Ypsilanti, MI - Former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriquez returned to action March 20 and was the default headline act as the Xtreme Kombat League (XKL) presented Evolution 1 at the Convocation Center on the campus of Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Rodriguez looked sharp and defeated Bryan Ryan via tap out after a ground-and pound assault in the second round but Evolution 1 became more notable for what did not happen, then what actually took place in the ring.

The advertised main event of Jeff Monson against Scott Barrett never happened and the live audience was never informed, leading to disappointment, confusion and eventually, resentment from those attending.

Shan Hasan, V.P. of Marketing for XKL did not respond to questions about the cancellation. Not a great professional debut in Michigan as the XKL was the first to receive a license in the state to promote professional fights.

UFC Ultimate Fighter alumnus Corey Hill was also in action, losing to Mark Holst via armbar submission in perhaps the best fight of the night. With the win, Holst claimed the 155 pound XKL championship. Hill had dominated the fight through two rounds until getting caught. It took Holst several minutes to actually sink in the hold, creating genuine tension in the audience who treated Hill like a star.

In another title fight, Ricky Shivers claimed the 205 pound championship as he defeated Eric Smith via rear naked choke. Smith dominated through four rounds with a wrestling base and was on the verge of putting Shivers away when he went to low for a single-leg attempt and Shivers took his back and sunk in the choke.

Rodriguez gave a great post fight interview and the fans clearly saw him as a cut-above the others. Brock Larsen was at the event and cut a promo in the cage too.

Analysis

It’s not clear what the XKL wants to be but whatever it is, they are overreaching at this point as an event that looked to be exciting was marred by numerous changes to the fight card, poor organization, a clear lack of presentation and of course, the lack of the advertised main event.

Do they want to be a player in the MMA world or are they simply pretending to be a player? The fact they shelled out money for Rodriguez, Hill and (we assume) Monson indicates they have deep pockets but those pockets will eventually run dry using its current, flawed business model.

The XKL told us they were streaming live as the fights were available for purchase in more than 300 million homes though out the world? What does that mean anyway? Can’t anyone with a computer and Internet access purchase this event? Why is this impressive? Tell us how many paid to watch and we might be impressed.

Add in some strange choices for entertainment (a white rapper from Canada and an R&B female trio) and it was basically amateur hour for the event at the Convocation Center.

Announcer Phil Davis is annoying when he is prepared but they did not prepare him as he did not provide records for the fighters, or hometowns, making it difficult for the crowd to invest in the fights. We deduced many were local (by their crowd reaction or clothing) but why they felt they needed to keep that from us was a mystery. Incessant “are you ready” and “ladies and gentleman” clichéd phrases chipped away at the excitement of the event, before the fighters event started.

Davis seems to have watched every ring announcer in boxing and MMA and morphed them into one continuous cliché rather than attempt to create his own style. But one can only assume more fighter info was not provided to him or he would have read it.

We were never told how many round the fights were and had to figure out on our own that non-title fights were three-rounds and title fights were five rounds. There was two amateur fights and guess what, they told us that AFTER the fight was done. If you prepare your audience they will respond and if you don’t, they won’t know what to expect.

It was as if the XKL does not want to share their inside knowledge with its fans which is a shame as this was a knowledgeable crowd who understand when fighters were in trouble or when submissions were close to being locked in.

Just what were they thinking bringing in an urban-themed costumed trio to sing to an audience made of mostly white suburban males? Were they surprised when the group called “Storm” was booed out of the cage? These fans want to see fights – not Beyonce rip-offs!

Minor glitches are expected but nothing went smooth. There was no clock counting down the rounds so the crowd never knew when the round was going end; which takes from the drama. Of course, when you don’t know how many rounds there are, that does not help either.

There was no flow to the evening whatsoever and the fight interviewer (a Joe Rogan wannabe who even dresses like Rogan but nonetheless did a decent job) asked a fighter to look at the screen to watch the replay, only to see them on screen live, most of the audience cringed in discomfort.

One fighter (it was hard to keep track since the card changed so much from the advertised card) was referred to as the “Crazy Monkey” AFTER the fight was over. They had a chance to give a fighter some personality with a nickname and the failed to mention it before he fought?

But nothing is worse than a promotion not being honest with its fans and not delivering the main event. Well, may the only thing worse than not delivering the main event is NOT telling them at the beginning of the evening! The promotion simply does not grasp that they cannot take its fans for granted and most left upset, wanting a refund. The fact they did not respond to my inquiry for comment perhaps says more than anything.

Many came specifically to see Jeff Monson fight and they left only knowing the promotion they paid to see did not care enough about them to inform them why he was not fighting.

If they come back to Ypsilanti will they be surprised when most of the crowd does not return? If the promotion does not care about its fans, why should the fans care about the promotion?

Ironically, in a news release, the XKL stated “Having come to the conclusion that MMA needs an entirely fresh approach, real commitment and genuine innovation to ensure that it realizes its true potential on the global stage, XKL has laid solid foundations for the future of the sport.”

Maybe they should start over and add honesty to the release.

On the net
http://www.xtremekombatleague.com/