by: Jack Bratcher
ELITEXC
Elite XC airs for the second time on CBS on Saturday July 26, 2008. The event will be held in Stockton, California at the Stockton Arena. If you aren’t there live, you can catch the first fights on Showtime from 8-9pm. Then the four main fights will air on CBS from 9-11pm.
Jake Shields will be fighting Nick “The Goat” Thompson. Jake has been training some with John Fitch who is one of the top contenders in the UFC welterweight division. Nick Thompson made it very clear today that he doesn’t want to go to the ground with Jake. Nick said he’s had a great training camp and one of the most notable guys in his camp is Sean Sherk, the former UFC lightweight champ. Jake Shields let us know that he wasn’t able to train for three months due to a back injury but he said he’s found a great doctor and the back injury has been taken care of and no longer causing him trouble. He feels he’s back and one-hundred percent ready. This is probably the main reason he wasn’t on the first CBS card. When asked how Elite XC fits into the overall picture of MMA organizations, Jake Shields said he feels that Elite XC is one of the biggest if not “the biggest” MMA oganization in the world.
One of the spokesmen for Elite XC said that Drew Fickett is probably going through some personal issues and that’s causing him to act the way he has been such as not showing up to fight for one promotion, then fighting for another organization a week later. They said Drew needs to really get his act together before we see him fighting for Elite XC.
Mauro Ranallo on The Fight Network radio show today said that this next Elite XC card on CBS will focus more on the fights and that they may not even have the dancing girls and rappers this time. The cut back on the pomp and circumstance he said is mainly due to time constraints because of how much they went over their scheduled time frame the first time.
AFFLICTION: BANNED
I got the opportunity to be on a conference call with Donald Trump and Tim Sylvia today as they spoke to the media and answered questions about the upcoming Affliction: Banned event on July 19, 2008 in Anaheim. This debut event from Affliction will be held at the Honda Center and will air live on Pay-Per-View.
The Donald let us know how he got involved with this “MMA stuff”. He said he’s very used to putting on similar events in the boxing world and has worked with almost everyone in that sport including the legendary Don King. He did say Don King is not an easy guy to work with. He also said he’s put on more Mike Tyson fights than anyone.
When asked if Tito will ever be fighting for Affliction, Trump responded, “Tito is a nice guy, talented, smart, and that although he hasn’t signed a contract yet, Tito would probably love to be with us.”
Trump sounded confident that MMA would soon be legalized in New York and he thinks that by lending his name and weight to the issue, he could help move the process along.
After Trump hung up (I so badly wanted to say, “Mr. Trump…..you’re FIRED!”) Tim Sylvia got on the line and responded to questions.
I got the opportunity to personally ask Tim who he has in his training camp that can most mimick the size and style Fedor will bring to the fight and if there was anyone in his camp that was similar to him. Intelligently Tim replied, “No one is just like Fedor.” Then he went on to explain how he trains with various jiu-jitsu, wrestling, and striking opponents who specialize in those areas so he can get the feeling of competing at that top-level that Fedor brings in all aspects of his game. Tim went on to say that Fedor is by no means overrated because “the guy has beat everyone they’ve put in front of him.”
He also said the opportunity to fight for and potentially win the WAMMA Heavyweight Title Belt is very important to him.
One reporter asked Big Tim if he ever considered professional boxing. “Absolutely,” he said. He would love to have that opportunity and he feels he could beat any heavyweight boxer out there. If a boxing promoter approached him about this and for the right amount of money, we could see Big Tim Sylvia step into the boxing ring. I wouldn’t mind seeing that as long as he didn’t give up his MMA career for it.
Tim actually said he prefers fighting in a ring more than a cage because it’s easier for him to use his size and reach to cut opponents off.
Listen to the Affliction: Banned Conference Calll
Thanks to Rich at http://unlimitedfightnews.com for the audio.