The reaction to the main event from Saturday night’s EliteXC broadcast from fans was nearly instantaneous. In the era of “point, click, reply” one thread after another questioned the integrity of the fight, the skill of the fighters and how long EliteXC could maintain the Kimbo sherade.
Veteran MMA journalists Kevin Iole and Dan Wetzel took a little bit more time to collect their thoughts, but for the most part, found themselves asking the same questions.
Iole points out that the card featured “C-Level talent” but he was still impressed with the war between Scott Smith & Robbie Lawlor and Gina Carano & Kaitlin Young. Iole also took issue with the ratio of fighting to “smoke and mirrors,” in which there was a lot more S&M.
Dan Wetzel also has no love lost for the Kimbo show:
“If you’re a fan of MMA, then what Elite XC trotted out as a main event was mostly an absurd exhibition… This was entirely predictable. Any promotion that was going to use Kimbo Slice as its main event clearly cared nothing about the quality or growth of the sport. It was just grabbing cheap viewers.”
While Wetzel presented two points of view on the broadcast, the hardcore fan vs. the first-time watcher, his own conclusion is much more middle of the road:
As frustrating as this was for many who love the sport, I don’t buy the argument that the card was a big negative for MMA. Yes its credibility was hurt with old media and some skeptics, but many potential fans were exposed to it for the first time.
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