2008 has been a historic year for MMA. Several belts have changed hands, 3 former Pride fighters now hold world title belts in the UFC (Nogeruira, A. Silva, Rampage Jackson), and MMA recently had its national TV debut on CBS. The Elite XC Kimbo vs. Thomson card was more of a debacle than anything else. One thing that this card taught me other than Bad Production 101 is that the world is not ready for MMA to go public on national TV. The show was set up to deliver a pre-defined outcome to make their poster boy Kimbo Slice come out victorious in any way possible, even if it meant making MMA look more scandalous than a fixed Don King event.  The biased refereeing was in poor taste and was clearly an attempt to protect the general public from seeing something that they weren't ready to see. How would a casual family channel surfing while eating pizza on a Saturday night have stomached seeing a nasty axe gash on the head Yves Edwards spilling more blood in the octagon than a group of menstruating women?  Dan Mirgliotta's feeble stand-ups (even while Kimbo was getting the snot beaten out of him) and the 3 premature stoppages reinforce that Elite XC was scared to death of something going wrong in the public eye and that the world isn't ready to fully embrace MMA yet. While the broadcast was incredibly successful in terms of viewership and being mildly entertaining to the average Joe MMA newb it was a disappointment to hardcore fans. The Kimbo vs. Thompson card was filled with shady judging, disputable stoppages, bleeped out expletives, and dancing prostitutes. 

Another thing that left a bad taste in my mouth was the follow up show this evening with KJ Noons vs. Yves Edwards. The fights that were broadcasted were entertaining and overall it was a good card.  However, I was disappointed with Elite XC's lack of judgment with their decision to rain on KJ's celebration victory parade. Noons just coming off of the biggest victory in is career to a dangerous opponent in Yves Edwards was crapped on by Elite XC management when they decided to bring Nick Diaz into the cage.  Nick, triumphant in his fight with Muhsin Corbbrey looked good despite a huge weight advantage. It literally looked like Nick was in a different weight class. Nevertheless, it was a pathetic attempt to market a rematch. We all know that Nick is quite a controversial character and that no possible good outcome could have come from bringing him in the cage. Sure enough let the pictures speak for themselves. What is most upsetting is that after a well put together card and a huge improvement from Kimbo vs. Thompson, they had to pull some shit like this and ruin it. MMA does not need after fight ring riots right now. Not when we're trying to clean this thing up and uphold an image of integrity and respect. Nick Diaz never would have been brought into the ring on the CBS debut broadcast.

Does Nick deserve a rematch? NO. I'm going to say no for a few reasons. One, he showed up 9lbs overweight. Two, let's not forget his not so long ago fight that never happened because he decided to smoke some herb instead of make a payday. And three, his lackluster 1st appearance against Noons when he got his ass handed to him. Let's wait for Nick to get serious about fighting by making weight and not testing positive for banned substances until he gets another title shot.