MMA Weekly News: What Happens to MMA’s Elite XC Without Major Drawing Cards Like Kimbo and Gina?

It’s still the ever-exciting Mixed Martial Arts event!

Saturday’s card was the second time for MMA to be aired on a major television network. However, unlike the first time where personalities like Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano were fielded as major crowd-drawers, the second airing had the TV working in favour of real fighters. If things turn out right, the gladiators featured here will become mainstream stars. Not by hype, not by built-in YouTube fans, but by sheer talent and fighting skills.

MMA weekly news gives you the results of Saturday’s Elite XC “Unfinished Business”

1. “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler (16-4,1 no contest) def. Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith (15-5,1 no contest) by TKO at 2:35 on the second round with strikes. Lawler’s “Unfinished business” with Smith due to an unfortunate accidental poke on Smith’s eye on the third round of their May 31 bout is definitely taken care of. The Elite XC middleweight champion retains his title. Just like their first meeting (may 31st) both fighters showed aggressiveness with their staggering punches and high kicks. The second round was as exciting as the first with both warriors trading hard punches. It was Lawler’s rib-crushing hard knee strikess that did Smith in.

2. Jake Shields (21-4-1) def. Nick “The Goat” Thompson (36-10-1) by submission just one minute and three seconds at the start of the fight. This earns Shields the title of Elite XC welterweight champion (the first ever). Thompson’s winning streak (12 wins in a row) ended with a guillotine choke by Shields. Credit this to Shield’s being a former wrestling champion at San Francisco State University. This strengthens his image as the best non-UFC welterweight in the United States.

3. Nick Diaz (18-7, 1 no contest) def. Thomas “Wildman” Denny (26-17) by technical knockout 30 seconds of the second round. The fight started with a spectacle of punches from both warriors with Denny getting the upper hand. Diaz was able to recover towards the end of the first round, putting down Denny twice. He just didn’t have enough time between recovering and finishing the bout on the first round. Diaz’ “Unfinished Business” on the first round was finished on the second round after he dropped Denny for the third time and pummelled the latter with punches. The referee had to stop the fight.

4. Cristiane “Cris” Cyborg (5-0) def. Shayna Baszler (11-5) by technical knockout two minutes and forty-eight seconds on the second round. This bout further strengthened Elite XC’s women’s MMA fights bid for mainstream popularity. Baszler’s attempts for submissions just wouldn’t do with Santos’ flurry of strikes. She went down on the mat and Santos, who thought the game was over in the middle of round 2, had to get back to take care of “Unfinished Business.” It was a crazy scene where she went on top of the cage to celebrate even before the referee deemed the fight over. At the order of the referee, she has to get back and punish Baszler some more before it was declared a win.

5. Antonio Silva (11-1) def. Justin Eilers (19-7-1) by technical knockout (strikes) 19 seconds of the second round. This makes him the first Elite XC heavyweight champion. Silva has the size advantage of 39 pounds and he sure knows how to use it to his advantage. He started with hard shots on the first round but Eilers wasn’t about to take things easy. He was able to land several blows towards the end of the first round too. Silva changes his game plan on the second round and this overwhelmed the bloodied Eilers. The referee had to stop the fight. Silva needs to be pitted against a better calibre fighter next time to lend credence to the championship belt.

6. Wilson Reis (5-0) def. Brian Caraway (9-3) by unanimous decision (30-27 from all judges) This bout again confirmed the new preference of the MMA crowd to a stand-up action against takedowns. Caraway was the crowd favourite with his strikes but Reis keeps on succeeding with his takedowns. The downside to it is he never came close to a submission. The crowd booed the unanimous decision of making Reis the winner despite is unimpressive performance.

7. Rafael Feijao (7-1) def. Travis Galbraith (15-6) by referee stoppage on round 1. With the awesome sight of UFC champions Anderson Silva and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in his conrner, Feijao showed a winning performance throughout the first round. It was mainly a standing fight with Galbraith losing wind halfway towards the end of the round. It was Feijao’s knees that connected solidly on Galbraith’s jaw that overcome the latter. He was dropped and suffered punches while on the ground. The referee had to stop the fight.