Not Dead Yet: EliteXC May Be Alive And Returning To CBS

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3762979
Wait, what?
After hemorrhaging money from its inception and seeing its premiere draw, Kimbo Slice, decimated on national television by a virtually unknown Seth Petruzelli, MMA upstart EliteXC appeared to have closed its doors for good. It’s broadcast partner CBS wanted nothing to do with the company, and the contracts of fighters associated with the brand, like Slice and Gina Carano, were being put up for auction.
Now we have reports that the company has been given a financial reprieve, and could be back on national television in the very near future.

It appears Elite XC has rounded up enough financial backing to at least take another breath of air. In turn, the company appears to have kept the ear of CBS executives.

Will Elite XC be back on CBS soon? Are Kimbo and crew even still Elite XC fighters? Where did the money come from? Details are sketchy.

Slice’s people had heard rumors for some time that new Pro Elite CEO Chuck Champion had found suitors willing to jump on board with a company that’s some $55 million in debt from the Gary Shaw era of Elite XC. A message left Thursday at Champion’s Los Angeles office wasn’t immediately returned.

But fighter Benji Radach, who also works in management at LA Boxing, said he’s heard from multiple sources in the MMA business that he should consider himself still under contract with Elite XC, and that he should prep for a possible CBS return (Radach hammered Ninja Rua in his last fight).

“I’m hearing it from all over the place, and I think it’s true,” Radach says. “It should happen.”

The article goes on to quote a CBS executive, who states that MMA will be back on the network in 2009, though she does not confirm that EliteXC will be the promotion to make it happen.
If the company does come back, it would be perhaps the greatest example of a real-life Lazarus we could ever see. This company was not just finished, but in many ways was viewed as an embarrassment. Is a second chance warranted? Will the company continue to push Slice? Time will tell.
MMA Submission: What of Elite XC? [ESPN]