CBS/Elite XC Saturday Night Fights 5/31/08

Elite XC Saturday Night Fights 5/31/08

Gus Johnson is the lead announcer. Good move in my opinion as he will put a “legitimate” face to MMA for the casual fans. They pair him with Mauro Ranallo, the usual voice of Elite XC. Mauro isn’t the most popular guy but I like him. The third member of the announce crew is Frank Shamrock. They name drop Bruce Lee as one of the fore fathers of MMA. They move to street fighter turned MMA fighter Kimbo Slice and briefly touch on his fight tonight versus James Thompson.

Card for tonight is:

Kimbo Slice vs. James Thompson
Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith
Gina Carano vs. Kaitlin Young
Phil Baroni vs. Joe Villasenor
Jon Murphy vs. Brett Rogers

Frank Shamrock does a segment where he goes over some basic MMA styles and talks about striking and grappling. And goes over some terms like “Ground and Pound”, “Guard”, “Half Guard”, “Clinch”, “Arm Bar”, “Rear Naked Choke”, and “Take Down”. Frank goes over some of the do’s and don’ts of MMA. He talks about the 3 ways a fight can end: KO/TKO, Submission/Tap Out, and Judges Decision.

Heavyweight Fight- Jon Murphy (4-2) vs. Brett Rogers (6-0)

Of these guys I’ve only seen Brett Rogers fight and from what I remember he was fairly impressive. Brett Rogers is lead to the ring by a rapping Busta Rhymes. Stuff like this and the dancers that opened the show are what I can do without.

R1- Murphy catches Rogers early and Rogers clinches with him and backs him into the cage and gets in a couple of shots. Rogers hits Murphy with a couple of shots and this one was over. Not the prettiest fight but Rogers showed good power and got the KO very early in the fight. He moves to 7-0 and moves up the Elite XC Heavyweight ladder.

Winner: Brett Rogers KO R1 1:01

Middleweight Fight- Phil Baroni (10-9) vs. Joey Villasenor (25-6)

I’ve seen a couple of Villasenor’s Elite XC fights and he’s unspectacular but really solid and seems really hart to beat. I haven’t seen that much of Baroni but he’s got a big rep so this should be an interesting fight as both guys like to stand up and punch. Baroni guarantees a knockout in the pre-match interviews. Mark Coleman is in Baroni’s corner. Villasenor has won his last two fights, Baroni has lost 3 of his last 4.

R1- Baroni pushes the pace early and gets a take down as he catches Villasenor in a kick. Drilled Baroni with a left hook and now has a guillotine on Baroni. Vallasenor with some shots and Baroni is shaken. Villasenor all over Barnoi and Villasenor gets the win. Mild upset in terms of name status but not in terms of records. Great win for Villasenor.

Winner: Joey Villasenor by TKO (punches) R1 1:11

Two fights and both have been finished very quickly.

Gina Carano (5-0) vs. Kaitlin Young (4-1)

R1- Carano takes young down early but Young gets back to her feet. Carano hit a good right hand and then hit a good left jab. Young hit a good right hand. Young takes down Carano. Carano is just smothering Young and Young can’t do anything despite being on top. The first round was very competitive. Both got in one take down but I think Carano got in more clean shots. Carano 10-9 but very close.

R2- Carano got caught doing a kick and Young got in a couple of knees. Then they exchanged some punches. Lots of action early in round two. Carano is starting to go to town and Young got hit right in the nose but is holding on and fighting back. Carano with a big left. Carano is peppering Young with punches but Young is holding on. Carano kicks Young to the ground and is going for a Rear Naked Choke but is having trouble clamping it on. Young gets saved by the bell in round two. Really exciting fight so far. Young’s face is jacked up. Carano 20-18.

And the fight is stopped in between rounds.

R3- Gina Carano by TKO (ref stoppage) R2

Elite XC Middleweight Title Fight: Robbie Lawler © (15-4) vs. Scott Smith (15-4)

This is the fight that I’ve been looking forward to the most on this show. This is Lawler’s first title defense. Interesting note that these guys have the same exact record of 15 wins and 4 losses.

R1- Smith throwing some big kicks early but coming up empty. Lawler really taking his time and not rushing in. Smith charged at Lawler and got popped. Lawler the aggressor now as he’s hitting some shots. Smith tags Lawler with a kick and then bedlam breaks loose as both guys are just swinging back and forth. Lots of misses and Lawler hits a combo. Both guys really opening up. Lawler hitting with some jabs and Smith countering. Lawler with a big body shot that hurts Smith. Lawler with a body kick. Lawler with some right hooks. Lawler with a great body kick and then ends the round with a right knee and a ton of punches. Smith is saved by the bell. Lawler just looked awesome at the end of this round. This round took a while to get going but once it did it was really fun. Lawler takes this round 10-9.

R2- Lawler is the aggressor at the start of round two. Big side kick by Lawler. Smith fighting back but coming up short on kicks. Smith clinches him and lands some nice knees to the head of Lawler. Smith know peppering Lawler with some punches. Lawler comes back with punches. Lots of dirty boxing. Lawler continuing to hit shots on Smith. Smith continues to throw shots. Really back and forth round. These guys are really throwing at each other. Both guys are bloody. Great round. Really even. Lawler is cut on the top of his head. I think Smith probably takes this round, 19-19 after two.

R3- Lawler jabbing early looking for an opening. Lawler starting to hit some elbows but his head cut has opened back up. Lawler went for a take down but got stuffed and now they stand up again. Smith got a finger in the eye and they stop the fight to allow him to recover. The doctor comes in and stops the fight. What a shame as Scott Smith is begging them to let him continue to fight. The crowd is chanting “bulls**t, bulls**t”. Well, I really enjoyed this fight and will look forward to the re-match.

Decision: No Contest, Lawler retains belt

Heavyweight Fight: Kimbo Slice (2-0) vs. James Thompson (16-8)

R1- Kimbo takes down Thompson but then Thompson gets Kimbo to the ground. Kimbo gets up but gets taken back down. James Thompson gets to side control but Kimbo gets to his feet. Kimbo is caught in a guillotine. Kimbo trying to get out with some knees. Kimbo finally frees himself. Kimbo takes Thompson down. Kimbo tried a slam but slipped and Thompson now has Kimbo in side control. Kimbo flips him over. Kimbo hitting a couple of elbows. First round comes to an end. I think Thompson won the first round 10-9.

R2- Kimbo with some punches and Thompson is in trouble. Thompson locks him up. Kimbo briefly got Thompson in a guillotine but Thompson has side control on Kimbo. The ref stands them up as there was not much movement. Kimbo hitting some shots. Thompson looks to be finished and Kimbo hits some shots but Thompson holds on and drops Kimbo with a double leg take down. Thompson hitting some elbows on Kimbo. Thompson just dominated the second half of this round. Kimbo won the first half but then just got dominated. Both rounds could go either way but I’ve got Thompson up 20-18 so far. Kimbo had a chance to put Thompson away in the middle of this round but couldn’t do it.

R3- Kimbo hits two nice shots and Thompson’s ear popped open and is bleeding like crazy and the ref stops the fight. Thompson is not happy. Thompson ear is just disgusting. Kimbo escaped this fight and this fight really exposed him.

Winner: Kimbo Slice by TKO R3 0:38

This was a good show, would have been better if Lawler/Smith would have had a finish as that was the fight of the night. The woman’s fight was very good. And the show started with two real quick knockouts which I think was a good thing to get the show kicked off. The Main Event was nowhere near as good as Lawler/Smith but it was interesting. Kimbo was definitely exposed and it will be interesting to see where they go with him now. Obviously, he’s still undefeated but he’s gonna have a tough time with any heavyweight who can get him off his feet.