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Now that our friend Ariel Helwani is back at work covering mixed martial arts for Versus.com (Congrats Ariel!), he was able to land the first exclusive interview with Jared “$kala” Shaw since news first broke that ProElite was going under.

When Strikeforce exec Mike Afromowitz said the potential deal to acquire ProElite’s assets was complicated, he wasn’t kidding.

Robert Maysey’s MMAFA has jumped in the battle to free former EliteXC fighters from ProElite’s death grip.

So believes Sam Caplan. According to Five Oz. sources, ProElite has accepted a bid to sell the organization’s assets. If true, an announcement could be made as early as later today.

As unbelievable as it is, it’s really looking like someone is going to buy ProElite. Thus far, all we know is Terry Trebilcock’s King of the Cage is one of the bidders, but not the leading one. The other two? A mystery. The leading candidate has money, and lots of it, but who is it?

Well, nothing has been confirmed just yet, but according to iGuillotine.com (via MMA Weekly), the deep-pocketed mystery buyer is Mark Ecko Enterprises.

Our sources indicate that Marc Ecko Enterprises (MEE) is the leading bidder for the purchase of ProElite, Inc. and the brand EliteXC. The company hopes to inherit ProElite’s television contracts with both CBS and Showtime.

A clothing-company-turned-fight-promoter? Hmmm…where have we heard that one before?

Moving on, from all accounts, it seems the CBS and Showtime contracts are what the buyers are really interested in. However, as Loretta Hunt reported today, it appears there’s competition for the network deal, so the question is, would Mark Ecko still be interested if he couldn’t get the contract? I don’t know, but my guess is probably not.

It will be interesting to see where this goes, and even more intriguing is if they do buy ProElite, who is going to be running the promotion? More people who don’t know what they’re doing in MMA or someone who actually does? The answer to that question should give us a pretty good indication of what the future holds for ProElite.

The story of ProElite’s demise doesn’t know which way it wants to go. First, they ran out of money and their lifeline decided to dump them. They’re supposedly filing for bankruptcy, except they don’t. Then, several fighters file for breach of contract to which ProElite responds with, “we’re running events in 2009.” Showtime is pissed because ProElite owes them a ton of money, so they file to hold a public auction to sell off all of ProElite’s assets, including fighter contracts, to recoup as much money as possible. ProElite says Showtime can’t do that and threatens to file a lawsuit to block the sale. Meanwhile, fighters’ agents are pulling out the laterns and pitchforks.

The press release:

Or just buying time?

Where are they going? A week removed from EliteXC’s fall, not one EliteXC fighter is free and clear yet to sign a new deal elsewhere. That doesn’t mean the wheels aren’t turning though. Here’s the latest on a few of the fighters EliteXC left behind.

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.