Tomorrow night, Kimbo Slice will enter the cage for Elite XC in a moment that is quite possibly the most important in the history of the sport. Naturally, this sort of event brings out all the MMA bloggers/pretend journalists from the woodwork and has brought an insane amount of talk about what a show that hasn’t yet happened will do for the long term health of the sport. What’s not been discussed by virtually anyone is what a severe departure tomorrow night’s show is from every other MMA show previously televised.

As most of the supposed journalists covering the leadup to the debut of MMA on CBS have deftly avoided or completely missed, Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano have been put in every possible situation to garner media attention. Its ranged from the cover of ESPN: The Magazine to talk shows to the Country Music Awards. That hype and placement gained some criticism (for whatever ungodly reason) from a number of the self professed major MMA news and opinion sites, but everything seems to be coming together for a fairly significant and well watched show. What’s not being put together by the hivemind of the mini-Meltzers in the MMA blawg world is a simple fact about the promotion: the brand of Elite XC is secondary in the promotion of the fight.

Certainly, this is looked at as massive weakness on behalf of Gary Shaw to establish EliteXC as a name alongside the UFC by those concerned with comparing Dana White to Vince McMahon or Kimbo to Hulk Hogan (as two of the most poorly conceived and written pieces of MMA journalism ever did on bloodyelbow.com today). However, it is perhaps the opening of a second, much more interesting and dynamic chapter in MMA history; the establishment of fighter over promotional institution.

Gary Shaw’s history as a promoter and matchmaker have been well described on boxing websites over the years, with a history as a network matchmaker before entering the world of boxing promotion, and he knows the value of star power. It is the way he knows how to do business, as it is the way boxing has operated since being stamped into the national subconscious as one of its primary individual sports back in the 1920s with the emergence of one time bar brawler and hobo Jack Dempsey as the king of heavyweight boxing. In spite of the many pitfalls and risks building such a star can create for a promoter, the gains are so significant in size that the value of doing such can not be underestimated. Its how boxing, even in its lean years of the late 1990s and early 2000s, was regularly selling over 300,000 PPVs and pulling $5-6 million dollar gates.

In Kimbo Slice, Shaw sees another Dempsey. Slice is wild, he’s still very green, he’s nowhere near being a top contender, but that’s all missing the point. Even a cursory viewing of Jack Dempsey sees a wild, mauling, destructive fighter. Dempsey annihilated the competition and in doing so engaged the entire country with his efforts. His past endeared him to men and his persona made him interesting to women. His charisma was unmatched by any peer outside of Babe Ruth, and the legitimacy he brought, regardless of his history, carried boxing up from the bars, legalized it across the nation, and made it a force in not only the US but across the world to the present day.

This is not to say that Slice, already in his mid 30s, will become the recognized heavyweight champion and have such popularity it leads to him fighting at MSG or in front of 70,000 people in open air stadiums  built for him. What it does mean is that in Slice, Shaw sees a hope. He is, in the mind of Shaw, an uncut and dull gem simply waiting for the skilled hands of a craftsman (such as Shaw) to come in and make him into a piece of art. Shaw does not see the opportunity for a new Monday night war, but rather nothing less than a revolution. Saturday night will go a long way in telling us exactly whether that vision will be fulfilled or simply drift into the ashes of so many other promoters (from Penthouse magazine to former UFC matchmakers) that preceded Shaw with dollar signs in their eyes.