Tonight was the long-anticipated and long-awaited debut for Elite XC on CBS. Three major fights were hyped for this event, including the big match between the undefeated Kimbo Slice and the MMA veteran James "Colossus" Thompson.
Elite XC showcased a women's MMA match between Gina Carano (aka Crush from "American Gladiators") and Kaitlin Young. Carano dominated the match, culminating in a rear-naked choke that Young was saved by the bell on. However, the doctors stopped the fight before the final round due to Young's eye.
The next fight was for the EliteXC Middleweight Championship as Robbie Lawler defended his title against Scott Smith.
The first round was mainly kicks, with the majority coming from Smith, although he only hit one or two. The second round saw a good fight coming from both men, with Lawler and Smith just throwing punches and connecting.
The final round went smoothly, until Smith took a finger to the eye. The doctors stopped the fight with about a minute and a half left, although Smith said he was good to finish. As a result, this match was declared a No Contest and Lawler retained his title.
- B/R Ticket Guide
MMA rules state that a bout must go three rounds before going to a decision. Although there was no winner, Gary Shaw announced that he would give both fighters winning bonuses for their efforts.
Finally, the match everyone was waiting for. The Internet sensation Kimbo Slice against MMA freestylist James Thompson. I must say I was a little skeptical about Slice's chances, being that Thompson was bigger and more experienced, but Kimbo held his own.
Thompson used his wrestling technique to get a couple of double-leg takedowns to keep Slice off his feet, but Slice was able to reverse one, while getting in a few punches.
The second round gave both men a fresh start, and Slice was able to block a takedown attempt, but he unfortunately was taken down and held against the cage while "Colossus" hammered him with unanswered elbows. The 2-0 Slice was a little slow to get up after the end of the round.
But then, as the final round began, it was like Kimbo had been re-energized. He landed a couple of haymakers, along with a huge uppercut that stunned Thompson.
Slice then delivered one to Thompson's cauliflowered ear, causing it to explode, and just seconds later, doctors stopped the fight, although the only damage to the ear was a little blood and pus dripping out. You could hear the fans booing their discontent over the controversial end to the main event, but they were still cheering in the end for the now 3-0 Kimbo Slice.
Slice has now proven his legitimacy by beating one of the toughest mixed martial arts fighters in the world. What more can we expect from the once-homeless street brawler?
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5 months ago
"Slice has now proven his legitimacy by beating one of the toughest mixed martial arts fighters in the world. What more can we expect from the once-homeless street brawler?"
That BETTER be sarcasm. Thompson's stand up is so pathetic it's painful. Kimbo really hasn't proven anything. I wish he could make 205 pounds where he could have a chance at being legitimate, if anything.
I thought your analysis wasn't any good, to be honest. "The first round was mainly kicks..." is a really lame excuse for analysis. It wasn't even true. And Carano dominated in spurts, and at the end, but not throughout the fight. As for the Kimbo fight, I wish you'd have mentioned Kimbo's idiotic guillotine choke attempts. And Kimbo wasn't 're-energized' really, he was still tired as shit, but he wasn't arm weary, so he still threw some hard shots and Thompson sticks his chin out there nicely.
5 months ago
"in all of mma history they have never stopped a fight due to a cut on the ear."
Clealy you didn't see the fight, I thought his ear was about to fall off. He was also dazed by 4 monster shots right before the fight was stopped, one more big one could have ended his life.
5 months ago
If a ref didn't stop the Wineland vs. Bebe fight because of a bloody ear I don't see this fiasco being worse than that.
If your being serious that Kimbo legitimized himself by beating "one of toughest fighters in the world" please stick to WWE.
from 5 months ago
Clearly you didnt watch the fight because Thompson won the first and second round 10 to 7 then 10 to 8 and in the second round he had Kimbo down and he was throwing elbows like crazy on him and they could have called the fight then.
5 months ago
I'm pulling for Kimbo. Most MMA fans hate the guy, but I respect him. He was tested in tonight's fight, which is a good thing. He went against a real MMA fighter that knows how to ground and pound, and Kimbo held up. Haters just love to hate. Keep up the hard work Kimbo.
5 months ago
You are blind man, Kimbo slice won a fixed match. He didnt prove anything to me other than that he could lay their, get pinned up against the cage by a second rate wrestler and get elbowed in the face with no retaliation.
5 months ago
i'm not totally up on how the refs treat the 'ground and pound' when a fighter is landing plenty of undefended blows but doing no real damage. but Thompson had Kimbo against the cage for what seemed like a minute or more. i'm glad the ref didn't stop it there, tho it might fairly have gone to Thompson right then. as for the ear, i think CBS wanted to show some sport with less blood for its mainstream audience. ergo the stoppages throughout the evening due to injury. still, Kimbo clearly had Thompson "on the ropes" with at least 4 undefended hammers to his head. The stoppage likely saved a KO. Overal, in the end I enjoyed watching Kimbo go against a halfway decent MMA fighter. Kimbo's clearly an MMA beginner; in the early days of MMA he would have been a dominant force i think; but the sport's become so sophisticated and competitive, he has alot to learn before he can really compete with well-rounded fighters. grappling, submission, and cardio are his homework. but i was impressed with his incredible strength on the ground against a guy as big as Thompson, and he showed that he's a good student so far with some quick learning on the ground since he started this MMA trip. Kimbo will be something very special as time goes on.
5 months ago
How do they look at a ground pound? I do agree Thompsons eblows were complete and utter crap, but they were still relentless and Kimbo did nothing about them. Is that constitution for a finish, cause I have seen several ground and pounds were it doesnt look like there is much "umph" in the punches, but they people arent defending themselves so the fight is ended.
5 months ago
You people have to grow up.
In case you couldn't tell, this was CBS. OF COURSE they stopped the fight after a guy with a freaky ear gets said ear blown out!!!! It's primetime television, not pay-per-view... you think 67 year old women are going to appreciate blood splattered all over their screens b4 they go to sleep!?!!?!?
Also, Kimbo is too big and strong to get clinched easily aniways. AND he's too much of a hardass to not take a few flush punches in the face for a national audience. So what if he's the only fighter in the mma world that doesn't freak another dude in the floor during a fight. He's like Chuck Lidell with one more foott, 100 more pounds, and a distinctively BLACK TINT.
You people are all racist. He ain't about techinique... But Iron Mike wasn't either.
Haters. Haters. Haters.
from 5 months ago
Fernando, you are obviously a Jesse Jackson nut-hugging idiot.
For you to bring up the term "racist" in this conversation is obvious that you are some black moron who has been trained by society to deem everything racist when it does not go your way. Sorry, you and the other "souljia boy's" out there grow up and learn to take harsh critic's. (That is a reference to the stupid black fellow who showed up in traffic court sporting a DUI here in Oklahoma; yet, had the audacity to walk into the court wearing a black shirt dawned with the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor Marine Corps symbol, captain shoulder boards, and sargeant stripes. When the judge asked him if he knew what all of it meant, he said it was about "street cred". (WOW)
Grow up, and learn to open your eyes.
Do you think for a second they gave a damn about the blood? Obviously not. They network broadcasted it live, so do you think for tick of the clock that they did not know what they were getting into? Hell no. The guy was going to get stopped, that is why they stopped it. PERIOD.
For your statement of "Kimbo is too big and strong to get clinched easily", did you not watch the fight?
Last point, Mike Tyson was trained in the bob & weave style by the late great Cus D'Amato, technique was the only damn thing he had at 5'10 that made him look so invincible.
Grow up you pussy.
from 5 months ago
Real MMA fans respect what Kimbo is trying to do, but he is definitely a trash fighter. No racism involved.
5 months ago
Sorry to screw up your whole post but i'm not black. Is Fernando a black name? ... nevermind, didn't expect you'd think it through.
1st fight? ref's stopped it.
2nd fight? ref's stopped it.
3rd fight? ref's stopped it.
4th fight? ref's stopped it.
kimbo's fight? ref's stopped it.
Hope you see the trend here. And it spells that you are an arse wipe, cuz clearly you don't have a handle on what you saw or on what this night of fighting meant.
p.s: You said "is obvious that you are some black moron"... "Sorry, you and the other "souljia boy's"... there's something intrinsically ASININE about your writing, yet you do not see it.
from 5 months ago
Oh, sorry about my last post, I was incorrect about you being black, but not wrong about you being from a minority group that loves to claim racism was at hand at any time you are not the clear victor.
1st fight - The ref should have stopped it.
2nd fight - The ref should have stopped it.
3rd fight - The ref should have stopped it.
4th fight - The fool told the doctor he could not see unless he had five minutes 2 times, and the RINGSIDE Physician stopped it, not the ref.
5th fight - He was about to fall the hell over, gee, the ref should have stopped it.
Again, I love the approach to claiming racism instead of just accepting facts, and not to mention, you used the word intrinsically wrong.
I love the notion that if you read a word from the dictionary you immediately know how it is used or even capitalized on in a sentence instead of actually attending school, or practicing it before using it.
5 months ago
What I find so funny, whether you believe he is worthy or not is the fact that this dude just started fighting this style. He is totally out of his element and in my opinion; he's doing a damn good job. Was James Thompson one of the world’s best, " NO"! More frankly, "Hell No"!, but he is a decent contender for a guy that's only had two fights before him. To all the bloggers, how many of your favorite MMA fighters would like to fight by Kimbo's backyard rules? Hmmmm, not many takes I'd guess. Look, he's learning and that's all you can expect from a once homeless, ex-D-1 college football player, ex-bouncer and ex-backyard fighter. Give him some credit, he is the epidemy of the American Dream and deserves more credit and respect than you Chuck Ladell fanatics are giving him here. I prefer fights off the ground. Show me your hands but most MMA fighters can’t box so they grab, grapple, and try submissions. Cool but boring as hell. Again, how many MMA fighters would fight by Kimbo’s rules? F*** wrestling, that’s for Hulk Hogan and Rick Flair. LMFAO
from 5 months ago
Why should they fight by Kimbo's back alley rules? For What? $3000? That was the going rate for those fights. Chump change. It is Kimbo who needs to fight by the established rules in MMA and win by those rules before he can say he is anybody in MMA. Sheer stupidity thinking that because Kimbo is Kimbo he should no be judged by the standards in the sport he has entered.
Kimbo was great on You Tube fighting guys named Dreds and Papi Chulo and Too Fidy, but he ain't fighting behind the KFC anymore.
So Kimbo was homeless for a time, big whoop, so was I. Fighting was Kimbo's way out of it, mine was racing motorcycles.
from 5 months ago
Fuck wreslting? Yeah youd say that when one of the collegiate wrestlers ripped your friggin arms out of socket. Why the hell do you even watch MMA? The Gracies pretty much invented UFC to prove to the world that GROUND FIGHTING was the most effective technique against any other martial arts style. And they proved that. Wrestling and Jiu Jitsu might be boring to watch to some. . . but i guarnatee you ass wouldnt want to street fight someone who knew it. You havent even seen what tehy can do when they have clothes to grab ahold of. You'd be dead in about 15 seconds.
5 months ago
Kimbo Slice sucks, end of story. He is clearly still that backyard bruiser who can only fight other dimwitted fighters, and when he is truly in trouble of losing, something comes to his rescue to bail him out, whether it be his pose in the backwards, or the EliteXC heads in a MMA main event.
5 months ago
Stop flaming each other. To those of you who need to be told. Just freaking discuss the topic at hand without the personal attacks.
5 months ago
The only thing Kimbo proved was that he is definitely not made for MMA. He's too old to get his cardio and ground game better at the same time. Bum juice. Definitely not made for the UFC at all. Elite xc got good fighters but they headline the wrong fights. Robbie Lawler is far from the best middleweight in the world. Imagine Lawler vs Silva in a match. Anderson would crush him so easily! The only good champ they have is Cung Le. Oh and Gina.
from 5 months ago
Cung Le isn't even really an Elite XC fighter (or champ). He's the strikeforce middleweight champion. Strikeforce and Elite XC just combined forces to put on the Le vs Shamrock fight. Lawler is the Elite XC middleweight champ. And the women's division doesn't have a titleholder yet, but it would be Gina, surely.
5 months ago
The only reason there's so much animosity for Kimbo in MMA is racism. The haters think MMA is a disciplined fighting sport with techniques that only whites can excel in. Any way I've got news for all you haters. Kimbo is the real deal. A hard punch is a hard punch, period. I don't care what technique you've learned or how successful you are at applying a choke hold. You take one big shot and all that disciplined training goes out the window.
So you haters can keep making all the excuses you want, he's too old, he's an ex-porn bodyguard, his grappling skills suck, whatever. Too you can keep searching until you can find someone who can beat him.
Know this: Kimbo has taken on every man that's come his way, every single man. This fact alone is impressive. AND he's won 99% of them. Thompson is big, trained and capable. Think Thompson's a pussy, then try fighting him yourself.
BTW: Kimbo is 3 and 0.
from 5 months ago
You must be part of the Al Sharpton gay love feast group. Race has nothing to do with this! This is about a fighter who is being hyped up to be something that he isnt. He is not a big bad fighter, he is a sheltered brawler feeding of the second rate fighters that are going downhill or never had the true skill to make it in the big times.
I believe that Anderson Silva and Quinton Rampage Jackson are two of the best fighters pound for pound and they are both black.
from 5 months ago
I agree totally. You got all these fags out here with blogger courage. The kind of courage where you can say all you want but showing your face or giving out contact info is definitely out of the question. I hate blogs for this specific reason. So many cowards with racist remarks that if they were in the presence of the opposite race, they'd cringed and ball up like a little bitch. Be it black or white. MMA is a sport that most men could not handle. I'm man enough to say I'd be in that category. No punk but these guys are the best of the best. They live for this shit. I prefer, looking good, with a great job, and being in shape fucking some good pussy than fighting for a living. Just me, but I respect any man that does this sport for a living and I enjoy it tremendously. As I stated before, Kimbo is just learning, and last night was a great test for him. 34 isn't old. I'd put my money on him over the average 20-25 year old. Will he lose a fight? Sure! You can't win them all. Do any of you remember Brock Lesnar’s first fight? He was predicted to destroy Mir and what happened? Lost by a leg lock. He was punishing Mir but got caught up. Did that destroy his legacy? No, he's still a beast. Lay off Kimbo especially until he loses. You all are acting as if Thompson didn't eat 4 devastating blows to the head. He was pretty much knocked out standing up. The ref's job is to prevent the fighters from being hurt or permanently fucked up. What more do you want, fights to the death?
from 5 months ago
It has nothing to do with race. End of story.
from 5 months ago
No knock on Kimbo, certainly he's fought hard against whoever's been put in front of him. It's not his fault that no quality fighters have been put in front of him. At this point it looks as though he'd lose fairly badly to the better fighters in his weight class, be it Couture, Emilianenko, Silvia, or even Congo, Mir, Orlavsky, or Vera... they all have better standup defense and much, much better takedowns, ground, and grappling games, as well as kicking. But Slice admits as much, and acknowledges he has a lot to learn, so good luck to him.
from 5 months ago
Racism. The last refuge of those that have run out of excuses. The reason REAL MMA fight fans hate on Kimbo has nothing to do with Kimbo being Black. It has to do with the fact that he is being forced down fans' throats at the expense of fighters who have earned the spot that is now refused them because of Kimbo. No other fighter would be where Kimbo is right now fighting the caliber of competition that has folded up in front of him. Kimbo is being protected and by having him fight a bunch of set-ups and tomato cans, all of MMA is left with a black eye.
I am sure that NASCAR fans would resent dirt track driver coming into the Nextel Cup being provided a car, a team, a crew and then allowed to win a bunch of races where the top drivers were not allowed to compete. And of course, all of the dirt track fans would all be enamored of their guy and swear he was the coming thing while real NASCAR fans would see him as little more than a ringer.
Racism has nothing to do with why Kimbo is seen as illegitimate. But then your own racism has everything to do with why you can't take any criticism without immediately crying racism. You know what the reaction is when White people hear this crap? They roll their and think "Oh great! Another one of THOSE!"
Of course, I laugh at your whiney cries of racism. My wife is Black and I have two bi-racial daughters. My wife is an executive with Verizon that got to where she is because of hard work and not crying about how "racist" the world is. She leaves that crap to the idiots at Obama's Church.
5 months ago
you guys are all retarded for saying it was fixed did you watch the fight. He was out on his feet he slapped the ref in the face because he didn't even know the fight was over. Yea kimbo should have knocked him out a little faster but the guy came ready to fight.
Everyone keeps saying that thompson is just a can well guess what people he has wins over dan severn and don frye so are those guys cans too............hahaha give me a break there 2 hall of famers.
your all just a bunch of haters your just mad a guy made it outta the hood and is making money legit now
5 months ago
Dan Severn and Don Frye were good back in the day, but winning over them late in their careers isn't a big deal. Lots of people that were good in the early UFC's couldn't beat half of the good fighters around today.
5 months ago
Kimbo was out of his league against a no name fighter. He wouldn't last against the likes of Heath Herring, never mind Couture. He needs to learn a lot more to be taken seriously.
5 months ago
Ugh. "[P]roven his legitimacy by beating one of the toughest mixed martial arts fighters in the world"? Thompson has neither a standup nor a ground game. This was a sad showcase of third-tier talent on all sides that did nothing to highlight the world-class athleticism and the breadth and depth of skills of quality MMA fighters. The entire night was a fiasco. Anyone viewing MMA for the first time would be unimpressed, to say the least. The choice of Kimbo Slice, who, while arguably a fierce brawler, is hardly a skilled MMA fighter, shows what CBS and EliteXC are about-- they chose pure publicity and the lowest common denominator over any considerations of style and skill. Add to that the fact that the ringside commentary in each fight was disconnected from the reality in the ring, and consistently slanted toward the favored fighter, regardless of the actuality of the fight (Frank Shamrock excluded- he was fine), and you have a truly shoddy spectacle that should disappoint both longtime MMA fans and newcomers.
"What more can we expect from the once-homeless street brawler?" We can expect him to lose, handily, when faced with an MMA fighter with even moderate skills. Imagine any one of the featured fighters in any of the CBS fights going up against any of the quality Pride/UFC fighters-- not to mention the title-holders. Can you imagine Kimbo versus Randy Couture? That would be a sad and short showcase for Kimbo... Or Lawlor (who admittedly has good standup) against Anderson Silva? Frankly, Couture could probably beat Kimbo and Thompson back-to-back on the same night, then go for a training session, then do some windsprints. It's too bad that MMA's first foray into primetime had to be such a minor league event. Definitely not a step forward for MMA in the eyes of the wider public.
from 5 months ago
Best comment so far. Calculated and precise.
I'm still confused though where this 'racist' argument started off with anyway. What was that oh-so-racist remark about Kimbo, that triggered a whole thread about it. Can any one copy/paste it below? Because I sure couldn't find it.
5 months ago
During the First round Thompson had Kimbo with an are bar. He had the arm bar locked in, and then let go. I think this fight was fixed to let Kimbo win.
5 months ago
Kimbo has no ground game, sher he might have strong punches but if any body gets him down on the ground he his goin to be done for, look at thompson he is not really a ground fighter and look what he did, if Kimbo goes to UFC he will not win a fight
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