So last Saturday I watched EliteXC it is one of the Brands of Mixed Martial Arts, it was on CBS and is sometimes on showtime, not sure of what kind of deal they have. Ken Shamrock was supposed to fight Kimbo Slice but Ken got a cut and when he was interviewed on the show you could tell how down he was and that he thought he should be able to fight. So two people who weren't planning to fight did. I guess after the event there was some controversy about something that was said to one of the fighters and this article is about that.

Petruzelli in center of Elite XC storm

By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports Oct 7, 5:55 pm EDT


Seth Petruzelli, after going from nobody to national celebrity for punching out Kimbo Slice, went on the radio Monday. He delivered a shot potentially more powerful than anything he threw Saturday.

He said his original plan against Kimbo was to get him to the ground and exploit his weak wrestling skills and submission defense. It made more sense than trading punches with a street brawler who outweighed him by 30 pounds. Petruzelli said he changed his mind though.

"The promoters kind of hinted to me, and they gave me the money to stand and trade with him," he told "The Monsters in Orlando" radio show. "They didn't want me to take him down, let's just put it that way. It was worth my while to try to stand up and punch with him."

The quote spoke of an attempt to if not rig the fight, then make it favorable for Slice, the main star and cash cow of the EliteXC promotion.

Such an action would be a disaster for mixed martial arts as it attempts to convince mainstream audiences it isn't scripted pro wrestling or a farcical Toughman contest. If EliteXC gave Petruzelli money to fight one way, it would open itself to all sorts of investigations.

The allegation rocketed around the country, making bigger post-fight news than pictures of Petruzelli in drag (more on that later. Needless to say, it's been a wild couple of days for him).

EliteXC's Jared Shaw immediately denied the fixing charge to Yahoo! Sports and fellow executive Jeremy Lappen did the same to Sherdog.com.

Tuesday, Petruzelli said he got the story confused.

"What that meant was they offer a knockout bonus, submission bonuses, fight of the night bonuses," Petruzelli said in a phone interview. "I think it just got misconstrued. I wanted to have an exciting fight and I wanted the knock out bonus so I wanted to keep it standing."

So did they say anything about keeping the fight off the ground?

"They just said, 'we want to see an exciting fight no matter what happens.' I took it as I wanted the knockout bonus."


That explanation won't appease some conspiracy theorists, if only because the original statement sounds more believable.

Then there is the general distrust of the organization, where the cards often seem more show than sport. Although the last two televised cards were mostly strong, memories remain of exploding cauliflower ears, silly introductions and using the popular but unproven Slice as a headliner.

Besides, it's no secret Elite XC had a vested interest in Kimbo winning. Jared Shaw even charged the cage and screamed at the referee that Slice had been hit illegally. Shaw has since apologized for that reaction.

"He spent a lot of money to build up Kimbo," Petruzelli said. "If I saw one of my guys I spent millions on getting his face pounded I'd get upset also."

Then there's CBS, which gave up any pretense of journalism in favor of unseemly propaganda.

The network previously embarrassed itself by comparing Kimbo to great sports figures such as Tiger Woods. This time, Gus Johnson's declaration that Petruzelli's triumph was "the most incredible victory in the history of mixed martial arts" was laughably ridiculous.

The worst was Johnson repeating the party line that Slice didn't hesitate to switch opponents from an injured Ken Shamrock. That was simply a lie. Slice demanded a cash bonus on top of his $500,000 payout just to get in the cage with Petruzelli, according to Lappen.

"We made it up to him," Lappen said.

For a stretch, the replacement wasn't going to be Petruzelli but Frank Shamrock, Ken's brother. Frank said Saturday he was even cleared by the Florida commission to fight. Lappen said he didn't think that was true, although he did admit there were discussions with Frank.

CBS was certainly privy to that information since Frank was at the arena as its color commentator. It was never mentioned on the air though. Frank told Yahoo! Sports Saturday it was CBS officials who blocked him from taking on Slice.

When the broadcasts have no objectivity, perspective or news value and the promoters are openly rooting for one fighter and not the other, how can anyone believe anything these guys say or do?

For his part, Petruzelli said he wishes he hadn't made the original comment. He swears no one from EliteXC has called him and pressured a retraction.

The entire thing has put a damper on his sudden surge of fame. That and the pictures on the internet of him in drag, of course.

"Man, people aren't going to let those down, are they?" he said. "Everything in costumes was (for) Halloween. I always dress in crazy stuff. All the leather and that sort of stuff, it's all done in fun.

"I want to put that to rest right now. I'm officially 100 percent not gay," he said. "I've been happily married for two years and been with her for five years."

He laughed at the entire speculation. He laughed at a lot of things Tuesday. And who can blame him? Last week he was a part-time fighter who was competing on the non-televised undercard for a four-figure payout. His main job was owner of a Smoothie King stand.

Now he's an overnight celebrity after 4.59 million people watched him TKO Kimbo.

He just wishes he could do it again. He's begging for a rematch and the big payout it would bring.

"But I don't think he was receptive to that," Petruzelli said. "Kimbo doesn't want the rematch. He wants no part of that."

He said that dropping Slice with a single short right despite leaning back on one foot was no fluke and he can do it again.

While Kimbo had a reputation for taking punches from his YouTube videos - he often let guys take free shots that didn't faze him - Petruzelli said there's a big difference between a professional fighter and those dudes.

"The thing is, they are arm-punching," Petruzelli said. "It's like little flicks with their arms. There's no weight behind it, there's no turning of the hips. It's how you throw it and where you throw it.

"If we fight again, the same thing will happen."

EliteXC should make it happen. Only this time demand its executives stay seated and its broadcast partner at least attempt professionalism.

Everyone could use the dose of credibility.

I'm not sure if this is now a cover up, or if someone just misuderstood, but it is interesting to think about.

For fans of sports there are a lot of them the current one that comes to mind is out door soccer yes Toronto has a team, and outdoor Lacrosse comes to mind quickly. There are plenty of sports that are not on TV and that unless your city or area has a team no one cares about. Every 4 years there are the Olympics. It used to be the the winter and summer games where on the the same year. I like that they made them 2 years apart. The interesting thing is The Olympics is all ways on a leap year (summer games). I think having to only wait two years between summer and winter is better for the people watching and it is also better for people who compete. Hey what if you want to compete in both for different events, it has happened but I don't remember who. Yes there has been a lot of hype and adds and product tie ins for this Olympic games and even some (in Canada) for the winter games coming up. I won't lie and say I know all the events but there are some winter and maybe one summer event that was first part of The X Games. I have to admit that the X games are not the only Action Sport event. But currently the are the best known well maybe not maybe the Dew Action Sports tour is up there, not sure if they still have the Gravity Games but that was right up there, but it just wasn't as prestigous. The X games (on tv at least) Start on Thursday aka The day before Friday and take place all weekend. Watching them should be a fun time. Expn.com has more info on the games and the times and when they are on. I myself have never used espn360.com but I know that through that site you can watch video and I assume the games live as they happen, but not sure. So for those of you who are sports fans it could be a fun weekend of sports. One thing that I like about these types of sports is the risk factor and with some of them it is really high. Plus a sport where you are not part of a team is nice to see. All the sports are not about look at me a can do what no one else can do and land with out dying, hey it takes a lot of practice to get these tricks down and some of them look amazing. It helps if the ramps are set up so that when the camera catches the trick a city or arena or something is in the background.

So last night on the winter X games they had this cool new event with snowmobiles where they had a speed course and then a style course. They do 3 tricks off a ramp and then they get a score and then they get a speed score based on how fast they do it. Both scores get added and who ever has the most points advances. That was so fun to watch. Then they also had the finals of the men skiing the superpipe that was really fun to watch also, some amazing action. It will be on all weekend. Now for you hockey fans I'm sure you all know that Saturday and Sunday is All Star Weekend. Some of those skills contests are kinda cool, but often I mis them. I'm not sure if I will be able to watch all of this or if there will be conflict. I all ready Have a little bit of a conflict with the Royal Rumble and the X games maybe I'll get the Rumble and tape the sports, I can't remember what I did last year. There are also two movies I would like to see but we shall see I can all ways wait till next week for "Rambo" (not sure if it is a remake or story continues I'm guessing remake) and "Meet the Spartans" (looks funny). The bandits play in Philly on Saturday night, not that I would travel there but it could be fun. I just wanted to ad that there are ways to also watch all allot of those sports online and in some cases it is extra tuna for those really into there sports.

So this weekend there is a lot of sports. First of all I read in Sunday's paper that at the Allbright Knox they are going to have NHL trophies there on display and there is some first come first serve kind of passes to see the Stanly Cup. I don't think I have time to go I wish I did. That night is The Bandits Home Opener "Lets Go Bandits". Then on both Saturday and Sunday is the NFL playoffs. The teams I like Have lost or didn't make the playoffs. But there are 4 teams that I like to watch. First of all I'm a fan of Brett Farve but no really the packers. Same thing can be said of Dallas I'm not a fan of there's but they are fun to watch with Romo and TO. Then you have Indy who you have to watch cause of how good they are and can be. Then how can you not like watching the Patriots with all there weapons on offense and oh yeah and they have a few good players on defense also. So for me there should be a lot of sports going on to watch.

First of all for you skiers out there I thought I would remind you that at sheas they are having a showing of Warren Miller's newest movie, it was a lot of fun going to see one last year. I think it is Nov 29th.


The night before Thanksgiving I'm going to the Sabres game. It should be a good time, I would love to see them Beat Ottawa. I'm not sure if they are good enough to but it will still be a good time. I'm thinking after the game I might go check out Club Diablo they are having some kind of Party for Art And Body it is a Tattoo shop. Then early Thanksgiving I have to wake up and take pictures of the sis since she will run in the turkey trot. She wants me to but there is no way I can I'm not in good enough shape to.

Then on the 25th I'm going to TSO that will be a good time, they allways are. Then A week after the Ottawa Sabres game I'm going to see them play the St. Louis Blues that is the day before the Snowboarding movie.

I hope everyone has a nice long weekend and enjoys thanksgiving mine will be watching Football and relaxing after I wake up early.

It was nice to have a day off from work today, it really was. I went to the Bisons game with my Sis. The bisons wound up losing but I still had a good time. I think I may go again on Friday for the 1st Bash of the year from what the ad said today. I think it might be taking the place of one of the colded/winded/Snowed out opening day game. I havn't made up my mind yet. About 20 minutes to the sabres game. Well it is back to work on friday again.

So on Friday the Bandits Play the Toronto Rock at HSBC Arena. Early on in the season it is really an important game allready. The reason it is so important is that they Play Toronto on Saturday in Toronto. If Buffalo can somehow win both games then they will have two wins and The Rock will really be behind but if the opposite happens then Toronto hopes right back into things and the Bandits will be introuble. Then the big game is Sunday. In some ads you hear the Superbowl mentioned as the big game. The reason for this is that they don't have the rights to use the Term "superbowl" in an ad. If any one can have the rights to the use of there name then there name has no power and they lose a lot of money on advertisements and sponsers. It is kinda strange but I completely get it. If it wasn't for the superbowl I might have decided to go up to Toronto for the night and see the bandits play there and then maybe partake in some nightlife of the adult kind, but not bold enough or rich enough to find the illegal stuff but one night of the bandits will be good enough. I wonder if the Toronto Game will be on TV I have heard Vs. has some Lacrosse games on, on a delay I'll have to look into that.

Well tonight is Paul's Birthday Party so Happy Birthday. I have to go home shower try to find someting to change into, I think I need to find cash buy something to drink at the party. For those not going or going later there is a Sabres Game on Tonight and another one on Saturday. I will miss both of them since I will Be at the Bandits game Vs. the swarm at HSBC Area. I think there is a wake or at least a viewing that I'm going to with the family on saturday but I have no idea at what time it is. Then on Sunday there are two Football games (Assuming we don't lose fox) to watch both could be amazing games. Then back to work on Monday I have a fealing this weekend is going to fly by way to fast.

The above link should lead (hopefully) to the Buffalo News's first sunday page. It has two articles about Ryan Miller that I found interesting (in the paper it was kinda one). The only thing I didn't like about it was that it implied that if the sabres win the Stanley Cup it would be Buffalos first championship or was that major championship. Yes I get that the bisons are Minor League baseball, Yes I understand that the Rochester Americans are Minor league hockey. But it seems that everyone dicounts the bandits. Is it true that everyone who plays also has a real job, Yes. Is it true that it is a small league, Yes. Is it true that it has hardly any national coverage, Yes. But in terms of Lacorose it is as big as it gets, it is professional. The Bandits are Truely the only Buffalo Team to win a Championship and they are the first. But wait that may not be true I thought the Bills won a championship before the two leagues combined. The Bandits have been close to winning a couple more championships lately but have fallen a little short. Wouldn't it be awesome if this was the year for both them and the sabres. In any event the Bandits home Opener is this friday vs. (if memory serves) The New York Titans (expansion team). I'm sure I will post pictures if I have the time with football on saturday if nothing else some cheerleader pictures.

Last night before I watched a good Hellboy animated movie on Cartoon Network I watched the sabres game. maybe it was just me but Miller made some huge saves and the Atlanta goalie played preaty good to. I'm glad the sabres won. The Buffalo Bandits strated there season in Portland and lost in Overtime to the LumberJax. I didn't listen to it since it started at 10pm. They where mising a couple players who should be back for the Home Opener on Jan 12th (I belive). Hope everyone has a Great new year and hopefully I will see some of you peeps tonight.