CBS EliteXC Saturday Night Fights: Press Conference Call Transcript

CBS Television Network Moderator: Mitch Graham

July 15, 2008

Operator: Good day and welcome to the press conference call for CBS EliteXC Saturday Night Fights. Today's conference call is being recorded. So please don't speak, Gus.

At this time, I’d like to turn the conference over to Mr. Mitch Graham. Please go ahead, sir.

Mitch Graham: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to today's conference call for CBS EliteXC Saturday Night Fights.

We will have two members from our announce team on the call today. Gus Johnson is on the call now, and Frank Shamrock is currently receiving a bone scan of his head to determine the exact amount of remaining brain content, but will be joining us here shortly.

Just a couple of things. As you guys know, our second primetime MMA broadcast on CBS is happening on Saturday, July 26 live from the Stockton Arena in Stockton, California.

SHOWTIME's going to kick off the night from 8-9 PM (ET) with three fights, followed by the primetime CBS broadcast of four fights from 9-11 PM. We have judges and some fighters already in the bag to insure these events don't run short or overlap and cause an awkward decision to be made between channels, so it should be a fun, exciting evening on SHOWTIME and CBS.

The CBS broadcast will obviously highlight the rematch between "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler and Scott "Hands of Steel" Smith, again, for the EliteXC middleweight title. Since these are really our only qualified and interesting fighters, we hope it is a draw, so we can use them repeatedly.

At this point, I'd like to turn it over to our Executive Chairman of ProElite, Mr. Doug DeLuca.   Doug DeLuca: Great. Thank you very much, Mitch. I appreciate it. And thanks, everyone, for joining the call.

As Mitch said, we're very excited to be doing our second installment of CBS EliteXC Saturday Night Fights on the heels of what we are still trying to convince ourselves was a very successful first outing.

We wanted to follow it up with just as much over-produced pyrotechnic fueled hype and YouTube quality fights as the first one.

As most of you know, the May 31 event on CBS was the first primetime MMA event ever. It was also the most highly rated MMA television show in the U.S. because only eight percent of televisions in the nation carry Spike, and Dana White is not willing to bend over for network executives like I am. So his loss, our gain.

One of the things that's exciting for us is the fact that we gained—we think—in addition to the hardcore fans that came out to watch that night (and I mean the ones that accepted the free tickets to attend, because none of them watched on T.V. by choice) a lot of new fans who are completely ignorant about the sport.

This is a great sport, professional wrestling...uh, wait...I mean MMA, but we think we gained a lot of new fans and the good part was that they stuck around through the tragedy of girl fights to watch the big, exploding ear, grand finale. 

Mixed martial arts is that kind of sport. It's the kind of sport that anyone who has taken the time to actually watch has immediately become a fan of. That's what I hope happens to me when I watch one.

It's not just about two athletes in there, kind of slugging it out. It's about athletes that are very calculated, very disciplined—world-class athletes that are maneuvering and playing a big game of chess, one big beautiful dance, as Frank Shamrock likes to say, trying to get position.

It is important people understand what's going on. The more they understand, the more into it they become and the better fan they become. That starts and ends with the announce team.

Among the many positive things that we need to reinforce, because the fans thought they were so terrible, was the announce team that we put together with CBS and SHOWTIME for the May 31 event.

Gus Johnson, Frank Shamrock, Mauro Ranallo, and Karyn Bryant (the token female put there only to keep these other Neanderthals in check) were a fabulous mix of people with various experiences and from various walks of life. They made an incredibly amateurish announce team for a big money production like ours. 

As all of you know, it's tough for a team that's working together for the first time to come out and be a cohesive unit. But these guys came out of the box and they just puked any ridiculous thought they had into words.

Like when Kimbo Slice was directly compared to Tiger Woods and Ocsar De La Hoya in the same sentence. Truly moronic and entertaining, like the fighters themselves.

I was sitting ringside, but I was listening to the announcers. It was a pleasure. Frank was a legend, Gus was a world-class broadcaster, Karen was a premier entertainment reporter, and Mauro Ranallo was just an amazing fan and amazing book of knowledge of the sport of mixed martial arts.

They all have a knack for speaking to everyone. They speak to the hardcore fan, but they also speak very openly and very understandably to the new fan. And they're very cognizant of it. They're very, very good at it. The flow was amazing and I'm just thrilled to have them as part of No. 2.

Mitch mumbles incoherently in the background.

Doug (with his finger on the mute button of his phone): Yes, Mitch, I know I'm saying the exact opposite of our earlier private meeting.

That's why I said it. It's called public relations

Yes, yes, I will have another private meeting with the announce team.

Yes, I know they are easily confused.

Doug: The show is 9-11 PM on CBS, 8-9 PM on SHOWTIME. It's the first time mixed martial arts starts on premium television, premium cable, and then moves to a broadcast network in primetime. So we're really excited about that.

And we have a great fight card. We came back with a strong world-class fight card and we're going to Stockton, CA—which is a great MMA town‚—to the beautiful new Stockton arena, and we couldn't be more thrilled.

Once again, I want to thank you all for coming today.

Operator: I'll go ahead and turn the call back over to Mitch Graham for any additional or closing remarks.

Mitch: One thing we forgot to mention was this fight's surprise guest. As you know, the first New Kids on the Block concert...uh, wait...I mean...MMA event we put on had a very special fighter who had a trick exploding ear.

That success will be followed up this time with another huge medical oversight for your enjoyment. One of our female fighters...wait for it...will be...seven months pregnant! We'll just have to wait and see what happens. You don't want to miss this. I believe the father is Tito Ortiz, so the kid could survive, but the mom is in trouble.

Another first for EliteXC. We believe that the blood loss from this event will exceed three gallons. We'll try to determine the exact amount after the fight and make a press release as soon as it is confirmed. Well, it will be second place to UFC 86, but impressive anyway.

Mitch Graham: Thank you, everyone. Thanks to all the press for the great questions. Thank you to our participants, Gus and Frank and Doug. So thanks, everyone. Appreciate all the questions and see you on July 26.