If you've been used to getting your dose of fighting action on CBS Saturday nights, you're going to have to look some place else.CBS has canceled its popular Saturday Night Fights show after the company that produced the show, Pro Elite, went out of business this week. They were supposed to film a match on November 8 in Reno, NV (and Showtime was supposed to air it later) but the company has canceled that show. No word on why the company is no longer operating.
Funny how much Saturday night television has changed. It was once one of the big TV nights, with All in the Family and The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bob Newhart Show and The Carol Burnett Show. Now it's a night of fights, repeats, and movies everyone has already seen.
This is bad news for EliteXC fans, but at least I finally know what a Kimbo Slice is. He's one of the fighters (in fact, the most popular). I guess this gives CBS a chance to show even more repeats of Criminal Minds and Without A Trace.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-22-2008 @ 2:01PM
Willmore2000 said...
As an MMA fans, I can't help but say "ugh".
Stick to TV.
EliteXC went out of business because it's a crappy promotion with a bad business plan. What's more, it's a bit premature to say there will be no more Saturday Night Fights. CBS/Showtime has the right to claim the EliteXC property and assets, because ProElite owed CBS/Showtime over 6 million dollars. There is also a possibility of an Affliction show to take the place of EliteXC.
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10-22-2008 @ 2:37PM
Christopher said...
UFC is the only MMA worth looking at.
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10-22-2008 @ 3:23PM
dennis phillips said...
WHAT?! NO KIMBO REMATCH?!!!
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10-22-2008 @ 4:06PM
J. said...
I at least wanna see the Gina Carano vs Cyborg match. Hopefully they can make it happen somewhere else, even if it's a bar.
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10-23-2008 @ 3:10AM
D-Bo said...
I agree and I hope someone picks up Women's MMA as I understand Dana White has no interest in it.
I
10-22-2008 @ 4:10PM
Andrew said...
In regards to "No word on why the company is no longer operating."
They went out of business because they hung all of their hopes on Kimbo Slice, a street fighter who has never proven himself among real MMA competition. They've been hemmoraging money since the inception of the company. CBS had been in talks with EliteXC to purchase the company, and their hopes of staying in business hinged on that sale.
Kimbo Slice's match with Ken Shamrock was cancelled when Shamrock injured himself hours before the match was to take place. They decided let Seth Petruzelli take his place in the last minute, and Petruzelli ended up knocking out Slice in 14 seconds.
The next day, Petruzelli claimed in a radio interview that he was paid money by EliteXC to keep the fight standing (which would, theoretically, give the advantage in the fight to their "star" as Slice is known as a brawler.) These comments caused the Florida athletic commision to investigate, which caused CBS to pull out of talks of buying EliteXC. They basically washed their hands clean of the promotion, because they don't want to be involved in a company that might be "fixing" the fights. With no hope of being bought by CBS, EliteXC had to go out of business.
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10-23-2008 @ 1:51AM
Monkeydog said...
I guess Saturday night is not alright for fighting.
(sorry, I had to)
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