Quote of the Day: T.J. Thompson Talks EliteXC's Downfall

by Nick Thomas on Oct 21, 2008 9:15 AM EDT in MMA News

"I was there cageside and watched the whole thing happen," he said. "I think (CBS) got cold feet watching. The way the Ken Shamrock pullout was handled, all the way from the beginning to the end with Seth Petruzelli. Watching Jared Shaw jumping up and down and screaming as a representative of the company, I think was disgusting and embarrassing."

"I don’t have a smoking gun, (but) I’ve been around long enough, I’ve talked to enough people that were there, I won’t name names of executives in the company that I know — Seth was paid to stand up. I’m confident of that. If the commission wants to talk to me, I’ll tell them what I know."

-- Icon Sport founder T.J. Thompson speaking to MMA Weekly.

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WOW!

Thompson has nothing to gain from this so I take his saying this pretty seriously.

Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

by Brent Brookhouse on Oct 21, 2008 9:17 AM EDT reply actions

Ya exactly, that pretty much seals the deal in regards to Standgate.

by LiuLang on Oct 21, 2008 9:19 AM EDT up reply actions

But he, and a whole bunch of other newly unemployed people have nothing to lose, it will be interesting to see what comes up now.

by Phildo on Oct 21, 2008 9:32 AM EDT up reply actions

Right. Let’s see what everyone drops on their way out the door.

by Luke Thomas on Oct 21, 2008 9:48 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, that’s the way I see it too. Anybody that ever felt that EliteXC was good for MMA has to check themselves. I wanted EliteXC to succeed, but not at this cost. Talk about a step back for MMA.

by pud333 on Oct 21, 2008 11:52 AM EDT up reply actions

Devil's Advocate

What was the exact relationship between ICON and Elite? Was it just a LLP? Does Thompson retain his baby? Was his baby hurt by this at all? Resentment is a big motivator for rumors.

Even just as a fan of the sport he has plenty of reason to be biased towards the company.

by asa on Oct 21, 2008 12:11 PM EDT up reply actions

How does JAred Shaw even have a job in the fight world? What a joke he is.

by lbk on Oct 21, 2008 10:17 AM EDT reply actions

Jared is a male 18-34, just like us! This gives us someone to relate to.

Jared is Gary Shaw’s son. My theory on why he got the job at Elite is because the other exec’s wanted a skapegoat for when this happened.

by Ubernoober on Oct 21, 2008 10:45 AM EDT up reply actions

Nice

$kapegoat. Was that intentional?

by Blackout612 on Oct 21, 2008 12:04 PM EDT up reply actions

I haven’t noticed any suspicions floating around of the content of Shamrock’s original deal to fight Kimbo. There’s a good chance that just nobody cares whether or not Shamrock was paid to stand but it seems easy to surmise that during negotiations there was certainly more than a hint of how he should act when (if) he got in the cage.

by Simco on Oct 21, 2008 1:12 PM EDT reply actions