NEWS: Throwing their hat back in the cage. Posted in news Posted on August 22, 2011 by Joel Allen
When UFC bought Strikeforce in February of this year, it was widely reported that theirs was not the only offer on the table to buy the promotion. Only recently it has been revealed that the group behind an unsuccessful bid for the California based promotion was Pro Elite, the group behind the ill fated Elite Xtreme Combat promotion which ran from 2007 to 2008. While their bid, rumoured to be in the region of $40million, was unsuccessful, the group announced their intention of rejoining the MMA industry. Given the funds at their disposal, this would put them into potentially the number two position in the US behind the Zuffa group.
This is good news for both fans and fighters in the MMA world. While UFC has had a market share in the region of 95% for the past ten years, a plucky underdog in the number two position is something of a staple of the industry. It allows the fighters more leverage in their contract negotiations, meaning better deals for them, and for fans it simply means more top-level variety in MMA viewing. If we take the Zuffa companies as a whole (Right now UFC and Strikeforce, the previous few years UFC and World Extreme Combat), in previous years Strikeforce has occupied the number two position, and before it other big-money outfits including Affliction, International Fight League, and the aforementioned EliteXC all fit into the picture. Right now, there is no realistic number two promotion out there (There are plenty of other MMA outfits in the US but very few have either name or TV exposure), which is a position Pro Elite are clearly looking to exploit.
Pro Elite’s pedigree with EliteXC places them in good stead to once again fill the number two position, but they have much to learn from their first outing. Spending money was the name of the game in 2007, in what appeared to be an unsuccessful attempt to compete with Zuffa. They bought King Of The Cage, ICON Sport and the UK based Cage Rage and brought them into the Pro Elite group, as well as running EliteXC in the US. EliteXC ran just eight shows (They co-promoted others and also ran a series of ShoXC events for up and coming fighters), and placed much of their promotional might behind just two fighters, Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano. Their shows broadcast on Showtime had been popular, which led to a CBS deal being made for the group. The first show on CBS, ‘Primetime’, featured both Carano and Slice in the feature bouts, with Carano defeating Kaitlin Young, and Slice defeating British fighter James Thompson in the main event. The show averaged 4.85 million viewers, and peaked at over 6.5 million for the main event, a record which still stands in US MMA.
The promotion’s downfall came when Slice lost to Seth Petruzelli at what would be their last show on October 4th 2008. Petruzelli was a late replacement for Ken Shamrock, who had not been cleared to compete, and quickly defeated Slice by knockout in the first round. Post-fight, Petruzelli mentioned in an interview he had been offered money to not use certain moves and to let Slice essentially win. Shortly after on October 20th 2008, Pro Elite announced they were ceasing operations immediately. Of the promotions they had bought, only King Of The Cage escaped and continued operations.
Now, some three years later, Pro Elite are back, having announced their first show for August 27th from Honolulu. The main event features former UFC fighter Andrei Arlovski fighting Ray Lopez, with Arlovski looking to win his first fight since, ironically enough, the last EliteXC show. Also on the card Kendall Grove takes on fellow former UFC fighter Joe Riggs.
The show, which is the same day as the UFC Rio show, will be broadcast live on Sherdog.com. Provided Pro Elite can learn from the mistakes of the past which caused EliteXC to fall in such a rapid chain of events, this could be the first look we get at what has the potential to be the new number two promotion in US MMA.
Market Data 
Markets 
AI
