Search
Recently Written
- Sentinel (video)
- Strikeforce: Shamrock Vs. Diaz: Recap
- WEC 40 Review
- UFC 96 Predictions
- UFC 92 Predictions
- WEC 36
- Elite XC’s Extinction = Plenty of Free Agents
- Art of Carnage (video)
- Arlovski/Emelianenko Fight Made Official
- MMA Bulletin Welcomes Steven Cha
Archives
- May 2009
- April 2009
- February 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- May 2008
- February 2008
Admin
Jul
28
Recap and Final Thoughts on Elite XC: Unfinished Business
July 28, 2008 |
On Saturday night, Elite XC put on its second show broadcasted on CBS. The card had 3 title fights and the main event was a rematch between Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith for Lawler’s middleweight championship. This is my recap and final thoughts on the event.
In the first fight of the night, Shayna Baszler took on Cristiane Cyborg.
I took Baszler in this bout, but I was clearly wrong. Cyborg came out from the beginning throwing punches, whereas Baszler was looking to take this to ground. Baszler was able to take Cyborg down, but wasn’t able to do anything from there. By the second round Baszler was gassed and Cyborg was able to score the knockout in the 2nd round. She thought she won the fight earlier than she actually did after knocking down Baszler. After the knockdown Cyborg jumped on top of the cage in celebration, but realized it wasn’t over once she turned around and the ref told her to continue fighting. It was actually quite funny to watch. A fight between Cyborg and Gina Carano would be a very exciting match up. With both women having unbelievable striking, that fight would have plenty of fireworks…
The next fight was between Jake Shields and Nick “The Goat” Thompson for the vacant welterweight title. This fight did not last long. Shields took Thompson down, mounted him and slapped on a modified guillotine choke and ended the bout in 1:03 in the first round to win the Elite XC welterweight championship. I took Shields in this bout. Next up was Stockton’s own Nick Diaz, who faced off with Thomas “Wildman” Denny. I picked Diaz to finish this fight early. This was a very entertaining fight. Denny and Diaz stood toe to toe for the first round, but it only took 30 seconds into the 2nd round for Diaz to finish off a severely battered Denny to score a TKO victory.
In an earlier bout which was not televised on CBS, Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva took on Justin Eilers for the vacant heavyweight title. I picked Silva to win because of his awesome punching power and solid ground game. Silva was able to show off both his ground work and his striking in this fight. He was able to wear Eilers down and finished him with a brutal flurry of punches early in the 2nd round to win the Elite XC heavyweight belt.
In the main event, it was the much anticipated rematch between middleweight champ “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler and Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith. I picked Lawler to retain his title. Just as expected, both men stood toe to toe and entertained the crowd. Smith was able to cut open the top of Lawler’s head with brutal elbows, but in the end it was Lawler’s knees to the body which dropped Smith. He got back up, but ate another knee to face that stopped the fight in 2:35 of the 2nd round.
By the end of the night, I went 4 for 5 in my predictions, which isn’t bad at all. All of the fights were very entertaining and unlike the last event on CBS, this card was not riddled with poor production or controversy. The only real criticism I had was the fact that they didn’t air the Silva/Eilers fight. I’m going to assume there wasn’t enough time to do so. Overall I would say that this was a good night of MMA action and I look forward to seeing the next event from Elite XC.
