Elite XC Heat: Winners and Losers

While Kimbo was preparing to fight an age-depleted grappler with a glass jaw, and losses in eight of his last 10 fights, he instead fought basically the opposite opponent: A fighter who is younger, with no glass jaw, who is striker instead of a wrestler, and has wins in eight of his last 10 fights, instead of losses.

While weighing in 205.5, Petruzelli had to cut weight, as he thought he was fighting in the 205lb division before coming in as a replacement. Without knowing exactly, as most fighters seem to cut between 10 and 20 lbs, I would imagine Petruzelli came into the bout against Kimbo at somewhere between 215 and 220.

While Kimbo was obviously about as impressive as you can be when you lose in under 15 seconds, he was basically thrown to the wolves for a boost in the CBS ratings. He didn't fight like he thought he was fighting a striker, and the result was unfortunate for him.

I don't know what other people will take out of this fight, or what will happen to Kimbo Slice from here. One thing is for certain: He won't be taking such a fight again on such short notice.

2. Elite XC

Their biggest draw lost. In devastating fashion. In less time than it takes to say his introduction. Plus, I don't know how the ratings were changed within the first minute of the broadcast after it was announced that Shamrock wouldn't be fighting Kimbo.  Hopefully this is not the end of Elite XC, because this is the first Elite XC card that I have truly enjoyed from start to finish.

3. Affliction?

I put this with a question mark because this may be controversial. First of all, I don't know how much money Affliction paid for all of that advertizing, but if it was substantial, I don't know how effective the marketing will be. Will the people who tuned in Oct. 4 buy a t-shirt or the next Affliction PPV?

I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me if this was just another waste of money for the fledgling company. Secondly, although Andrei won his fight with a huge KO, it seemed to me almost as if the fight was fixed, which brings me to...

4. Roy Nelson

So his striking ability has proven to be suspect. Unfortunately, that wasn't the story of the fight for me. Roy Nelson had been dominating Arlovski on the ground and was in side control with plenty of time left in the round. All of a sudden, the fight is stood up, with Nelson visibly frustrated.

On the feet, Nelson's inability to defend leg kicks was exposed, and Nelson was eventually put down. Was the call to stand the fight back up simply to make the fight more watchable to casual viewers? Or something worse? You be the judge. 

Either way, I don't think this would have happened in the UFC, and I can understand why Roy Nelson was so upset with the loss.

5. Jake Shields

Yeah, he won his fight, but his jiu-jitsu takedowns didn't impress me, and his striking skills impressed me even less. Jake Shields is ranked within the top-five welterweights in the world on many MMA sites.

After watching this fight, I am convinced that Jake Shields doesn't deserve to be put in the same sentence as Georges St. Pierre. While GSP has shown striking, wrestling, and BJJ skills, Jake Shields shows only BJJ skills.

In my opinion, GSP wins this imaginary fight most of the time. After this fight, a demand for this fight also decreases. After this poor showing, Jake Shields drops down the rankings, in my opinion.

Grapplers with better striking, like GSP, Koscheck, Sanchez, Fitch, Serra, and strikers with enough grappling not to get submitted, like Alves, and even outsider Judo fighters like Yoshiyuki Yoshida and Karo Parisyan rise above Shields, in my book.

6. UFC

Just kidding. Jake Shields looks bad AND Kimbo gets KO'd by a guy who couldn't make it in the UFC? The UFC is the clearest winner of this event.

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