MMA: Dream and Pro Elite Form Partnership

On the Saturday before the Dream 3 show, an announcement was made that Pro Elite Inc. and Dream have entered into a partnership.

Pro Elite Inc. is the company that puts on the Elite XC shows. The two promotions will share Referees and fighters, and will co-promote shows in the future.

What does all this mean to the casual MMA fan? Two smaller promotions have formed an alliance and will move forward challenging the UFC for some of the MMA pie.

I have to believe this will not go unnoticed by the UFC. I think Pro Elite and Dream are the two promotions that are closest to the UFC in terms of pull in the MMA world. An argument can be made for Affliction, but since they haven't put on a show yet, it's still up in the air.

The biggest outcome of the partnership will be the cross-promotion of shows and the sharing of fighters.

Dream as an organization boasts the premier lightweight division in MMA. With this deal, that lightweight division gets stronger.

Gilbert Melendez is a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu product ranked in the Top Ten. He is a member of the Fairtex Camp and a training partner of the Diaz brothers, Jake Shields and Dave Terrell. 

Dream's lightweights include Aoki, "JZ", Eddie Alvarez, Joachim Hansen, Sakurai, Kawajiri and Ishida. Adding another Top Ten guy clearly puts the division ahead of UFC's roster of lightweights.

I can't write this article without mentioning Kimbo. The small stable of available heavyweights just got bigger. The man who faces Kimbo after the Thompson match is going to be very important.

Most hardcore fans want to see Kimbo fight someone more recognized in the MMA community. The opponent doesn't have to be top 10, but he needs to be top 20 or so.

Kimbo won't be legit until that fight happens and he wins. Remember a certain Croatian named Mirko? You want a super-fight? How about Kimbo vs. Cro Cop? I'd pay 50 bucks for that. The likelihood for that bout is low, but a boy can dream. Elite XC has given themselves a chance to legitimize Kimbo if they want. 

The other heavyweight to mention is Antonio Silva, another guy I'd love to see fight Cro Cop.

The partnership between these two promotions is very important to the landscape of MMA. If this works and both promotions are able to survive, it may encourage other promotions to join them.

If they can bolster their rosters enough, they may even challenge the mighty UFC giant. This could be the move that starts the cross-promotion fights that everyone wants to see.

In the short run, the deal gives us some intriguing match-ups. It could also give Japanese fans the chance to see Kimbo, Jake Shields, and Robbie Lawler.

Overall, the deal tells the UFC that other promotions won't go away and the product is getting better.

The biggest winner of the whole deal is us, the fans.