MMA on CBS Round 3: The last call?
Submitted for your approval, the Mr. T-wannabe Kimbo Slice (facing legendary Ken Shamrock) and the easy-on-the-eyes Gina Carano (does it matter who she's choke-holding?) headline the third mixed-martial-arts card that CBS will present (Saturday, Channel 2, 9 to 11 p.m.).
But there are reports that the L.A.-based EliteXC is fighting for its financial life and may not make it to a promised fourth network show.
The first CBS card last May drew 6 million viewers; the second, last July, had 2.6 million. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission filings, EliteXC's parent company, ProElite, is more than $55 million in debt since starting in 2006 and only has enough financing to get it through this year.
CBS is getting the word out through other cross-promotional vehicles, such as having Carano appear on "The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson" this week.
Carano said about the sport's appeal: "It's honest, it's real, you can't really hide anything in the cage, just two people going at it . . . It's kind of like sex."
For Kimbo, his tough-guy personna may have taken a hit after he punched (supposedly) David Blane in the gut twice during the magician's ABC special, and didn't dent him:
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