Got it straight up right. CBS show was crap, even non MMA fans could see that. Could have been a real chance to show the grace and prowess possessed by the athletes of this sport, but once I saw the card I knew that was not possible. A wasted opportunity, as Shaw has some really good fighters in his camp -- Kimbo et. al. are just not ready for prime time. They really should have thought more about it. I am happy Shaw is out there, to give smaller name fighters a chance to rack up wins -- Like our own Kala Kalohe, who just whooped Phil Baroni last month quite soundly and should have been fighting smokin' Joe. Clearly though EliteXC is a feeder league like AAA ball for the WEC/UFC camp. Folks should have the opportunity to watch the best like Faber/Pulver, Silva/Henderson, etc. to really understand the nuances of this sport. Very well written article, thank you.

The funny thing about EliteXC proclaiming they have the top guys in the sport is that they are already going the freak show route a la K-1 in its post-'90s decline and the worse side of Pride before it was bought by the UFC.

Now I am all for up-and-coming fighters getting their shot but I agree with the article - they are doing a disservice (not only to potential fans but themselves) of trying to position themselves on the same level as the UFC. ProElite (umbrella corp. that owns EliteXC) bought a bunch of small to mid-level organizations in the hopes of having a stable roster of fighters and a wide global network. They do have this in some sense with the Cage Rage org. in England and the Icon shows in Hawaii, but they don't have enough good showcase fighters to run the same circuit as the UFC or even DREAMS in Japan along with the new Affliction sponsored organization.-

And when your poster-boy is a street-fighter compared to past faces of organizations like Randy Couture, well . . . it isn't exactly moving the sport forward

didn't they rename the "Busch series" a year or two ago? It's the Nationwide Series now. Gotta get those sinful businesses out of the titles. Just like Winston Cup became Sprint Cup.

Right. Fixed that. Thanks.

King--

You haven't written a column in over a week, during which time the NBA conference finals just wrapped up, the Stanley Cup is over halfway finished, the Cubs have emerged as the best team in baseball... and you write about mixed martial arts?

I expect a full report next week on the upcoming tiddly-winks tournament in Hoboken, NJ.

I'm not a fan -- and I didn't watch the CBS fight -- but i've sat through a lot of UFC and those pay-per-view fights have a ton of filler crap also. Lots of crap undercard fights, elaborate (and time-filling) entrances by the fighters, interviews with them, etc. Granted, they have a lot more time to fill than 2-hrs but is this stuff worth any more when you pay $40 for it? Whenever we watch a fight they normally start at 8:00 and everyone ignores it until the couple of fights before the main event, and then, in the event that the main fight ends early, doesn't even watch the crap undercard filler fights that are aired afterward.

I'm not saying CBS doesn't suck, just pointing out UFC isn't exactly full of value either. Although you're right in that at least the $40 does include the actual best in the world.

Peddling third rate, brooding rock bands and Busta Rhymes was the pinnacle of traveling carnival fare. Take the CBS camera out of the stadium and I'm sure you'd see carnie ring games and neon speed rides blaring Winger and Ratt over the speakers.

Even Vince McMahon of the WWE wouldn't stoop this low.

This sounds a lot more interesting.

Perhaps the networks could bid for the world telecast rights.

W. C. Fields: Beanbag? Ah, very good; it becomes very exciting at times. I saw the championship played in Paris. Many people were killed.

I agree with 95% of your column, but I think you're selling Robbie Lawler very short.

Lawler's last fight in the UFC was in 2004, and he's improved massively since then. He's an interesting case because, with a losing record in the UFC, he was always offered small purses to come back, whereas since he was the biggest name fighter in his division in the small organizations he was fighting in, he would receive larger purses outside of the UFC.

In the UFC Lawler was utterly green, just a tough kid with tons and tons of talent, and in the years since then he's matured and grown into the elite fighter we saw on Saturday. He's probably one of the four or five best fighters at 185 in the world, and deserves much more credit than just being called a 'UFC Washout'.

When Carano and Young came together, there had been two minutes, 12 seconds of fighting in an hour and nine minutes of airtime.

I think that's still a higher percentage of action-time per hour than tennis.

Hey, that's the best thing about the new blog format of King's column: he can write about anything he wants, several times a day! It's like the old Colorado saying "if you don't like the weather, just wait five minutes."

Also, the Cubs emerging as the best team in baseball? Because they swept the Rockies? This isn't September, 2007. Even if King decides to write about hockey playoffs (yawn) or basketball playoffs (isn't the league on hiatus or something? They stopped playing in May and won't start again until June!), he's still not going to write about the Cubs until they at least make it past the NLCS. I'm sure the headline will be something along the lines of "Bartman Curse Still in Effect - Cubs Tank Yet Another Promising Season."

That's not the first time I've seen this guy referred to as a "tomato can". What is that supposed to mean? Why tomato cans in particular and not say, beans or corn?

I'm not up on boxing/fight lingo, is this an old saying?