For those who haven’t heard about the recent icing of EliteXC, that’s because this broke fairly recently. It appears that Pro Elite has been bought out by Showtime, which is run by CBS. There is a serious question of whether they will continue to air fights, especially in regard to their upcoming event featuring the fight between Nick Diaz and Eddie Alvarez.

I won’t say that I’m surprised at the downfall of Pro Elite, and the notorious “idiot Gary Shaw” (as Dana White so affectionately named him), but I was severely disappointed at the timing. While I knew that the end of Kimbo Slice’s undefeated streak ended the easy promoting and would eventually lead to a good deal of unraveling, it sucks that this may end the chance for EXC to put on the one truly substantial card they were going to offer, as that Diaz vs. Alvarez card seemed to be.

The reality is, this is a failed business model, and I hope that up-and-coming organizations will recognize that. The way to success, especially against a giant as truly colossal and well run as the UFC is, is to offer a legitimate and consistent process and market it efficiently. A business must be built, not simply erected. To play out the architectural metaphor, there needs to be a substantial foundation.

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After delays, expectation, anticipation, letdowns, upsets, epic bouts and a lot of optimism, DREAM will conclude what it started over 5 months ago. Things have definitely gone from bad to worse for the upstart organization. If you remember, earlier this year the 1st DREAM show raked in a dismal 9 rating even dropping to 6th overall that night. Fast forward to now and I think MMA fans have definitely come to embrace DREAM. They’ve definitely broke the mold of unreachable Japanese MMA by inked a deal with HDNet to televise their shows live in the United States and Nikkan Sports is reporting that Nike has just signed on to become a clothing supplier for DREAM. Sadly, there are 2 bouts that maybe removed from this much anticipated show. Hideo Tokoro suffered a minor accident after a car collision, but will continue with his anticipated bout with DREAM. 3 standout Takeshi Yamazaki. Also, Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto will go fightless in 2008 as an injury has kept him out of his DREAM debut against Joseph Benavidez and maybe for half a year. Things seem to be getting worse for “Kid” as he maybe in some HUGE trouble as he is rumored to be linked to allegations of illegal drug use. The good news is that The Fight Network is reporting that Alistair Overeem has confirmed that he will fight Mark Hunt this weekend. Ok, Finally the fight card thus far looks like this:

HEIWA DREAM.5 Lightweight GP 2008 Final Round
Date: July 21st, 2008
Place: Osaka Jo Hall in Osaka, Japan

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