I know it more-than-likely wasn't, but didn't the Elite XC fights on CBS seem a little scripted?

Question

These things were probably a mere coincidence: such as Carano missing weight (the only fighter to), the accidental eye gouge (to pump up the next prime-time fight card), and the undrained cauliflower ear of 'Colossus' (to ensure a Kimbo victory; I know I would have got my butt whipped, but those elbows didn't seem like they were being pounded that hard in that last fight, Kimbo's face didn't even look swollen). Your thoughts, as candid as they may be...?

Answer 1

The part that really seemed shady to me was the Lawler/Smith fight.  Smith was ready to finish fighting, he needed to regain his vision after being jabbed in the eye pretty bad.  They said he told the doc twice that he couldn't see...but really you cant see well after being poked in the eye (been there, done that).

Then on top of that, James Thompson's ear was ridiculously swollen. Something should have been done about that BEFORE the fight ever started.  If you watch it again, you can see his ear floppin' when they were putting the vasoline on him before he entered the cage!

I definitely think something was shady. Overall, I personally like UFC better.

Just my perspective...good observation though!

Answer 2

The fighter themseleves I would say did not have anything scripted, but the refs were most likely told to play it "safe" because it was on to be on primetime and on CBS. But Kimbo more then likely should of lost after the beating on the ground he took, he was not defending at all, the other guy had him trapped. It went on for well over a min.

CBS has problems that is clear, but some of it can be fixed.

1. Stop the early call to stop fights. You can't play it that safe, you make MMA look like a joke that way.

2. Make it faster, I heard in the first hour and an a hour there was only like 9 mins of fighting and it went until after 11:30 pm it was suppose to be over at 11:00 pm.

3. Need fighters who will atlest fight, there was 2 fighters I heard of that did nto want to fight. One just layedon the ground until the ref called it and the other did not want to come back out after the round was over.

Answer 3

I agree with TLE_MGR.  There is nothing scripted about any MMA fight, but the network and NJ Athletic Commission did have their hands in most every match.  Premature stoppage on 2 of the 3 interventions (Gina was stomping some *** so that was a good stop), and 500 f'ing commercials was OUT OF CONTROL.  I already spoke my peace about this topic on another question on this board so I'll refrain from further bashing CBS!

Answer 4

Yeah, I don't know if I would go as far as to say it was scripted, but at times it definitly looked like the producers knew how they wanted things to go and helped sway things in their direction.

I thought it was funny how they went out of their way to avoid saying that Carano was a member of a show on NBC too.

Answer 5

I know exactly what you mean...the show was so tacky with the dancing, the rappers, Frank Shamrock's little intro to MMA clip, the lame pre-fight interviews, and other things...you can count on the Gina not making weight not being setup though...she usually has trouble making weight so it should've been even harder with her current schedule, however, everyone familiar with MMA knows Kimbo is being protected by the organization because of all the money they're putting into him...the loss was very controversial as if they wanted to stop the fight as quickly as possible with Kimbo on top...just look at how Thompson had him at the end of the second and they didn't stop it (the strikes weren't very damaging because of how tired he was, but many fights in the same situation are stopped anyway because the fighter is not defending anything).  Kimbo's poor cardio and ground game were exposed last night so we'll see if he can survive his next fight...he probably will because Elite XC has horrible heavyweights, with the exception of Ricco Rodriguez and Bigfoot Silva, the rest are all brawlers that are too stupid to fight a technical fight.  It kind of seems like it'll be that guy Brett Rogers...another brawl where Kimbo is the harder puncher!  I'm not saying it's scripted, but they certainly make it seem so!

Answer 6

I don't think it was scripted but it sure seemed like there was noway they were letting Kimbo lose the 1st chance they had to stop it in Kimbos favor they did he looked horrible and Thompson is not a grappler either he is freestyle and he made Kimbo look foolish the whole Elite setup was a joke rappers, cheerleaders, guys dancing in the ring after the fight all looked like WWE or some type of ghetto MMA

Answer 7

That was a total mockery of the sport, I'm going to stick to the UFC and Spike Tv  because atleast they didnt sell out to get a spot on prime time.  CBS can suck my fat kack with their 100 commercials I was so bored inbetween the fights, I flipped over to spike to watch Liddel vs Silva cause the c**p that was going on CBS was absolute B.S., by the way CBS STAND FOR CONSTANT BULL ****, OR c**k BLOCKING STATION.

Answer 8

The fights weren't scripted, but they may have been..."guided". The refs may have been advised to end fights early because of time constraints. The show should have started an hour earlier.

Answer 9

No way they are scripted. You can tell by the punches and everything. Kimbo Slice wouldn't fight in a scripted fight. The reason Kimbo's face wasn't swollen was because he was being hit on the top of his head, not his face.

Answer 10

Not necessarily scripted, but the Lawler fight was a bad stoppage, and they should have called Kimbo's fight in the second round- I think it was definitely fixed. Coming from someone who really respects the UFC and watches all of the fights, I was very dissapointed that they made a mockery of MMA.

Answer 11

EXC is a joke.  They are hurting the sport on MMA.  When I heard they got a spot on primetime, I was scared to death of the damage they might do to the sport.

Answer 12

All I know is that was THE WORST CROWD IN MMA HISTORY. I've never heard so many boos so early in a fight (Smith vs. Lawler). Maybe the people in the crowd should have watched some old MMA bouts to see how different every fight can be and how not everyone gets knocked out in the first minute. Maybe next time they'll cut out the stupid cheerleaders, Phil Baroni loser like entrances and sorry fighters. Big props to Young and Carrano though for having the fight of the night.

Answer 13

Nope.  The NJ Control Board wanted fights stopped when they became too bloody or dramatic.  They didn't want to hurt their chances of winning over curious people who are new to MMA.

We should all support EliteXC so we can eventually have a weekly MMA fight, much like CBS did with boxing back in the day.