Could the EliteXC Scandal Hurt Mixed Martial Arts?

by Luke Thomas on Oct 10, 2008 12:00 AM EDT in MMA News

Zach Arnold lays out the real possibility:

With all of the following above said, let’s address the negative impact that Wilbon’s comments will have on Elite XC and MMA in general. Plenty of mainstream, casual fans watch Pardon the Interruption. Likely, so do a lot of the suits in CBS Sports. In the time span of four days, we’ve gone from Gus Johnson calling Seth Petruzelli’s win over Kimbo Slice as “the biggest upset in the history of Mixed Martial Arts”, to Petruzelli claiming that promoters kinda hinted to him that they wanted him to keep things standing up, to a flurry of conflicting public statements involving Petruzelli and Elite XC management, to Jim Rome and other mainstream media outlets quoting Dana White on why this scandal is bad for the MMA business, to Gary Shaw admitting in the LA Times that he doesn’t find asking MMA fighters to ’stand-up’ as being unethical, to now Michael Wilbon calling the fight a fix — but for different reasons than anyone could have imagined in MMA media circles.

How anyone could possibly think that this scandal has not been damaging to Elite XC and/or MMA is beyond me. The wildcard in all of this is how or where the media takes this next. If the media takes their cues from people like Dana White, then it’s clear that this scandal will have a sharpened focus on Elite XC and what their role is in the MMA business. If the media takes their cues from no one and decides to basically tar-and-feather the entire industry on the accusation of Kimbo/Petruzelli being ‘fixed’ (but for the wrong reasons), then who knows how much damage will be created here. It’s starting to look more and more like it is going to be in UFC’s best interest to address this topic specifically in the media and put the focus on where it should be — not only to correct media writers and personalities, but to also protect the company image that UFC has been spending years building up with the general public.

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Just checked out the segment in question on today’s PTI and Michael Wilbon’s comments went beyond uninformed to the realm of making absolutely no sense. Worse, he tried to cover his ass by yelling over Dan Le Batard (who’s an actual fan of MMA) when Le Batard called him on it. Check it:

- Wilbon calls MMA fans sycophants and will defend Kimbo Slice no matter what
- Wilbon says the punch that dropped Kimbo was “a more phantom punch than Ali had to knock out Liston,” alleges the fight was fixed in Seth Petruzelli’s favor and that MMA fans don’t care
- In literally the next sentence, Wilbon says that EliteXC tried to fix the fight for Kimbo, “cause they tried to fix it by bringin’ in somebody’s brother-in-law”

I really gotta start fast-forwarding when these guys talk about MMA. It gives me a headache.

by Chris Nelson on Oct 10, 2008 12:30 AM EDT reply actions

^correction

- Wilbon calls MMA fans sycophants who will defend Kimbo Slice no matter what

by Chris Nelson on Oct 10, 2008 12:31 AM EDT up reply actions

What Wilbon said

I think it’s ridiculous and wrongheaded, but in case anybody else was wondering about the reference in the above quoted text, here’s what was said:

“That was a more phantom punch than Ali had to knock out Liston in that fight in 1965,” Wilbon said of Petruzelli knocking Kimbo to the canvas. “Kimbo Slice, your boy, is a fraud.”

Wilbon’s on-air partner Dan Le Batard then said, point blank, “Are you saying it was fixed?”

Wilbon replied, “Yes.”

Le Batard then noted that mixed martial arts is a legitimate sport that is very popular among young men and added, “That was not fixed, Mike.”

Wilbon replied by comparing MMA to professional wrestling, saying, “It was fixed. Wrestling was fixed, I loved it all my life. It was fixed.”

As Le Batard tried to defend MMA, Wilbon told him, “Danny, you don’t want to defend this because your credibility will be at stake. He’s a fraud, it’s a fraud, get off the stage.”

During a brief look-in on the next commercial break, Wilbon said, “I don’t know what Kimbo’s ties are. Kimbo still could have taken a dive while others are trying to prop him up. He could have gotten paid.”

"It's like a flying knuckle sandwich.--Rogan
"And many men have eaten it." -- Goldy

by thetakeover on Oct 10, 2008 1:32 AM EDT reply actions

Luke,

hey Luke check this out:

http://sports.espn.go.com/extra/mma/news/story?id=3634858

Lappen again contradicts himself…

“We offered Seth Petruzelli a knockout bonus, a submission bonus and "fight of the night” bonus. If we were trying to influence the fight, why would we do that?

This guy is now backtracking as much as Seth.

by mmalogic on Oct 10, 2008 3:42 AM EDT reply actions

Wow.

I didn’t think they could possibly issue another statement until everyone involved sat down and figured shit out. I was very very wrong.

by asa on Oct 10, 2008 7:45 AM EDT up reply actions

Good grief, Lappen has already said in different interviews that there was no submission bonus and how in the world could you have a fight of the night bonus just offered to one fighter? Good grief every interview and/or press release from anyone involved gives out different information. They might not of been trying to fix the fight they might just be clueless and completly inept (well they are 60 million in the hole already).

by who me on Oct 10, 2008 9:45 AM EDT up reply actions

Now Lappen is saying that he was misquoted in both stories and giving yet another version of his story. This just keeps getting more and more fishy and it’s the quotes coming from people at EliteXC that are making it that way. I can’t believe they keep releasing these statements without getting their story straight to start with, at the very least they have proven themselves totally inept with all of this.

http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/10/10/elitexc-official-rips-media-says-kimbo-slice-seth-petruzelli-c/

by who me on Oct 11, 2008 12:58 AM EDT up reply actions

Short term damage, maybe. Long term, no way. Once the next UFC PPV is on the air the only people talking about the EliteXC scandal are hardcore MMA bloggers. It will be history for everyone else.

by monkeyfightclub on Oct 10, 2008 9:53 AM EDT reply actions