CBS Exec Says Jake Shields Is Still Marketable

Message boards around the MMA world savaged Jake Shields after his decision victory over Jason "Mayhem" Miller at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers on Saturday.

The hater consensus was that Shields was a boring fighter and had erased the popularity he had earned over a 10-year career as one of the world's top non-UFC welterweights (and newly minted middleweight).

But CBS Primetime exec Kelly Kahl on Sunday said that's just not the case.

"I don't know who those people are," he said. "Look, he's the champion and he did what it took to win a championship belt. I'm not going to fault him for that.

"Was it as exciting as some matches? Probably not, but the guy did what he had to do to win the bout."

Kahl said there were "a lot of moving parts" to Strikeforce's next show on CBS, but was pleased overall with the way the first effort turned out.

Brett Rogers Appearance on ESPN First Take

Brett Rogers was on ESPN's First Take on Wednesday to talk about his dream moving from a job at Sam's Club to fighting the number one heavyweight fighter in the world, Fedor Emelianenko, at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers on Saturday night on CBS.

Fight Camp 360: Fedor vs. Rogers Preview

A preview of Tuesday night's Fight Camp 360: Fedor vs. Rogers, which airs at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime...

Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers At The Chicago Bears Football Game

MMA heavyweights Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers take in the Chicago Bears vs. Cleveland Browns football game on Sunday, November 1 at Soldier Field in Chicago, Ill. Fedor and Rogers will square off against one another at the Sears Centre Arena in Chicago, Ill. for "Strikeforce/M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Rogers" on Saturday, Nov 7 (9:00PM, Live ET / delayed PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Get Ready for Fedor and Rogers

Video preview of the upcoming Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers Strikeforce event on CBS...

Saturday Night Fights Returns With Fedor vs. Rogers on CBS

Saturday, November 7th MMA returns to CBS with a monumental fight between Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers.

CBS Saturday Night Fights Promo: Meet Fedor Emelianenko

New one-minute spot from CBS promotion the Nov. 7 Strikeforce event featuring Fedor Emelianenko.

Strikeforce Deal with Showtime and CBS Worth Millions

Strikeforce is quickly putting the pieces together for its next year of MMA programming on Showtime and CBS. It's been a frantic month for CEO Scott Coker and his small staff as they zero in on dates, venues, and fighters for a possible 16 shows over the next 12 months.

So far, one show is nearly booked, "Shamrock vs. Diaz," which hits the promotion's home base at HP Pavilion on April 11. All but two of the event's main card bouts have been revealed, with a source indicating that former EliteXC middleweight champ Robbie Lawler will fight on the card against an unnamed opponent, and terror Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos, who also remains without an opponent.

With up to 48 shows to book, that's a lot of work. But according to another source with knowledge of the negotiations between Strikeforce, ProElite, Showtime, and CBS, the deal will prove very lucrative to the San Jose, Calif. promotion.

The source, who chose to remain anonymous, said Strikeforce stands to make $25 million dollars in license fees over the course of its three-year deal with the broadcast network and its premium channel sibling.

A portion of that revenue, first disclosed by an SEC filing by ProElite on Feb. 11 and, according to the source, put in the neighborhood of five percent, will be paid to ProElite Inc. as consideration for the sale of its assets to Strikeforce. The total revenue coming into ProElite coffers could total up to $1.25 million.

Since the sale, the Los Angeles-based company has been mostly silent about its future in MMA promotion. CEO Chuck Champion told SI.com that the company had an existing TV deal with Fox Sports, and planned to nurture its relationship with the remaining active promotion under its umbrella, King of the Cage. But how that relationship would develop, and what shape the restructured company would take, remained unclear.

On March 12, Strikeforce and Showtime will trumpet the upcoming San Jose show with a media day featuring its executives and athletes.

"Seth (Petruzelli) was paid to stand up."

MMAWeekly.com talked with EliteXC consultant T.Jay Thompson on Monday night about the fallout from ProElite (EliteXC) closing its doors. Thompson was the founder of SuperBrawl, which later morphed into ICON Sport. He sold ICON to ProElite and now it is mired in the mess of the EliteXC meltdown.

Thompson was around at the final EliteXC show, "Heat," where Ken Shamrock withdrew from the main event at the last minute and UFC dropout Seth Petruzelli was tabbed to fight Kimbo Slice at the last minute.

Unless you were under a rock, you know Petruzelli KO'd Kimbo and then a firestorm ensued when he went on a Florida-based radio show talking about how he was influenced to keep the fight standing against Kimbo.

Thompson relayed his insights on the issue, and let's just say they offer no relief to the parties involved that have been trying to say that nothing of the sort happened:

"I was there cageside and watched the whole thing happen," Thompson told MMAWeekly.com. "Watching Jared Shaw jumping up and down and screaming as a representative of the company, I think was disgusting and embarrassing." He continued, "I don’t have a smoking gun, (but) I've been around long enough; I've talked to enough people that were there, I won't name names of executives in the company that I know. Seth was paid to stand up. I'm confident of that. If the commission wants to talk to me, I'll tell them what I know."

Frank Shamrock, "We're doing sports entertainment... not sports."

Frank Shamrock was close to the Seth Petruzelli and Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson situation being Ken Shamrock's adoptive brother, offering to step in for Ken after a cut forced him out of the scheduled main event on CBS on Oct. 4 and being one of the broadcasters who called the action that night. Shamrock gave his opinon on Petruzelli's original comments alleging EliteXC paid him to stand with "Kimbo Slice."

"I've had promoters tell me all kinds of crazy stuff. But you don't listen to the promoters. You listen to your coach. You listen to your trainer because the promoter is out for the promoter," acknowledged Shamrock. "Did something weird happen? I doubt it. But it makes a great story and it makes great news."

At this point, it doesn't matter what actually transpired. Public perception is all that matters. And the public perception is that EliteXC paid Seth Petruzelli to fight a certain way. "People are always going to believe what they want to believe about a sport that's so sexy and dangerous, that walks the line in society," said Shamrock. "We're always going to have people that are butting up against the back of the sport for their own reasons. The truth is, when there's a lot of money involved all kinds of weird stuff happens."

Shamrock continued, "I know for a fact that the commissions and most of these promoters are good guys looking after their guys. And you know what? There's always bad business inside of business. I just don't think bad business happened here. I think, you know, uneducated encouragement happened here. I think zealous promotion happened here, but we're in the business of that. It's like we're doing sports entertainment. We're not doing sports."

Frank Shamrock Was Clear to Fight Kimbo

Frank Shamrock offered to step up and fight Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson when adoptive brother Ken Shamrock was forced out of the bout due to a cut received the day of the event. Frank thinks EliteXC made a mistake making him the replacement and going with Seth Petruzelli instead.

"I thought the best decision of the night was to let me fight Kimbo which was definitely on the table," said the former UFC middleweight titleholder. "I think at the end of the day Kimbo got a little bit exposed. CBS threw MMA out there and that's what happens. That's what mixed martial arts is. I don't think network television gets it yet, but this is going to happen again. Weird, crazy stuff is going to happen again."

According to Frank, he thought he could be the replacement up until the moments before the broadcast began live on CBS. "Until an hour before the show I thought I was going to fight Kimbo as the main event," stated the San Jose resident. "I had hung my suit up and had the boys getting me shorts and mouth piece and stuff. I was going to pick one of two outfits and it was going to be a heck of a night either way."

EliteXC head of fight operations Jeremy Lappen previously stated that Frank Shamrock stepping in on such short notice was unrealistic and cited the inability to get Shamrock medically cleared in such a short time frame prevented the match up from happening. Frank Shamrock disagreed. "I got myself cleared, and I got everything ready to fight. But no one gave me the okay. No one gave me the lets do this thing."

"I actually called Armando (Garcia). He expressed concerned about my arm. I had my assistant call my doctor and had that cleared. All my medical stuff was still current," added the mixed martial arts veteran. "I had been medically cleared to fight, so it was just somebody making the decision. I think it was probably a pretty hefty decision to be made which is why it didn't get done."

The hold up was most likely the payout EliteXC would have had to give Frank to step in for the older Shamrock.

Frank Shamrock Says Older Brother Ken Is Too Old School to Hang

Frank Shamrock was a candidate to step in for adoptive brother Ken Shamrock on the EliteXC "Heat" CBS card on October 4, from the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida. Ken was forced out of the main event against Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson due to a cut sustained the day of the scheduled bout.

Frank addressed the bizarre circumstances surrounding the cut and whether or not he thought the laceration was legitimately derived. "I came down on him pretty hard, but things do happen before fights," said the former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight titleholder. "If it were me, I would have had some superglue and some make-up, and I would have been out there fighting. But he's old and he's crusty. And I don't know if his cajones are hanging like they used to."

Calling his older brother's manhood into question aside, Frank didn't feel the cut was obtained by anything other than improper preparation, something that caused him to leave the Lion's Den with only a pair of boxing gloves in 1997.

"I don't think Ken is that sophisticated that there's some sinister play involved," commented the younger Shamrock. "I know he needed the money. I know this was a big moment for him. I just think he's a knucklehead like he's been forever. I think he was, you know, fighting the day of his fight as a warm-up. And that's just, it's just so old school. It's so yesterday that he's doing that."

Seth Petruzelli, who was originally supposed to fight on the undercard, ended up being Kimbo's opponent, knocking out the hyped street fighter turned mixed martial artist's in just 14 seconds.

VIDEO: Ken and Frank Shamrock Talk Shop

Despite being adoptive brothers, Ken and Frank Shamrock have made no bones about the fact that they just don't seem to get along. Prior to what was supposed to be a fight between Ken and Internet legend Kimbo Slice at EliteXC's recent event on CBS Televsion, Ken and Frank sat down for a brief interview together. Although it didn't last long, it was a pretty emotional couple of minutes with the brothers talking about the family business... and each other.

One of These Guys Has To Be Right, Right?

The ever-evolving story between EliteXC and the controversy surrounding the Seth Petruzelli-Kimbo Slice fight keeps growing with major media outlets picking up on the alleged payoff story more and more each day.

The other problem with the entire situation is the ever-changing story that continues to flow from both the fighter and the promotion.

Originally, on Monday, Petruzelli appeared on a local Orlando radio station making the following statement:

"The promoters kind of hinted to me and they gave me the money to stand and trade with him," Petruzelli said on "The Monsters in Orlando" show. "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."

Since that time, Petruzelli has recanted that statement saying that his comments were misconstrued.

"All it was, was a knockout bonus that I just didn't say it was a knockout bonus," said Petruzelli while appearing on MMAWeekly Radio on Tuesday. "The UFC offers that, they offer submission bonus, they offer for fight of the night, and all I was saying was that I wanted to take the knockout bonus and not take him down.

"So it kind of got misconstrued as me saying that they wanted me to just stand up to get it, but that was just all me saying I wanted to try to get the knockout bonus."

EliteXC Head of Fight Operations, Jeremy Lappen, categorically denied the original report and released a definitive statement from the promotion about the situation with Petruzelli.

"Seth Petruzelli was offered a fee to fight Kimbo Slice, plus a knockout bonus, a common practice throughout the industry. EliteXC organizes and promotes fights. We have not... do not... and will not suggest or dictate fighters' strategies or tactics. How the fighters perform in the cage is at the sole discretion of the athletes involved."

So Petruzelli and Lappen both agree that it was a knockout bonus that prompted him to stay standing with Kimbo Slice in the main event of CBS Saturday Night Fights, right?

"We offered Seth Petruzelli a knockout bonus, a submission bonus and fight of the night bonus. If we were trying to influence the fight, why would we do that?" said Lappen in an interview with Franklin McNeil of ESPN.com on Thursday.

When asked directly on Tuesday if EliteXC offers submission bonuses, Lappen responded by saying, "We have given submission bonuses, but our bonuses that we tend to give are knockout bonuses."

So which story is true? Was Petruzelli offered a higher bonus for a knockout? Was he offered a submission bonus at all? The answer may never be known for sure, although after the onslaught of controversy, the state of Florida is now opening an investigation into the whole situation.

Ken Shamrock Apologizes To Fans

Ken Shamrock on Thursday issued an open letter explaining the occurences at the recent CBS-EliteXC Saturday Night Fights in Florida that kept him out of the scheduled main event with Kimbo Slice. He also apologized to his fans:

The scheduled bout with Kimbo on the EliteXC/CBS Saturday Night Fight card was a great opportunity, and it is unfortunate that I was unable to face Kimbo as planned. I want to apologize to all of my fans, and to the EliteXC and CBS executives who worked so hard to put this fight together. I also want to apologize to Kimbo, Bas Rutten and their entire camp for what happened. I recognize that I put them in a very bad situation, particularly Kimbo. It's difficult to walk into the ring after training for one opponent only to find out hours before the fight that you have to face some you don't know or have never seen fight.

Over the years there have been many great times as well as disappointing times and I know Saturday the fans were as disappointed as I was. I was worked up so I decided to train with my partners in order to stay focused on the fight. I was just doing a light roll to check holds when I got caught by a head butt. It was a freak accident and I didn't think anything of it until I saw drops of blood. It appeared to be a deep laceration so I had my physician look at it and we immediately went to the emergency room. When they said the cut would require stitches, my heart sank because I knew that the Florida Boxing Commission would not let me fight. I was disappointed because I knew this was an opportunity to give the fans, my friends, and my family something to cheer about. It has been a hard couple of years for me, and for my fans. I have suffered some disappointing losses. I definitely regret my decision to train on the day of the fight.

I promise that I will make this up to all my fans. I know that there is nothing I can do about what occurred, but I plan to get back into the ring soon. I would like it to be against Kimbo Slice. Hopefully EliteXC/CBS will still be able to put a fight together. It's is the right thing to do. The fans want it and I want it.

ESPN's MMA Live Focuses on Kimbo KO

The latest episode (#22) of MMA Live from ESPN features Jon Anik, Kenny Florian, and Franklin McNeil focusing on the Kimbo Slice and Ken Shamrock debacle that occurred at the recent CBS-EliteXC Saturday Night Fights in Florida.

CBS Bankrolled Kimbo's KO on EliteXC

With debt piling up, EliteXC has to hope that the recent ratings success of its CBS-EliteXC Saturday Night Fights is enough to pull it out of a tailspin. A report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday detailed how the promotion was able to pull of the Oct. 4 event in Florida... with a lot of help from CBS:

"Effective October 3, 2008, ProElite, Inc. (the "Company") entered into an amendment (the "Amendment") to a license agreement with CBS Entertainment ("CBS") originally dated January 10, 2008, as revised and dated February 21, 2008 (the "Agreement") in connection with the production and licensing of live world-class mixed martial arts fight programs.

Previously, CBS ordered an additional event under the Agreement from the Company scheduled to be presented on October 4, 2008, at The BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida (the "Sunrise Event"). The Company advised CBS that it was unable to deliver the Sunrise Event ordered by CBS for October 2008 under the current terms of the Agreement.

Accordingly, the Company and CBS agreed to amend the Agreement whereby CBS would assume all expenses for the event and receive all revenue from the event. CBS advanced the estimated event costs according to an agreed upon budget in order for the Company to pay expenses related to the event. Additionally, the Company and CBS waived mutual exclusivity under the Agreement for the Sunrise Event."

The question now is if it was enough. It would appear so, according to one network executive. After the initial ratings came out CBS executive Kelly Kahl told MMAWeekly.com, "Our contract calls for four shows. We've said all along we're planning to do four shows, and there's nothing in these numbers that would suggest we won't."

Frank Shamrock Offered To Fight Kimbo

When Ken Shamrock was forced out of the EliteXC on CBS main event against Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson due to a cut just hours before the two were scheduled to fight, another Shamrock offered to step in as a last minute replacement.

EliteXC Head of Fight Operations, Jeremy Lappen, told MMAWeekly Radio that Frank Shamrock offered to step out of the broadcasters' booth to step in for adoptive brother Ken.

"He did offer himself up," said Lappen. But it wasn't feasible to get Frank Shamrock cleared with the commission on such short notice.

Frank will be on MMAWeekly Radio on Friday at 9pm ET/6pm PT.