ProElite, EliteXC Going Out of Business
ProElite, the parent company of mixed martial arts promotion EliteXC, has called it quits.
MMAFrenzy.com has learned that the struggling company, which aired its third live event on CBS just weeks ago to solid ratings, will cease operations on Friday, informing employees and fighters of the decision earlier today.
At this time no official announcement has been made. MMAFrenzy.com sent a request for comment to ProElite, but the company declined to comment on the development.
The company also owns stakes in a number of smaller promotions including King of the Cage, Icon Sport, and Cage Rage and also maintains relationships with DREAM and Strikeforce among others.
A planned November 8th event in Reno, Nevada featuring Nick Diaz vs. Eddie Alvarez for the promotion’s vacant lightweight title has been canceled as part of the company’s decision to go out of business after losing nearly $60 million over its two year existence.
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HAHAHAHAHAHA
I ****IN KNEW IT….
Yeah, I think we all saw this one coming eventually, though I expected them to hold their November 8th show before it happened. Huge news nonetheless.
BOOOOO!!!!
so what happens with all the great fighters??? hahhaahaaa
where do u think kimbo will end up????
Its not that I enjoy watching MMA fail, F the Shaw’s they don’t belong in MMA they can go back to ruining boxing
I just hope that Ninja Rua, Lawler, Radich, Shields and Villesenor end up in the UFC so there will be some depth in the Middlewieght and Shields will be a new contender in the welterwieght division. I also hope that Noons and Diaz go to the lightwieght division. THE UFC WOULD BE STACKED!!!
betcha kimbo signs with the UFC. as much **** as Dana talked about him, he will want to bring him in and get him crushed.
I think a number of the fighters will probably come to the UFC (and boy would this be a time to start a women’s division and sign Gina Carano) and the rest will disperse throughout other promotions including Affliction, Strikeforce, DREAM, etc.
Man Nick Diaz can’t catch a break…..I was hoping the title shot would happen…The entire XC bill should be sent to Gary Shaw.
I’m sure it won’t happen but hopefully this means Kimbo goes back to the street fights, honestly I liked watching those more then his MMA fights.
Kris I totally agree with you on the women’s division in the UFC. If there was a time it is now. You know Dietrich I cannot feel too bad for a guy who simply could not follow the rules of the athletic commission. Hopefully this will bring him back to the UFC and he can stay smart but I would put money on Affliction trying to buy up a lot of the lighter guys to try and build their lower divisions. Anyone else think this is hysterical with Tito saying he was negotiating a contract with them…good times…
I’m all for a women’s division if it’s the same amount of time and rounds as the men’s division.
I dont really care to much about the rest of the EliteXC schmucks…..but I hope Lawler comes back to the UFC. He is a great fighter and is still on top of his game. He wouldnt beat Silva….but would make it a good fight.
The UFC has to act fast on that free agent market, or Affliction just blow up there next card with all that talent ….. womens division is amazing kind of steals the show but just not sure if the UFC wants to take a chance on it right now, I can see the UFC waiting for more highly skilled women before they take a chance cause really the only mega fight for the women is Carano vs Cyborg. As far as Diaz and Ninja goes I can see them in Strikeforce or Affliction. The only ones I truely want to see inthe UFC is Lawler, Radich, Shields and Villesenor / KJ Noons / Brett Rogers / Eddie Alvarez / Paul Daley / Yves Edwards… wouldn’t mind seeing Antonio Silva but I don’t really see him in the UFC
Agreed fellas, the women consistently put on exciting fights, but I too would like to see them do 3×5 rounds. 3×3 simply isn’t long enough in my opinion. I don’t see the UFC jumping on this opportunity but I definitely think one exists.
I agree with the list ufcmanz, those are all very solid fighters I’d like to see sign with the UFC, especially Rogers so he can face off with some quality opponents to see how legit he truly is.
I don’t think the UFC will take a risk on Silva considering the positive drug test he had, maybe if its overturned but I really doubt it.
That sucks. I hope the UFC starts a woman’s division especially when you have the huge match-up between Carano and Cyborg; the biggest matchup in women’s MMA history. The UFC has to make that match. Unfortunately, I don’t think they will. Affliction will scoop right in and create the woman’s division and possibly work out a deal with CBS to take EliteXC’s time slot on Saturday and on Showtime.
I actuallt think StrikeForce will come out with most of EliteXC’s roster as UFCmanZ stated ya Diaz will probably go there I think most of the HW guys might go there, I think they need a little more finacial backing most likely
UFC needs to pick up Sheilds and Alvarez no doubt Villasenor I doubt they will pickup Kj is in a difficult situation now isn’t he
Affliction will pickup quite a few of these EliteXC players as well
Does that mean that Strikeforce is also out of business?
Or is Strikeforce a different company?
O and Lawler I hope gets welcomed back to the UFC
We all saw this coming, I think its funny that they finally went belly up. Its sad to see the competition go, and I was glad to have the free fights even though the organization was poorly run. I hope that Lawler, Rogers, Radach, Alvarez and Shields get picked up by the UFC. I don’t see the UFC picking up the women, but maybe Zuffa would grab them and put them in the WEC. Sucks for Tito, he was so proud to be signing with them…now he gets to see what happens when he tries to make the UFC the Tito show. Sucks for Diaz, but I don’t like him anyways, so whatever. I think Lawler has a good chance at getting picked up by the UFC because of his friendship with Matt Hughes.
mmmm. where is Tito going to go?
While I think Affliction will buy up some of the contracts they also posted a pretty large loss too. So do not expect them to go too crazy because if they do I could easily see them folding after the Day of Reckoning card. I have to agree about the women though. I think Affliction will buy up to have the Cyborg vs. Carano fight under their banner but the UFC is going to be waiting until the division actually fills out more.
I believe StrikeForce is a independent organization…
Also I don’t think Dana would allow women in the UFC but he also isn’t that controlling with the WEC sooo perhaps they would pickup the ladies… WEC has always been for the fast paced most entertaing product as well as growing new stars Gina v Cyborg would be sick in the WEC, most likely the too would end up in StrikeForce they do womans MMA (I believe)
FR,
I’m with you, I think most of the women from Elite will end up with StrikeForce as they do women’s MMA.
Right, Strikeforce is still independent as is DREAM and Rumble on the Rock. ProElite/EliteXC simply had relationships with these promotions. The bigger question is the fate of the promotions they actually owned and whether they’ll continue to operate or not.
Also, StrikeForce is an independent organization. “Since 1995, Strikeforce has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion , the company unveiled its mixed martial arts series with “Shamrock vs. Gracie.” Since then, it has co-produced the first SHOWTIME PPV mixed martial arts event in history with its world championship “Shamrock vs. Baroni” card on June 22, 2007.”
What do you guys think of a womens TUF. I think I would watch. Gina once a week. Gina and guyborg could face off at the end in the finale. Could be the UFC’s intro to womens MMA.
BW,
Not sure if there is enough market for that yet and/or enough good female fighters. There are good enough female fighters, but not enough good ones, yet.
Carano and Cyborg fight that was the only fight that i was looking forward to seeing from them ever! and now thats gone it could be months till anything happens with them! pluss its also very likely that it could never happen since womans mma is still very young and new they could be drafted by two complete and different orgs. but really who else does woman’s mma at a national or international level… its funny to think that the only think im really ever going to miss from EliteXC is the woman’s mma that was the one real thing that they had going for them
this is bad news for me .. i was looking forward to the diaz vs alvarez matchup . The company had good intentions, just couldnt pull it off .i wont be surprised though if this is just a move to start fresh by folding up and starting up under a new banner .proelite was too far in debt to get out …….. oh well
B W, I think you r a genius. That would be a great show. Women TUF. Needs lots of good looking girls who can and want to fight. I’d watch. This season’s TAPOUT show had a female fighter, and it was fun to watch.
I hope to see the top fighters move to Affliction. This will make better competition between the promotions. And eventually they can co-promote. “A guy can dream, can’t he?”
Well this comes an no surprise. Had Kimbo not been exposed for the garbage that he is I bet they would have stuck around a little bit longer.
It’s a bit of a shame. Their last fight card was pretty decent. I enjoyed it far more then I enjoyed UFC 89 from England actually.
Ah well…
I hope we see more of Lawler, Diaz, Cyborg, Carano, Shields etc..
Finally. I know Dana is sitting back right now with a big cigar thinking to himself: ‘one down, one to go.’
That was some rain dance Dana must’ve done. To Elite: Congratulations; I’m glad it happened before you guys psyched yourselves into thinking you were legit. Toodles.
PS: What happens to Tito? Hmm….. DON’T CARE
PPS: What happens to Kimbo? Hmm…..>DON”T CARE
PPPS: What happens to Gina? Hmmm…………………………..I think we all care. A lot.
PS: The day Dana white brings Kevin I’ve-been-Sliced Ferguson into the UFC is the day I will get all of your addresses and send you all $5 gift cards to Wendy’s. Cheeseburgers on me. You heard it here, lol.
All hail me!!!
Remember I was the one who said they would be gone by the end of the year.
It all seems funny to me that they close up shop right before they are investigated over fight fixxing. Nick Diaz can’t fight at lightweight in the UFC because he can’t make the 155 limit, why do you think they created the 160 lb title? Take Lawler, Shields, Alverez, Thompson and throw away the rest.
I forgot Ninja
Although i hated Elites board & morals (i hate the ****ing Shaws both are complete utter tossers) i did enjoy their cards and the good thing we have now is Shields & Lawler hopefully joining the UFC and i think Carano will go to Affliction along with Cyborg, Alvarez & Diaz that’s what i’m predicting
Timcat
I knew it too it was obvious they would go under to me after Kimbo vs Colossus and Kimbo vs Petruzelli was the nail in the coffin
Thats right Us and Chuck,
The Shaws have a history of everthing they touch turning to crap. I want to know how many fights they fixxed.The sport is better off without them.
Amen, Timcat
not for nothing because i do believe fighters should get paid more, but this is what happens when they get overpaid (especially scum like kimbo getting half a million for getting ko’d in 13 seconds, which by the way comes out to him making roughly $38,500 PER SECOND). $60 million lost in just 2 yrs.???? Just goes to show you that though maybe they could get paid a bit more, dana white does know what he’s doing.
Well I think ProElite probably got what was coming to them for paying people like Kimbo crazy money while their actual fighters got jack.
I really did want to see Diaz vs Alverez though, that would have been a good fight. I bet Diaz bulks up a little and comes back into UFC 170 division where he started. I’m tired of watching him beat on little punks anyway.
Here’s a good one:
Elite Xc-ya
I WONDER IF AFFLICTION SIGNED A DEAL WITH ELITXC AND YEAH ELITE WENT UNDER BUT IS NOW AFFILIATED WITH AFFLICTION SO THEY HAVE ALL WEIGHT CLASSES NOW…
it would be a smart move if AFFLICTION picked up woman’s mma
My guess is that the majority of the Elite XC fighters will go to Affliction, where they will make more money and have greater freedom to fight in different orgs and make more money. The only Elite XC fighters who might make some kind of impact in their respective divisions in the UFC (in my eyes) are Shields, Lawler, and Alvarez. I would like to see Jake Shields vs. Jon Fitch – this might be the only available decent fight for Fitch at this point, as he has either fought or is friends with all of the top WW’s in the UFC. I can think of a few UFC MW’s that I’d like to see Lawler debut (or re-debut) against – Marquardt, Leben, Kampmann or McDonald don’t have any fights coming up.
Kimbo will end up in WWE
JAKE SHIELDS SUCKS…. HE’LL GET TORN UP IN UFC…
this is a good day! not only do we get rid of elite xc….we get to watch tito look like the idiot… AGAIN!
DID THIS ALL HAPPEN BECAUSE KIMBO LOST? OR BECAUSE OF THEM FIXING FIGHTS?
It’s not simply because of the controversial Seth Petruzelli vs. Kimbo Slice fight but certainly Slice losing and them being investigated played a big part in why they folded now.
WOW!!! Midgets on ME! GREAT IT IS INDEED! Shields and Lawler belong in the UFC in my opinion. They are not the only ones from Elite but two very talented and important fighters who could knock the talent up a notch in their respected divisions. Just to clarify. I do feel their needs to be other promotions but F ELITE and the boxing promoter family of Shaws! F YOU SHAWS! I have a feeling the Shaws are throwing the towel in early because of the investigation over the Kimbo controversey. The whole existance of Elite has been an embarassing experience for Gary Shaw. He took a back seat only for his son to feel the rest of the wrath from the world of hardcore MMA fans who did not apreciate their antics. Jusice has been served in the world of MMA today. The Shaws never had a place in MMA and all the BS they kept feeding the average fan was gettng worse.
I would not put it pas WHACK ASS affliction to sign Kimbo. It’s still a business and he is a draw. I doubt Dana would ever think of signing Kimbo…..Dana likes talent.
YZ,
C’mon……Jake is good. Go look up his record and MMA rankings from various places. Numbers don’t lie.
@KOUCH
HIS GROUND GAME IS KICK ASS BUT HIS STAND UP IS WORTH ****. FITCH, GSP, KOS, DEIGO, ALVES, THEY ALL WILL WORK HIM
i think Sheilds is highly talented and would suprise alot of people with some wins in the UFC… i do think out of the fighters u have stated YZ that he could beat Kos and Diego, Sheilds would indeed have a difficult time with Fitch and GSP, Alves im not quite sure about
if the UFC got Eddie Alvarez that would be awesome for the 155ers Joe Daddy v Alvarez ya wouldnt mind seeing that fight
Bring back Lawler
This is good news for the sport of MMA.
i am a big alvarez fan FR702 , and he would be awsome in the ufc . he has fast hands ,ground skills and KO power . I would love to see a alvarez vs Penn match in all honesty . But we’d have to match him up wiyh Florian first ….. he beats florian and he would deserve a shot in my eyes . Would be a mid 2009 matchup , but might be worth the wait .
We all called this…
“Mismanagement, it was mismanaged by people that didn’t know MMA, that didn’t have the proper years of experience,”
I could see the UFC picking up the women and then running a female version of TUF to build up new fighters. It could provide a huge boost to the women’s division.
What will happen with the “good” fighters in that promotion and in particular the women fighters. I dont think there will be any other major promotion that has female fighters spotlighted, this sucks cause there are some good ones. Im happy about Diaz in particular not being in a championship fight, he’s not champion material and has no place to fight now. I guess that could also be the end of the MMA career of Kimbo, what a joke that was.
Hey BW,
I like the female UFC ultimate fighter idea, it just may be a matter of not enough fighters yet but it is a great intro idea into the UFC.
I do think that if the UFC were to pick up female MMA, doing a female TUF leading up to the creation of the division (in the UFC) would be a great idea. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kimbo got picked up by another organization, he will likely take a pay cut however.
im pritty shocked at this news, kimbo getting beat must of had something to do with it, they cant market the **** out of a loser, but this is great news for the ufc, i can imagin kimbo going to affliction and fighting fedor haha now that i would love to see, i think we would have the first death inside an mma ring lol
hope diaz come backs to the ufc
I know we cant start our own threads on this site but im curious what fighters you guys think should be picked up by the UFC, i like Joe Villasenor for one the guys got real skills and could compete in MW.
rodgers and diaz would be my first 2 picks
also mcsweeny from cage rage
Radach, Ninja, Shields, Rogers. I think Diaz poured the gas on his bridge to the UFC when he bad mouthed Diego after losing to him, and then set it on fire by signing with Gracie Fighting Championship. Not to mention how he conducted himself before and after fights in the UFC. Also, I don’t want to see him in the UFC, I don’t like the guy at all.
ex EliteXC employees i would like to see in the UFC::
Radach,Sheilds, Alavarez,Daley, Lawler,Cavalcante, Herman
Not so Much::
Villasenor,Diaz, Ninja,Kevin Ferguson, Smith
havent decided::
Rodgers,Bigfoot,Yves
*side note*
i believe the ladies will go to StrikeForce
TUF chicks. The whole thing just sounds like a winner to me. They can’t all be butch though. The girl that fought guyborg last, the karate hottie, Gina and maybe they can find some new talent. I have to give elite some credit, I would have never said I thought womens MMA was a good idea until I saw Gina. They brought Gina to the masses.
I too am glad that we won’t have to put up with kimbo anymore. I would however like to see him get his ass kicked by someone legit like josh barnett or gabrial gonzoga, not a huge name but someone that would hurt him.
Alvarez, Shields and lawler should go to ufc.
All the others not so much, they will go to other organizations and you will see the better ones go to the UFC eventually.
thats the problem …. where does carano and cyborg go . Like most have said , i think they will end up in Strikeforce as they already have a division set up .Actually I believe this is going to give Strikeforce a boost … affliction should back them and stop playing mma promotion . If strikeforce got the Affliction/elitexc fighters they’d be a powerhouse . Not to mention that they have been around a long time, are familiar with the talent and pay accordingly , no inflated fees here .They have the deal with NBC already and appear sometimes on showtime with other promotions …….. its good news for them if you ask me .
Dr. Doom,
I get what you are saying but just because a promotion is full of talented fighters does not mean they know how to “manage” the business like Justin said.
On a side note:
Affliction has a good amount of talent at HW and a tinge of talent here and there…..Still, after ONE show they had to partner up/be bought out by a BOXING promotion(Golden Boy). Affliction was born to lose and is destine to fail. I really hope they do not get any of the prime talent from Elite. I know the majority of you guys love the women fights but the way I see it is every other womens sport has failed or ended up dull, boring, horrific and pointless. I do not see how a womens division would help the UFC while the UFC is still in the process of stretching out across the globe. One thing at a time. The sport is still young….anything can happen. Question for everyone:
If Gina Carano were not “pretty” would you still enjoy HER? Seriously, someone talk some sense into me and tell me what is so special about women fighting? I am trying to like it but my heart pumps a black venemous hateful fluid. Help me see the light. Why should I like womens MMA?
KOuch,
The redeeming factor for Female MMA is that they all have something to prove every fight, so they always leave it all in the ring/cage. You’re right that most female sports fail. The WNBA is a bust, but then the regular NBA has been struggling as of late…professional softball (no explanation needed), professional female Tennis is the only thing that seems to be of noteable interest to anyone in terms of professional female sports. I think one thing that makes female MMA different is that it is still on the same card as Male, not a separate total event. You might have 2 female fights on a night out of a total 10+ fights on the card. The female fights might not necessarily attract people to watch, but it won’t necessarily send them away.
Now is not the right time for the UFC to pick up a female division, however. And I doubt they’ll make any move in that direction at this point in time.
Is Strikeforce affiliated with Elitexc, i saw the fight at the mansion and both logos were visible in the ring, i’d hate to see any Shaw with any control in making important MMA decisions.
That I believe was a co~promoted event, StrikeForce is a independent organization, yet often allow their fighters to fight on different cards with different orgs…
StrikeForce is one of the very few orgs that Dana White respects in the media and otherwise
I think part of the reason Dana respects StrikeForce is that they’ve been around for a while. They made the logical transition from a kickboxing organization to an MMA organization in 2007 without verbally attacking the UFC or Dana White.
StrikeForce has always said nice things about Dana & ZUFFA’s expansion of domestic MMA and both orgs haven’t really ever said a bad thing about the other, hell even Dana has stated that he would like to have Cung Le in the UFC and he respects Cung and StrikeForce
Yep,
Strikeforce has the proven ability to run a successfull operation for not just a year or two , but for 13 years . That is a plus in itself . And with the addition of a bulk of the talent they could get it would mean more shows , maybe even a ppv or 2 .This is the thing ….. even though WE know that Kimbo is a bum . the rest of the fresh mma crowd still may want to see him once more just to see if it wasnt a serious fluke the first time …ya know ? As odd as it seems to me , they would seriously want to see him again and maybe would pay for it . Just dont give him 500,000 again –try 50,000 and only because of the draw power not because of his – *ahem*- skills.
Sherdog has a list of who should be (or not be )anderson silvas final fights . The one that has me the most curious is the matchup with cung le . cung le is a dangerous guy . I saw quite a few of his sansho , kickboxing and all of his mma matches and the guy has a really tight game . he wont go to the ground and is fast enough to avoid any ground work .Not to mention if someone was to shoot for him his knees would push their head up their a$$ . If you guys get a chance watch some of his sansho matches on youtube . he has this move that he has yet to use , its like a judo throw but he jumps up like he’s going for a round house kick then grabs you by the waist , and procedes to flip you on your head at LIGHTENING speed . He actually KOed a couple of guys with that move . he is undefeated in all his fighting experiences …. so who better to face silva then Le ? i think if silva stood in front of le , le would KO him . he can break bones with a single kick …… you have to respect that kind of raw power .
Just to clarify the move … he jumps up and turns around in mid air.. grabbing you with only his legs as he spins around and puts you on your head completely upside down ….. amazing
You know what Dr Doom i agree Le would really test Silva his stand up is tight and unorthodox strikes could throw Silva off but i think if moves to the UFC a move to WW would his best option.
@ KOuch
Affliction was born to lose and is destine to fail.
I love the Social Distortion reference.
Us n chuck ,
that would be cool . le at ww is a good idea , he would beat gsp … gsp would try to stand with him and get KOed . they had one of le’s first mma fights on last night and the kicks were just flying .that little front push off kick he does keeps them at a distance , then the kicks really start to fly . he throws 3 kicks when anyone else would maybe throw 1 .And they appear out of nowhere . He broke franks arm with his LEFT leg …… wow . the right would have taken his head off .
Doom,
I’m a fan of Cung Le when he was getting ready to fight Frank I said Cung would win (on a different site) people talk to me like I was a bit retarded… As far as using his left to break Franks arm he really enjoys starting his kicking combos with the left kick, the move you described is awesome I’ve seen him teach it in one of his classes in San Jose and it was like what the **** was that.. His fights (entire carrer) are just highlight after highlight…
Would I put him up against Silva ya ofcourse I would, they both have phenominal standup and Silva’s kicks are devistating as well… I would really enjoy that match, I do think that Silva would win I also think Silva could take Cung down but nevertheless that would be a fantastic fight…
Frank is no Anderson Silva by any means and Cung got rocked by Frank twice anyways I’m a huge fan of Cung’s always have been but I think Silva would win (perhaps Cung could even take him to a decision)
I also don’t think Cung could get down to 170 (in his mma carrer) he is too big now perhaps when he was younger but not now, cheers
elitexc
PRIDE FC
Carolina Fight Promotions
Why are we naming promotions?
I thought francisco was testing me on names of fight orgs that are no longer in business
haha, gotcha