Posts tagged KimboSlice at FanHouse

San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson has an old-school method of training, or at least he does in this bizarre video in which he bench presses a couple of air conditioners and boxes using a refrigerator as a heavy bag, all while being egged on by Kimbo Slice:

(Via Rear Naked News)

Although the whole thing is a little odd, I think the most surprising part of it is that an athlete with a clean-cut image like Tomlinson is appearing alongside a guy like Kimbo, whose image is anything but clean-cut. Good for Tomlinson for adding a little edge to the palette.

EliteXC is the only American mixed martial arts organization with a deal to put its fights on free TV in prime time. But while landing on network television was a huge step forward for MMA, the results so far have been mixed.

The first show on CBS, on May 31, was a success in the ratings, but a disappointment to many hard-core MMA fans who thought the quality of the fighting was substandard. The second show, last Saturday, featured better fights in the cage but a decline in the ratings. And this week it was announced that Gary Shaw, who a few months ago was the public face of the company, has resigned.

So as EliteXC looks ahead to its third CBS show, on October 4, what direction is the organization going in? I interviewed Jeremy Lappen, EliteXC's head of fight operations, about EliteXC's past, its future, and its most popular fighters, Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano.

The preliminary ratings for Saturday night's CBS EliteXC show are in, and they show what everyone suspected: Mixed martial arts won't draw big ratings without recognizable stars in the cage.

On May 31, with Kimbo Slice in the main event, CBS got solid ratings for its MMA premiere. But last night's show saw a significant drop in ratings without any big names on the card. From TV by the Numbers:

That airing back on May 31, 2008 scored 4.3 million viewers and a 1.9/6 among 18-49 year olds and since the Kimbo Slice bout for that airing aired past primetime (11p) the most viewed portion wasn't included. But lacking any Kimbo anticipation, last night's fights pulled a mere 2.62 million and a 1.0/3 from 9pm-11pm.

So what do those numbers mean?

Dave Meltzer reports today (via Bloody Elbow) that EliteXC and CBS have tentatively agreed on Saturday, October 4 for the date of the third prime time network television mixed martial arts show, with Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano both slated to face as-yet unnamed opponents.

Although EliteXC's show tomorrow night on CBS is expected to suffer a decline in the ratings from May's premier, Kimbo and Carano are EliteXC's two biggest draws, and with both of them on the card together, the card should do a solid rating for CBS.

A big question about this show will be how CBS uses college football as a lead-in for EliteXC. With the Florida-Arkansas game scheduled for that afternoon, EliteXC would love nothing more than to have CBS spend much of the day reminding viewers to stay tuned for MMA, and pairing MMA with college football would be great for MMA's efforts to enter the mainstream. But CBS considers EliteXC part of its entertainment division, not its sports division, and that means there might not be a lot of corporate synergy.

On Saturday, fans of MMA will have a rare opportunity: They can watch the best fighter in the world on television without having to buy his bout on pay-per-view.

That fighter, the Ultimate Fighting Championship star Anderson Silva, will have a match on basic cable because the established UFC wants to deliver a knockout blow to the upstart Affliction MMA organization, which will show its first pay-per-view program that night.

At first glance, this looks like welcome news for consumers: Fans are accustomed to paying $50 to watch high-caliber fighters like Silva, and competition has led UFC to cut its prices. But none other than Donald Trump, who is promoting Affliction, says the head-to-head match-up between UFC and Affliction may portend something few fans want to see: a time when the sport's best athletes fight for separate organizations.

UFC President Dana White appeared this week on Dan LeBatard's radio show, ostensibly to promote UFC 86. But thanks to LeBatard's persistent questioning, they spent more time discussing Kimbo Slice than they spent discussing Quinton Rampage Jackson or Forrest Griffin.

White was clearly annoyed that he even needed to discuss Kimbo, and he repeated his assertion that his own lightweight champion, B.J. Penn, could defeat Kimbo. White said he would like to arrange a Penn-Kimbo fight, "So I can start watching him on YouTube again. ... I want to banish this guy back to YouTube. That's where he belongs. He belongs on YouTube."

In other news, White acknowledged that UFC's heavyweight division is in a rebuilding phase, but he said the reason he hasn't signed Fedor Emelianenko is that Fedor doesn't want to fight any high-quality fighters.

The first EliteXC mixed martial arts show on CBS got solid ratings but disappointed most hard-core mixed martial arts fans.

The second EliteXC show on CBS will likely see a ratings drop, now that the novelty is gone, and without EliteXC's biggest name, Kimbo Slice. But for MMA fans, it's going to be a better show.

The July 26 main event will feature Robbie Lawler against Scott Smith, a rematch of their fight last month that was well on its way to being a very good one before it was called off because of an unintentional eye poke. The undercard is expected to feature Nick Diaz vs. K.J. Noons for EliteXC's lightweight title, as well as fights involving welterweight Jake Shields and heavyweight Antonio Silva.

That means that basically all of EliteXC's most talented fighters will fight that night. And that will make the show a good barometer for where EliteXC is: If the show does well, it tells us that fans view EliteXC as an organization with enough talented fighters that it doesn't need Kimbo to draw an audience. If the show falls flat, it tells us that EliteXC is basically just Kimbo Slice and everyone else -- and Kimbo just isn't enough to keep a promotion afloat.

I'll be rooting for the show to succeed: It would be a great step forward toward MMA becoming a regular fixture on network television.

A couple of months ago we noted the rumor that Forrest Griffin, who will fight for the UFC light heavyweight championship next month, had knocked out Kimbo Slice during a sparring session.

Dan Le Batard had Griffin on his radio show today, and Griffin put those rumors to rest:

"I never knocked Kimbo out. Let's just get that clear. Kimbo's not the kind of guy you want to have angry at you. I like the guy so I'd assume not piss him off and have him try to beat me up."

Griffin also said that he thinks highly of Kimbo because he sees a little of himself in Kimbo.

"He didn't go the conventional route -- but you're talking to a guy who also didn't go the conventional route," Griffin said to Le Batard. "He wants to learn the sport. He likes the sport, he wants to do it, he wants to be a professional fighter."

Aside from the Kimbo stuff, the interview was interesting mostly because Griffin gave a lot of testy answers. When LeBatard asked him if he likes pain, Griffin answered, "That's a silly question. No. I like ice cream, I don't like pain."

EliteXC has announced that the Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith rematch will be the main event when it returns to CBS on July 26.

By scheduling another MMA show less than two months after its first one, CBS is making clear that it was pleased with the ratings that MMA delivered -- even if many MMA fans thought EliteXC's show was less than impressive.

Antonio Silva, who is widely regarded as the best heavyweight under contract to EliteXC, is also expected to fight in the July show, perhaps for the vacant EliteXC heavyweight title. Putting two fighters not named Kimbo Slice in the cage for the heavyweight belt would be the right move for EliteXC -- a gesture that would demonstrate that their organization is about more than just an unskilled fighter with a big name.

Tito Ortiz hasn't decided when and where he'll fight again, but in this video he says he's done with UFC, and he hints that he could sign with EliteXC and fight Kimbo Slice:

"Dana White has made the biggest mistake of his career," Ortiz said of the UFC president. "He let one of the greatest fighters in UFC history get away, and it's because he had a lot of personal vendetta against me."

As for his next move, Ortiz said, "Fighting at heavyweight is a possibility for me. People want to see me fight Kimbo. He has a lot to learn, but he's going out and learning those things. He's learning the jiu jitsu. He's learning the wrestling. He's learning the things to be a well-rounded fighter."

I'm sure Ortiz vs. Kimbo would get great ratings on CBS or a great buy rate on pay-per-view, but I'm not sure that EliteXC wants to do it because I think Ortiz would destroy Kimbo. Ortiz isn't a great fighter, but he has far more skill than Kimbo, who has a long way to go before he'll really be a well-rounded fighter. EliteXC doesn't want its meal ticket exposed.