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By Keith Mills All systems are go for EliteXC's debut show this weekend, also known as "Showtime's MMA debut" due to that cable network showing five of the ten bouts starting at 10 PM Saturday night. The other five fights will be aired on EliteXC's website. Briefly it appeared this card may be without a headline fight when another promotion, Strikeforce, tried to sue Frank Shamrock for breach of contract and sought an injunction preventing Frank from fighting Renzo Gracie. According to the Gracie camp, the lawsuit between Strikeforce and headliner Frank Shamrock for breach of contract has been settled now that Showtime, stepped in and brokered a deal involving a future Strikeforce card to be aired on Showtime. Now that the lawsuit is settled the countdown is on. The official preview is airing on Showtime but here is a different view. This show really shows the vision of Gary Shaw pitting the champions of different organizations against each other. Shaw himself is a boxing promoter and former regulator in New Jersey that originally turned down MMA in that state. According to Shaw, EliteXC is not trying to compete with the UFC, but to be a venue for champions from different organizations to determine who the best truly are. In fact this card is arguably a tour de force of the North American perspective of the MMA scene, thanks in large part to matchmaker J.D. Penn of Rumble on the Rock. Champions from King of the Cage, Gladiator Challenge, WEC, and TKO face off against vets of UFC, IFL, Strikeforce, HOOKnSHOOT, AFC, Pride, and even BodogFIGHT. The main event is even a former UFC Champion against a Pride and Abu Dhabi Submission Fighting Worlds vet. The Super Heavyweight fight featuring UFC vet Wesley "Cabbage" Correira and Antonio Silva looks to be a barn burner. Cabbage went 1-3 in the '06 season and went 2-2 in his UFC career, but his two losses in the UFC were to champions Tim Sylvia and Andre Arlovski, while his losses outside the UFC have frequently been the most exciting of those shows. Silva on the other hand, has had a much shorter career in Cage Rage in England among others, but his only loss was in BodogFIGHT to KOTC Super Heavyweight Champion Eric Pele. Coming in with an estimated twenty-plus pound weight advantage Silva may make up the experience factor with the size factor. Both fighters are known for their first round aggression, so don't expect this one to be boring in any sense.
In the Full Contact Fighter archives is Kelsey Mowatt's update with UFC vet/TKO Champion David "The Crow" Loiseau and he is right, his fight against Joey Villasenor could very well be the most compelling fight. Training this time at City Boxing with UFC vet Brandon Vera among others, could give Loiseau a new lease on life and snap him out of his two-loss '06 record. Having gone 4-3 in the UFC fans should be familiar with Loiseau and his skills in the clinch and with his elbows. Pride vet Joey Villasenor may be less known to most fans but is very similar. Villasenor trains out of Jackson's Fight Team in Albuquerque, the same team that fields Diego Sanchez, Keith Jardine, Rashad Evans, Nate Marquardt, and many more. Villasenor is also the former King of the Cage Middleweight Champion, having won and defended that belt seven times most recently against John Cronk after which he relinquished the title. Joey competed in last year's Pride Middleweight Grand Prix where he lost a controversial split decision to Ryo Chonan for his first loss in almost four years, but even he admits he made mistakes against Robbie Lawler in Pride in October, resulting in a 0:22 KO. Now hungry for the win and knowing his back is against the wall, Joey is coming to EliteXC to prove he isn't all hype.
Charles "Krazy Horse" Bennett was also in a Pride Grand Prix, his being the Lightweight tournament last June where he lost to current Shooto Champion Tatsuya Kawajiri. Krazy Horse may be coming off a '06 0-3 record with two more losses in KOTC, but what he lacks in technique, he makes up for as one of the exciting fighters, arguably giving Shonie Carter competition for biggest showman in North America...when Krazy Horse is not in jail that is. KJ Noons on the other hand is all about technique. Also training out of City Boxing Noons is 7-1 in boxing, 4-1 in MMA (not the 3-0 as EliteXC's website states), and 13-1 in Muay Thai. If Noons can handle Bennett's unorthodox style it could be over quick, but if not, this fight could be the fight of the night.
If IFC started the women's divisions and HOOKnSHOOT took it further with their all-women's shows, then an interesting perspective is both EliteXC and BodogFIGHT are investing heavily in the women and this show could be the birth of a third age. Gina Carano made huge waves at Strikeforce in December where she beat Elaina Maxwell by decision, showing not only her striking skills but surprising comfort with the ground game. She has limited MMA experience but an extensive striking background leading some to say she is the next big thing in women's MMA and others to say she hasn't been truly tested. Current HOOKnSHOOT Champion and KOTC vet Julie Kedzie is the ideal opponent to truly gauge which Gina is. Julie won the HOOKnSHOOT belt vacated by Jennifer Howe in a one-day tournament in November '05 and went 2-2 in '06. This fight is getting some negative criticism considering there are fights on the non-televised segment that arguably are more significant than this one, but it can't be denied this one is going to be in all the headlines and should be a war.
The Heavyweight fight of the night between Bo Cantrell and Tim Persey is straight out of Gladiator Challenge where Cantrell is the current Champion. Cantrell lost a shot at the KOTC belt against Paul Buentello in November '04 in his biggest fight to date, but he went 5-0 in '06 with only one of those going past the first round. In that same time KOTC vet Persey went 3-0 in smaller shows in California while continuing to train at Colin Oyama's gym. Both fighters have proven they can take a beating and still win a fight and both fighters have reputations as being explosive, powerful adversaries.
The winner of Seth Kleinbeck and Pancrase/Shooto vet Riki Fukuda could be the one to face the loser of Villasenor/Loiseau and both would be deserving of the shot. Kleinbeck trains out of Matt Hamilton's gym in Arkansas so is considered a local fighter while Fukuda trains with "Kid" Yamamoto in Japan. An amusing perspective is Hamilton and Yamamoto both fight under 145 pounds so this is a battle of the smallest trainers' fighters but a more accurate perspective is both Hamilton and Yamamoto are extremely skilled on the ground. Although these two are still being built don't miss a chance to see this fight on the net as it will be one of those that a year or two from now we will be talking about.
Speaking of talking about fights a year or two later, this show features the return of Javier Vazquez, a fighter whose story would make a great movie someday. Javi is the former KOTC Champion who on the verge of a UFC debut tore his ACL in a title defense against Alberto Crane. Flash forward two years to the Abu Dhabi Submission Fighting '05 North American Trials and it is Javi versus Alberto in the finals, this time won by Javi. Javi tore a groin muscle in preparation for the Abu Dhabi Worlds and to literally add insult to injury Crane took his place in that tournament. Now training with Cesar Gracie, Javi is determined to prove he can compete at this level. Adriano Pereira now living in Memphis is at first glimpse a local fighter facing the returning star but Pereira is not "just" a local fighter, he is a member of the Brazilian Top Team. His style as shown in his fight against Edson Berto in AFC may not be the most exciting but it is very effective against one who is not prepared. This one could be great or it could be one of the most boring fights on this card but either way it is a great story.
As if to round out representation of all aspects of the MMA scene the last two fights feature former IFL Anacondas fighters John Shackelford at Lightweight and Mike Pyle returning to Welterweight. Shackelford versus Edson Berto at first looks like a chance for John to come back from a 2-2 pro, 0-2 amateur record and capitalize on his IFL experience. Berto however is well known in the Florida circuit as having a style similar to Yves Edwards but with some devastating heel hooks thrown in. Edson's fights in Real Fighting Championships have been broadcast on the Sunshine Network in Florida and his AFC fights are out on DVD so actually the "building the star" perspective may be the other way around. Pyle/Ross Ebanez could be the most newsworthy fight in the long run. Pyle is returning to his natural Welterweight class after an unsuccessful run at Middleweight "for the team" in IFL. Pyle is a former WEC Champion and still trains with Randy Couture and Bas Rutten. Ebanez has roughly equal experience in JD Penn's ROTR including winning the November '05 tournament and a 4-1-1 '06 record. Ebanez has fought UFC vets Denis Hallman and Brian Gassaway as well as WEC contender and ROTR finalist Carlos Condit.
So why wait until the end to preview the main event? Because the rest of the card is more exciting. The headline event of Frank Shamrock fighting Renzo Gracie is a real diamond; on the one hand it is designed to satiate the gaping jaws of Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and Wall Street all at the same. Booking Frank Shamrock makes since because not only is he a former UFC Champion at a time when UFC stars are getting coverage in auto and poker magazines, he also headlined the Strikeforce show that broke live attendance records for North America, when he fought Cesar Gracie in front of according to Strikeforce themselves, 18,265 less than a year ago. Booking both Shamrock and Gracie also makes sense because the fight is a page right out of IFL's playbook as both are coaches there. IFL is distributed by Fox Sports Net and even though the MyNetworkTV deal hasn't kicked in yet, IFL themselves and especially the recent Oakland card with the debut of Frank's team, can amount to free advertising for this show. Booking Gracie also brings in the submission fighting crowd that may not normally be as interested in MMA, while for the casual fan there is also the "UFC vet vs. Pride vet" angle if they are not familiar with the fighters themselves. On the other hand this diamond is not without minor flaws; mainly that this fight would have been great seven years ago but is hard to get worked up about it today. Frank's glory days were when he was the UFC Middleweight (at the time 205 and below) Champion from December '97-September '99. In Frank's post-fight interview in FCF immediately after beating Tito Ortiz Frank stated he was "unofficially retiring my position in the UFC, just because the money's not where it needs to be right now, and, you know, there's really no more challenges out there for me". Never mind Bas Rutten who was 2-1 against Frank was dropping in weight to challenge him again, current Champion Chuck Liddell won his third UFC appearance on the same card as Frank beat Tito, and Wanderlei Silva was fighting in both Pride and UFC at the time. After walking away from the UFC belt fifteen months went by with no fights from Frank until December '00 in K-1, Frank defeated Elvis Sinosic when Elvis was coming off a draw and a loss by, according to FCF's website, "submission (frustration)". After taking another twenty-seven months off Frank fought in WEC's "Return of a Legend" (named after Frank) card where he beat Bryan Pardoe in under two minutes. Pardoe was coming off a loss to Keith Jardine and been fighting for about ten months. Taking just shy of three more not months but years off Frank again retuned to the cage to beat Cesar Gracie in 0:21 in Cesar's first verifiable MMA fight. Let's face it, Frank is the Rolling Stones of MMA; he was the best in his day but these disappointing "returns" are getting stale. Maybe he is still one of the best but he hasn't proved it since President Clinton was in office and the legend ended at the end of the last millennium. Wait, I'm not done pissing everybody off yet. At the same time Frank was UFC Champion Renzo was fighting in Japan where he was riding a 2-0-1 record in Pride and won the Rings "King of Kings" B-block but lost in the finals in February '00. Over the following five years he went 1-5 with his sole win being over Michiyoshi Ohara in Ohara's first verifiable MMA fight and in the IFL Renzo picked up two wins against legendary, but for the most part retired, Pat Miletich and a questionable decision win over Carlos Newton. Renzo is also legendary in grappling and was in the ADCC Submission Fighting Worlds '05 where he lost in the first round to eventual winner Pablo Popovitch. I'm not saying either of these fighters are bad in any way, but what I am saying is Frank and Renzo have no legitimate claim to currently be the best fighters in MMA, and the diamond is slightly flawed. |
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