I must apologize profusely to any and everyone who wasted any time watching the charade that was put on by EliteXC on CBS Saturday night. I have not read other editorials on the event, but if nobody else wants to say it, I will-the Kimbo fight was a blatant fix. Look, I've seen too many 'Behind the WWF' shows to be fooled, so for those who may have overlooked the obvious signs, let me break it down.
First, let's start with the WHY? As many of you know, I have participated in the past two media conference calls meant to promote Kimbo's fights. The biggest observation I made was that Kimbo is not very skilled at self-promotion. Even as a street fighter, it was not him who posted the videos up on YouTube, he has always just gone out and fought. So you see, the heads of EliteXC promotions (Gary Shaw and co.) realized that Kimbo would not exactly embrace the role of a-hole self-promoter-most of his answers during conference calls were one liners, usually consisting of 5-8 words max. In fact, when I asked him how he addressed issues of conditioning in training for this fight, he replied simply with "Stopped eatin' Snickers." The fact was that Kimbo was not at all comfortable in the spotlight; every time asked about an opponent he responded with the utmost respect, and that was not what they wanted.
Next, let's think about how they set it up. This one's no mystery; the card was originally supposed to be a fight between Kimbo and Ken Shamrock. As expected, in leading up to this fight, Shamrock was a hype machine, straight from his days in the WWF. During the conference call he did everything from tell me to shut my mouth to saying he trained to fight Kimbo by beating up 'thugs' from the 'corner store.' Of course, the intention was never for Shamrock to fight Kimbo-Ken was simply paid to play the role Kimbo has not been able to fill. Then, on fight night, Ken is a sudden late scratch from the bout, REALLY?!
Now, to the fight. So suddenly we have Kimbo facing some mystery fighter...the Karate Kid. The first thing I have to say about this is, even if all of this was legit, what kind of organization forces a fighter to fight someone they didn't even have a chance to train for? That alone erases any semblance of credibility that EliteXC may have had, in my opinion. That aside, the actual 'fight' was the worst display of acting I have ever seen.
To begin with, let's consider the punch that rendered Kimbo concussed and disoriented...are you kidding me? Take a look at the YouTube videos and tell me if that was conceivable. I have seen Kimbo take direct punches to the jaw...even in the famous fight he lost to Sean Gannon he ate some punches that would knock most guys out. Even further, the cut was a farce-either there was a pre-existing slice done with a razor blade (a-la-WWF[E]) or there was something on the glove. In all of his fights, Kimbo has never displayed proneness to being cut. Watch the replay closely, it was more of a push punch than anything else-as the replay continues, notice how half the punches thrown either do not land, or graze the top of Kimbo's head. Also notice how Kimbo stayed on his hands and knees while this guys throws wild, useless punches...PLEASE.
Look, EliteXC is just cuttin' checks left and right. They cut a check to Shamrock for lending his name and jerk-off-edness to the promotion of this sham...they cut a check to Kimbo for lending his popularity to the establishment of this travesty (EliteXC)...and they cut a check to Peter Petrelli, or whatever his name is, for painting his hair and helping execute the mockery that took place Saturday. I say, they should cut all the viewers and media a check for feeding us the traveshamockery they presented as legitimate. I personally refuse to ever promote, preview, or review another EliteXC Production. You know, at first I thought Dana White was the jerk off, but in reality it was Gary Shaw and his boys all along. In all of it I have only one major regret...that I didn't tell Ken Shamrock everything I wanted to tell him...hey Ken...KISS MY ASS!