Elite Xtreme Combat, also known as EliteXC, was a United States-based
mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incor ...
(MMA) organization owned and operated by
ProElite. It was founded as a partnership between
Showtime Networks
Showtime Networks Inc. is an American entertainment company that oversees the company's premium cable television channels, including its flagship service Showtime. It is a subsidiary of media conglomerate Paramount Global under its networks uni ...
and ProElite and officially announced on December 14, 2006. It was headquartered in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
.
The partnership to form EliteXC was announced on November 13, 2006.
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/ref> The first major event occurred February 10, 2007 at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven, Mississippi. Fighters Frank Shamrock and Renzo Gracie fought in the main event. Also debuting on this card was Charles Bennett (fighter), Charles Bennett, K. J. Noons, Mike Pyle (fighter), Mike Pyle and Antônio Silva (fighter), Antônio Silva.
In early 2008, EliteXC had reached an agreement with CBS to broadcast EliteXC shows on prime time. The arrangement was that CBS would broadcast EliteXC specials every other month on Saturday nights. CBS aired only three events in 2008, on May 31, July 26, and October 4.
EliteXC events
This is a list of events held and scheduled by Elite Xtreme Combat (EliteXC), a mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incor ...
organization based in the United States. The first event took place in February 2007. The list includes three events that EliteXC co-promoted ( Dynamite!! USA, Strikeforce Shamrock vs. Baroni, and Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Le) with other MMA organizations. Two events were shown initially on pay-per-view
Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast.
Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program g ...
, while the others aired on the Showtime cable network or on CBS.
ShoXC
On July 11, 2007, it was announced that Proelite.com and Showtime would produce a new series titled ShoXC. The monthly shows featured up-and-coming MMA talent, similar to Showtime's ShoBox boxing events. The first took place on July 27, 2007. The first event was co-promoted with King of the Cage
King of the Cage (KOTC) is a mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion based in Southern California, United States.
History
KOTC was founded in 1998 by Terry Trebilcock. KOTC features mostly amateur as well as up and coming MMA stars and former mains ...
and was also known as KOTC: Undisputed.
Partnership with Cage Rage
On September 7, 2007, ProElite, Inc. announced that they had officially acquired British MMA organization Cage Rage Championships. EliteXC and Cage Rage Championships planned numerous joint ventures together, beginning with Cage Rage 23.
Partnership with DREAM
On May 10, 2008 EliteXC announced a working partnership with Japanese promotion Dream
A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...
. The two groups intended to share fighters (Eddie Alvarez
Edward "Eddie" Alvarez (born January 11, 1984) is an American mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the Lightweight (170 lb) division of ONE Championship. He also formerly competed in the UFC and Bellator MMA, winning world titles ...
, Jason Miller and Nick Diaz
Nickolas Robert Diaz (born August 2, 1983) is an American professional mixed martial artist who competes in the middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Diaz is a former Strikeforce, WEC and IFC welterweight champi ...
have already participated in Dream events) and eventually co-promote shows.
Co-promoting with Affliction
On September 24, 2008 EliteXC announced a working partnership with rival US promotion Affliction. Affliction offered Andrei Arlovski
Andrei Arlovski (born 4 February 1979) is a Belarusian-American professional mixed martial artist, actor and former UFC Heavyweight Champion. He currently competes in the Heavyweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and ho ...
vs. Roy Nelson for the EliteXC: Heat card on CBS. In addition, Affliction heavily promoted their line through commercials on the show. It was hoped that the two companies would survive a rocky financial situation long enough to co-promote fights again in the future.
Controversy and Closing of EliteXC
On October 4, 2008, EliteXC's biggest ratings draw Kimbo Slice was knocked out just 14 seconds into his bout with Seth Petruzelli
Seth Christopher Petruzelli (born December 3, 1979) is an American retired mixed martial artist, kickboxer, professional wrestler and entrepreneur. Petruzelli competed in the Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight divisions for the UFC, WEC, EliteXC, ...
. Petruzelli served as a last-minute replacement for MMA pioneer Ken Shamrock
Kenneth Wayne Shamrock (''né'' Kilpatrick; born February 11, 1964) is an American bare-knuckle boxing promoter and semi-retired professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, and kickboxer. He is best known for his time in Ultimate Fighting Cha ...
, who got injured on the day of the fight and was unable to compete. The unexpected outcome of this fight drew a great deal of attention, and subsequent comments by Petruzelli that he was offered a monetary bonus to employ certain techniques during the fight (comments he later recanted and obfuscated), raised the question of undue influence by EliteXC representatives in fights. Significant debt incurred by parent company Pro Elite with no investors or buyers showing interestReports: EliteXC tells employees, fighters it's out of business
/ref> caused the subsequent cancellation of the November 8, 2008 event. Combined with the Florida State Athletic Commission launching an investigation into the Slice/Petruzelli fight, Pro Elite announced on October 20, 2008 that they would cease operations.
Weight classes
EliteXC Champions
Heavyweight Championship
:''Weight limit: Unlimited''
Middleweight Championship
:''Weight limit: ''
Welterweight Championship
:''Weight limit: ''
Lightweight Championship
:''Weight limit: ''
Bantamweight Championship
:''Weight limit: ''
Women's division
*Shayna Baszler
Shayna Andrea Baszler ( ; born August 8, 1980) is an American professional wrestler, kickboxer and former mixed martial artist. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand. Baszler is a former two-time and longest ...
*Gina Carano
Gina Joy Carano (born April 16, 1982) is an American actress and former mixed martial artist. She competed in EliteXC and Strikeforce from 2006 to 2009, where she compiled a 7–1 record. Her popularity led to her being called the "face of wome ...
* Marloes Coenen
*Tonya Evinger
Tonya Evinger (born June 4, 1981) is an American mixed martial artist. A professional mixed martial artist since 2006, Evinger has previously competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), EliteXC, Raging Wolf and Invicta Fighting Champi ...
*Takayo Hashi
Takayo (written: , or ) is a feminine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include:
*Takayo Fischer
Takayo Fischer (née Tsubouchi; born November 25, 1932) is an American stage, film and television actress, as well as voice-over a ...
* Sarah Kaufman
*Debi Purcell
Deborah Ann Purcell is a retired American female mixed martial artist. She was formerly an assistant coach to the Southern California Condors of the International Fight League.
Early life
Purcell was involved in cheerleading, dance and competiti ...
*Cris Cyborg
Cristiane Justino Venâncio (born July 9, 1985), known professionally by her ring name Cris Cyborg (and formerly by her married name Cristiane Santos), is a Brazilian-American mixed martial artist who as of January 2021 competes in Bellator MM ...
*Kaitlin Young
Kaitlin Young (born September 15, 1985) is an American mixed martial artist who currently competes in the lightweight division. A professional mixed martial artist since 2007, Young has also competed for EliteXC, Invicta Fighting Championships, a ...
See also
* Mixed Martial Arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...
* List of current mixed martial arts champions
Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a form of competitive combat sport, akin to boxing, muay thai, or kick boxing. MMA titles, or championship belts, are given to those fighters deemed by a promotional organization to have met a certain standard of athlet ...
* List of Bellator MMA champions
Bellator MMA (formerly known as "Bellator Fighting Championships") is an American mixed martial arts promotion, and the following is a history of its champions in each weight class.
At the time of its inception in 2008, CEO Bjorn Rebney founded B ...
* List of Invicta FC champions
* List of ONE Championship champions
This is a list of ONE Championship champions in each weight division of each sport.
Current champions
Men's championship history Heavyweight World Championship
::''Weight limit: ''
Light Heavyweight World Championship
::''Weight lim ...
* List of Pride champions
Below is a list of Pride Fighting Championships champions and title defenses:
World champions Heavyweight Championship
:Weight limit: Over
Middleweight Championship
:Weight limit: to
Welterweight Championship
:Weight limit: to
Lightw ...
* List of PFL champions
Professional Fighters League (formerly the World Series of Fighting, or "WSOF") is an American mixed martial arts promotion, and the following is a history of its champions in each weight class. As well as championship history for their Internation ...
* List of Strikeforce champions
Strikeforce was an American mixed martial arts organization. It crowned male champions in the lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions, and female champions in featherweight and bantamweight.
World c ...
* List of UFC champions
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champions are fighters who have won UFC championships.
Historical notes
At the time of the UFC's inception in 1993, mixed martial arts was not sanctioned in the United States, and did not include weight classe ...
* List of WEC champions
This is a list of World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) champions at each weight class.
In December 2006 World Extreme Cagefighting was bought by Zuffa, LLC, the parent company of the UFC, to concentrate on the four smaller weight classes under t ...
* Mixed martial arts weight classes
Mixed martial arts weight classes are weight classes that pertain to the sport of mixed martial arts.
Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts
Prior to state sanctioning, weight classes were not mandatory since the competitions were held without the a ...
Footnotes
External links
Former Official EliteXC Site as captured by archive.org
Official Showtime Networks, Inc. Site
{{Showtime Network programming
Sports organizations established in 2006
Mixed martial arts organizations
Organizations disestablished in 2008
Mixed martial arts events lists