14 seconds to defeat the ‘Legend of Kimbo'

Usually I don't like to write about the same topic or same fighter in consecutive weeks, but this is too big of news to pass up, and it needs to be said. EliteXC is a complete farce of an MMA promotion.

The evening of October 4th a chain of events transpired that will change EliteXC forever, and could essentially bury the organization.

The main even of ‘EliteXC: Heat' was put in jeopardy when Ken Shamrock suffered an eye injury in training hours before the fight, and was not cleared to fight by any doctors in the state of Florida. Desperate to keep Kimbo Slice on the fight card, EliteXC brought up Seth Petruzelli from the undercard to take on Kimbo and give the fans a show.

Petruzelli would give up two inches of height, four inches of reach, and over 30lbs to Kimbo…but the only number that would matter for Petruzelli would be 14. That's the amount of seconds that it would take to put Kimbo to the ground with a sloppy straight punch, and finish him off via TKO.

Those 14 seconds mean so much more though than a blunder on the record of the ‘Legend of Kimbo.' Kimbo was the face of EliteXC, key word there is was. He no longer has a mystique about him; he's no longer untouchable. He had just been knocked out by a goofy looking man with pink streaks in his hair.

If you watch closely in the fight, you can see Jared Shaw, VP of EliteXC in the background of the fight, yelling in disarray and being visually upset as those 14 seconds ticked by. Jared Shaw knew, as Kimbo hit the mat, so did the future, and legitimacy of EliteXC.

To even further the circus act that is EliteXC, before the fight, Petruzelli is admitting to being told there was a little extra cash thrown his way, if he were to stand and trade with Kimbo. It's a statement that's been denied by EliteXC and has been retracted now by Petruzelli but if it weren't true at all, it wouldn't have been said at all in the first place.

EliteXC has continued to show that they are at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to MMA promotions.

What is the next step for EliteXC from here? Well, CBS wants to do the fourth show with EliteXC as they signed a four-show deal to have them shown on national television. The problem here is EliteXC might not be able to afford it. ProElite, the parent company to EliteXC, is $60 million dollars in the hole, so as much as CBS may want another show, it may not be affordable unless someone else pumps some more money into EliteXC.

Pumping that money in though might be a problem already solved. We may have seen a new trend start that could battle the UFC, and that comes in the form of fighter lending. We saw Andrei Arlovski take on Roy Nelson, both of whom are under contract with Affliction. In exchange, Affliction got over 10 primetime TV spots, worth nearly six figures. Watch for this happening more and more over the next couple of months, with many up-start organizations struggling to make money, lending fighters out to other organizations may be the new way to keep your fight promotion afloat.