The main card lineup for the highly anticipated mixed martial arts (MMA) debut for EliteXC on CBS was announced earlier today.
Keep in mind there will still be some under card bouts announced at a later time, but for now here’s the televised portion of the May 31 card:
Main event:
Kimbo Slice vs. James “The Colossus” Thompson
Main card:
EliteXC Middleweight Champion “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler vs. Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith
Gina “Conviction” Carano vs. Kaitlin Young
Phil “The New York Badass” Baroni vs. Joey Villasenor
Brett “The Grim” Rogers vs. Jon Murphy
We already knew about most of the fights, but the Brett Rogers heavyweight showdown against Jon Murphy was made official with this announcement.
Rogers most recently knocked out Thompson at “Street Certified” in Miami on February 16, which is ironic since Thompson is now in the main event and Rogers is at the bottom of the main card.
This could be some foreshadowing by EliteXC Live Event President, Gary Shaw, and the promotion. Perhaps they’re looking build Rogers as a formidable opponent in front of a national television audience so that he can challenge Slice his next time out.
That’s a solid match up, and one that could be a very tough fight for Kimbo. Rogers is a monster and Kimbo could have some serious problems with that size disadvantage.
First and foremost, however, Slice and Rogers need to take care of business on May 31.
In particular, Rogers should not look past Murphy. He used to play middle linebacker for the Syracuse Orangemen and knows a little something about competing and hitting. He has a since put together a solid MMA record (4-2), including a win over Sherman Pendergarst.
EliteXC has thus far done an admirable job putting this event together. Most of the fighters on this card have competed in other organizations with some of the best fighters in the world.
Put simply, these are quality fighters and quality matches.
The action next month will take place live from The Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., and will air on CBS from 9 – 11 p.m. ET.
18 Comments »
That card is stacked!!!! KO’s all night, thats what I like.
I’m not gonna lie, if this company keeps making money (assuming they already are), and can sign some more unhappy (because of dana) fighters, they have a shot at the “big time.” They have a T.V. deal before UFC. They have a cash cow in Kimbo that they can market towards the younger viewer, and they have some guys that have been pretty good if not great in the UFC that are entering the prime of their careers! I truly hope this opens up the door for more fighters to make better money!!
they sure did a good job putting striker vs striker on this card its going to be one hell of a slugfest all night long.
not a bad card but i think the scott smith and robby lawler fight should be the main event, Kimbo is still an overrated fighter
agreed, but he’s the draw..don’t hate on me, I don’t agree with it, but it’s a fact!
I truly believe Gary Shaw is paying fighters to lose to Kimbo. The dive that Bo Cantrell took was worse than Liston/Ali 2. And Tank Abbott was nowhere near as aggressive as he is against his other opponents. I’m not saying either one would have beaten Slice, But let’s face facts. They both took dives. I really think James Thompson is likely to beat Kimbo Slice as long as he’s not paid not too.
In my opinion. Slice’s credibility has decreased dramatically in his last 2 fights. At least before he was a mystery. Now he’s a mystery surrounded by fraud.
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so apparently in EliteXC you don’t get into the main event by winning, instead you gotta lose and look like someone that Kimbo can beat up.
Terrible card. How/why is Scott Smith fighting for a belt?? How is Kimbo vs James “the punching bag” Thompson a main event, Jigga please. Lucky it’s free on T.V. cause nobody would pay to watch that.
I will agree that I would not watch the event if it was on pay per view but it will give us some good fights. Say what you want about THompson, but he will be the best mma opponent Kimbo has ever faced (I actually give him a good chance at pulling off the upset) and as long as the level of Kimbo’s opponents increases in every fight, thats all we can really ask for out of a novice fighter. It not his fault EliteXC keeps putting him in main event fights, whats he supposed to do refuse? The UFC might not make him the main event, but make no mistake about it at the very least he would be used in the co main event of a UFC pay per view. FACTS are that Kimbo is a huge draw (not im my eyes) and we cant knock the EliteXC for exploiting that. As long as he keeps racking in the dough, thats not gong to change. You cant blame the organization for that, whose to blame is all the ignorant fans through out the USA that dont know the ins and outs of the sport and are just content in seeing KO’s. EliteXC is giving the majority of the fans what they want….Ko’s!
I agree about the Scott Smith comment. The guy has only had 1 fight in EliteXC and he’s lost 3 of his last 7 fights. Granted, he lost to some decent fighters but EliteXC must be lacking somewhat in their MW roster.
I used to watch “Toughman” on Spike many years ago and there was a guy from New York who wore the Rocky shorts, he looked a lot like Phil Baroni in my mind. He lost a fight one night and went nuts backstage and started punching the wall and a fusebox. Does anyone remember this show or this guy?
If Dana wants to destroy all the competition, why doesn’t he just put up a sick PPV card or even UFN on the same night as one of these Saturday night EliteXC cards? I know what I would be watching.
I hope Randy has talked to Thompson about his fight stategy. If not then I have a feeling it will go this way: The bell sounds – Thompson rushes Kimbo – Kimbo throws a straight jab – Thompson runs into the jab and is knocked out – A Kimbo victory!!…
I saw Thompson get knocked the F$&^ out in Miami – He walked right into it. It wasn’t pretty. Thompson may have some real experience but knocking him didn’t seem to hard. Kimbo was just knocked the F@#$ out by Forrest in a sparring session.
Rodgers should be fighting Kimbo to make this a legit card. “Demoting” Rodgers to the bottom of the card and having the guy he beat in the main event is scandalous in a competitive sense. I would love to be a fly on the wall when they were arranging that match-up. I wonder what they told Rodgers…. Hope I’m wrong with my prediction and the Kimbo fights for a few minutes or to a second round. I’d like to see how his hands really are.
pretty good card. now, lets not complain kids. UFC has not been giving us the greatest cards as of recently, plus its this one is free so sit back, BUY SOME BEER WITH THAT $50 bucks you would have spent on a UFC PPV and enjoy some MMA!
Wilson Reis is on the card somewhere? Has anybody seen the whole card?
People are getting way to excited over EliteXC. They fighters are all either WAY past their primes (examples:Ken Shamrock, Frank Shamrock) Either one of them would get ripped apart in UFC. Kimbo is exciting I like watching him fight but the best person he ever beat was a 43 year old Tank and CUNG LE their 205 lbs champion wouldnt even be average in the UFC. Rampage, Couture, Liddell, Ortiz, Silva, Jardine hed be below all of them.
Kimbo isn’t perfect, but I’ll take a Bas trained fighter any day of the week over a UFC ground n pound style wrestler. Thompson won’t test Kimbo, but he won’t get hit and run like the other 2 did. Cung LE is real champion with real martial arts skills( did you see the tony fryklund fight or the frank shamrock fight?). And most of the UFC fights are boring. Ever watched a Cung LE fight? Or a Frank Shamrock fight? Anything but boring. The UFC is getting better, but PRIDE was the best and the UFC is a pale second to what that organization was. Watch out for Elite XC, I’ve been a fan of MMA for 15 years and at least they are trying to make waves. DANA, SHOW SOME BALLS. GIVE US THE TOURNAMENTS WE WANT. SIGN THE TOP FIGHTERS(NOT YOUR FAVORITE). WHO WAS PRIDE’S MATCHMAKER? SIGN HIM PLEASE!