Elite X friggin’ C. Damn. You guys have no idea how bad the MMA world wanted you to survive. EliteXC was voltroned into existence December 14th 2006 through a unique alliance with the Showtime Network and the MMA conglomeration known as Proelite (which was defunct, but recently made a bid to purchase Strikeforce before ZUFFA obtained it).
Their first event was held in the MMA hotbed of Southaven, Mississippi. EliteXC caught everyone’s attention with their unexpectedly stacked card featuring Las Vegas ODB impersonator, Krazy Horse vs. KJ Noons (which actually surprised the hell out of everyone and is a blatant lesson on why should not call out your opponent during a press conference), Joey Villasenor vs. David Loiseau, Gina Carano vs. Julie Kedzie and Renzo Gracie vs. Frank Shamrock headlining EliteXC: Destiny (Bigfoot Silva , Mike Pyle and Bo Cantrell were also thrown in the undercard mix).
Within months, Showtime announced that it would partner with Elite XC to broadcast a challenger series entitled ‘ShoXC’ live on their network (after EliteXC’s collapse this transformed into ShoMMA and then eventually manifested into it’s current incarnation ‘Showtime Challengers’). It took EliteXC less than a year to nail out a contract with CBS that enabled them to broadcast a live MMA event every other month in a primetime slot on a Saturday night. At the helm of all of this MMA goodness was former boxing promoter (and soon to be reality show star) Gary Shaw.
Enough of the history lesson. Most of you MMA fans were around when EliteXC was in its prime (at least I hope you were). This morning as I was searching for ways to shield my body from the Japanese radiation that now surrounds California, I stumbled on a super hidden stash of long-forgotten EliteXC videos that reside deep within the CBS.com servers. We’re talking about stuff like Tonya Evinger interviewing Scott Smith after his loss to Robbie Lawler.
You can see the goldmine of EliteXC videos that haven’t seen the light of day for many years right here. Alternatively, you can click here and watch them. Both links go to the same destination, so there’s no need to click on them twice — unless you have an undying urge to confirm it for yourself. Here’s a video of the Jake Shields vs. Paul Daley promo from 2008 that now has a sudden heightened level of importance this month.