Contributors/Columnists
SHAWN ENNIS
JASON BENT
MIKE JARSULIC
MATT PELKEY
ALEX WILLIAMS
BRUCE MITCHELL
JED GOODMAN
FRANK HYDEN
JASON BENT
JOHN TAYLOR APPLY TO JOIN OUR TEAM
PPV & TV Events
:
Other Events
ENNIS: Live Thoughts and Commentary About EliteXC: Unfinished Business by Shawn Ennis, MMATorch Senior Columnist
Jul 26, 2008 - 5:38:33 PM
Alright, it’s 9:00 Eastern time on July 26, and that means it’s time to finish some business. We get the ridiculous hyperbole started early as we hear that Robbie Lawler will try to prove that he’s the “best middleweight fighter in the world.” I’m just sayin’, if you’re going to make that claim in any division, stay away from middleweight.
The opening sequence is nice, but features multiple highlights of dancing girls. A sign of things to come, despite promises to the contrary? Okay, maybe not. Good. The middle of the mat is covered in blood as the camera does a fly-over. It looks like they’ve retooled the ramp a bit, and the smoke machines are no more. All good signs so far. Gus Johnson starts us off, saying that the action will be both for “the casual fan and the mixed martial arts purist.”
Mauro Renallo, who is sporting a purple tie to match Johnson, says that Lawler-Smith II promises to be better than the original. Then Frank Shamrock says something, but I’m not sure what because I’m distracted by his…braces?? When did Frank Shamrock get braces? And we’re not talking about the new, clear braces. These are the old-school metal ones. That’s distracting, and it’s a bit weird to have a guy introduced as a fighting legend followed by his showing off a mouthful of metal. I’m just sayin.
*Commercial Break*
Back from the break, Shayna Baszler and Cristiane Cyborg are already in the cage as we go to a shot of Gina Carano. They say that Carano will likely fight one of these two. They cut to the pre-fight vignettes, which are very slick. It’s early, but things are looking very promising so far for the broadcast.
The crowd is enthusiastic as Jimmy Lennon, Jr. gives us the intros.
FIRST FIGHT: SHAYNA BASZLER vs. CRISTIANE CYBORG (Bantamweight)
Round one is tough to call, with Cyborg landing the more effective striking, while Baszler almost locked in a couple of submissions. Nice pace to it so far. I’d probably give it to Cyborg by a hair. We get a commercial between rounds, and when we get back there is music blaring through the arena. That’s something I’d normally complain about, since it assumes that people have ADD and can’t just wait for the next round without some kind of stimulation – but this particular phenomenon is something that plagues all sports, making it more of a cultural thing than a production thing. But I digress.
Round two gives us more frenetic action as Cyborg hands Baszler a beatdown. At one point, Baszler goes down and Cyborg thinks the fight is over, even getting on top of the cage to celebrate. Steve Mazzagatti yells repeatedly for her to get back in the cage and fight, and finally she obliges, eventually putting Baszler down for good. Gina Carano looks on and looks god doing so. The crowd gives her a “Gina” chant.
RESULT: Cyborg via TKO at 2:48 of Round 2.
STAR RATING: (***-) Not a bad scrap, considering the domination that happened in round two.
RAMIFICATIONS: Hey, look! A ramification! Cyborg will likely face Gina Carano next. I would imagine they’ll want to put that fight on in October. If Carano can make weight, it’s got the makings of a heck of a fight.
*Commercial Break*
SECOND FIGHT: JAKE SHIELDS vs. NICK THOMPSON (Welterweight Title Fight)
I like this fight a lot. Shields is probably the most highly touted welterweight outside of the UFC, and Thompson is on a heck of a tear, winning 12 straight since losing to Karo Parisyan in 2006.
Next, we get Frank Shamrock giving us the MMA tutorial that I liked so much last time. I like it again here.
Thompson makes his way down the ramp with KISS in the background. I like the ramp in principle, but I’ve never seen the ramp entrance done in a way I really enjoy. I think the camera work could be different here. It’s moving around too much. A very minor gripe, but still not perfect yet.
Jimmy Lennon introduces Thompson as the Bodog welterweight title holder, which is a bit silly, since the promotion doesn’t exist anymore. But whatever. Jake Shields gets a big fat ovation from the hometown crowd. Johnson says the fight will go to the ground quickly, but I don’t necessarily think so. We shall see.
Round one: Well, I was wrong about that. It went down immediately, and Shields took the mount, sunk a guillotine choke, and ended the fight. Wow. Renallo says that the fight was shorter than Brett Favre’s retirement. Has no one mentioned to him that the comparisons need to go? Because they do.
RESULT: Shields by guillotine at 1:03 of Round 1.
STAR RATING: (*+) No fault of the fighters of course, but there wasn’t much to this one. Shields is a beast, but it sure would be nice to see him fight some other top 10 fighters.
RAMIFICATIONS: Well, Shields is the champion, but it means about nothing. It’s the same problem that other promotions face with their titles. Who is Shields going to fight? They had a hard enough time finding someone to fight him for the title the first time, so what happens now? Shields says he’d love to fight the winner of St. Pierre-Fitch, which is just comical.
Nick Diaz is up next, and the crowd is going to lose their mind when he appears.
*Commercial Break*
We get an interview with Kimbo Slice coming back from the break, and if he’s on the big screen, he’s not getting any reaction whatsoever. That makes me think he’s not on the screen. It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s intentional, since a lot of hardcore MMA fans would likely give Slice the business.
THIRD FIGHT: THOMAS DENNY vs. NICK DIAZ (160 lbs.)
Denny relishes in the venomous reception he receives from the Stockton faithful. Hardly a surprise there. Meanwhile, Diaz gets a hero’s welcome. For some reason, Gus Johnson has fallen off the face of the earth as Renallo makes with the hyperbole and comparisons (a hole in Nick Diaz’s game is harder to find than a golf ball in a snow storm. *Sigh*) It kills me that they keep calling Diaz a lightweight. One-sixty is not lightweight. It’s not a weight class. It’s a catchweight disguised as a weight class. BJ Penn is a lightweight. These two are welterweights fighting 10 lbs lighter. But anyway…
Round one: You can tell the veterans when they fight dangerous guys like Diaz. Denny is not tentative. What does he have to lose here? They’ll send him back to King of the Cage? So Denny is making a fight of it, landing some decent strikes with punches, elbows and knees. Diaz is certainly getting the better of it, however, as his punches are obviously hurting Denny. Diaz, on the other hand, seems unfazed by everything he eats. Diaz lands some nasty shots to Denny’s chin as the round ends, and he’ll take round one. They say the arena is bout to explode, and if that’s the case they really need to mic the crowd better.
Round two: Diaz finishes the job he started toward the end of round one, knocking Denny out pretty quickly with pinpoint striking.
RESULT: Diaz by TKO at 0:30 of Round 2.
STAR RATING: (***) More competitive than I would have thought, though Denny was still clearly overmatched. Still though, that was a heck of a fun fight to watch.
RAMIFICATIONS: Diaz will probably fight KJ Noons again for the title, and Denny will probably head back to KOTC, unless they decide to use him as a gatekeeper on undercards.
Gus Johnson tries in vain to get a post-fight interview out of Diaz, but Diaz only wanted to name all his sponsors and give shout outs to friends who have passed away.
*Commercial Break*
Back from the break, we get highlights of Silva vs. Eilers from the Showtime broadcast. Silva pummeled Eilers and got the stoppage in the second round to win the EliteXC heavyweight title. We then transition into highlights from the first fight between Smith and Lawler. Back from the highlight, Gus Johnson and Shamrock’s braces break down the fight. Despite the distraction of Shamrock’s dental work, his breakdown is very good. Renallo then adds some hyperbole, and we go to a commercial.
*Commercial Break*
It’s straight to the vignettes after the break, and the package on Lawler makes him look like a stone cold killer. He’s not worried about the belt, which isn’t always the best thing to say, but in this case it helps build his personality. James Irvin is in Smith’s corner, and ironically Anderson Silva is shown in the crowd signing autographs right after we see Irvin. In another funny sequence, Gus Johnson calls Anderson Silva the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, after earlier in the night we were led to believe that Lawler would be the best Middleweight in the world should he win this fight. Renallo says that Shamrock will watch this fight with “vested interest”, but can you fight with braces? Wouldn’t that cut up your lips if your mouthpiece came out?
FOURTH FIGHT: ROBBIE LAWLER vs. SCOTT SMITH (Middleweight Title Fight)
Round one: These two pick up where they left off in the last fight after about a minute. Lawler got the best of the striking toward the middle of the round, and Smith came on with a flurry toward the end. Great round, and I’ll give it to Lawler by just a little.
Round two: More back and forth on the feet and both men are rocked at different points. Lawler has a nasty cut on the top of his head, and Smith is getting quite a bit of blood on his face while they’re in the clinch. Speaking of the clinch, Lawler lands some nasty knees to the midsection of Smith that crumple him. He follows up with punches to the head and kicks to the body (and one that looks like it hit Smith in the head.) Smith gets back up and takes a knee to the head, and this one is in the books. Brutal knockout by Lawler.
RESULT: Lawler by TKO at 2:35 of round 2.
STAR RATING: (***+) Not as good as the first one, but still quite a slugfest and as definitive a knockout as you can have.
RAMIFICATIONS: I have a feeling Smith will be a fixture in EliteXC for a while. He’s the kind of guy that can always put on an entertaining fight, but won’t necessarily beat top competition. Lawler, in the meantime, faces the same quandary as Shields. These are two guys who would have some intriguing fights against top competition, but they just won’t have the opportunity (at least in the near future) in EliteXC.
*Commercial Break*
We get a summary of the main event and a quick rundown of the entire event. Then there’s promotions for the next three EliteXC events, culminating with another edition of Saturday Night Fights on October 4.
Stick around MMATorch.com for analysis and commentary from more contributors about this event.
