EliteXC Heads Towards Top

After putting on an extremely successful partnership event with Strikeforce last month (Baroni v. Shamrock), EliteXC once again showed it deserves to hang with the big boys last week. UFC ex-patriots Robbie Lawler and Nick Diaz combined along with fighters such as Ninja Rua and Gina Carano (the sport's most popular female fighter) to put on a show which was recognized as having superior matchmaking and an excellent production value.

And with PRIDE's buyout, the IFL offering a very different form of MMA, and WEC being technically owned by Zuffa, it's easy to see why many herald EliteXC as the only real competition. The praise is well deserved, considering that their fighters rival the WEC and they've landed an exclusive deal with SHOWTIME, which seems to not have enough programming to fill their slots. The result? EliteXC on SHOWTIME at least once a day.

While it's still way too early to tell, if EliteXC can keep signing fighters (Sokoudjou, anyone?) and marketing the package properly (as an alternative to expensive, overhyped UFC programming), they should be able to effectively develop their niche in the world of MMA.