Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock: Whoever Wins, EliteXC loses!

First things first: This is the inaugural post for MMAEruption.com. Obviously, the look of the site isn't so hot, but expect it to drastically improve in the coming months.

Okay, with that out of the way, let's get down to business. This Saturday night, ProElite's EliteXC will present its Heat card live on CBS, headlined by a fight between backyard brawlin' newcomer Kimbo Slice, and MMA legend Ken Shamrock. While this fight has a decent shot at drawing solid ratings, it is indicative of EliteXC's poor business strategy of focusing on novelties rather than putting together good fights.

Let's break down Slice vs. Shamrock. Kimbo is largely a standup brawler with little-to-no skill on the ground and weak stamina, as evidenced by his poor performance against tailor-made knockout victim James Thompson in May. Ken Shamrock, on the other hand, is 44 years old, and has lost five fights in a row, all by KO or TKO in the first round. And in his last ten fights, he's lost eight, having been finished in seven of them.

Putting it all together and we have a relatively unskilled, but marketable rookie, versus a battered veteran who should be hanging it up and accepting his position in history as an MMA trailblazer. So if Kimbo wins, it's because Ken is simply too old and slow, and if Ken wins, it's because Kimbo is too green and/or never any good in the first place.

Now the scary part is, this is the kind of fight that the troubled ProElite organization is banking on to keep them in business. Lord knows the UFC doesn't do everything right, but at the very least, the UFC puts together combinations of competitive fights the hardcore fans will love and less competitive fights aimed at building stars. In addition, the UFC has built up a large roster of bankable exclusive talent including names like Chuck Liddell, Rich Franklin, BJ Penn, and Brock Lesnar. (say what you want but Brock is a major PPV draw)

On the other hand, EliteXC has focused on building essentially three stars, each with their own problems: the aforementioned Kimbo, as well as Nick Diaz and Gina Carano. Kimbo is unlikely to perform well against real competition, Nick Diaz has little mainstream marketability and recently lost decisively to KJ Noons, and Gina Carano regularly fails to make weight for her fights. There has been talk of EliteXC on pay per view, but this is not the type of roster that will sell.

At the end of the day, I firmly believe the UFC will end up on broadcast television, possibly against or as a replacement for EliteXC. Kimbo's star is falling, and the ratings will follow.