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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.

Carlos Arias of The OC Register was able to get Gary Shaw to talk a little bit about his thoughts on the fall of EliteXC. He steers clear of any specifics due to “pending litigation” but he does say he’s “not ashamed” of what he did during his time at ProElite. Shaw also talks about the fighters, specifically Gina Carano and Kimbo Slice, and like any good father would, he defends his son, $kala, from all the (warranted) attacks he’s received in the media.

As for the fighters who Shaw feels bad for, here’s Scott Smith’s perspective on the whole situation.

“I’ve been in camp for over eight weeks and I’ve been pushing myself hard. It’s one thing if [it happens] two months out from a fight, but two weeks? It’s devastating. Even if I lost, worst case scenario, (including sponsorship money) I would still be out close to $40,000. Until all the paperwork and everything is done I’m not going to be cleared to fight somewhere else before the end of the year. It’s close to the holidays, I got a mortgage to pay, I’ve got two kids, it’s tough.”

Yeah, Gary, do you feel bad enough to help the fighters and employees who you helped put in this situation? I’m sure you’re not hurting right now.

The inevitable comments from Dana White on ProElite’s death are here, and as you probably expected, he’s a pretty happy guy. White calls it a “great day for MMA.” He then proceeds to rip into Jeremy Lappen, Jared Shaw, and Gary Shaw.

Dana White is piiisssed! He goes off on EliteXC for the alleged bribery scandal in this video, and rightfully so. Of course, he’s assuming they’re guilty, but he pretty much has to to distance the UFC from the situation as much as possible. The whole rant is quote worthy, but my personal favorite is when he addresses $kala as “rapper whatever your name is, Shaw Jr.” Funny stuff.

And White actually had an analogy that made sense for once. Props to MDS at MMA Fanhouse for the transcription.

“It would be like the NFL, there’s a game between the Patriots and the Browns and the NFL goes into the locker rooms and tells the players, ‘Listen, the Patriots pull higher ratings if they make it to the playoffs and the Super Bowl than the Browns do. So here’s what we’re going to do: The Browns have a great running game. We’re going to pay your team more money if you just pass tonight, don’t run, because we need the Patriots to make it to the next level.’ That’s f—ing illegal. They’re being investigated by the Florida Athletic Commission. They ought to be investigated by the FBI, too.”

Zach Arnold put together a great article earlier on the mainstream media’s coverage of the EliteXC alleged bribery scandal. It has snowballed into a public relations nightmare for EliteXC as the mainstream press has picked up on the story. Dana White has finally broke his silence on the subject, and as you probably expected, he didn’t have anything nice to say about EliteXC. White’s former nemesis, Gary Shaw, who is officially still an EliteXC consultant, also put in his two cents, and it certainly doesn’t help EliteXC’s cause.

According the ProElite’s latest SEC filing, both EliteXC President Gary Shaw, and ProElite Executive Chairman Doug DeLuca have resigned from their positions with ProElite, Inc. Shaw and DeLuca will now serve as “consultants.”

Contrary to reports that the Shaws were not in attendance at EliteXC/CBS “Unfinished Business” this past Saturday night, which added more fuel to the fire that CBS has pushed them out of the company, it appears that one of the Shaws, Jared, was on hand in Stockton. Gary, however, appeared to be MIA.

If there’s anything that you can count on in Corporate America, it’s that when one larger corporation begins to take control over another, there’s likely to be personnel changes, and they usually start at the top. MMAPayout.com has reason to believe this may be exactly what’s happening to EliteXC president, Gary Shaw.