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Frank Hyden, MMATorch Contributor: (9.0)
Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos had a great fight in defeating Shayna Baszler. It seems likely that Cyborg will fight Gina Carano on the next EliteXC CBS card in October. I certainly hope that's the case as I would love to see the two of them hook it up. That'd be a fantastic fight. I love watching women's MMA fights because they're all so aggressive. I'm sure part of that is the shortened rounds as well feeling the need to represent women everywhere with great fights. I don't want to say that Jake Shields shocked the world but I certainly wasn't expecting him to thrash Nick Thompson so quickly and decisively. It's not possible right now but I'd love to see Shields and the winner between Georges St. Pierre/Jon Fitch fight each other. That'd be a sweet fight.
I'm not a big fan of this catchweight stuff. The weight classes are there for a reason. The problem comes about when you try to fit Nick Diaz into a title picture. Is he going to fight for the welterweight belt? He looked excellent in his victory over Thomas Denny but can that count towards him receiving a shot at Jake Shields? That fight was great but it wasn't a welterweight bout. I think Diaz should get a shot at Shields, though. I think that's be a great fight.
Robbie Lawler pounding out the victory over Scott Smith isn't totally unexpected. I was a little surprised that Smith didn't press more after cutting Lawler, but Scott did admit that it was a brain fart on his end. All in all, the card was great and I think the presentation was much better than the first show. One complaint I did have, though, is that there were no shots of any of the ring girls at all. At least do what the UFC does and give us a few seconds of them walking around or something. I know people complained about the dancing girls from the first show but you can show some shots of the ring girls for at least a few seconds in between rounds and still keep the focus on the fights.
Shawn Ennis, MMATorch Columnist: (8.0)
Wow, what a difference! There was a huge upgrade in quality between EliteXC’s first foray into the realm of network TV and tonight’s broadcast. No dancing girls, no Gary Shaw, and a lot more polish in the production and pacing made this a pleasant event to watch. Happily, the fights were also fun to watch. Every bout had an emphatic ending, leaving no doubt about who the winner was. The losers of each fight may have been a bit overmatched, but with the exception of Diaz-Denny, we didn’t know that going into the fight.
The event clocked in at almost exactly two hours long, which was the time that CBS allotted for it. That will make a network happy and it’ll keep viewers from getting restless. There was certainly some luck with how long each fight went, but the show was paced in a way that we never felt like they were filling time or rushing through anything to fit in the time slot. The importance of how the event felt cannot be overstated. It was easy to watch, rather than the commercial-filled, poorly paced production we saw last time.
The only problem I see going forward is that EliteXC simply doesn’t have the fighters to make big title fights for each event. It’s certainly important to build your own stars within a promotion, and EliteXC has a few that have that potential. But they’re already putting shows on CBS, which is the biggest stage any MMA company has ever had. They’ve got Gina Carano, Kimbo Slice, Robbie Lawler, Jake Shields, and Nick Diaz. KJ Noons will probably also be in that category shortly, but he’s not just yet. So once you’ve got Diaz-Noons out of the way, what are your title fights? You can’t put Slice in there with Antonio Silva because he’ll get killed. And right now, I can’t name any fighter in any division that could be considered for a title shot right now. Of course, with the talent exchange outside of the UFC, it’s possible that they could pick up some intriguing fighters. But we’ll have to wait and see.
It’s certainly an interesting time to see who will rise above the crowd and be the second banana to the UFC. Affliction, EliteXC, and Dream all have a shot at it for sure. Dream obviously has the international appeal, Affliction has the star power (albeit only in one division), and EliteXC has the TV deal. So who will win?
Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief:(8.0)
For a free show, Elite XC came through with an entertaining night that had none of the crap that made the first show such a joke. They won't be able to provide their audience with top level fighters and match-ups, but they can provide an entertaining lower level to a mainstream audience and introduce them to the sport with some good personalities. This is what Elite XC can be, and what they should relegate themselves to being. They can't fool themselves into thinking that they are legit competitors on the same level as the UFC, but they can be a viable lower tier company with more quality shows on this level. This show was exactly what their first one should have been like in May, and it was an enjoyable two hours of fights.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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