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MMA PROMOTION ELITE XC CLOSES THEIR DOORS FOLLOWING SERIES OF EVENTS TRIGGERED BY KEN SHAMROCK VS. KIMBO SLICE BOUT BEING CALLED OFF

By Mike Johnson on 2008-10-20 22:44:44

Since their final live event was to have featured former WWF star Ken Shamrock and his involvement set off this ripple effect, I wanted to make a note that MMA company Elite XC, which had a deal for regular live specials on broadcast TV via CBS, officially informed its contracted fighters that it was going out of business due to massive financial losses.

CBS was looking into buying the promotion but backed out of any interest in the wake of MMA fighter Seth Petruzelli (who substituted for Ken Shamrock when Shamrock was medically disqualified after suffering a bad cut that required stitches during a training session the day of the fight) making statements, but later backing off from them, that Elite XC had offered him money to keep his fight against Kimbo Slice standing.  Since the Florida State Athletic Commission was investigating whether any wrongdoing was involved in the fight (since there were bets being taken on the fight) which Petruzelli won in 14 seconds, CBS wanted no part of the company.

A scheduled November event will be officially canceled shortly.

The real victim here may be the short-term future of female MMA competition as stars like Gina Carano will have no major national outlet as thus far, UFC has shown no interest in promoting female fighting within its organization.  While the male fighters, from Kimbo Slice on down, will obviously have other outlets to ply their trade, Carano and others like her have sadly found themselves on the outside looking in when it comes to national exposure.

Again, I know this isn't traditional professional wrestling news, but since Ken Shamrock's involvement and injury started a domino effect that basically helped kill the only other MMA promotion with some sort of national exposure, I felt it was within range of what we cover here on the site.  Had Shamrock not been medically disqualified, Petruzelli would have fought an undercard bout and never have been in the position to make the comments that brought the black cloud down upon the promotion.

We feature a host of excellent MMA columnists on our sister website www.PWIPOP.com.

Special thanks to Brian Fritz of www.betweentheropes.com for his help.

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