Our friends over at The Fight Nerd caught up with Gary Shaw recently and they asked the former EliteXC live events president what he thought about the latest incarnation of ProElite. Not surprisingly, Shaw didn’t hold back when describing the promotion’s chances in the current MMA landscape dominated by the UFC.
“I think it’s laughable. The people running it are jokes. It’s not real and the only game in town is the UFC. I wouldn’t have been [interested in being involved with ProElite again]. All of my time is with boxing. Like I said, the only game in town is the UFC. You can’t beat them any longer. They are too entrenched,” Shaw explained. “They bought the next best thing, which was Strikeforce. Fedor’ s gone from the scene. So, right now it’s only the UFC. They’re miles ahead of everyone right now. It’s like us coming up with some fast food franchise and beating McDonald’s and Burger King. It’s not gonna happen.”
(Video courtesy of TheFightNerd)
Our friends over at The Fight Nerd caught up with Gary Shaw recently and they asked the former EliteXC live events president what he thought about the latest incarnation of ProElite. Not surprisingly, Shaw didn’t hold back when describing the promotion’s chances in the current MMA landscape dominated by the UFC.
“I think it’s laughable. The people running it are jokes. It’s not real and the only game in town is the UFC. I wouldn’t have been [interested in being involved with ProElite again]. All of my time is with boxing. Like I said, the only game in town is the UFC. You can’t beat them any longer. They are too entrenched,” Shaw explained. “They bought the next best thing, which was Strikeforce. Fedor’ s gone from the scene. So, right now it’s only the UFC. They’re miles ahead of everyone right now. It’s like us coming up with some fast food franchise and beating McDonald’s and Burger King. It’s not gonna happen.”
Needless to say, Shaw isn’t a fan of new ProElite president T.Jay Thompson, who became a five-year executive consultant with the company after it purchased his Icon Sport promotion back in 2007 for $350,000 U.S. and “hundreds of thousands” of PELE shares, and for good reason. Thompson, whose role in the promotion was downgraded after Shaw stepped down from the organization, has openly criticized both Shaw and his son Jared for mismanaging EliteXC and was the individual who first made mention of Shaw paying Seth Petruzelli to not take Kimbo Slice down. The accusations led to an investigation by the Florida Athletic Commission and some say prompted CBS to sever ties with the struggling organization.
Yeah, if you’re looking for warm fuzzies, you can stop reading now. These two aren’t on the list. (Pic: MMAConvert.com)
Being a father must be one of the most thankless jobs on Earth. I say this not as a dad, but as a son who can only imagine what I put my father through. Sure, there are probably some happy times, like watching your son get his first hit on the baseball court, but largely it’s a never ending torrent of putting up with your son’s immature bullshit, and for that you get thought of one day a year at which time you’re rewarded with an ugly ass tie and a “Free Oil Change” coupon for the truck your son smashed up.
On this special occasion, take a few minutes to grab your old man, have a seat, and enjoy some good old fashioned shadenfreude with some of our sport’s less celebrated father-son moments. You may laugh, you may cry, but hopefully you’ll both realize that things could be a lot worse. Who knows, after a beer or two you may even decide to celebrate your strengthened bond by taking a class together.
To all the dads out there, keep fighting the good fight.
Yeah, if you’re looking for warm fuzzies, you can stop reading now. These two aren’t on the list. (Pic: MMAConvert.com)
Being a father must be one of the most thankless jobs on Earth. I say this not as a dad, but as a son who can only imagine what I put my father through. Sure, there are probably some happy times, like watching your son get his first hit on the baseball court, but largely it’s a never ending torrent of putting up with your son’s immature bullshit, and for that you get thought of one day a year at which time you’re rewarded with an ugly ass tie and a “Free Oil Change” coupon for the truck your son smashed up.
On this special occasion, take a few minutes to grab your old man, have a seat, and enjoy some good old fashioned shadenfreude with some of our sport’s less celebrated father-son moments. You may laugh, you may cry, but hopefully you’ll both realize that things could be a lot worse. Who knows, after a beer or two you may even decide to celebrate your strengthened bond by taking a class together.
To all the dads out there, keep fighting the good fight.
Chris Leben’s Breakdown On TUF Season 1
Maybe it’s just all the topless drunk dudes in acid wash jeans hanging around the pool, but in retrospect doesn’t TUF 1 look a little…you know… (original TUF footage)
After thirteen seasons of The Ultimate Fighter, it’s hard to believe that there was a time when fighters getting drunk in a house and smashing things was considered fresh and innovative television. Practically everyone has been calling for the show to be revamped, but long before the in-house antics grew stale there were brave pioneers like Chis Leben who broke down doors in the entertainment industry by breaking down doors in the TUF house.
Leben has his fair share of personal demons burning within, and adding alcohol to the mix serves only to fan the flames. During his stint on the show, “The Crippler” summoned the courage to confide in his TUF housemates that he had been abandoned by his father as a young child, which later served as ammunition for Bobby Southworth during a drunken argument. After calling Leben a “fatherless bastard” and telling him that he was so worthless that he was left in a garbage can, Southworth half-heartedly apologized, but he and Koscheck were only warming up. When Leben retreated to avoid confrontation and sleep it off outside, the two decided to turn a water hose on him. Pushed to his emotional breaking point, Leben lashed out at any object standing between him and his tormentors. And the rest, as they say, is reality tv history.
(Yes, at this point they are in fact just fucking with us.)
Man, it’s like the Shaw family doesn’t even check with each other anymore before they go to the media and just start saying stuff. Remember it was less than two weeks ago that Gary Shaw told us that his longtime crush object Kimbo Slice would probably not be entering the world of boxing after finding out “how hard it is to be a boxer.” Well, on Tuesday, not 15 days later, Jared Shaw – Shaw Trek the Next Generation, if you will – made an appearance on MMA Weekly radio and immediately started issuing “open challenges” on behalf of one Kevin Ferguson, professional boxer.
Specifically, Shaw invited NFL player Ray Edwards to meet Slice in a boxing match. Edwards, a defensive lineman for the Minnesota Vikings, will make his own professional boxing debut this Friday at a casino in the Gopher State, against an as-yet unnamed opponent. So that sounds just super. Shaw’s comments and some of Edwards’ own ridiculousness are after the jump …
(Yes, at this point they are in fact just fucking with us.)
Man, it’s like the Shaw family doesn’t even check with each other anymore before they go to the media and just start saying stuff. Remember it was less than two weeks ago that Gary Shaw told us that his longtime crush object Kimbo Slice would probably not be entering the world of boxing after finding out “how hard it is to be a boxer.” Well, on Tuesday, not 15 days later, Jared Shaw – Shaw Trek the Next Generation, if you will – made an appearance on MMA Weekly radio and immediately started issuing “open challenges” on behalf of one Kevin Ferguson, professional boxer.
Specifically, Shaw invited NFL player Ray Edwards to meet Slice in a boxing match. Edwards, a defensive lineman for the Minnesota Vikings, will make his own professional boxing debut this Friday at a casino in the Gopher State, against an as-yet unnamed opponent. So that sounds just super. Shaw’s comments and some of Edwards’ own ridiculousness are after the jump …
“That fight I will deliver,” Shaw declared. “If Ray Edwards wants to step up and fight Kimbo Slice I will deliver that to the public. There’s two guys that come from athletic backgrounds, that haven’t been in the ring that many times, so let’s see two big boys bang it out. If Ray Edwards thinks he’s a great boxer, then maybe he thinks he can go through Kevin Ferguson very quickly.”
You’ll remember that even before Gary Shaw pronounced Slice’s pugilistic career DOA earlier this month, we quoted the dude as far back as last Thanksgiving essentially sounding pretty disgusted with Kimbo’s work habits. At the time, the street brawler-turned-MMA-failure-turned … something-or-other had ditched training camp to head back to Miami for the holidays, and Shaw didn’t seem particularly hopeful that he’d return. As of a couple of weeks ago, it sounded like his fears had been confirmed.
Not so, says Jared Shaw, who told MMA Weekly that Slice just wanted to take some time off to film a movie, that he’s been staying in shape and that he still wants to fight. At least, J-Shaw thinks he still wants to fight.
“I’m always in contact with Kimbo and his camp, and they’re great,” Jared Shaw said. “Kimbo’s enjoying his life post a lot of training years. The first time out in boxing it just wasn’t the right timing, he had some aches, he wanted to go shoot a film, ‘The Scorpion King,’ and we just left it open ended. I have good feelings that Kimbo Slice still wants to make an impact in the fight game. However, he can define his own impact.”
That brings us to Edwards, who declared early on in the NFL lockout that he wasn’t going to “wait around” for the owners and the players’ union to figure out how to divvy up the billions. Instead, he decided to launch a fly-by-night fighting career. Because, you know, why wouldn’t you risk a potential seven-figure football contract by taking two-bit boxing matches in Podunk casinos in places like Hinckley, Minn?
That’s where Edwards will fight this weekend: The Grand Casino in Hinckley. Not exactly the MGM Grand, eh? Anyway, a couple of months ago Edwards went on ESPN TV and made a bunch of statements so crazy you might’ve thought he was trying to be an honorary member of the Shaw family, including but not limited to alleging his boxing trainers think he has the potential be the best heavyweight ever. Not just the best right now, mind you, not just the best in the comparatively shitty and shallow 2011 heavyweight division, but the best ever.
More recently, he told the Star Tribune newspaper that he’s inked a two-fight deal with the above mentioned casino and that he could fight again in June if the NFL’s labor dispute is still raging. That fight – if Jared Shaw has his way – could conceivably be against Slice.
First though, maybe Edwards should just find out who he’s fighting on Friday.
Fight Hub TV’s Marcos Villegas caught up with Gary Shaw over the weekend and spoke to the former head of EliteXC about Nick Diaz’s boxing aspirations and why Kimbo Slice’s boxing debut never happened.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/FightHubTV.com)
Fight Hub TV’s Marcos Villegas caught up with Gary Shaw over the weekend and spoke to the former head of EliteXC about Nick Diaz’s boxing aspirations and why Kimbo Slice’s boxing debut never happened.
“I love Nick Diaz, first of all. I think he’s as exciting as can be. I’ve not reached out for him. If he wants to box, he knows my number. They know the name of my company. But if he’s going to box then he’s got to box relevant fighters,” Shaw pointed out. “Fernando Vargas is not a relevant fighter, Jeff Lacy is not a relevant fighter. So what are you proving? That’s just a waste of time. Television’s not going to buy it, so if he wants to really fight, they’ll contact me and then they’ll really want to fight then we’ll do something on Showtime or HBO or ESPN.”
Although Shaw believes that Diaz has star power and says he could do well in the sport, he cautions the Stockton native to think long and hard about competing in The Sweet Science as it is a different animal than MMA-style boxing.
“He’s a good fighter. He’s a very good fighter, but boxing is a lot different than MMA, so… The techniques are different,” Shaw said. “You can knock guys out in MMA, but you’re not knocking out boxers. You’re knocking out other MMA fighters. So he might find it a little more difficult than he believes.”
When asked about what’s up with Slice’s delayed foray into boxing, Shaw said that it isn’t likely that we’ll see Kimbo donning 10-ounce gloves any time soon.
“He realized how hard it is to be a boxer. I had him in training camp in California, but he wasn’t committed…as committed as he had to be. I still love Kimbo. I still think he’s the single biggest attraction in our sports,” Shaw explained incredulously, demonstrating why EliteXC failed. “I’d love to still put him in a boxing ring, but you gotta be really committed. He made a lotta money in mixed martial arts and maybe he just didn’t need the money bad enough at that time.”
(Shaq has always been a sucker for a guy in a Santa suit. PicProps: MMA Digest)
It was with bated breath a few months back that we brought you news that sleazebag promoter and World’s Greatest Dad Gary Shaw would soon be exploring new and interes…
(Shaq has always been a sucker for a guy in a Santa suit. PicProps: MMA Digest)
It was with bated breath a few months back that we brought you news that sleazebag promoter and World’s Greatest Dad Gary Shaw would soon be exploring new and interesting ways to get Kimbo Slice knocked the fuck out by transitioning the internet legend/UFC washout to professional boxing. Obviously, that has not happened yet and this week ESPN’s Dan Rafael got tired of waiting. Rafael reached out to Shaw with a courtesy “WTF” call this week and learned that The Sliceman’s pro punching debut has been pushed back to “the beginning of next year” because Kimbo is, uh, on vacation. Also, (and we hope we’re not reading too much into this) it sounds like Shaw is just a little bit pissed off about it.
"Right now he’s vacationing in Florida. He went home for Thanksgiving. His pro debut will be put off until at least the beginning of next year," Shaw says. "He needs more work and more sparring … I had him in California sparring and in real training … He was given all the tools, but he continues to get offers from MMA and offers to be in movies and it’s hard to keep him focused on training camp. That’s the story more than anything else."
