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 There are some people that questioned the decision by EliteXC to match Kimbo Slice and Ken Shamrock to headline the Oct. 4 edition of CBS "Saturday Night Fights". Then you have someone who is flat out ticked off over the decision: Brett Rogers.
The heavyweight has wanted to fight Kimbo for months and called him out in the post-fight press conference on May 31 following the company's network debut on CBS. So you can imagine the frustration when he learned that he was passed over again, this time by Shamrock.
Mike Reilly, his manager and the head trainer of his camp Team Bison, released the following statement to FiveOuncesofPain.com and, boy, it is a doozie.
You can read the entire statement after the jump.
On behalf of Brett Rogers and the Team Bison Camp -
We are getting a lot of requests for interviews concerning the
recently announced Shamrock vs. Slice match up. I believe many people
are looking for us to be upset and join the pig pile on EliteXC. Well,
people have to keep on looking.
Brett has two words tattooed on his arms: one is success and the
other is patience. We of course would like to fight Kimbo here and now.
We would like to fight him today. We would love to fight a legend like
Shamrock as well. We would also like to fight for the title. There is
no doubt we will get to do all three; we just need to have patience and
then we will have success.
As for Elite – this is our home. We are excited to be part of Elite,
CBS and Showtime. We are proud to be part of one of fastest-growing and
best backed promotions in the world. We are proud to be part of a show
that treats their fighters with love and respect and is not afraid to
let their fighters compete outside the boundaries. Elite is also not
afraid to give fighters the opportunity to develop and grow as athletes
and entertainers. Elite has a growing network of mid-level and
developmental shows that are bringing up true up-and-coming talent that
will provide the bedrock of the sport for a long time to come.
I know a lot of people want to dog on Elite; but these same people
would have an MMA world where no more then a dozen guys were making a
living wage. People who think the real world should run just like it
does on their PlayStation. But this is a complicated, difficult
business for every side of the equation. For the fighters, promoters
and everyone else involved. As a camp we have to negotiate, posture,
bully, push, plead to get our share of the love. But at the end of the
day we are Elite.
As for Oct 4th; that was our spot. Shamrock with his name and giant
ego butted in line to get a slice of Kevin. At 103 years of age Ken
usurped our rightful place against the YouTube champ. Our sincerest
hope is that Ken whips Kimbo and then we can finally euthanize the
“World’s Most Dangerous Man” and relegate him to some MMA dinosaur
exhibit. Maybe taxidermy him and Severn and place them on a rotating
pedestal where they can endless circle each other.
If Ken proves to be more sham then rock and Fergi beats him, then
the Slice hype grows even greater. Dude is already more myth then
Sasquatch, Chupacabra and a *&%#$@! unicorn combined. Kevin is the
black Yeti.
Caught between a Shamrock and a hard place, Kevin has chosen the old
over the new; the past over the future. But Fergi… the hard place is
coming. By putting us off, making us wait will only make matters worse.
There is nothing business about it anymore. Kimbo made it a point to go
frontin’ to our boys at Big Black. But that street thug B.S. might work
well with the fan bois and the Internet dorks who think your street
cred means something; but Son… Brett comes from Cabrini Green; the
worst 12 blocks of America. Compared to that your street is Sesame
Street. So you can say it is very personal between Brett and Fergi. So
go ahead and make us wait while you fight Tank and Shamrock. Hell, why
not fight Hackney, Harold Howard, Fred Ettish and the rest of Jurassic
MMA? And while your shuckin’ and duckin’ we will be hustlin’ and
muscilin’ and when the bell finally tolls the only real question left
is … do you wake up looking at canvas or arena lights?
On behalf of Brett Rogers – Team Bison
Honestly, I don't know where to begin. Sure, the guy should be upset but he is taking a lot of it out on Shamrock when his anger should be pointed at EliteXC for putting together the fight. Can you blame Shamrock for wanting a fight on network television and to make a really nice payday?
In the end, I think that EliteXC made the right decision in pitting Shamrock vs. Kimbo. Rogers might be a better fighter than Shamrock at this stage of his career but Ken is the better known fighter and makes for a much bigger fight, especially with mainstream fans. It's all about making money and this is a money fight. Kimbo vs. Rogers simply isn't right now.
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