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Dana White and the UFC weren’t the only ones that passed on Fedor Emelianenko. Former EliteXC frontman Gary Shaw revealed to FightHubTV that they also considered signing Fedor, but passed for all the same reasons the UFC did.

“I did try several times to get Fedor to come to EliteXC, but the numbers they were asking, there’s no fighter who was worth that. I wasn’t willing to meet their demands. I thought M-1 was very difficult to deal with. It wasn’t only Fedor. They wanted to be the co-promoters and the managers and they wanted you to put on so many Russian fighters of theirs on every show. Nobody’s worth that price. Maybe if Fedor would have had the right management from the beginning, he might have been in the UFC and been a huge star.”

Yet they still went $55 million in the hole. Maybe they should have signed him anyways. What’s a few more million when you’re in that deep?

Former EliteXC promoter Gary Shaw, who helped put ProElite in their infamous $55 million dollar hole, is not a fan of their attempted resurrection. He told The Fight Nerd just recently that “it’s laughable” and “the people running it are jokes.”

I wouldn’t just take his word for it though. Unlike Shaw, the people running it — former Icon Sport promoter T. Jay Thompson and former Strikeforce matchmaker Richard Chou — have actually had success in MMA. And at the very least, they’re saying all the right things.

“We are really going to grow this company at a correct pace,” Thompson told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “I don’t want a lot of crazy growing pains and mistakes being made.”

“We’re getting a lot of attention, which is great, but we’re just getting up and running. We’re not a major competing MMA company right now; we’re just getting our legs under us and grow organically and get a grassroots following.

“I could see us having an entry-level television deal by the fall, by our November show … And when I say entry level, it probably won’t be a major network. And there’s nothing wrong with that; it’s kind of the way we want to grow.”

As such, don’t expect that big Showtime/CBS deal to come through anytime soon as it was rumored earlier this week. Thompson was adamant those rumors were false.

Kimbo Slice will box after all.

Despite questioning whether he was “committed” enough last month, Gary Shaw has booked Kimbo Slice in his first professional boxing match against an unnamed opponent on August 13 in Miami, Oklahoma. The announcement was made earlier today.

On Saturday, August 13, legendary street brawler Kimbo Slice will make his long-awaited professional boxing debut in the four-round main event of a Gary Shaw Productions and Tony Holden Promotions boxing extravaganza at Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma.

“Kimbo was always meant to be in the ring,” said Jared Shaw, Team Kimbo Promotional Advisor. “He’s one of the hardest punchers in the world and on August 13, his journey to becoming America’s heavyweight begins. The first stop will be Oklahoma in what will become the Kimbo Slice Express.”

“He’s completely focused on his boxing career and excited to showcase his talents inside the squared circle,” continued Shaw. “Kimbo Slice is hungry and when that man wants his bread, he’s scary.”

“Even in his losses, Kimbo brought a level of excitement that few fighters can generate,” said his promoter, Gary Shaw. “He is a genuine personality with unbelievable strength and character and we’re excited about his prospects in boxing. The minute he steps in the ring, he’ll be one of the most recognizable and talked-about fighters in the sport and his fans around the world will once again feel the excitement.”

“Kimbo’s been waiting for this and now it’s time,” added Imber.

Kimbo’s opponent and other bouts on the card will be announced soon. Tickets will go on sale July 5 at BuffaloRun.com. They will be priced at $38, $48 and $68. No word yet on whether this fight will be broadcast via television, the internet or pay-per-view.

Image via Esther Lin for ProElite.com

Nick Diaz’s former EliteXC promoter Gary Shaw weighs in with FightHubTV on Nick’s potential foray into professional boxing later this year. He also gives an update on Kimbo Slice. In short, Kimbo wasn’t “committed” enough.

Last week, Gary Shaw hinted that he was close to signing a deal with Kimbo Slice that would put the former backyard brawler/EliteXC headliner into a boxing ring. I suppose this report from ESPN makes it official.

At Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, New Jersey-based promoter Gary Shaw recently told ESPNNewYork.com that he was confident he would soon have a deal signed with Slice. After weeks of negotiations with Slice’s advisor “Icy” Mike Imber, Shaw told ESPN that he’d inked a deal and that Slice would debut sometime between October and December, depending on how much progress he makes with trainer Clemente Medina, a California-based tutor.

And what sort of aspirations does Shaw have for Kimbo you might ask? With the proper training, Shaw says Kimbo could be competing for a heavyweight title in as little as 5-6 fights.

“He could easily be at the same level as guys the Klitschkos have been fighting,” said Shaw, who gave a shout-out to son Jared, who turned him on to the much-downloaded backyard brawler several years ago. “Maybe I’m wrong, maybe he’s coming to boxing too late, but I don’t think so. He’s not a beaten-up athlete. He’s a natural, with that bob and weave like Mike Tyson.”

“I’ve always said he could be a world champion,” said Shaw, who was an executive at Elite XC, the promotional outlet which staged Slice’s first four MMA bouts. “I believe in that more than ever. This is not the era of Tyson, Holyfield and Lennox Lewis.”

Despite the switch to the sweet science, Kimbo says he hasn’t closed the door on MMA. He just felt it was time for a “career move,” and even though he “feels like a baby all over again,” he’s eager to get in the ring and “break some ribs” and “knock people the f— out.”

But if Kimbo couldn’t do that in MMA with 4oz. gloves, how is he going to do it in boxing?

Update: Roy Jones Jr. gives his stamp of approval and wouldn’t mind getting in the ring with Kimbo when he’s ready.

I think it’s a beautiful thing for him to try the sweet science. I’d have to see what he’s weighing if he wants me to come in there and give him a try at it, but if he want it that bad, I might give it to Kimbo. It’s a great opportunity for him. It’s a great fight for Florida. Boxing needs all it can get right now, so if the fans get interested in wanting to see that, we can do that… Kimbo’s got a lot of heart, he’s got a lot talent, and it took a lot for him to get where he got in MMA. I think his main skill is boxing anyway. I think he’ll be fine with it… He has a fighting background, so he’s been fighting a long time now, so it won’t take him long (to get up to speed). He just needs a quick 2 or 3, maybe 4 fights, and we’ll be ready to throw… You can’t take nothing away from Kimbo. Like you said in the beginning, when you first saw Kimbo, he started showing very good boxing promise. He showed a lot of boxing promise when you first saw him on YouTube. You know, you can’t really just put it on the heavyweight division. Even if the heavyweight division was good right now, he’d still be the guy, because look at what Mike Tyson did. He’s a guy that’s capable of doing that. I mean, Mike Tyson was a powerful puncher, just like Kimbo is.

It looks like Gary Shaw is making another play at putting Kimbo Slice in a boxing ring. The former EliteXC promoter tried once before after ProElite collapsed, but Kimbo ultimately signed on with the UFC for TUF 10. Shaw always maintained it was a mistake and he could do big things for Kimbo’s career in the boxing universe, and now that the UFC experiment is over and Kimbo is fielding offers, Shaw is strongly hinting at finally signing the backyard brawler to a boxing contract. Shaw promises “big news” in the near future.

HT: FightHubTV.com

This brief interview with Gary Shaw makes me laugh. The UFC made a huge mistake cutting Kimbo Slice. They matched him up wrong, and should have built towards a pay-per-view with James Toney (Kimbo reportedly turned down a Toney fight btw). So says the man who ran a promotion into the ground with Kimbo Slice as his star attraction.

I don’t think cutting Kimbo was a mistake, nor do I think keeping him would have been either, but hearing it like this from Gary Shaw is pretty amusing.

HT: FightHubTV via MMANews

It shocked me when I heard, especially after Dana dissing him for two years and saying the nastiest things about him. So it surprised me, knowing who Kimbo is, that he would succumb to working with Dana. It shows that whatever comes out of Dana’s mouth is not always the truth…I just don’t think it’s a big enough platform for him. I think it’s a step back. I think he’s bigger than that…Whatever Kimbo wants to do, I’m happy for him. I don’t know what they paid Kimbo — maybe they paid him a boatload of money — and in that case he’s doing the right thing. Kimbo is one of those people that comes along every once in ages who has what I call the it factor as a promoter…Because I really believe that I could make him the heavyweight champ. And I believe he could have made a lot of money in boxing, because of that it factor, and I believe that boxing needs a heavyweight with real star power. If I ask you what heavyweight you’d want to see, I’m not sure you’d want to see any.

—Gary Shaw, via MMA Fanhouse, reacting to the news that Kimbo decided to join the cast of the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter instead of a career in professional boxing with him.

Well, Gary always has Blood, Sweat n’ Bling to lean back on so don’t feel too bad for him.

Image courtesy of CombatLifestyle.com

Looks like the long-running rumor that Kimbo Slice will abandon MMA to try his hand at professional boxing is true. And guess who’s going to promote him?

Surprise surprise, Gary Shaw!

Gary Shaw, the promoter who brought Kimbo to EliteXC, told Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald that Kimbo (real name: Kevin Ferguson) will make his pro boxing debut as a heavyweight some time late this summer. The date, venue and opponent are all to be determined.

Between all the rumors of him fighting in Japan and returning to MMA in Strikeforce, I suppose we should have known this would happen. People tend to stick with what they know, and since he doesn’t really know the sport he was competing in or the sport he intends to compete in, that pretty leaves Gary Shaw as the common denominator.

I don’t know how much more success Kimbo will find in boxing than he did in MMA. After all, he was knocked out by a weak jab from a fighter who isn’t exactly known for his striking, so I can’t imagine he’ll fare much better in a sport where his opponents know only one thing, punching. But, at least with boxing he’ll get free passes for all the cans he faces. The real question is though: Is he good enough to beat those guys or is he just another Glass Joe?

I’ll take the latter, but to be honest, I really couldn’t care less. At this point, I’m more interested in getting a good laugh out of watching $kala kiss Kimbo’s ass on Blood Sweat n’ Bling.

Image courtesy of CombatLifestyle.com

Haha, guess what’s back on? “Blood, Sweat ‘n Bling,” your own personal view into the crazy f*cked up world Gary Shaw lives in.

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