What went wrong for EliteXC and where do its fighters go?

Photo courtesy of EliteXC.com

Late last night, it was reported by Sherdog.com that EliteXC, the second-biggest Mixed Martial Arts [MMA] promotion in the United States, had begun filing the paperwork for bankruptcy and will officially close its doors this week, ceasing operations after two years of existence, joining the International Fight League [IFL] as the second MMA promotion in three months to shut-down.

The "Night of Champions" event scheduled for Nov. 8 on Showtime, which was the be headlined by Joey Villasenor vs. Robbie Lawler and Nick Diaz vs. Eddie Alvarez, has already be canceled and all EliteXC fighters and training camps have been notified of the company's sudden closure, leaving a lot of questions left to be answered and fighters, such as Gina Carano, wondering what will happen to their careers.

One of the main reasons for the sudden closure was EliteXC's mis-manage of money that should have been spent on developing and adding depth to the roster by acquiring a significant number of quality fighters whose contracts had expired, which would have been the best way to compete with the Ultimate Fighting Championship [UFC] for supremacy.

Instead, Pro Elite, EliteXC's parent company, purchased other promotional companies such as ICON, Rumble on the Rock, King of the Cage, Spirit MC and Cage Rage, all of which collectively, cost tens of millions of dollars and delivered nothing except a huge hole in EliteXC's wallet that put them $55 million in debt (Dave Meltzer of Yahoo! sports reported that Cage Rage cost an estimated $18 million alone).

As a result of this mis-manage, EliteXC got no fighters of interest, a fight library that wasn't worth a-tenth of what it cost and was forced to have the same fighters constantly fight, such as Diaz, who appeared on nearly every EliteXC card, due to a lack of depth on the roster.

In addition, the recent Kimbo Slice/Seth Petruzelli fight didn't help EliteXC as not only was Slice, who EliteXC made their top star, knocked out by an unknown light-heavyweight in 14 seconds on National Television, exposing him as the fraud he was, but the company is being investigated by the Florida State Athletic Commission due to Petruzelli's post fight comments that EliteXC officials would give him a bonus if he kept the fight with Slice standing and didn't take him down.

Showtime, which aired all but three EliteXC events and owned 20-percent stake in Pro Elite, appeared to be the company's' saving grace when they filed a public notice with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Sept. 17 to enter preliminary negotiations for the purchase of EliteXC. Unfortunately for EliteXC, Showtime pulled out due to failing negotiations and the controversy surrounding the Slice/Petruzelli fight.

Now that the company is no more, the question now is what happens to fighters such as Slice, Carano, Lawler, Jake Shields and others? Slice will NOT be signed to the UFC, let's get that cleared right now. He is a gimmick with no fighting skills and will most likely head to Japan, where the larger-than-life gimmick is successful. Just look at Bob Sapp.

Lawler and Diaz have already had a cup-of-coffee with the UFC and I don't see UFC President Dana White jumping at the chance to sign them. Alvarez will have several offers, most notably Japan's DREAM organization and perhaps, Donald Trump's Affliction promotion. Shields may be signed to the UFC so he can have a title match against Georges St. Pierre and Villasenor may get another crack at the UFC.

Unfortunately, the one going to be left out in the cold is Carano, who despite her popularity and being a superb fighter, is not a favorite of White's, who has gone on record with his disdain for women's mixed martial arts.

The one thing that may help Carano is that White cannot ignore her popularity as she has become as popular [and more so in my opinion] as any UFC fighter and is no gimmick. White should do the right thing and sign Carano to a UFC contract because even though he may not like women's fighting, he does like great fights and Carano, who is a wonderful ambassador for the sport, delivers everytime.

White needs to put his ego aside and sign Carano, as well as the rest of EliteXC's women's division to UFC contracts as not only is it the strongest women's division in all of MMA, but their fights are guaranteed to be fight of the night on any card at any venue. If White cannot put his ego aside for great business, I'm sure Affliction wouldn't mind snatching them up or CBS, who is rumored to develop an all female fighting organization with said women.