THE CANADIAN PRESS
Kimbo Slice had his hands full with James (The Colossus) Thompson but eventually won by TKO over the big Briton as mixed martial arts made its prime-time debut on CBS on "EliteXC Saturday Night Fights."
The fight was stopped 38 seconds into the third round with a dazed Thompson bleeding from the ear from some big punches to the head. Slice, a former street brawler from Miami whose real name is Kevin Ferguson, improved to 3-0 after the main event at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
Thompson (16-9) had been expected to be another quick victim for Slice. But the Briton had a different idea and handed Slice a beating on the ground late in the second, trapping his arm with a knee and delivering elbows and punches from above.
As the fight progressed, Thompson did well when he got Slice down. But he was in constant danger when the fight remained on the feet.
"A very tough opponent," an exhausted Slice said after the fight. "I didn’t underestimate him but I didn’t know he was going to be that strong on the ground.
"I’ve got a lot to learn," he added.
Slice had needed just 19 seconds to dispose of Bo Cantrell in his MMA debut and 43 seconds to stop Tank Abbott next time out.
The 6-5, 265-pound Thompson was a different story. But it goes down as his third straight loss and seventh in his last nine fights.
Slice’s fame comes from bare-knuckle street fights, available on YouTube or other video forums. And they are not pretty. But today he trains with former MMA star Bas Rutten.
At 6-2 and 235 pounds, the 34-year-old Slice is a fearsome figure in his own right. Bald on top, with his hair tied back in a tiny pigtail, and sporting a full beard, the musclebound, tattooed fighter exudes menace. Add a bizarre backstory and you have a Mike Tyson-like phenomenon.
"Kimbo Slice has touched a raw nerve in American and around the world," fighter-commentator Frank Shamrock told the TV audience. "And frankly I’m a bad dude. He scares me. He is way too big, way too scary and way too comfortable with violence."
CBC billed the show as "the biggest night in mixed martial arts history," which was a massive reach at best. But MMA’s prime-time arrival on a major network is another signal the sport is becoming part of the mainstream.
While CBS showed combat sports, NBC aired Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final and ABC opted for a baseball movie, "The Rookie.".
CBS viewers got to see Busta Rhymes briefly perform before introducing heavyweight Brett (The Grim) Rogers, take in gyrating cheerleaders, learn about Phil (The New York Bad Ass) Baroni and were treated to Shamrock in jacket and tie offering commentary. Shamrock also gave viewers a primer on MMA rules, such as no fish-hooking, eye-gouging or fingers in orifices.
The first fight of the televised portion of the card lasted just 61 seconds as Rogers dropped Jon Murphy (4-3) with a right to the chin. Rogers is a former tire repairman who is 7-0 as a fighter.
(Ruthless) Robbie Lawler defended his EliteXC middleweight title against Scott (Hands of Steel) Smith, all but putting Smith away with body and head shots at the end of the first round. The standup war left both fighters bloodied at the end of the second.
A doctor eventually decided the contest, stopping it in the third round after Smith took an unintentional finger in the eye. Fans and fighters seemed to disagree with the call.
"I’m disappointed," said Lawler (16-4).
"I could have continued," added Smith (15-5), despite confessing he may have broken his right foot in the bout.
Baroni (10-10) danced his way to the cage in sunglasses and a red robe, accompanied by two female helpers. His corner included UFC Hall of Famer Mark (The Hammer) Coleman. The New York Bad Ass wasn’t good enough against middleweight Joey Villasenor (26-6), who stopped Baroni in just 71 seconds for his third win a row.
It was Baroni’s third straight loss and his fifth in his last seven outings.
American Gladiator Gina (Conviction) Carano, daughter of former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Glenn Carano, defeated Kaitlin Young when the fight was stopped after two rounds. The bout was set for 140 pounds — over three three-minute rounds as opposed to three five-minute rounds for the men in non-title fights– but Carano (6-0) came in at 144.5 and lost a portion of her purse as a result.
The bell saved Young (4-2), her face bloody and swollen, from being choked out at the end of the second round but the doctor promptly stopped the contest.
Earlier, former Pittsburgh Steeler offensive lineman Carleton Haselrig defeated heavyweight Carlos Moreno. The 42-year-old Haselrig, a former NCAA champion wrestler, improved to 2-0 in his fledgling MMA career when Moreno, a late addition to the card, failed to answer the bell for the second round.
Welterweight Nick (The Mad Monkey) Serra, the younger brother of former UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra, was stopped in the second round by Matt Makowski. The fight was halted when Serra, a jiu-jitsu black belt who had no counter for Makowski’s strikes, remained on his back and did not get to his feet when told to by the referee.
Wilson Reis looked impressive in choking out Justin Robbins at 4:06 of the first round in a 140-pound bout.
Saturday’s card was the first in a two-year EliteXC-CBS deal, which calls for four prime-time shows a year.
EliteXC events have previously aired on cable’s Showtime in the U.S. and The Fight Network in Canada. NBC is airing programming from a third organization, Strikeforce, overnight Saturdays. The International Fight League has its own deal with Fox Sports Net.
The UFC, which is home to most of the sport’s marquee names and dominates the MMA pay-per-view world, has a deal with cable channel Spike. It has been negotiating its own entree into TV, with HBO mentioned as a potential home, but has reportedly been hampered by UFC president’s Dana White’s refusal to hand over event production to the network.
The Prudential Center was home to UFC 78 in November.
