Biggest Weekend In MMA History
May 31st, 2008 by World Wide EdGet ready for history in the making folks. Tonight, EliteXC, in a partnership with CBS, will bring the first-ever Mixed Martial Arts fight card to the mainstream when EliteXC Saturday Night Fights makes its debut on CBS (KGMB 0007 or KGMB HD 1007 on Oceanic Time Warner Cable) at 8PM HST.
A HUGE step for a renegade sport that was once completely banned from TV just a few, short years ago.
Headlining the card is Internet legend, turned MMA manchild Kimbo Slice (Kevin Ferguson). His Youtube exploits were so popular that they eventually led to a contract with the then startup Showtime EliteXC organization. Now training with retired MMA fighter and trainer extraordinaire Bas Rutten, Kimbo’s career has reached a new high. He will be facing James “The Colossus” Thompson, a 6′5″ 265 pound giant.
But in what will probably turn out to be the more competitive/exciting fights, former UFC and ICON fighter Robby Lawler will defend his Middleweight title against The Ultimate Fighter alum Scott Smith, while the most popular female MMA fighter in all the land, Gina Carano, who also moonlights as Crush on the American Gladiators, will take on future up and comer Kaitlin Young.
And… Tomorrow!!!
Former UFC legend Jens “Lil Evil” Pulver drops down to featherweight (145lbs) to take on the man who’s been dominating that division, WEC Featherweight champion Urijah “The California Kid” Faber. The rest of the card looks suspect, but it’ll also be on free TV: VERSUS Channel 0210 or HDGOLF 1216 at 3PM on Oceanic Time Warner Cable.
Check out
All MMA Television Programming for May, 2008
All MMA Television Programming for June, 2008 (coming soon)
Learn More:
- saturdaynightfights.com
- Info from EliteXC
- Info from Showtime
- Info from ProElite.com
- Faber vs. Pulver Fight Card from WEC.tv
In other news, check out “Pho Fantasy - A Tour of Hawaii’s Favorite Pho Restaurants,” my June AroundHawaii article, where I visit three of Hawaii’s favorite Pho Restaurants (coming June 1, 2008).
Pho Fantasy - A Tour of Hawaii’s Favorite Pho Restaurants
Have a great weekend ya’ll!
Tags: american gladiators, cbs, cbs elitexc cbs elitexc saturday night fights, crush, elitexc, elitexc saturday night fights, faber vs. pulver, icon sport, jens pulver, MMA, pulver vs. faber, saturday night fights, UFC, urijah faber, wec
May 31st, 2008 at 2:54 am
Wassup bro…told you I read this stuff…
Don’t overlook the Maeda-Torres fight. Miguel Torres is an incredible bantamweight and a great champion who gives back to his community. Maeda is a replacement for Manny Tapia (which would have made a fantastic fight), but is still a quality fighter. People should tune in and check this fight out too, if only to see Torres. I’m actually more excited about the WEC card than Saturday’s EliteXC show.
Have a good weekend…
May 31st, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Like I’ve said before, I can’t wait for Kimbo to fight someone *good* and get his okole handed to him. (He’s a ghetto version of Bob Sapp whose prior wins were against has beens approaching Medicare age.) He gets too much credit for being a street brawler and got more press and advancement than others who have toiled and paid their dues. Carano gets a lot of hype (training with Couture and being on AG), but she didn’t even make weight!
In terms of mainstream TV, I’m more looking forward to the upcoming NBC (strikeforce) series where Cung Le will featured than Kimbo on CBS.
I wanted to go to Pulver-Faber in person but I have to work this weekend….gah!
May 31st, 2008 at 3:59 pm
I ate dinner at Pho Saigon last night, one of my favorite.
June 1st, 2008 at 3:41 pm
* davebOI: Just got home and am looking forward to watching the EliteXC event (even though I read about it on my phone). I heard there was some controversy. And yeah, the WEC fights tonight too. Woo hoo!
* frankie: Yeah, Kimbo needs to be challenged, both on the ground and in cardio. From what I read, last night’s fight kinda did. Gotta watch it back to see if he really did tap. Interesting…
* M: Pho Saigon eh? I gotta try that one out. Thanks for the feedback!
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:17 am
I think it was a good move for CBS to show this, if it wasn’t them, it would’ve been some other network, and CBS is with Showtime, if I’m not mistaken, right? So, maybe it was a foregone conclusion that CBS would’ve shown it on their network, it was still kind of a foreign sensibility that one of the major networks was going to show this thing. But, you know, I figure there must’ve been a number of folks who gave it chance, watched a bit, and then, just kind of switched the station, that’s to be expected, but, CBS can say they were the first and they did good coverage.
Did you see a kind of local-ness in this presentation. There was a decidedly “Hawaii-style fighting” by Robbie Lawler. And almost every opponent walking to the stage was wearing slippahs, too.
Johnson just needs to fix that ear. You know, I dunno if it’s gruesome, but, if he wants to continue fighting, maybe he should cut off his ear already, or get some corrective surgery at least. Your ear is cartilage, you don’t need the cartilage part to hear.
You know, if, for the men, there are ladies in bikinis holding up the round # before the next installment of the fight, how come there are no hot men doing the same for the lady fighters? Heh. Kidding!!!!
OK, so Kimbo had a hard time on Saturday; I wouldn’t want to be his next few opponents. You know, though, did I hear correctly? After his fight, did Kimbo say, “you guys wanna see me fight Carano? You guys wanna see me fight Carano?!?!?”