Comments on: Reports: Kimbo/Petruzelli fight being ‘investigated’

By: TJ Thompson: “Seth [Petruzelli] was paid to stand up” | FightOpinion.com - Your Global Connection to the Fight Industry.

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:15:06 +0000

[...] Reports: Kimbo/Petruzelli fight being ‘investigated’ [...]

By: trizzle

trizzle — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:49:41 +0000

I would just like to respond to duke’s theory on the event that took place, first off the difference between a promoter’s influence and a trainer’s influence on a fighter is that a promoter influences a fight to take place a trainer influences a fighter’s ability to win the fight, you cannot persuade a fighter to stand up, that’s fixing a fight, and if you think for an instant that there were just opinions and the fighter should fight a stand up battle and that there were no influences in the shape of bribes, then you are living in the times where fighters fought 30 rounds and were payed five bucks. Listen what your not understanding is that this is mixed marshall arts, anybody who fights or loves the sport or even just understands the sport has a passion to watch technique, if they wanted to see a stand up brawl all the time, well boxing and kickboxing were created too. Think about what your saying and think that if this was just a naive opinion of a promoter telling a fighter he thinks he should keep the fight on his feet, then it would have never came to this level of exploitation. Then again I guess maybe it takes a fighter to understand the sport, I would expect comments like yours from somebody who lives outside the octagon, and only watches the fights on basic cable, tell a fighter your theory, i would like to hear the response in which you receive.

By: Nate

Nate — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:21:59 +0000

This is excellent reporting and analysis. A couple of thoughts…

1) It doesn’t really matter what the official Florida investigation finds, the damage to Elite XC has already been done.

2) If Elite XC does offer bonuses for certain outcomes (KO, TKO) but not others, they could keep things ethical and please the oddsmakers by making that information public available before the fight, which they did not do here.

3) Will casinos and online sportsbooks continue to take bets on Elite XC fights? I don’t know, but I’m curious to find out.

Keep up the good work on this story. Elite XC really should have consulted with a PR specialist before they began giving all of these conflicting statements.

By: Timothy K.

Timothy K. — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 13:10:13 +0000

One of the best MMA articles I’ve read in awhile (and I read this shit everyday). I wish everyone did their homework as well as you obviously do Zach.

This whole scandal (and I think we can officially call it that) should make all of us sick who have supported this sport from day one.

The real people who should be ashamed is CBS Executives. In trying to gain a foothold in MMA, they approached the UFC in the wrong manner, turned them off by wanting to produce something they had no idea how to produce, and partnered with shady boxing promoters and pornographers instead of approaching some of the fine businessmen we have in MMA outside of Dana White (Sven Bean, Steve Coker, Monty Cox). Businessmen that really understand what it means to have a quality MMA show, and would never have led us down this Kimbo freak show path.

If Kimbo is smart, he’ll go fight in Japan where he can be spoon fed opponents and fix fights with ease… And if Bob Sapp is an indicator, he’ll do great.

By: Fred

Fred — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:46:41 +0000

The lack of a submission bonus offer is EliteXC’s error in this situation. It does show that they strongly prefer the fight to remain standing. It’s silly to not offer both, and it wouldn’t cost any extra money (a fight can’t simultaneously end in a KO AND a submission).

It’s comical and baffling that EliteXC officials don’t understand this late in the game that a ground fight can be exciting, too. They should have encouraged fighters merely to finish, and not exclusively on knockouts.

By: MMA Fan

MMA Fan — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 14:54:46 +0000

jermey and skala will be selling star maps in west hollywood next month

By: Rollo the Cat

Rollo the Cat — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:52:03 +0000

” I love your site, I just don’t think they can nail Kimbo, Seth, ”

Good investigators have ways of getting people to talk. Believe me! But only if they take the investigation seriously.

By: Fluyid

Fluyid — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:13:33 +0000

Mac Danzig said that the King of the Cage promoter used to pay people to keep the fight standing all the time.

It’s at around the 38:50 mark into the show.

Source is http://carsonscorner.podomatic.com/entry/2008-10-09T11_52_12-07_00

Danzig also talks about promoters paying fighters to stay standing and not take the opponent down in general.

By: David

David — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:32:43 +0000

With all of this conjecture… BOTTOM LINE!

It is like the Scott Peterson murder trial, sure he looks guilty, and I am damn sure he did it, but can they prove it…

Zach, everything you write here is the gospel, you are amazing, a GREAT reporter, brilliant, I love your site, I just don’t think they can nail Kimbo, Seth, Lappen, Shaw, Turi, or anybody at EliteXC.. sorry I wish they could.

By: Smithson

Smithson — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:17:18 +0000

Zach, have you actually spoken to anyone involved in this? Lappen, Shaw, Petruzelli, Kimbo, the boxing commission, etc? I mean, you’re awfully sure of yourself and you’re swift to draw conclulsions. So clearly you’ve talked to the people involved in this situation and used it to draw informed conclusions, right?