Elite XC cashes in its chips…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
It is official. I don’t know much at this point, but Elite XC has officially closed its doors. From reports from the good ol’ boys at Sherdog.
The parent company of the EliteXC mixed martial arts circuit is closing its doors for good, according to multiple reports.
Sherdog.com reported that according to T.J. Thompson, an executive at ProElite Inc., he was informed that the company would close for good this week and would file for bankruptcy protection. And Sports Illustrated, on its Web site, reported that ProElite told its employees and fighters on Monday that it was shutting down, effective immediately, according to multiple sources.
Sherdog also reported that according to numerous sources, an EliteXC card scheduled for Nov. 8 in Reno, Nev., has been canceled. According to the report, Joey Villasenor, who was scheduled to fight Robbie Lawler for the circuit’s middleweight title on the card, was informed Monday it had been scrubbed.
ProElite did not return calls seeking comment, according to the reports. The shutdown follows an EliteXC card televised by CBS on Oct. 4, in which the circuit’s biggest star, Kimbo Slice, suffered a 14-second TKO at the hands of a relatively unknown last-minute replacement, Seth Petruzelli.
That bout is under investigation by the Florida State Athletic Commission, following comments Petruzelli made after the fight suggesting that he had been promised monetary incentives to trade punches with Slice, rather than employ a more technical game plan.
Showtime Networks, which owns a 20 percent stake in ProElite, on Sept. 17 filed a notice with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announcing its intention to enter negotiations to purchase the company outright. But SI.com reported that according to a source inside ProElite, those negotiations failed and ProElite’s funding disappeared, forcing it out of business.
It appeared like they had done everything right. But that goes to show just how tough it is to open up a fight game right now. You can have the fighters, even the fights, but without a solid business plan, it’s not going to work.
And that’s not to say that Elite XC didn’t have a good plan. I don’t know. All I know is even when I was hyping up the machine big time in July, everyone knew it was losing money by the millions.
I’m a firm believer that Kimbo Slice losing had nothing at all to do with Elite XC closing down. It’s more coincidence than anything else.
There are some really good fighters out there, and all it does is open the door to some very intriguing fights that, by default, will take place in the UFC.
I wonder what happened with Showtime and where the negotiations fell through. Showtime was trying to be life preserver for Pro Elite, and both sides appeared like they would work hand-in-hand to try to get that done.
I don’t know, but UFC President Dana White must be smirking right about now.
On a lighter note, someone must sign Gus Johnson to a job. This man is made for announcing MMA.
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