Total-MMA.com

And we are off~! The internet prelims are just getting started for the most high-profile night in North American MMA history. Go to proelite.com or CBS sportsline to watch them now.

Iain Liddle and Alan Conceicao bringing you everything you need to know.

JAMES “BINKY” JONES VS. CALVIN KATTAR

First live fight that us not there don’t get to see.

ALAN: Stream isn’t anything hyper fantastic, and its almost like watching spectres fight with the ghosting. Binky Jones nearly grabs a triangle from the side but ends up finishing with a RNC choke over by the cage in round one. In spite of being older, he was far more active.

IAIN: Yeah the stream is pretty poor by usual standards. Maybe there is excessive demand and right now people all over the world are tuning in to see what this new phenomena called “human cockfighting in a cage” is all about.

Jones was just too experienced although Kattar looked pretty awkward both standing and on the mat. Binky mentioned that Elite XC are looking to put together a tournament at 150lbs which would be quite interesting. Hopefully that will be to crown a champ in that division. Whatever it is, HE WANTS IN.

WILSON REIS VS. JUSTIN ROBBINS

First rappers of the night. The rumour is that Busta Rhymes will be leading out Kimbo a bit later which should suitably anger people on forums worldwide. Jared Shaw calls Reis the best FW in the world. We shall see.

ALAN: Interesting fight for the first few minutes, as Reis gets the takedown and throws a ton of stuff at Robbins. Robbins wormed his way out of a few subs, but in the end Reis was all over him like white on rice and got a submission via RNC.

IAIN: This fight should have been over in the first two minutes. Reis had an armbar that anyone with better skills would have stopped his opponent with. However just going for submissions apparently makes you a BJJ master according to Mauro. He also had a great triangle opportunity but didn’t lock it in. Eventually he won with a RNC at the third time of asking. Exciting little fight but very one-sided. Reis does look like he has potential.

Shaw Snr doesn’t even know what show he appears on as well as having the world’s worst nickname. He told people on “Inside the MMA” that Reis was skilled. Come on $kala, that’s just basic grammar.

MATT MAKOWSKI VS. NICK SERRA

IAIN: This female ring announcer is horrible. Voice like fingernails down a blackboard and not even attractive to balance it out. Get rid.

Entertaining first round. Serra appears gassed at the end of it despite losing it in all likelihood. Not a good sign.

ALAN: Sloppy boxing in round 1 lead to Serra being gassed in round 2, and he loses by DQ after attempting to fall into butt scoot and not standing up. Hilarious. Decent and memorable fight for that reason.

IAIN: Seriously one of the most embarassing things I’ve ever seen. If Matt Serra sacked a close personal friend for tapping out then I dread to think what he’ll do to someone who fell over and the nrefused to get up. The referee even seemed angry with what he was seeing. Suffice to say this will never see the light of day again, and Nick Serra has burnt his bridges with Pro Elite.

CARLTON HASELRIG VS. CARLOS MORENO

ALAN: Haselrig played football as a offensive lineman or something. I guess this is pertinent.

This was all Haslerig in round one. He looked a lot like Severn out there, constantly holding the single even after the takedown, never really doing anything in when in dominant position. Moreno quits for no discernable reason.

IAIN: We are told that Moreno is a “Me Tie” warrior so you know he must be a force.

This is seriously one of the worst fights I’ve ever seen. I can’t even quantify the shitness. I know everyone hates an “INTERNET TOUGH GUY” but most people watching the show could beat either of these. Even head shill Mauro Ranallo is saying it’s “not the best example of MMA”.

Moreno quit on his stool at the end of the first. He has done us all a massive favour. DO NOT COME BACK. Those last two fights were an embarassment to MMA.

JIM BOVA VS. CHRIS LIGUORI

This is apparently taking place as we speak but is not being shown on Pro Elite or anywhere else. I am not convinced that Dana White hasn’t put some kind of voodoo spell on this show after watching those last two fights.

HERE WE GO. CBS SPECIAL PRESENTATION IS ON!

JON MURPHY VS. BRETT ROGERS

We’re finally back with another fight! Busta Rhymes is leading out Brett Rogers. Suffice to say it is not as good as when Dizzee Rascal came out with Professor X at Cage Rage. Nothing will top that. I like how they just drop it in that Rogers is coming off a win over James Thompson, yet he is in the opener and Thommo is in the main event. Slick.

ALAN: Is it wrong that the first thing I think of is, “Gee, putting the show on CBS didn’t exactly ruin the production, did it?” Show has been done pretty well. I just took a look to see what the time was like in terms of the programming after, and its merely local news (which often gets bumped later on Saturday nights for sports) and then a CSI repeat. They’ll be fine on TV time.

This was a fine example of what a John Ruiz fight would look like with 4 oz gloves. Rogers by KO with a right hand.

IAIN: This is the worst of the main card fights on paper ans hopefully it will prove to be so in reality too. Poor debut for MMA on network TV. just sloppy, sloppy fighting as expected. They might be struggling for time with this show. they are a quarter of the way through and only have 90 mins (minus ads) to show four fights, and preview videos and interviews after. Baroni will only cuss so don’t let him anywhere near a mic.

Also, I just remebered that Lawler - Smith is a title fight and could go five rounds. They’s be bang in trouble if that happens.

PHIL BARONI VS. JOEY VILLASENOR

ALAN: Baroni’s entrance was 3 times as long as the fight. Villasenor took him apart standing, nearly gets the guillotine, and then clubs him some more to get a stoppage early in round 1.

IAIN: Baroni is as Baroni does. He’s liable to KO or get KO’ed really quickly. This time it was the latter. Good shot from Villasenor but it lasted just over a minute so I cant call it a good fight. I doubt any naysayers are being won over by this so far. The women’s fight may actually save this show.

GINA CARANO VS. KAITLIN YOUNG

ALAN: You know, this was a pretty decent fight for being primarily a standup bout. Decent fight that clearly got the crowd hyped up. Carano was just way too big for Young and was able to push her around with kicks. Young looked pretty decent in there throwing low kicks, but didn’t know how to defend the jab at all and got lumped up.

IAIN: This was the best fight of the night by far, as I think a lot of people expected it to be. A really entertaining fight that was perhaps a little short on quality but I imagine was exactly the sort of thing that Elite XC wanted. Carano looked tired in the second and I thought that Young might come back but she got tagged by a couple of good shots changed the momentum.

Gina says afterwards that she thinks she attempted a gogo plata but cannot be sure. She also thanked God in the same way someone would normally thank a trainer which was a little odd. Kimbo wishes her good luck for the fight she just won in his interview afterwards. In the same vein I would also like to wish BJ Penn luck against Sean Sherk.

ROBBIE LAWLER VS. SCOTT SMITH

ALAN: A pretty entertaining standup fight for the better part of three rounds until Scott Smith gets thumbed in the eye and we end up with a No Contest. “Bullshit” is chanted real loudly and if you’re looking for a worst case scenario for EliteXC, this is it right here.

IAIN: This show is not going well for Elite XC. This fight was actually really getting going and the crowd were into it. Both men were landing decent offence with Lawler in particular impressing. Both men’s defence was not amazing but compared to every other fight on the show it was a bonafide classic. The “bullshit” chants are unfortunately being shouted at one of the only two good fights we’ve had. That should have been sounding during the undercard. The doctors and referees have been so quick to stop everything tonight. To the detriment of the event.

KEVIN “KIMBO SLICE” FERGUSON VS. JAMES THOMSPON

The reason we’re all here. To see England conquer America. Watch them announce Thommo as being from Manchester despite living nowhere near it.

ALAN: Seriously, in the Total-MMA chat, there’s a lot of talk about how this was the worst possible ending, and I disagree with that to a great extent. Listen, Kimbo won in a hard fought war, the crowd was almost universally reacting positively, and frankly, the stoppage while perhaps slightly premature was not the worst ever. Thompson took about 5-6 blows before the fight ended that were clean and unanswered. It will make up for the Smith/Lawler result for a lot of the new folks watching.

IAIN: Oh man, when JT’s ear literally popped it was one of the worst things I have ever seen. just horrible. Thompson won the first two rounds but, as always, pays the price for refusing to cover up at all when standing. Both guys looked really poor to be honest and it was a por advert for MMA. This has punctured the Kimbo bubble severely I think despite the win as everyone saw him lose most of a fight and get lucky with an early stoppage. He was connecting but JT tooks shots in the second round too and recovered.

What is inexcusable is HITTING THE REF after the fight. It was similar to Baroni on Larry Landless after his fight against Evan Tanner and was largel ignored by the announcers. I am sure Thompson will be fined for that.

…and that’s it. Pretty horrible show bar Lawler-Smith and Carano-Young and even those two were stopped by the doctors and so without a conclusive finish. Don’t worry though - WEC is tomorrow and good MMA will return. Thumbs down. Bad debut night for the sport on national TV.

ALAN: Overall this is about par for course with Elite XC. I wouldn’t say the fights were all that great. Certainly they weren’t. Kimbo/Thompson was pretty damn exciting, far more than it had any right to be, and Lawler/Smith pre-eye gouge and Carano/Young were very entertaining as well. The two openers were mediocre, but provided quick knockouts.

In terms of judging how casual fans seeing this for the first time will react, god, I have no idea. The previous MMA TV highpoints were a couple of generally very good UFC cards (75 and 70) and the horrible Shamrock/Ortiz III fight card. I think the action was such that it may interest fans, but I think the fashion in which the two top fights ended could do them damage. Does it forever destroy MMA on network TV? Probably not. Does it destroy Kimbo Slice? Well, great fighters are judged by being in wars, and this was a vague approximation of one that was generally getting the crowd riled up. I don’t think there are any more answers after tonight than there were before hand.