALL Showtime subscribers to check out the show. If you don’t like it, fine. But give it a chance, it’s a great show.

  20. The Gaijin says:

    *. There’s no way the Kimbo-Tank fight was a dive/work. If it was there’s no way they’d have given Tank TWO long stoppages when he was on shaky legs. Tank’s just finished (doesn’t have the heart) and can’t take a punch anymore and Kimbo’s got some heavy hands too.

    I don’t know where they go with Kimbo from here. It’s retarded to put him in there with a top 10 guy at this point, he’s only had 3 freakin’ fights! He appears to be a big draw and they’re insane if they don’t bring him along slowly – I don’t think anyone has any illusions that Kimbo’s going to be challenging Fedor in the near future.

    *. Huddle – While Edwards has a 3-5 record in the last two years, you’re ignoring the fact that he’s on a 3 fight win streak now and has looked good doing it. He had a bumpy road, but I think he’s a legit LW and has made the right changes he needs to be a top guy again.

    *. As much as I think people (including myself) were overrating Silva after last night’s performance, I’m beginning to wonder if that’s not getting a bit expounded by the fact that people are forgetting that Ricco was a top guy when motivated and training with the right guys and still can be. I mean he looks like shit, but maybe he’s finally turning the corner?

    And what’s the deal on Silva and fighters in general saying they were injured coming into the fight? How can this happen if they need to be given medical clearance to fight? Isn’t this an admission that they didn’t fully disclose medical information to the commission in getting clearance, which I would think could be grounds for penalty? If anyone knows and feels like shedding some insight on this, I’d appreciate it (mainly because I’m too lazy to look it up).

    *. Everyone’s talking about reasons for 45 to keep Showtime and no one is mentioning Dexter?!?!?

  21. Sergio says:

    My favorite Mauro moment last night was his reference of the Stock Market Crash of ’29.

    Haha, classic.

  22. Zack says:

    Very entertaining night of fights.

  23. jim allcorn says:

    Andrej, yep. I actually agree with you regarding Butterbean. I sincerely doubt that Shaw would allow his guy into the same cage with Esch anytime soon.

    Although his MMA game is harding well rounded ( OK, small pun intended, so sue me : ) ), the ‘Bean CAN punch & his mix of sheer size & power would be an X factor that I doubt Shaw would gamble Kimbo’s career on.

  24. Tomer Chen says:

    His weird pronunciations (watch him covering a Choi Mu Bae fight in pride, and Mauro calling Choi’s “suplaighs”)

    Technically, he’s correct. Suplex derives from the French word ‘Souplesse’ (often written as ‘Suplay’), so either version is OK, really. But the more likely reason he pronounces it as such is because that’s how arguably the most famous Pro Wrestling commentator of all time, Gordon Solie, pronounced it and given that Mauro is from a Pro Wrestling commentary background, it’s not a shock.

  25. Grape Knee High says:

    The Scott Smith KO was impressive but I have no respect for a guy who continues to punch a fighter who is clearly unconscious. That shit is fucked up.

  26. Chuck says:

    Tomer Chen:

    Good point about Solie. I didn’t think of Solie. But Mauro kept saying the word THROUGHOUT THE DURATION OF THE FIGHT! Even during many points where Choi wasn’t doing any suplexes. You could tell Mauro just likes saying suplay.

  27. The Gaijin says:

    It’s like the Seinfeld episode where the girl wouldn’t stop referring to the person as “my fianc-ay (fiance)” – and equally as obnoxious.

  28. Mauro is certainly better than Goldberg. He’s quite clever. He’s still got that pro-wrestling voice, but at least he digs for his analogies instead of rehashing the same five adjectives repeatedly. Both are paid to sell the product, but one does it better.

  29. ttt says:

    the gaijin:
    the dingo ate your baby

    Mauro is definitely better than Goldberg, at least he exhibits knowledge

  30. Chuck says:

    ?*. Everyone’s talking about reasons for 45 to keep Showtime and no one is mentioning Dexter?!?!?”

    Ah, Dexter. Great show! I heard that it might be going to CBS. How would it go on CBS? it’s WAY to violent and there is cursing. Oh well, South Park and Degrassi went to UPN, so there you go.

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