EliteXC: Heat Results

Before the fights started it was announced that Ken Shamrock got cut warming up and couldn’t take place in his fight against Kimbo Slice. Seth Petruzelli instead fought Kimbo in the main event.

Seth Petruzelli KO 1st round (0 minutes and 14 seconds) Kimbo Slice
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Sorry, that wasn’t very professional. Still, it was fucking hilarious. Slice got dropped by a light punch and was completely helpless and against a TUF reject. Dana White must have pissed his pants laughing when he heard about it (I’m assuming he didn’t actually watch it). I do like Kimbo, but I don’t like his fans. Kimbo seems like a decent guy who has made a living doing something that he’s good at, but he’s by no means the best in the World. His idiot fans who would go on youtube threads and talk about how he’d beat Fedor and Liddell and Wladimir Klitschko when infact he (was) a big guy who lifted weights and knew how to box a bit fighting stiffs in his backyard. I like it that Kimbo trains properly and wants to make a career out of this, but the fact that he was the face of MMA to the general public is a concern and it was good that he got annhilated by a journeyman on the main event of a nationally televised card in USA. I really think this could be the end of EliteXC, but then again they just announced the Eddie Alvarez-Nick Diaz fight which will be awesome.

Andrei Arlovski KO 2nd round Roy Nelson
The refereeing in this fight was horrendous. What the fuck posseses a referee to stand the fighters up when someone has side control and is looking for a kimura? I don’t think Nelson would have finished the fight from there because Arlovski seemed comfortable but the fact remains; Nelson took Arlovski down, he passed his guard and he was looking to finish but because EliteXC’s target audience has an IQ of -10 and they don’t understand how MMA works they bring it back to their feet because apparently ground fighting isn’t really fighting. As far as I’m concerned, if you don’t like ground fighting you aren’t a true MMA fan. Yeah sometimes it can be boring and stand-ups are required for the lesser shows where they don’t have as much finishing ability but in a fight between two world class heavyweights let the fighters sort it out for themselves. If you get dumped on your back and have your guard passed you’re at a level where you should have to work out of it yourself. It makes me sick watching referees get involved like that.
As for the rest of the fight, Arlovski didn’t look great but then he did take the fight on short notice. I think Barnett has the tools to beat him if he can get the fight to the ground and I think Fedor would ruin him if they fought. The finish though was typical Arlovski with good clean punching and a rarely seen variety of punches in MMA. Roy Nelson fought well and I think with a bit more cardio (I’m not sure if he is just normally out of shape or if the short notice made him more out of shape then normal) then he’d make a good opponent for a lot of decent heavyweights.

Jake Shields submission (armbar) 2nd round Paul Daley
This was a good fight. Much of it was spent with Shields mounting Daley but Daley had his moments as well. Shields was way too anxious to finish the fight and rushed that armbar in the first round which would have proved to be bad if there was more time left because Daley landed some sickening elbows. Shields also seemed to gas rather quickly (that could be because he’s been finishing everyone quickly) which could bring his downfall against better welterweights then Paul Daley. After the fight Shields talked of fighting Robbie Lawler for the EliteXC Middleweight title; with Kimbo’s loss this is the sort of thing EliteXC needs to put on to get more people watching. I’d pick Lawler in that fight, but the winner would be very marketable.

Gina Carano UD3 Kelly Kobald
I only saw the end of this fight. From what I saw, Carano has excellent takedown defence now and throws some vicious strikes. Kobald made a good fight of it though and was in it in the round that I watched. From what I’ve read of the first two rounds it was a good fight and could only help improve the legitimacy of womens MMA. The commentators repeatedly asking the fighters why they fight MMA won’t though.

Benji Radach KO 2nd round Murilo ‘Ninja’ Rua
Radach throws some big punches. Ninja seemed old and just couldn’t deal with his stand-up. He had his moments with the attempted leglocks and probably won three and a half minutes of the first round but got beaten up in the other 90 seconds. Radach has the skills to test Robbie Lawler, especially if he can score with his right hand.

EliteXC: Heat Predictions

Another good non-UFC MMA card takes place this weekend with EliteXC: Heat on CBS for all those American fans. In the main event UFC Hall of Famer and the one time so called World’s Most Dangerous Man Ken Shamrock faces so called Undisputed Youtube Bareknuckle Heavyweight Champion Kimbo Slice. Shamrock has lost 8 f his last 9 fights and Slice is relatively untested, however I think this fight will be interesting (more on that later). The rest of the card features EliteXC Welterweight Champion (and about the only non-UFC Welterweight who I think could give the UFC Welterweight division some trouble) Jake Shields defending his title against Paul Daley. Also in a co-promoted fight with Affliction, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski returns to face recently bankrupted IFL’s reigning Heavyweight champion Roy Nelson. Gina Carano is also on the card against Kelly Kobald and even though I’m usually not that comfortable watching women fight (that isn’t intended to be sexist, I just don’t usually like it), I do like watching Carano because her fights are usually entertaining.

Ken Shamrock vs Kimbo Slice
Prediction- Shamrock by 1st round leglock submission
I’ve mentioned this in another post, I think Slice will be put on his back and exposed. Shamrock might suck these days but he has the wrestling ability to put Kimbo with his non existant takedown defence on his back, open his legs and submit him with a heel hook. Shamrock’s submissions are old school, Kimbo’s grappling is probably mostly new school so I think he’ll be surprised by some of the ways Shamrock will attack him. If Slice has improved his takedown defence I think he’ll batter Shamrock and knock him out quickly. Either way this fight won’t go past a few minutes.

Paul Daley vs Jake Shields
(EliteXC Welterweight title)
Prediction- Shields by 2nd round submission
As I said, Shields is the best non-UFC Welterweight out there. Daley is a good fighter but I think he’s outclassed here. Shields is coming off three first round wins over three quality opponents and I think that his experience against good fighters will play a big factor in this fight. Daley probably has the better stand-up but I think Shields will be able to get the fight where he wants it and finish him, I’m going to say with a rear naked choke after busting him up with some punches in the first round.

Andrei Arlovski vs Roy Nelson
Prediction- Arlovski by 1st round knockout
Nelson is a big guy, but Arlovski’s speed should prove too much for him in this fight. Arlovski will break him down with leg kicks and right hands until he can’t take anymore. There will be a big advantage to the Pitbull in terms of reach and he has by far the better stand-up. Also I’m not sure what Nelson has been up to lately while Arlovski has been training for a fight with Josh Barnett that was meant to happen in a few weeks. Nelson has heavy hands so I’ll be nervous watching this fight.

Other Fights
I can’t see Carano losing just yet, it’d be bad for business for them to match her with someone who will beat her. Kobald is meant to be good but I think Carano will win inside the distance.
Murilo Ninja fights Benji Radach (I’d be more then happy to watch him pound two shades of shit out of the World’s Biggest Douchebag Tony Bonello again but thats probably just me and everyone who’s heard him open his mouth before) as well and should win that fight, probably by strikes sometime in the first two rounds. The rest I don’t care that much about to be perfectly honest. It should be an entertaining(although pointless in terms of watching the best fight the best) card anyway.

Kimbo Slice takes on ‘The World’s Most Dangerous Man’

Kimbo Slice will headline EliteXC’s third CBS card taking on UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock on October 3rd. Shamrock has won one out of his last ten fights so on paper he looks to be a stepping stone for Kimbo who has won all of his victories inside the distance including a first round knockout win over David ‘Tank’ Abbott and a 3rd round stoppage over James Thompson.

This fight is a step down from Thompson no doubt, but I really think this is a good fight for EliteXC and for Kimbo Slice. Thompson may be better then Shamrock now, but he has no where near the credibility that the former UFC Heavyweight Champion has (Shamrock was the first to hold the Superfight title so in my books that makes him the first heavyweight champion). If Kimbo knocks Shamrock out, it will attract a larger audience because people know of Shamrock because of the Ultimate Fighter and because of his years in Professional Wrestling. Despite the difference in name value, the thing that Shamrock has that no one else Kimbo has fought had is good submission skills.

Not only does Shamrock know how to put a submission on, he’s old school with his grappling and has a wide variety of unorthodox submissions; in particular his leglocks. Shamrock will catch any man alive in a leg lock if they don’t know how to defend one. Thompson could wrestle and put Kimbo on his back, but he doesn’t have the devastating ground and pound of a Fedor Emelianenko or an Igor Vovchanchyn which means he was going to struggle to finish Kimbo. If Shamrock puts Kimbo on his back and passes to half guard, I can really envision him spinning around into a kneebar and tapping Kimbo. I can also see Shamrock dropping back and tapping Kimbo with a heel hook given the oppurtunity. This is a dangerous fight for Kimbo if it hits the ground. The question that needs to be answered is whether or not Shamrock can put Kimbo there. Going off Kimbo’s last fight I think that there’s a good chance of it happening.

In my opinion this is a good fight. It’s certainly not a fight I would pay to watch, but for a card on free to air television I’d definately tune in if they showed it in Australia. This is a good step in the right direction for Kimbo and will answer a few questions of him. Basically the way I see this fight is that if Kimbo wins it in fashion, he will prove that he is better then a mid-level fighter from 2000-2001 because thats basically what Shamrock is right now. Shamrock really looked bad against Robert Berry, his wrestling looked weak and his stand-up was poor. I’m hoping he can turn back the clock a bit and make a fight out of it because I’d love to see him go out with a win. Despite the shit he talks I like watching Shamrock fight.