ProElite, Inc. has cancelled it’s 8 November EliteXC MMA event, ceased operations, and filed for bankruptcy, according to numerous reports.
ProElite, Inc. is the parent company of the EliteXC promotion that is nationally broadcast in the States on CBS, as well as owner of the MMA brands King of the Cage, CageRage, ICON, and Spirit MC.
ProElite’s website is functioning and has no mention of the company’s bankruptcy.
However, Gracie Fighter, the website of EliteXC fighter Nick Diaz‘s (18-7) manager, Cesar Gracie, posted Monday evening, “We are confirming that EliteXC has folded.”
The cancelled event was to have taken place in Reno and aired on Showtime featuring title fights in two weight divisions.
Fighters.com’s fourth-ranked middleweight “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler (16-4) was scheduled to defend his title from challenger Joey Villasenor (26-6); and, Fighters.com’s third-ranked lightweight Eddie Alvarez (15-1) and Diaz were to have fought for the vacant 160-pound title.
EliteXC debuted 10 February in Southaven, south of Memphis, and has held 17 events.
Recently, the promotion’s most popular star, “Kimbo Slice” Kevin Ferguson (3-1), was knocked out by late replacement “Silverback” Seth Petruzelli (10-4) in 14 seconds in Sunrise, north of Miami, 4 October.
The failed company was the most prominent challenger to the UFC. It exposed millions to the sport of mixed martial arts via it’s relationship with CBS.
However, CBS EliteXC Fight Night was a production of CBS’s entertainment division, not it’s sports division; and, ProElite was often criticized for heavily promoting Kimbo Slice, a fighter who gained initial fame through videos of backyard fights broadcast on YouTube.
After Slice was KO’d by a UFC castoff, UFC President Dana White remarked to the Boston Herald, “These guys have lost $60 million trying to get this thing off the ground. They’re building their promotion around a guy who can’t fight. It’s kind of fucking stupid, isn’t it? You’re in the fight business and you’re building your business around a guy who can’t fight.”
ProElite, Inc. executives were unavailable for comment at the time of publication.
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Comments
that sucks for those real fighters in that league, i wonder who’s gonna pick them up or what’s gonna happen to them
Leave it to Dana White to be the asshole. UFC was in the red for millions prior to going into the black. He forgets that Elite also has Shamrock, Carcano, Diaz, Lawler and others. UFC has fronted some turkeys as well, example Tank, Joe San, Sims
John, you don’t know that much do you? Dana White brought UFC out of the red and made money his first year taking UFC over, ever since it has grown and gotten bigger, Tank, Joe Son and Sims were all fighters before Dana White Ever took over. UFC has REAL fighters, not these prissy backyard brawlers….
all of you are idiots because Kimbo Slice is a good fighter He is just starting out He has a better record than Brock lesner Seth got a pretty good shot it happens you shouldnt knock some body just because everyone thinks they are bad ass everyone has to start some where who are you to say he is bad.?!
Any informed observer of this sport knows what’s going on here. There’s a reason why corrupt and money grubbing companies like elite xc go out of buisness and go out of buisness with verve. When the subterfuge begins to fail people like Kimbo Slice get exposed for exactly what they are: crass gimmics and marketing ploys. Kimbo is a way to get people who would otherwise be watching jackass and sticking thumbs up their rectums to buy pay per views. But when it all comes down to it, people do not want to consume poor quality products, and the most ingenius marketing cant sell a stinking load of fecal matter to anybody. Nobody wants shit. And that’s exactly what kimbo is: Hes Oxy clean, hes dual action cleanse, hes corel calcium and that realestate program that promises you millions but just relieves you of a hundred bucks. Hes a billboard sign that obscures the beautiful sky on a sunny day on your way to work, or a crumpled advertisment in a lake that makes your community look like shit. He’s useless information, he’s a computer virus, he’s the spyware that clogs up your pc and makes it run like rubbish for no apparent reason. Doesn’t our society have enough of this garbage? Boxing was ruined through crass commcercialism and greed. I hope the same fate isn’t in store for mma as well.