Kimbo is fighting Tank Abbot this month in EliteXC.. that is worth watching just for the circus aspect.
Anyone else watch this? Kimbo looks much better than his first fight - he had good spacing, good movement. He needs to learn to listen to the ref better. His power is unbelievable - but of course, no one has hit him yet and he has yet to face anyone with any submission or grappling. Tank Abbott looked like he barely trained for this fight. Tank is either completely done - and just showed up to take punches for a check - or he took Kimbo way too lightly. It's a little scary to see Bas Rutten standing in Kimbo's corner. I can't think of a trainer anywhere in the world that could turn this guy into more of a real monster.
Who might be next for Kimbo? Looking at their roster I can see one of two ways - give him another striker like Cabbage Correira or Antonio Silva.
Does EliteXC really have Ninja Hua, Ricco Rodriguez, Robbie Lawler, Renzo Gracie, Frank Shamrock, all under contract? Or are these guys that just had one fight deals at some point? I remember Shamrock fighting for them and getting DQed and that felt like a one shot deal.
They appear to have Gina Carano too. I think I actually remember her fighting for them before Amercian Gladiators aired.
That fight really didn't show much of anything about Kimbo. It only lasted 45 seconds.. I would like to see him fight a grappler like Mir, so we can see if he has any ground game.
Frank Shamrock's first fight with EliteXC was against Renzo Gracie in which Shamrock was DQ'd for illegal strikes. He then fought Phil Baroni for the middleweight title I believe. Shamrock won that fight.. He fights Kung Le next to defend his title. It will be Kung Le's hardest fight to date.
All of the guy you mentioned are all still under contract with EliteXC. The UFC has no desire to sign Ricco, Lawler currently. I don't believe they would even want Frank back either.
I am not sure I like the EliteXC because they are similar to PrideFC in which they like to book freak show fights that are pretty lame. (Kimbo vs Tank). The last I heard Kimbo has been training @ Extreme Couture in LV, so needs to not be given any more tin cans and someone that will actually test his skills, similar to Lesner.
Lesner's next fight will probably be against team punishment's Justin McCully (8-3-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC). Justin said he has been approached about this fight happening at UFC 85, but right now it's still not definite.
Even though agreements have not been signed it's highly likely Brandon Vera will be facing Fabricio Verdum at UFC 85.
Also Wanderlei Silva will be fighting Keith Jardine at UFC 84... I don't understand how you can lose to Liddell and get to fight the guy that beat him.. Usually when you lose you have to fight someone who has also lost to your opponent. I guess they figure if he beats Jardine then he will be set for a re-match against Liddell.
*********** Back to the OP. Spent Super Bowl weekend in Vegas and went to the weigh ins on Friday and chatted had the opportunity to talk to Dana White, Jens Pulver, Frank Trigg, Keth Jardine, Kenny Florian, Heath Herring, Tim Sylvia, Jeremy Horn and others. We didn't go to the fights since the only seat left were on the $800 range, so we went to Blondies in Planet Hollywod and watched the fights. It was definately on of the better UFCs I've watched lately.