EliteXC's Fight Promotion Follies

by Michael Rome on Jul 28, 2008 9:23 AM EDT in News Comment 9 comments

One of the most amazing things about the EliteXC show was the utter failure to promote for the future. They fell into Cyborg/Carano because of that amazing performance, but we don't even know if they're going to do that. Otherwise, they blew it on two fronts.

First, how can they not have an opponent for Kimbo by now? If the idea of this show was to accept a low rating in order to keep building momentum for October, how can they not have a fight lined up to announce to the world? Instead we were treated to an awkward interview with Kimbo.

Second, the lack of KJ Noons or the footage of the incident in Hawaii. A month ago Diaz-Noons II had the potential to be a huge fight for EliteXC. The heated footage in Hawaii would have made perfect build-up material for a big fight, but they blew it. This idea of pure fight promotion without any outside antics is so misguided that I can barely find the words for it. The chance to see two people that hate each other fight has always been a drawing card in the fight game. How many times did we see the Tito-Ken confrontation stuff leading up to their fights? How many times did HBO show Mayweather goading De la Hoya in the build to their fight? Not building the footage was self-sabotage, and not even having Noons there to build the fight was even worse. I can only imagine what the scene would have been in Stockton if they had shown the footage and then Noons had come out there to announce the rematch or something. What a lost opportunity...

I suspect the show in October will do as well as the first one back in May, and while it's good enough to stay on the air, it's not really great progress. It's hard to maintain a reputation as the fastest growing sport in America if there is no growth. Outside of signing a big name to fight Kimbo, the only way I see them doing a better number is if they do Cyborg/Gina and promote it the right way. In case any of them are reading, here is how to do it: 1) Show Cyborg murdering Baszler over and over again; 2) show Gina's pretty face and have people talk about the fact that she's never fought someone like this before; 3) have people (including her family) talk about concern for her safety, while focusing on what a physical monster Cyborg is; 4) keep mentioning the fact that Gina's opponent is nicknamed CYBORG.

If last night is any indication, they will focus on the controversy of Cyborg's finish and compare it to Gina's weigh-in problems.

All sarcasm aside, Cyborg/Gina is a money fight. I hope they do it well, because it is a big deal for MMA in general, and a big deal for women in the sport.

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you hit that on the nose

the best they could do was say that Gina and Kimbo would be on the October show. The UFC will sometimes promote two PPV’s with matches already booked.

by monkeyfightclub! on Jul 28, 2008 9:01 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

If EXC can’t promote Carano/Cyborg with any success, they don’t belong in the fight business.

I watched EXC at party with a house-ful of non-mma fans, and everyone got excited after Cyborg knocked out Baszler & the camera zoomed in on Gina Carano chewing gum.

by steak_knife on Jul 28, 2008 11:53 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I don’t want to see Gina’s gorgeous face get smashed in by Cyborg. She looked like a human wrecking ball for 2 full rounds. Could you imagine what a beast she would be if they had the fight at 145 or 150?

by Fatal Error on Jul 28, 2008 12:24 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Yea, if the fight stays standing….Cyborg could test that Carano’s chin often..

http://tharealness.wordpress.com/

by Tha Realness on Jul 28, 2008 12:30 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

So many missed chances !!!!!!

The article and opinions are 100% correct above they failed terrable at hyping up future fights that could be so huge for them down the road.I thought for sure we would of seen the tape of what happend in Hawaii between Noons and Diaz atleast 20 times that night ? I was shocked they did not play it ounce they did not even say anything about what happend in Hawaii when Diaz was fighting eather.That footage combined with the broadcast team hyping that situation up non stop could of build up a huge bad blood fight for the TV viewers to look foward to on the next show. I also thought for sure they would of said Kimbo’s next opponent I myself thought they were going to say Rogers was Kimbo’s next fight that night and go into the stroy why. They could of made another great bad blood fight if they showed the Brett Rogers post fight kimbo comments from the last show. The average person watching would of eatten that shit UP !!!! All in all they missed out and so many chances at huge fights they could of built up for down the road for there next CBS show. I just don’t see where they are going from Hear and how they are trying to hype and get word out to the common person about this next Card ?

by Shocbomb on Jul 28, 2008 12:36 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

no disrespect intended.......

but please check your grammar before posting…..

“could of, should of, and would of…” are not correct. it’s could HAVE, should HAVE, and would HAVE.

and ..where are they going from HERE, not hear.

i’m not trying to be english teacher, but it’s very, very distracting to read people’s comments when they’re (another extremely misspelled and misused word) not grammatically correct.

by theflyingtsunami on Aug 2, 2008 4:47 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

So what you’re saying is, they already blew it with the NEXT show too?

I’m all for putting MMA promotions under the microscope equally, but I’d say you are nitpicking the hell out of EliteXC. They did a lot of things right with this show

by smoogy on Jul 28, 2008 3:28 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I myself am not saying they blew there next show but they sure as hell blew a good opportunity this show to hype fights for there next show of there biggest stars !!!!! The better get a huge PR machine out there now to hype these fights. For MMA fans like us you don’t have to market shit we are going to watch no matter what but we are not 99.9% of there ratings that comes from casual MMA fans and people turning in becasue of the hype and the marketing they do and from what I see now and from the last show they did it was a shit Job at doing that !!!!!!

by Shocbomb on Jul 28, 2008 3:39 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I’m not disagreeing with your assessment that they “blew it”, they did for sure.

BUT…I think people will be tuning in to see Kimbo vs anyone, the opponent doesn’t matter, unfortunately. As for Diaz, most of the people that would be drawn to that fight, already know the history.

their marketing just seems very weak right now, and I’ll be interested to see how they do it as October approaches.

"The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin'"

by BJJDenver on Jul 28, 2008 5:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs