Saturday night’s EliteXC debut on CBS may well be remembered more for its controversies than it being the first primetime cable showcase of MMA.

The most anticipated fight on the card was Kimbo Slice’s primetime debut against James Thompson. But what they got was not what people thought. Kimbo, out to prove himself in front of a live national audience, showed was that he is more than a one-dimensional fighter... but only slightly.

The match was expected to be a slugfest but instead actually turned into an actual mixed martial arts contest. Kimbo did show that he has been working on other areas of his game and employed them with some flips and working from the guard position. But he also showed his inexperience.

Early on, Kimbo had a chance to submit Thompson when he got his back. But he didn't know how to keep it and later when he had a choke, he clearly didn't look like he had the training on how to sink it deep enough to get a tap.

Then, in the second round, Slice had a perfect opportunity to hit Thompson with a knee to the head for a finish. But instead he tried to use his fists, as he is accustomed to, and it ended up allowing Thompson to drop him to the ground. Then a shortfall in his jiu-jitsu ability was evident as Kimbo didn’t muster any effort to get out of the position. His cardio also definitely appeared to be in question.

In the third round, Kimbo reverted to the scary guy everybody has come to know and pounded Thompson into a referee stoppage. But that was where the controversy came.

While it was borderline, I was okay with the stoppage for three reasons:

1) Thompson took four straight shots to the head with his hands more or less dropped to his side.

2) Thompson’s balance was off and he was wobbling, so he was in a dangerous position, and

3) He looked like he was dazed, and certainly his reaction of slapping the ref doesn’t come from someone whose all there (at least you hope).

Bottom line, Thompson was no longer intelligently defending himself.

You could argue that the referee could have stopped the fight in Thompson’s favour at the end of the second round. But I'm okay with the decision not to there. While Kimbo wasn't doing much too defend himself, he was still trying to intelligently defend himself, and did putt his hands in front of his face when warned by the referee. The shots Thompson was giving him were very tired ones and not doing much damage, which to me is not enough to earn a stoppage.

Bottom line, Thompson had the chance to finish him, but didn’t do it.

And when you compare the two situations, Thompson was in a much more precarious position than Kimbo was.

Slice showed that perhaps some time down the line he would be able to compete against a well-rounded fighter of a higher calibre than Thompson. But he’s still a long way away from that.

The other person who did make a step to silencing some critics was Gina Carano.

The first round was almost even and had a good pace, with a lot of ground action, submission attempts, lots of kicks and exchanges of punches.

But in the second round, Carano dominated, showing her Muay Thai strength. And by the end of the second round, the doctor determined that Kaitlin Young was unable to continue.

Kudos to Young for taking the fight even when Carano was four pounds over. And that fact does take a little away from the win. But Carano showed her abilities and proved that she’s a lot more than just an entertainer. She’s a fighter with a lot of heart. Afterward, she thanked God. And she admitted she felt sloppy after not getting to do as much training coming off the American Gladiator show. "That kind of sucked," she said.

But the fight with the most controversy was the championship bout. Through the first two rounds, there were was some incredible toe-to-toe action. This would have been a fight that excited both an MMA fan and a pure boxing fan, as there were few kicks and really no attempts for takedowns or going into the clinch. The two fighters split the first two rounds on the judges’ scorecards.

But what was looking like it could become a five-round classic was cut short when Smith took an accidental finger to his eye. The doctor stopped the bout after examining it and speaking with him, which drew protests from both fighters, especially Smith, and boos from the crowd.

The doctor made the call after Smith said he couldn’t see. But Smith contended he would have been able to see after the five minute break he was allowed.

The stoppage was actually a good thing for the promotion of the sport in one sense as it helps to show that safety is always put ahead of entertainment. And it will naturally build anticipation for a rematch.

But it was just too bad that the top three featured fights all ended in controversy.

Unless, of course, the promoters gave the referees some "guidance" beforehand, which is entirely possible.





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