Shamrock will most likely be the next opponent for Kimbo. EliteXC management will probably spin Kimbo's loss as a result of not having time to prepare and/or Petruzelli getting lucky. EliteXC desperately needs to find Kimbo an opponent he can beat, and they need to do it ASAP.1) Brett Rogers - This is the option that EXC takes if they want to transfer Kimbo's hype on to someone else. It also means the official end of the Slice gravy train because I don't see any way he doesn't lose to Rogers and a second straight loss takes away any mystique Kimbo has left. Rogers, however, is extremely marketable and has a legitimate chance of becoming a champion in the promotion (provided it survives that long). All that being said, I don't think they're ready to write off Slice.
2) Seth Petruzelli - This is a very risky option as Petruzelli isn't really a top level guy, maybe he could seem as such in EXC's 205 division but he just isn't a top guy anywhere else. The obvious upside here would be a Kimbo win allowing them to blow the loss off as a case of a guy being put off his game by a last minute change. But the risk is just too great, a second loss to Petruzelli would ruin Kimbo more than anything else I can think of.
3) Ken Shamrock - I think this is the direction they must go with this. It is as close to a guaranteed highlight reel KO for Slice as anything, and it would be against a big name opponent. There is also a storyline to build off of. Also, the matchup doesn't look quite as grotesque after the Kimbo loss. It's still transparent matchmaking, but at least it is now a very much needed type of transparent matchmaking.
EliteXC has put an awful lot of effort into promoting Kimbo, and they are too far gone to choose a different direction for their marketing. Plus, CBS management might be pissed off that EliteXC's golden goose got completely cooked last night.
If EliteXC delivered big ratings last night, another network might look towards bringing the UFC on network tv. The attitude may be "if CBS can draw X million viewers with EliteXC, imagine what we could do with the UFC's higher-quality fighters." Brock Lesnar could probably draw as many if not more mainstream viewers as Kimbo Slice, and has a better shot at longevity in the volatile MMA world.
So at the end of the day, the UFC may have come away as the biggest victor of all on Saturday night.
3 comments - click to add yours!:
boring.
I hope he fights YOU for all the harm you've done to the many clueless investors who actually used your stock picks! To get canned by Jim Cramer for a poor performance is the utmost insult in that his Action Alert Plus service is down well over 30% YTD.
lol - you're going to have to try harder than that to get a reaction out of me!
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