EXC Rage

EXC made its national debut last night and completely fumbled.

The majority of the fights were really good, but it did have its share of horrible referee decisions.

My problem with the Kimbo fight wasn't the stoppage in the 3rd round, it was the fact the fight didn't get stopped at the end of the 2nd round when Slice was getting nailed in the face with elbows for a whole 90 seconds until the bell rang. If that had been anyone else but the bread basket of the company, the fight would have been over. It was so obviously fixed, I was expecting Vince McMahon to run out and hit James Thompson with a chair when the refs weren't looking.

The Lawler-Smith bout was tremendous and was stopped early for no reason. The rule says that people who get poked in the eye have 5 minutes to get themselves together. EXC didn't give Smith any time at all to recover before calling the fight. I don't understand the logic behind that call at all.

The women's fight should have been stopped earlier. Carano was just landing punch after punch and the other woman couldn't defend herself. It went on way too long. I noticed the ref who called that match didn't call anymore. He was probably fired on the spot. I really doubt CBS wanted to see a girl get the hell unnecessarily beat out of her and then bleed on national TV. I guess Carano's illegal five pound weight advantage was also beneficial for her.

That Phil Baroni guy was a complete jobber and had no business being on national television.

I just thought the show went on FOREVER. Usually UFC gets in 7-9 fights in a 2 1/2 hour PPV. CBS only had 5 in 2 1/2 hours. There was way too much time in between all the fights and the commercials never ended.

Also, Mauro Ranallo uses too many mind numbing words. Its not verbal Scrabble, just explain the damn action.

I'll think more about it and post some more notes tomorrow.

EliteXC in a pioneering postion.

Coming off last weekend' s great UFC 84 pay per view, the amazing train keeps rolling through this weekend with Saturday's EliteXC's prime time network debut on CBS and Sunday's WEC 34, headlined by Urijah Faber defending his featherweight belt against Jens Pulver on the Versus Channel.

EliteXC has the honor of being the first MMA organization to ever fight in prime time on network television. EXC will be the first introduction to MMA for thousands of viewers. The superior UFC should have been the first group to have this opportunity, however networks were never able to come to a working agreement with UFC president Dana White. The UFC wanted to hang on to production control of the broadcasts, and the networks wanted to do things there way. While they were fighting it out EliteXC was able to slide in between and score the landmark deal with CBS.

EXC upstaging UFC is the equivalent of Arena Football being the first league to broadcast on TV, even though the NFL is the far better product.

Quality aside, another issue with EXC getting all of this mainstream coverage has been the national exposure being given to Kimbo Slice. UFC has always fought to market their athletes as well educated, respectful gentlemen who do not fit the stereotypes people would first associate with those who fight inside a cage for a living. Kimbo Slice on the other hand fits all the stereotypes uneducated sports fans would give to MMA fighters. He looks and talks like a thug, and made a name for himself by beating people up in street fights with his bare hands. Like it or not, he will now be the national face of MMA, due to all of the advertising coming from CBS. In my eyes, this is a negative and will hurt the sport's image.

However, Kimbo aside, EliteXC does have a fantastic opportunity to validate female MMA fighters with its scheduled bout of Gina Carano vs. Kaitlin Young. Young is talented, but Carano is the potential super star in the making. Carano is beautiful and has the combat skills to match. If the dice roll the right way, she has a chance to be viewed at the same level as Danica Patrick. This fight has the chance to truly elevate Carano as a huge star in the sports world. Hopefully Carano will come through and win the most important women's fight in MMA history.

UFC 84 Live Notes

10:06- Coverage begins. Rogan and Goldberg introduce promos hyping the fighters, plus the rules.

10:07- Thiago Silva-Antonio Mendes bout will lead off the broadcast.

10:09- Mendes comes out first. His entrance music is horrific.

10:10- The undefeated Thiago Silva is making his way to the ring. Goldberg and Rogan put over his 12-0 record, as well as his recent victory over Houston Alexander.

Here are the dark match results:

Preliminary Card

• Heavyweight bout: Christian Wellisch vs. Shane Carwin

Carwin defeats Wellisch via KO (punch) -- Round 1, 0:44

• Welterweight bout: Jason Tan vs. Dong Hyun Kim

Kim defeats Tan via TKO (strikes) -- Round 3, 0:25

• Lightweight bout: Rich Clementi vs. Terry Etim

Clementi defeats Etim by Unanimous decision

• Welterweight bout: Jon Koppenhaver vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida

Yoshida defeats Koppenhaver via submission (anaconda choke) -- Round 1, 0:56

• Middleweight bout: Rousimar Palhares vs. Ivan Salaverry

Palhares defeats Salaverry via submission (armbar)

• Light Heavyweight bout: Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura

Sokoudjou defeats Nakamura by TKO (Strikes) at 5:00 of R1.

10:12- Bruce Buffer makes the in-ring introductions. As surly and contrived as ever.

10:17- Thiago Silva beats Mendez by tap out due to strikes, at 2:24 in the first round. Mendez took the fight to Silva early, but Silva's outstanding ground and pound game took over and he dominated the fight. Silva is now 13-0.

10:21- A promo for UFC 85 airs. The main event is Matt Hughes vs. Thiago Alvarez. That fight is going to have trouble selling. I would say the top three matches for UFC 84 are all more interesting than the Alvarez-Hughes match up.

10:24- Video airs promoting Machdia vs. Ortiz. All of the disrespect from Dana has made Tito hungrier then ever. UFC will be losing a ton of potential earnings if they let Tito walk to EliteXC or Affliction.

10:25- Tito-Machida is about to begin. The crowd is extremely pro Ortiz. He is clearly the fan favorite. Joe Rogan talks about Tito's past injuries and how Ortiz is completely healthy for the first time in awhile. Ricco Rodriguez is in Tito's corner.

10:32- The fight begins. Tito chant breaks out.

10:38- First round was uneventful for 4:40 until a take down at the end of the round. Machida had side control and was dominating Ortiz with punches. The only thing that saved Tito was the bell.

10:44- A lot of standing around that round. Both fighters got in a few kicks here and there. Tito has a small cut on his right eye-lid. Ortiz began to get frustrated by Machida's unwillingness to fight at the end of the round.

10:51- End of third round. Machida got out of a triangle choke from Tito that turned into an arm bar with about a minute left in the round. The crowd popped hard for the move, but Tito just couldn't clamp it down hard enough.

10:53- Machida wins by unanimous judge's decision. They all scored it 30-27. That seemed a bit uneven to me. The crowd hated it, however Machida got in 75% of the offense. Lyoto was extremely hard to catch and hit anything with. UFC's 205 division is so deep right now.

10:55- Rogan interviews Ortiz after the fight. Tito was gracious and put over the crowd. Ortiz thanked the Fertitas as well as the people who helped him along his way. He says he doesn't know if he is done with UFC, but will be fighting somewhere. He basically brushed aside his problems with Dana. Classy move by the UFC, giving Tito the opportunity to thank his fans and supporters.

11:05- The Gouveia-Reljic breather fight is about to begin. But more importantly, The Rock is in the house! His message for Bruce Buffer- know your role and shut the hell up! He then gave Dana White a Rock Bottom. (Last part of the report not necessarily true)

11:09- All these ads for Versus promoting the Pulver/Faber fight makes me want to drive my car through the front door of my stupid cable company that doesn't get Versus, but gets the Style Network.

11:20. Reljic defeats Gouveia by TKO at 3:15 of Round 2. I'm glad Reljic has a new career lined up, since ER is going to be entering its final season.

11:23- The Christian Wellich- Shane Carwin heavyweight dark match is airing.

11:24-The Christian Wellich-Shane Carwin heavyweight dark match is no longer airing since Carwin knocked out Wellich 44 seconds into the fight. It was glorious. The post-fight interview lasted longer.

11:27- Jardine-Silva is coming up next.

11:30- Jardine enters the ring to Rowdy Roddy Piper-esque music. Luckily he isn't wearing a kilt or snorting cocaine like Hot Rod.

11:33- The Axe Murderer enters the ring. This fight is huge for him. Wandi is coming off of three straight losses. This match could decide his UFC future. These two are going to be tremendous.

11:38- Oh my God! Its over already. Silva wins by knockout 30 seconds in.

11:40- The bell rang and Wandi just started swinging. He knocked down Jardine and than just ground and pounded the hell out of him. The Rock had to stand up for that. This fight was over before Machida-Ortiz even touched each over. Jardine was able to walk out under his own power, but he was down and dazed for a few minutes. I can't believe that happened so quickly.

11:44- The Rousimar Palhares- Ivan Salaverry dark match is now airing, since they have all sorts of time to kill due to Wandi winning so quickly.

11:48- Palhares wins easily three minutes into round one via arm bar. Joe Rogan puts over Palhares as a potential contender to Anderson Silva. Easy there Joe.

11:52- Faber and Pulver, the headliners of the June 1 WEC show, are interviewed by Joe Rogan. This should be a fantastic 145 pound match up.

11:55- Main event time. BJ Penn vs. Sean Sherk for the lightweight championship. A video is now playing highlighting how the two hate each other.

12:03- BJ Penn's entrance music makes Carl Mendez's seem like "Enter Sandman" by comparison. Ukuleles should never be the key instrument of songs meant to fire people up.

12:09- The fight finally begins. HERE WE GO!

12:15- Basically a first round boxing match. No ground action. Penn landed some nice punches here and there, but the fight is still wide open.

12:21- All boxing again in round two. Sherk was received tons of strikes from BJ. Penn is doing a good job of staying out of Sherk's reach. Sherk is also bleeding underneath both eyes. Penn's jabs have been very effective.

12:27- BJ Penn wins at the very end of round three. It was another round of boxing, but with fifteen seconds left in the round Penn caught Sherk with a couple punches and a huge knee. Penn pounded Sherk with punches for the last few seconds, until the bell rang to end the round. It looked like Sherk was safe, however he was unable to continue. Penn retains the belt.

12:32- Penn is interviewed by Rogan after the match, and entertains the notion of changing weight classes to fight GSP. That match probably wouldn't happen until somewhere in the UFC 90s or 100s.

12:35- Good night folks, hope you enjoyed UFC 84 as much as I did. I'll have more reaction tomorrow.

Quick winners:
Silva over Mendez
Machida over Tito
Reljic over Gouveia
Wanderlei Silva killed Jardine
BJ over Sherk

Changes to the UFC 87 card.

According to MMAjunkie.com, the card at UFC 87 has had one match added, and another match forced to be changed due to an injury.

It was announced today that welterweight champion George St. Pierre will be making a title defense against new number one contender Jon Fitch. It will be GSP's first title defense since beating by TKO Matt Serra at UFC 83 in Montreal. Fitch comes in to UFC 87 carrying a 15 match consecutive win streak that contains victories over the likes of Shonie Carter, Thiago Alves, and most recently Chris Wilson at UFC 82.

The other piece of news surrounding UFC 87 is that Mark Coleman will no longer be the opponent for former WWE champion Brock Lesnar. Coleman, the recent UFC Hall of Fame inductee suffered a knee injury in training. A new opponent for Lesnar is expected to be announced shortly. Brock is 0-1 in the UFC, following a loss to Frank Mir in his UFC debut in February.

UFC 87 will be taking place in Lesnar's home town of Minneapolis.

Here are the matches that have been announced so far:

• Jon Fitch vs. Georges St. Pierre
• Brock Lesnar vs. TBA
• Kenny Florian vs. Roger Huerta
• Dan Evensen vs. Cheick Kongo

Affliction "Banned" will air on FSN

The July 19th MMA show "Banned" being run by the clothing company Affliction will be broadcast in its entirety on the channel Fox Sports Net. The show is being viewed as a make or break turning point for the company, due to the exuberant costs it is taking to put together the event.

The talented Fedor Emelianenko is getting paid two million dollars to headline the event against former UFC big man Tim Sylvia, who is being paid somewhere around $800,000 to be Fedor's opponent.

Here is the announced card so far:

MAIN CARD (PAY PER VIEW)

• Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia
• Josh Barnett vs. Pedro Rizzo
• Ben Rothwell vs. TBA
• Matt Lindland vs. Fabio Nascimento
• Renato "Babalu" Sobral vs. Mike Whitehead

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Paul Buentello vs. Aleksander Emelianenko
• Ray Lazama vs. Justin Levens
• Mark Hominick vs. Savant Young
• J.J. Ambrose vs. Patrick Speight
• Brett Cooper vs. Mike Pyle

In keeping up with the siblings theme, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira the twin brother of UFC star Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is also expected to be a part of the card somewhere.

Due to the high costs Affliction is willing to pay its fighters, the company will likely be on the list of possible destinations for soon to be ex-UFC star Tito Ortiz.

The broadcast team for EXC's national debut

Yesterday Elite XC announced the three people who will be filling the announcing booth for their national debut May 31 on CBS.

On the stick will be veteran CBS play by play guy Gus Johnson, Mauro Ranallo: the PRIDE and EliteXC veteran, and the World's Second Most Dangerous Man: Frank Shamrock.

Ranallo and Shamrock have worked together before and know the MMA game inside and out. Gus Johnson, along with his NFL, NBA, and college basketball duties has also voiced MSG network's Golden Gloves boxing tournament and has been a proven professional at everything he has covered.

My issue with the announcement is having two play by pay types in the booth at the same time. Johnson will probably call the play by play; with Ranallo filling a hybrid analyst-play by play position. Shamrock will be straight commentary. I'm curious to see how Ranallo and Johnson coexist. Three man booths that contain someone who isn't a straight play by play guy or veteran of the sport tend to be crowded. The third man is usually a media member or former play by play man that is being forced into an uncomfortable commentary role, trying to sound like experts on something they have never experienced first hand. All of their lines tend to sound forced and are usually unneeded.

This is evident with ESPN's MNF coverage with Ron Jaworski, Mike Tirico, and and Tony Kornheiser. Tirico and Jaws have clearly established roles, but Kornheiser has a tendency to stomp all over his colleagues and has had a difficult time fitting in with the broadcast. This same problem was evident when Jonathan Coachman tried to wedge his way into the three man WWE Raw booth with Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross. Lawler and Ross knew what they were doing, but Coachman tended to sound like he was stuck on an island on his own, because he couldn't provide the same expert level of commentary as Lawler and Ross was clearly established as the play by play man. That left Coachman jammed to the side trying to deliver some weak and uninspired commentary that annoyed the viewers instead of educating them.

I hope Ranallo and Johnson are able to find a comfortable way to coexist, but if things go bad I would expect CBS to keep their man Johnson and cut ties with the new guy Ranallo.

Remember EliteXC's first Fight Night will air live on CBS, Saturday May 31st from 9PM to 11PM.

The Debut

Hey folks, I know there has to be a few MMA fans out there, hiding in the weeds on the internets.

Lets talk about happenings in the MMA world.

First the next two big events are UFC:84 and the EliteXC show on CBS.

-EliteXC- I'm excited for MMA's first prime time event on network TV. It seems like all of their eggs are in the Kimbo basket. If he loses a fight or two, that organization is screwed. This fight against Thompson will be a nice test to see where Slice is at. You couldn't really tell that in the Abbott beat down. I think they were really hoping to have a Ken Shamrock-Kimbo matchup somewhere down the pike, but Shamrock getting KO'd in the first round against some guy named Buzz Berry in the Cage Rage promotion ended that talk. Its been like 4 losses in a row now, Ken needs to retire to save his own health.

I know Elite XC is looking into having a women's division, but after Gino Carano any maybe one or two others, the depth isn't there to have a lot of quality match ups.

They'd be well served to sign Tito after his UFC contract is finished on Saturday.

Speaking of UFC, UFC 84 has a nice card. I'm a huge Keith Jardine fan, and his match against Wanderlei will be a nice test. I think it will be a good match, however Silva is coming in off three straight losses and Jardine should still have momentum from his win over Liddell. Its an important fight for both guys. Prediction: Jardine by decision.

Tito Ortiz-Machida will be interesting. The story line between Dana and Ortiz has overshadowed the fight itself. Machida is 12-0 and coming off a win against Sokoudjou; who he dominated. Beating Tito would be a huge step up for his career and maybe result in a title shot against the Forrest/Rampage winner somewhere down the line. Ortiz will be motivated, because a win over Machida will be great leverage for him in his next contract negotiations, whether it be with EliteXC, UFC, or whoever. I'll go with Tito by KO.

Sherk-BJ Penn is a nice match up, but I think Penn is on top of his game right now and can't be beaten. Penn's last fight against Stevenson looked like something out of a Tarantino movie with all the blood Penn caused Stevenson to lose, and than he made him submit via rear naked choke to add to the fun. I think the same will happen here. Penn by submission.

So what do you guys have to say about the MMA world, right now?

We'll be updating On Tap throughout the day as more news comes down the line. Also look for a TUF analysis later this week.