Contracts of Kimbo Slice, Gina Carano Will Be Auctioned to the Highest Bidder

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The mixed martial arts promotion EliteXC has gone belly-up, but it still has some valuable assets in the form of its fighters' contracts. And now the contracts for those fighters -- including Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano -- will be auctioned to the highest bidder as part of EliteXC's bankruptcy proceedings.

EliteXC has posted a notice of public sale saying its assets will be sold, including the following:

all contracts between any Debtor and mixed martial arts fighters (including, but not limited to, Kevin Ferguson a.k.a. "Kimbo Slice", Gina Carano, Jake Shields, Robbie Lawler, Frank Shamrock, Antonio Silva, Brett Rogers, Dave Herman, Scott Smith, Nick Diaz, Cristiane Venancio Justino a.k.a. "Chris Cyborg", Eddie Alvarez, Yves Edwards and Wilson Reis)

So who will buy these contracts?

The UFC isn't interested in Kimbo or Carano, and probably isn't interested in getting into a bidding war for any of EliteXC's other fighters, either. UFC might be interested in a guy like Jake Shields, but will probably just sit this auction out.

The two most valuable contracts in the lot are those of Carano and Cris Cyborg, who are the two highest-profile women in MMA, and I hope some promoter buys both of their contracts and puts them in the cage together. Aside from them, it's possible that Affliction, Strikeforce or Mark Cuban's HDNet fights will pick some up, but for the most part the situation is just a big mess, with the fighters caught in the middle. I bet they're regretting the day they signed with EliteXC.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

11-05-2008 @ 1:42PM

Brayan said...

The 2 most valuable persons on the contract are not Gina or Cyborg. Do you understand the difference between a fad and a fashion? One lasts a short time and gets alot of attention, and the other has been around a longtime and will always get attention.
Nick Diaz, Robbie Lawler, Jake Shields are the ones people want to see. They are exciting and they have a good supply of opponents to fight.
The day women sign up to mma in the same numbers that men do, Womens mma will become big and popular. Right now its a freakshow style event like butterbean vs minowa. Its fun and exciting but not going to make you money in the long run. Gina pulls people in with her looks first and her skills second. There are no opponents for her to keep a good flow of business going. This makes those "so-called most valuable contracts" like junk bonds.... Best thing about Gina as a marketing tool is that she is cheap and you can used her for cash-events and then drop her after. Thats business and thats what will happen if someone actually purchases her contract.

11-05-2008 @ 2:14PM

Frederick said...

I got a stupid question. Is this legal?

Can they really sell contracts between promotions? Cant the fighter say I dont want to go fight there?

11-05-2008 @ 5:04PM

foros@dark-star.com.ar said...

Brayan you dont know what do you said...

Gina and cyborg are the most valuate fighters at the time.
That fight it will have more viewers that any fight that you saw.
And that is not becoz they are freek, is becoz they are very good fighting, and is something different.
After that fight, the female MMA is going to have more prominence.
But if you you really feel intimidated by this that's your problem "man"

11-05-2008 @ 10:28PM

Sackolantern PSN ID: johnnynumber5 said...

Kimbo needs to go to Japan and fight in the Dream series. He has huge marketability and Japan loves it's celebrities (Bob Sapp?). Gina Carano has by far the best marketability of all those fighters. I think thats a great stable of fighters and we might see some new additions to the next Affliction card.

@Michael David Smith

Is lawler still fighting villa senior?

Is ShoXC done as well?

11-06-2008 @ 12:15PM

why would i be intimidated? dont be ignorant.
Im a big fan of Gina, shes even on my myspace list.
Look at the numbers not how loud the crowd gets when shes fighting.
1. her opponents are low supply
2. she cheap, meaning they will squander her talents by making more poster child of womens mma than giving the sport some substance.
3. she is the face of womens mma as far as marketing and other than cyborg you have noone else near her weight or skill level or that she hasnt beaten already by a windfall.