EliteXC News - Page 2

JT Steele started his career at ProElite, Inc. as an intern when the company was first formed in November of 2006. Hungry to get into the MMA business, he worked for free during the day while completing a law degree at Southwestern University by night. In a short time, Steele became a paid employee of the company, a beneficiary of the rapid growth the company experienced in 2007. Steele worked in talent acquisition, fighter contracts, and regulatory affairs under Head of Fight Operations Jeremy Lappen, eventually gaining the title of Senior Manager of Fight Operations. Steele had met Lappen while interning for the World Fighting Alliance in its short-lived comeback. Steele was at ground zero when EliteXC’s deal with CBS fell through, and says the fallout shocked rank and file employees. “It happened so fast,” he said. “Literally, faster than any of us could have ever anticipated it. We were forced to shut down almost immediately. I think a lot of people didn’t anticipate that.”

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The past few weeks were exciting for middleweight Joey Villasenor. He had prepared vigorously for his rematch with Robbie Lawler. Though Villasenor was stopped in 22 seconds the first time they met, he was confident things would end differently Nov. 8 in Reno, Nev. Villasenor, who turned 33 on Friday, was feeling good. Where to now? Joey Villasenor founds himself without a job after EliteXC closed its doors. In a little more than two weeks, he planned to enter the cage and exact revenge on one of mixed martial arts' top middleweights. Plus, he could earn a much-needed $60,000 -- $30,000 for the fight and $30,000 to win. Just two more weeks and Villasenor would put a few bucks into his savings account that serves as a retirement fund. But two weeks is a long time when the event's promoter is struggling to make ends meet.

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After a 13-day long investigation into allegations of fight fixing by the now-defunct MMA organization EliteXC, the Florida State Boxing Commission has concluded that no wrongdoing has occurred.

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News of EliteXC’s demise shook the mixed martial arts world on Monday, as an entire stable of fighters suddenly found themselves without a place to work. Any number of reasons behind the 2-year-old promotion’s downfall could be chiseled into its tombstone: Foray into mixed martial arts failed for boxing promoters. Organization walked down the same green mile as the World Fighting Alliance, the International Fight League and Bodog Fight. Promotion unraveled after scandal involving street fighter and UFC retread. While EliteXC offered just as much controversy as excitement, it enjoyed many bright spots during its 20-month run.

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Yesterday, MMA Payout noticed something important in the SEC report by EliteXC CBS/Showtime had declared ProElite in violation of the terms of their $6.3million loan. This creates a possibility that CBS/Showtime will seize all the assets of the company, including the fighter contracts. Now Josh Gross is hearing a bit more talk along those lines: Perhaps the most interesting bit of information from this mess deals with the contracts of ProElite's fighters. One of the managers I talked to said Elite might not be able to free fighters right away as CBS might have a right to the contracts. The network had a promissory note with Elite which didn't get paid. Like a lien on property, their only assets to collect are the fight contracts. This contradicts suggestions on Tuesday that fighters under contract to ProElite before it went belly up would likely be free and clear to negotiate with other promoters. There's no evidence that the suits at CBS can run an MMA organization but maybe they'd let someone competent from within the EliteXC ranks rise up and run the show.

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From Sherdog: The California State Athletic Commission on Wednesday upheld the one-year suspension of Antonio Silva at an appeals hearing for the EliteXC heavyweight champion.

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Now it's officially over. In a recent email to the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) Executive Director Keith Kizer, Elite XC Manager of Fight Operations J.T. Steele confirmed that the promotion has indeed ceased operations and had no other choice but to cancel “A Night of Champions,” which was set for Reno on November 8.

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As the fallout from the shutdown of EliteXC continues, some of the fighters hardest hit by this news were the competitors for the upcoming Nov. 8 show in Nevada. None may have taken a bigger hit than top middleweight contender Joey Villasenor, who for the second time in just three months had the rug pulled out from under his fight schedule. Originally set to be a part of the Sept. 20 show that was eventually canceled as well, Villasenor was gearing up for a rematch against Robbie Lawler on Nov. 8, but now that fight has been scrapped as well. "Yesterday my manager called me and he said I have some bad news for you and I said, 'Robbie Lawler got hurt?' and he said, 'No, it's worse than that, Elite folded,'" Villasenor told MMAWeekly.com in an exclusive interview. "I knew that they were in turmoil, but I was really banking on Nov. 8 happening. "I felt good going into the fight that I would beat the No. 3 ranked middleweight in the world and have a great plan for my future, but these things happen and now we just have to prepare for what's next."

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Sam Caplan identifies it: Another thing you will see with the fall of ProElite is the rise of regional MMA. With MMA on the downturn in Japan, a lot of talented fighters could be stuck in a state of purgatory. Granted, Strikeforce will be very interested in a lot of the aforementioned names, but the reality is that the WEC, UFC (which will likely have to purge some of its roster if it pursues a significant amount of ex-EliteXC fighters), and Strikeforce can only have so many fighters under contract. A lot of fighters who were fighting and winning on the national level are suddenly going to find that their only options will be to fight for less for U.S.-based regional promotions and improve their market value with the major national promotions that remain, or retire. Existing regional promotions will look to secure talent that falls through the cracks while several promotions will form out of the void that has been created by the collapse of so many national promotions. A fight such as Rogers vs. Herman, which had been discussed as a strong possibility of taking place for EliteXC in 2009 for the promotion’s heavyweight title, might now be contested on a regional show. And once these regional promotions sign a few significant names, they will become immediate candidates to land a broadcast deal with HDNet.

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Dave Meltzer ponders what's next for the three biggest players in EliteXC's roster: Elite XC’s two biggest attractions, Slice and Carano, are unlikely to be moving to the sport’s highest-profile group. UFC president Dana White has repeatedly said he won’t use Slice, who made his reputation as a backyard streetfighter on YouTube videos but is not the caliber of even a mid-level MMA pro. White also has said he’s not interested in promoting women’s fighting, although Carano’s success as a draw may cause him to reconsider. Her match with Kelly Kobold two weeks ago ended up adding more new viewers than any MMA match on television in the U.S. Several agents for fighters have been in contact all day with the UFC. Some, like welterweight champion Jake Shields, would be welcomed into the promotion. Carano will likely be fighting in an ad hoc basis. She is too marketable and popular to never be used, but without a strong financial backer to build women's MMA or divisions she'll be forced to fight opponents in a one-off basis. Luckily for her, she doesn't have all of her eggs in one basket with her various ventures. She'll still have a public profile with or without MMA. Shields is in an excellent spot and I would be surprised if he didn't go to the WEC or UFC (more likely the latter). As for Slice, that's tougher to predict. He is exceptionally popular, but do major promotions like Strikeforce or Affliction - who realize how limited his talent actually is - want to follow in EliteXC's footsteps with meaningless match-making? Part of the impetus to put those matches together was simply to keep EliteXC afloat on the back of their most popular star. Does Strikeforce want to follow that precedent? I seriously doubt it, although I could imagine a world where Affliction tries that. While it's impossible to dismiss Slice's appeal, EliteXC offered the perfect hand-in-glove scenario for him to thrive. Unless promoters are willing to make the same accomodations, where does he go?

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In an interview with MMAWeekly.com Monday evening, Icon Sport founder T.J. Thompson said crisis management, or lack thereof, brought Pro Elite down. Thompson history with Elite began in August of 2007 when he sold his Hawaiian MMA promotion Icon Sport to the then-expanding company. As part of his deal, he entered into a five-year consulting deal with the Los Angeles-based company and participated in many strategic talks with its executives. A 15-year industry veteran who got his start promoting fights in the backrooms of bars to a couple hundred fans, Thompson got a call Monday morning from EliteXC Head of Fight Operations Jeremy Lappen, who informed him that the company had filed for bankruptcy and everyone in the company would be let go. Thompson said it was CBS, not Showtime, who backed out of an impending deal to purchase the ailing fight promotion. Last Tuesday, he spoke with Elite CEO Chuck Champion, who said the company had a fifty-fifty shot of surviving. “His opinion was that the deal was either going to close in the next two to four weeks, or it was going to crash a lot faster than that,” Thompson said.

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ProElite, Inc., parent company of Elite Xtreme Combat, is throwing in the towel on mixed martial arts. Several sources MMAWeekly.com spoke to said notifications had been sent out on Monday informing managers that the company was ceasing its fight promotion operations by the end of this week and it had begun the process of letting its employees go. One source even said that ProElite had already begun clearing out its corporate offices.

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Keeping her undefeated record intact with her last fight, Gina Carano is doing some promotion for her appearance in the new "Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3" game, but then her focus will shift to a proposed match-up against Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos early next year. Carano is currently doing a media tour for the video game, but she spoke to MMAWeekly Radio on Wednesday about her next fight, which is likely to be against Cyborg, possibly in February. "That's what I'm hearing too, and I'm real excited about it," Carano said about the match-up. "Maybe it will be for a title, maybe it will be a main event, I don't know. I'm just really excited about this fight because everybody else is excited about it and I just think it's an awesome match-up. I can't wait to train for it and I'd like to see where I'm at." On the same night that Carano defeated Kelly Kobold, her next opponent, Cyborg, was also on the card. She was able to watch the fight and it actually made her feel more at home for the show.

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Click on the "MMA Bugle" link below and check out the updated fight card for World Victory Road: Sengoku 6 and Elite XC: Night of Champions

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The brothers Shamrock are fixin to step in to the cage against one another. given ken's fragility and Franks penchant for running his mouth, this is still far from a certainty. However, its exciting as hell, i only wish this was 6 or 7 years ago

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A clash of heavyweight titans Brett “The Grim” Rogers and Paul “The Head Hunter” Buentello is expected to be officially announced by EliteXC as having been added to its Nov. 8 event at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada. FiveOuncesOfPain.com confirmed the news with Rogers’ trainer, Mike Reilly of Team Bison in St. Paul, MN earlier this morning. Reilly indicated that bout agreements are expected to be signed within the next few days but that verbal commitments from both fighters have already been secured. “Brett is very excited to be getting back into the cage after such a long layoff and is excited to be taking on such a great opponent,” Reilly told Five Ounces of Pain. “Paul presents the biggest test of Brett’s career. He’s a great fighter and we have a ton of respect for him and we’re really excited to step up to that next level challenge.” Rogers last competed on May 31 during EliteXC’s “Primetime” event in Newark, N.J. Fighting Jon Murphy in what will go down as the first-ever mixed martial arts fight ever broadcast on primetime network television in the U.S., Rogers improved to 8-0 following a first round TKO over the former Syracuse University linebacker.

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FINAL GATE INFORMATION There were 6,854 paid attendees for $677,793 in gross gate revenue. An additional 847 tickets were given out as “comps,” adding up to $97,542 in uncounted revenue. 7,701 people attended the event in all. At the post-fight press conference, EliteXC Head of Fight Operations Jeremy Lappen originally reported that 9,414 fans attended the event with 7,723 paid attendees for a live gate of $826,000. MEDICAL SUSPENSIONS Undercard fighter James Edson Berto was suspended for 30 days following his TKO loss to Conor Heun. Lead-off main card fighter Murilo “Ninja” Rua was suspended indefinitely by the commission following his knockout loss to Benji Radach. He will likely need to be cleared by a doctor to be eligible to fight again. Heavyweight Roy Nelson was suspended for 60 days following his TKO loss to Andrei Arlovski. Main event attraction Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson was given the least amount of suspension, with 30 days on the DQ list for his 14-second TKO loss to Seth Petruzelli. Ferguson’s would-be other half, Ken Shamrock, was not suspended by the commission due to the fact he did not fight on the card.

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Kim Couture ripped Jared Shaw for 'peeking' at a naked Gina Carano during the infamous EliteXC 'Heat' weigh-in two weeks ago. Yahoo! Sports tracked down Carano and she had nothing but nice things to say about EliteXC and Shaw: "Jared is doing well. He's maturing as a person as we all are. It's just a little awkward. I'm not mad at anybody. If someone was trying to sneak a peek then alright, I'm sure a lot of other people would've." St. Gina, who may be the nicest person on god's green earth, also refused to criticize the way that she weighed-in sans clothing. Couture thought Carano could've been weighed in behind the curtain away from prying eyes: "I'm okay the way the weigh-ins went," said Carano. "We can definitely do things better in the future but I can do things better in the future to try to get down to 140."

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Cris Cyborg aggressive style was a great surprise for the American crowd, who loved to see the Brazilian fighter in action inside EliteXC’s octagon. After two victories, the Chute Boxe athlete now might face Gina Carano, the experience and undefeated fighter, who’s pointed as the major representative of the American female MMA. After seven fights in career, both might face each other in the octagon, and the expected fight is in works for February of 2009. “I think it’ll be in February, and it’ll be cool. Everybody wanna see this fight, we both fight on the last event and won, and it’ll be great”, said, imagining how the fight would be. “I’ll keep my Muay Thai like I did in my last fights. I’ll stand with her, and I think she likes it too, so why not? It’ll be a huge fight and someone is going down”, analyzes the fighter, keeping an eye on the EliteXC belt: “they didn’t say if it’s going to be for the belt, but I think it’ll be”. Facing Carano would be the biggest challenge in Cyborg’s career, but the Brazilian fighter doesn’t wanna steal her representative place in the MMA world. “She’s the MMA face out there (laughs), and I don’t wanna steal her place… She can be MMA face, I’ll build my place everyday”

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It has been a rocky road between EliteXC and former lightweight champion KJ Noons over the last few months. EliteXC had been adamant about the fact they wanted to see Noons defend his title against Nick Diaz on October 4th when the organization held its third card on CBS but negotiations fell through. The fall out would lead to EliteXC stripping Noons of the belt that he had won from Diaz when it was vacant title, stating that they felt Noons was ducking Diaz for a rematch.

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