EliteXC Live Events President, Gary Shaw, on Wednesday had some things to say during a conference call in response to comments from UFC president Dana White about the state of MMA.
Shaw’s quoteworthy comments:
“All I’m saying is, and I’ve said it all along, there is a differentiator. If you fight for the UFC, you can’t be bigger than Dana White and the UFC. If you fight for EliteXC, as a fighter, you’re bigger than Gary Shaw. It’s about the fighter. It’s not about me. Whether it’s Kimbo, who was signed to us, or any other fighter. I believe we represent some of the greatest fighters in the world. I believe that Antonio ‘Big Foot’ Silva could knockout any heavyweight in the UFC.”
Believe it or not, Shaw had some positive things to say about the UFC as well … kinda:
“Now, I’m not disparaging the UFC. They have some great fighters and great fights. They have a good brand. They do a good job marketing their brand, but they don’t own MMA. They don’t own the space. They have a brand. You know what, if you hold up the belt there, all you are is the club champion. Until Dana White is willing to fight his fighters against other brands; all they are is club champions.”
To read more on Gray Shaw’s said click here.
In the U.S since 1993 to the present day the UFC stands alone at the top of the food chain as the premier MMA organization. In the past, when an MMA fan wanted to get that MMA fix there was nothing on the block to compete with the UFC other than Pride FC over in Japan. However, the UFC bought them out and dismantled the organization in early 2007.
With the ever-growing popularity of MMA in the U.S and abroad, other organizations have put their brands on the block. The UFC doesn’t seem too worried about EliteXC, IFL, Bodog, HDNet, CageRage and a few new-bees on the block trying to make some noise.
In fact, White indicated as much during a recent interview with ESPN The Magazine:
ESPN The Magazine: How do you feel about the IFL, Bodog, EliteXC and other competition popping up?
DW: It’s good for us. I don’t look at those guys as competition at all. They’re nowhere near the league that we’re in. I need shows like that. They’re the feeder leagues. All the guys who fight in those shows aspire to be in the UFC someday. They’re creating all the UFC talent of tomorrow.
ESPN The Magazine: Do you watch other shows?
DW: I actually watched the IFL once, and it was [expletive] painful. These guys are minor league shows. They’re necessary. I need them to exist, to continue to pay money to put on their shows. I need them to create more talent and get guys experience in fighting. But I don’t worry about them. I’ll give you an example. There are races going on all over the country, every weekend. But you know when NASCAR rolls into town.
To read the entire Dana White ESPN mag interview click here.
With that said, what do you MMA fans feel about the UFC and about MMA?
Shaw has challenged Dana to pit UFC fighters against EliteXC fighters. Even though EliteXC does not have same stable of fighters, there are some good guy’s on its roster. Such fighters include Jake Shields, Antonio “Big Foot” Silva, Robbie Lawler, Frank Shamrock, Murilo “Ninja” Rua, to name a few who are more than capable to fight at a high level.
Would anyone like to see Antonio “Big Foot” Silva vs Gabriel “Napao” Gonzaga? What about Jake Shields vs Jon Fitch?
Shaw has extended a challenge to the UFC to have co-promoted event to pit UFC fighters against EliteXC fighters. This will more than likely never happen.
There is nothing like the sport of MMA. The UFC has done so much to help this sport evolve and push it in the right (mainstream) direction. Therefore, I give credit where credit is do.
As MMA fans will we get to see Fedor vs. Randy this year? Will we see the best fights in the world regardless of organization? For now it’s business as usual. The UFC is holding the block down.
MMAcraze addicts speak up and drop a comment. Let us know what you feel about the UFC’s position in MMA.
Unfortunetly UFC wont do any events with any other orgainzations. But EliteXC will and so will M-1, so if Shaw is so confident in EliteXC champ Antonio “big foot” Silva, shaw should put his money where his mouth is and set up a co promo event with M-1 who will work with any organizations and set up a match up between Fedor vs. Antonio Silva
After watching a couple of the EliteXC matches on CBS, I have to say that I am not impressed in comparison to the quality of fights that I usually see within a UFC match. Whether it stems from a lack of quality fighters within the franchise or from the possibility of the fights having to be toned down for being on public cable TV, it just seemed to lack the pleasure I get with the system that White has built up.
It’s not like White isn’t willing to have his fighters mingle with those of other leagues. A couple years back, he was involved in trying to arrange fights between UFC and Pride (in which I think Pride had a way better selection of fighters than EliteXC will possibly ever have). Sadly, no deals could ever stick and Pride dissolved soon after from other problems.