I got no beef with the Baroni fight (he sucks!), the out-of-shape Carano, or the excellent Smith-Lawler fight abruptly coming to an end (Smith gave the doctor the only response that would have ended the fight - "I can't see out of the eye.")
But I agree with the "fix" being in on the Slice-Thompson debacle. I've never seen a ref stand up fighters not locked up when a guy has side control, never seen a ref let a guy take a minute of punches (okay, sissy fists) to the face without being to defend himself (though they did let BJ Penn take quite a bit from Hughes) and though we've all seen fights stopped prematurely, I think the only satisfying outcome in a sloppy back and forth "battle" is to let the fight end decisively. If, as the announcers said, Thompson was one punch away from being Kayoed, why not let Slice land that punch for the highlight reel?
The logical response seems to be that the organization just could not risk another takedown or reversal of fortune by Thompson to topple the Kimbo apple cart.
Elite/Showtime/CBS went for the one-time ratings bonanza rather than putting on a show that would proudly represent MMA. Cung Le, Frank Shamrock, Nick Diaz, or Jake Shields would all have been far better options. Time (and ratings) will tell whether Elite's Gary Shaw's idea was too short-sighted because the bottom line is that if the ratings are good, at least there will be a second chance to make things right. If they gave us Lawler-Shields as the headliner and ratings were half of a Kimbo headliner, we'd never see MMA on network again.
