While many people now know Seth Petruzelli as the man that embarrassed Kimbo Slice with one off balanced jab, fans will soon know him for something else, the man that forced ProElite to cease operations. While not official as of the time of this writing, many sources close to the company state that ProElite will be out of business starting next week.
In the first two years of the companies operations they had accumulated $55 million in debt. The event EliteXC “HEAT” and the events leading up to it seemed to be the final nail in the coffin. Antonio Silva, the promotions Heavyweight champion, tested positive for the anabolic steroid Boldenone. The Lightweight champion KJ Noon refused to defend his title against Nick Diaz and as a result was stripped of the title. One of the “HEAT” main event fighters, Ken Shamrock, was to meet James “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson, but somehow suffered a cut sometime between weight-ins and the fight. To make matters worse Shamrock’s replacement only needed 14 seconds to knock out the former internet sensation and ProElite’s biggest draw.
After all this it would seem that the company made it’s own bed and should quite before things got even more out of hand. But ProElite had one more ace up its sleeve. EliteXC “HEAT” had impressed CBS with the three and a half million viewers it had managed to attract. So much so that CBS was interested in buying the company. Gone would be the 55 million owned, it would be a clean slate, a new day so to speak for Gary Shaw and Jeremy Lappen. So what bought the company to it’s knees?
"The promoters kind of hinted to me and they gave me the money to stand and trade with him. They didn't want me to take him down; let's just put it that way. It was worth my while to try to stand up and punch with him."
The comments made by the pink haired, Ultimate Fighter reject, on "The Monsters in Orlando" show on 104.1 FM on Oct. 6 is what did them in. MMA news outlets and fans have a accused Gary Shaw for fixing fights or at least swinging things in the companies favor for a while now but never had hard proof. Seth Petruzelli later said that what he meant was the company was offering him a “knock out” bonus. It was too late, the damage had been done. The statement had caused an investigation from the Florida Athletic Commission, and the radio clip is what effectively alienated CBS from purchasing the company. Say good bye to the dream of saving a company and creating a promotion that could go head to head with the UFC. Say hello to court dates, fines, and possible imprisonment. All because of a something that slipped out of Mr. Petruzelli’s mouth on a Florida radio show.
So, where does that leave the fighters and the Mixed Martial Arts scene as a whole? Sadly many of the fighters will most likely fade away on local cards and might never be in a televised fight again. Some will find a home in Affliction. The EliteXC Welterweight champion, Jake Shields might be the only fighter to be picked up by the UFC. There had been talk of Jake going to the UFC and he himself said he would like to join their ranks.
Once again it would seem that the Ultimate Fighting Championship is the only respectable MMA promotion in town. EliteXC was viewed by most that follow the sport as the No. 2 promotion in the country behind the UFC. Also Affliction had made a deal with Golden Boy Promotions, meaning that the company would run shows featuring MMA and Boxing matches.
The irony of all this? Don’t expect to see the EliteXC’s main event fighters Kimbo Slice and Seth Petruzelli in the UFC or Affliction anytime soon. Most fans already knew that they were both garbage fighters in the big sceme of things. ProElite didn't have a compelling enough product to generate revenue to stay in business. I guess that’s what you get for trying to build a company around an internet fad/homeless bum.
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