EliteXC: “Unfinished Business” Preview
This event will mark EliteXC’s second foray onto prime time network television on CBS. In terms of competitive match ups…this card has some…if not better than the initial show. However, this card is sorely lacking the star power/name recognition that was provided with the first card. The show will begin at 9pm EST. Let’s take a look at the fights:
“Ruthless” Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith(EliteXC MW Championship)-Actually, this is a re-match from the initial card that aired on CBS…which ended in a bit of controversy with Smith being poked in the eye and not being allowed to continue. The initial fight started out rather slow…however, turned into a stand up war with both fighter’s landed massive shots. Lawler(the champion) has Smith rocked and was close to finishing him at one point during the fight. Smith is a tough opponent, but I expect Lawler to put him to sleep this go round.
Jake Shields vs. Nick Thompson(EliteXC WW Championship)-This is gonna be an explosive fight between two of the best fighters that the casual fan doesn’t know about. Shields is a perennial top 10 fighter in the WW division…and Thompson has won 20 out of his last 21. Shields has suffered from a myriad of injuries during the past year and he’s favored to win. I think he will…but Thompson should be able to give him all he can handle.
Nick Diaz vs. Thomas “Wildman” Denny-Diaz is well known….Denny isn’t…Diaz is heavily favored to win this fight as he is much more well rounded as a fighter. He should win this fight relatively easy, but he’s prone to fight lackadaisical at times so who knows. If he wins this match, I’m sure he’s gonna ask for his re-match with KJ Noons next.
Shayna Baszler vs. Cris Cyborg-Two women fighters with Baszler being the favorite. However, Cyborg is a product of Chute Boxe and has some killer muay thai skills. This fight should be a banger.
Antonio “Big Foot” Silva vs. Justin Eilers(EliteXC HW Championship)-Silva by whatever he wants
It’s interesting to note that this card has seemed to have been forgotten about because of the two MMA events that took place last week(Affliction, UFC). I wonder what type of ratings this show will do on CBS? Drop your thoughts…
July 24, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I would have put the Antonio “Big Foot” Silva vs. Justin Eilers match on CBS.
Did they just need a main event for the Showtime portion of it and picked that fight?
Cause other than that I would think they would want to get their new Heavyweight Champion some exposure on CBS in front of far more people.
July 24, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Matt, I agree they should have put that fight on CBS…and put the women’s fight on Showtime IMO…I’m SOOOO interested to see what the ratings for this show will be.
July 24, 2008 at 4:05 pm
I’m very interested in the ratings also.
Gotta admit the first show did way better than I thought it would.
But that first time on network TV thing helped out for the first show I believe.
I’m predicting it gets 5 million viewers at it’s peak this show. I still feel like that might be high but I went low last time and was way off.
You got a prediction on the rating?
July 24, 2008 at 4:32 pm
I think the fanbase for MMA is big enough now that any legitimate show put on prime time will do a 3.0…so I’m saying around a 3.0. However, if the UFC were to be put into the same time slot…I have no doubt they could pull anywhere from 8.0-10.0.