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By Zack Arnold

It’s the worst kind of scenario an MMA promoter could possibly face. You spend two months hyping a main event built around your company’s ‘ace’ against an aging veteran (the Japanese call this type of fighter a ‘legend fighter’). It’s supposed to be the easiest match-up in the world to market; Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock. The idea is that your ace is protected in the cage by fighting a veteran on the decline. At first, conventional wisdom was on the side of Elite XC according to the MMA bettors. However, as fight time neared, more and more bettors started putting money on Shamrock to win the fight.

The day before the big fight on CBS, you have the two fighters weigh-in and get into a pull-apart brawl at the press conference to heat-up the media proceedings. Your only hope is that enough people believe that Ken Shamrock will win the fight so that when Kimbo Slice beats him, Kimbo ends up getting a rub from the legend. Otherwise, the fight outcome itself is a lose-lose situation.

It’s already a big mistake to build your company around a freak show star who is a rookie in MMA fighting terms. However, it’s all that you got and your entire deal with CBS hinges on the success of this rookie.

As fight time nears, you receive the most dreaded news possible; Ken Shamrock can’t fight. He got hurt during warm-ups and the commission has pulled him from the fight. It’s the worst kind of scenario an event promoter can face and it puts a lot of pressure on the following parties:

1) Elite XC management
2) Kimbo Slice’s management
3) CBS management

In a crisis situation like this where EXC’s long-term future with CBS is on the line, there are so many variables that you have to deal with as an event promoter that one mistake could cost you your entire livelihood in the fight business. Unfortunately, what transpired Saturday night for Elite XC was disastrous on so many levels that it is imperative for us to break down the schedule of events that occured to show how the pressure of Saturday’s night situation forced EXC, Kimbo Slice’s management team, and CBS (indirectly) to make mistakes that will likely prove fatal for Elite XC’s long-term future as an MMA organization.

1. Should Kimbo Slice have fought Saturday night when Ken Shamrock’s booking was canceled?

2. Should CBS have forced or applied pressure to EXC to make Kimbo Slice fight on Saturday night? If so, who should Kimbo have faced?

3. What kind of short-term and long-term price would Kimbo Slice face if he lost to a replacement opponent?

Put yourself in the shoes of Jeremy Lappen. You know that CBS wants Kimbo Slice to fight on the show. You know that you really don’t have much of a choice but to book a replacement opponent.

What you don’t do is book someone like Seth Petruzelli, an MMA journeyman, against Kimbo Slice. As a company, you haven’t built up Seth Petruzelli. He’s not exactly one of your rising stars in the company. You haven’t promoted him as a big draw or attraction to the masses. Therefore, what upside is there for booking Petruzelli against Kimbo in the first place? You only book this fight to satisfy commitments with CBS in hopes that this move will placate them short-term.

Secondly, when you book such a replacement opponent against Kimbo Slice at the last-minute, you put yourself in a situation where you have to pay him a king’s ransom to do it. Dave Meltzer reported on Yahoo on Saturday that EXC management reportedly had to fork over serious money to Kimbo’s management team in order to get him to agree to fight on prime time. Kimbo was put into a no-win situation by CBS, by EXC management, and by his own management team. CBS wanted Kimbo to fight because they advertised him during football games. He’s the ‘ace’ for their MMA programming. EXC has to build around Kimbo Slice because they don’t have major star-power elsewhere, but in order to keep the gravy train afloat you have to have Kimbo win all his fights. If you’re Kimbo Slice’s management team, you can’t afford a short-term view in terms of managing your fighter’s career. You know the danger he’s facing by fighting someone like Seth Petruzelli, who is more talented, less known to the public, and has nothing to lose. Do you take the short-term money in order to sacrifice your fighter’s long-term career? That’s what happened on Saturday night, unfortunately.

The correct response by all parties should have involved the cancelation of Kimbo Slice fighting on the Florida card. Yes, EXC would have paid a price and CBS would have been angry, but you could always protect Kimbo Slice. Unfortunately, what we saw on Saturday night was the end of Kimbo Slice’s career as an ‘ace’ in MMA for a non-UFC entity. Petruzelli destroyed him in under 15 seconds. Will someone ask Kimbo Slice’s manager if taking a higher payday was worth watching the destruction of his fighter’s career in the time span of 15 seconds?

The loss is devastating to Elite XC. The company has a show booked for November 8th in Reno with good bouts (Robbie Lawler vs. Joey Villasenor and Eddie Alvarez vs. Nick Diaz), but good bouts don’t attract eyeballs or sell tickets. The Kimbo Slices of the world do. Unfortunately for EXC, there aren’t many Kimbo Slice’s in the world that you can book and market your company around. Saturday night proved to be a giant magnifying glass on CBS management, Elite XC management, and Kimbo Slice’s managements in terms of making the right or wrong decisions in regards to their handling of Kimbo Slice. Placed in a situation where there was little-to-no upside for Kimbo Slice to face Seth Petruzelli, the fight was booked and the rest was history. So may be Elite XC’s future in the MMA business, shortly.