EliteXC: Unfinished Business Review

Results

This was a busy night for me given the airing of Miguel Cotto vs. Antonio Margarito on HBO pay-per-view so this will be the Cliff’s Notes version of EliteXC: Unfinished Business.

The night began on Showtime with a matchup of Wilson Reis vs. Bryan Caraway. This was a very good featherweight fight and honestly the type of contest I’m not used to seeing in EliteXC. Caraway won on the feet but Reis controlled the fight on the ground. Given that most of the fight took place on the mat, Wilson Reis was awarded the unanimous decision. EliteXC has booked a lot of brawls and one-sided affairs but this was an evenly matched mixed martial arts fight. Bravo. It also warrants mentioning that the mat is splattered with blood stains. I want to see that fight. Unless EliteXC just reuses their canvas and doesn’t use OxyClean.

Rafael Feijao made short work of Travis Galbraith in the second fight. Feijao is scary good. He’s also from Brazil and nothing but badass fighters come from Brazil. Accept for maybe Giant Silva. Feijao looks even scarier when Anderson Silva and Noguiera walk to the cage with him. The fight was stopped by the ref due to an overwhelming thrall of punches in the first round. EliteXC doesn’t have a Light Heavyweight champion yet but this guy will certainly be in the running.

The final fight on Showtime was for the vacant EliteXC Heavyweight Championship as Antonio “Big Foot” Silva faced Justin Eilers. Big Foot has been groomed to be EliteXC’s Heavyweight Champion since he started fighting for the company. To say Gary Shaw wanted him to win would be an understatement. And win he did as Silva forced a stoppage as Eilers stopped fighting back in the second round. TKO stoppages is the EliteXC I know. Silva cut Eilers in the opening of the second round and it wasn’t long after that for the big man to be awarded the title.

Time to move over to CBS as the chicks do battle. Shayna Baszler fought the female version of Cyborg Santos. This one was ugly. Baszler is a slick submission specialist but she was pulverized by Santos. Baszler was gassed after the first round and Santos started striking like a dude. Mazzagatti pump-faked a stoppage and Santos climbed the cage to celebrate only to later find out the fight was still going on. It was rather amusing until Santos resumed beating the crap out of this overmatched girl. It should have been stopped the first time around. EliteXC wasted no time in hyping Cyborg Santos against Gina Carano.

EliteXC continued its night of coronations when Jake Shields defeated Nick Thompson for the Welterweight title. This one didn’t last long as Shields was already in full mount just 15 seconds into the fight. Thompson is called The Goat and has a neck-beard. It’s time for a makeover, Nick. Thompson tried to scramble out from under Shields but was caught and submitted by a one-armed guillotine. Shields looked very impressive.

Hometown boy and the always entertainingNick Diaz fought Thomas Denny in the next fight. Denny tried to live up to his “Wildman” monicker but Diaz remained patient. Nick’s boxing is awesome. Denny was almost finished in the first round but was saved by the bell. Diaz finished things in the second round with a knockout blow to his downed opponent. While we’re at it, we need to send Denny to the same Makeover Camp as Nick Thompson.

The main event saw Robbie Lawler defend his middleweight belt against Scott Smith in a rematch of their slugfest that was cut short due to eye pokage. Smith started out strong with nice leg kicks and high kicks but Lawler is not going to get hit without hitting back. Smith opened a cut on Lawler in the second round with an elbow to the top of the head. Lawler went crazy with knees which led to the finish. But not before Lawler could land a nice illegal kick that went completely ignored. Lawler got the decisive TKO win and looks unstoppable in the middleweight division.