Yahoo!Sports.com reports that CBS has asked Elite XC if the mixed martial arts promotion can put together an event for late July -- most likely July 26, which is the last Saturday of the month.
The ratings for the initial "Saturday Night Fights" show on May 31, which peaked at more than 6 million viewers, exceeded the network's expectations. In fact, it was the most watched MMA show ever on television in North America. And apparently CBS is eager to see if it has something that can pull consistent ratings or if the program is a one hit wonder.
Make no mistake: The second helping is perhaps more important than the debut (See XFL).
This is perhaps troublesome for Elite XC because July 26 is about six weeks away, which doesn't give Live Events President Gary Shaw and his team much time for match making. And the depth of the roster is nowhere near as impressive than say the UFC.
However, that doesn't mean Elite XC can't slap this thing together on short notice and still have some great fights.
Of course, the top draw Kimbo Slice will not be ready in time. He's dealing with some minor injuries from the James Thompson fight during the main event of the inaugural show. Nick Diaz is fighting in Hawaii tonight and Hayato "Mach" Sakurai for the welterweight championship at DREAM 5 on July 21.
That rules him out.
And Gina Carano -- who defeated Kaitlin Young in sensation fashion last month -- has said that she doesn't want to fight again until fall.
Even though those are the company's three biggest draws, there is more to Elite XC.
There's been talk of adding a heavyweight title recently, which would likely include Antonio "Big Foot" Silva, and the fight for the vacant welterweight crown between Jake Shields and Drew Fickett has been a long time coming. Let Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith run it back for the middleweight strap, and CBS would have three title fights with which to work.
Not too shabby.
The fact is, having this card on short notice like this might actually give Elite XC a chance to please the hardcore fans with better MMA fights as opposed to just fights that are designed to be stand-up wars.
When all is said and done the second show might not get the ratings that the May 31 show received. That might be a foregone conclusion. But fixing some of the minor things that went wrong the first time and showing improvement in the quality of the second show will help win back some of the hardcore fans and certainly help the ratings in the future.
Get the latest gear
