EliteXC's Oct. 4 CBS card in Ft. Lauderdale is shaping up as a do-or-die show. The card will feature the biggest stars in the promotion, Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano. We've known for weeks that Carano will fight Kelly Kobold. On the other hand, naming a Slice opponent has taken forever. You get the sense that EliteXC has no idea what to do with the highly marketable but very inexperienced fighter. Word has it that the promotion actually called around to some media members to see what the reaction would be to certain opponents being selected.
It's looking more and more like the decision is down to Ken Shamrock or Sean Gannon (pictured - good tip from Cagepotato.com). They're both sellable fights and will deliver big-time on the front end. The problem is managing the back end.
UPDATE: MMAWeekly did a nice job of tracking down Jared Shaw from Pro Elite. Shaw said there's no shot at a Gannon-Slice fight on CBS:
"The one rumor that he would squash was the recent talk of a match-up with Sean Gannon, the fighter that Slice built much of his underground fighting sensationalism off of. “There are several options we’re considering right now. Gannon is not the guy,” he said firmly.
Shamrock is a legend and a legit mixed martial artist. He would be outsized by roughly 20-25 pounds but if he got Slice to ground, the fight may be over in a matter of seconds. That said, it's a virtual guarantee that the fight would get killed by the hardcore MMA fans, considering the fact that the 44-year old Shamrock has lost five straight fights and is 1-7 since 2002.
A Gannon fight may actually be the more marketable fight. He's the Boston police officer who engaged in a Philo Beddoe-style street fight with Kimbo back in 2004. According to the Boston Phoenix the video was embarrassing to some in the BPD:
We've smacked the Boston Police Department around a bit for its inability to solve a majority of the city's homicides, but let's give credit where credit is due: when it comes to unsanctioned, bare-knuckled, backroom beat-downs, the BPD can make a claim that no other department can: Boston's Finest have a record of 1-0 against Kimbo Slice.
Gannon does come with some legit fighting credentials. The guy is a six-time Golden Gloves champ and most importantly he pounded Kimbo in their street fight. He did appear once in the UFC and was destroyed by Branden Lee Hinkle.
EliteXC should be more worried about the backlash after the fight. Between the fact that Gannon looks like a fat slob and the feeding frenzy that could result in squaring off two guys who gained fame in a streetfight, the old-timers in the print media will have a field day.
The promotion would love to control all aspects of the fight card but at this point the most important thing is the size of the audience that tunes in. If EliteXC has to throw MMA's reputation down the toilet, so be it. In a strange way, a Gannon win should actually solidifiy the reputation of real fighters. The message being that just because a guy can win some bar fights doesn't mean that he can step in there with a trained fighter.
