Posts tagged BrettRogers at FanHouse

When he was fighting for EliteXC, Brett Rogers was often discussed as a possible opponent for Kimbo Slice.

As it turns out, Rogers' next fight might be against someone just a wee bit more challenging: Josh Barnett.

Five Ounces of Pain is reporting that Affliction would like to sign the undefeated Rogers to take on Barnett on the January 24 Day of Reckoning card. Rogers built up an 8-0 record and dominated all his opponents in EliteXC, but he has never fought anyone nearly as good as Barnett, who is 23-5 and universally regarded as one of the 10 best heavyweights in the world.

The main event at Day of Reckoning will be Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski. If Affliction stays in business long enough to have a third event, the main event would likely be Fedor vs. Barnett, assuming both Fedor and Barnett win their fights at Day of Reckoning.

EliteXC has added a fight featuring the undefeated heavyweight Brett Rogers to its November 8 card in Reno, the promotion confirmed today.

EliteXC head of fight operations Jeremy Lappen told me that Rogers will fight on the card, which is EliteXC's last of 2008. He declined to say who Rogers' opponent will be, but he said an official announcement will be made next week, and he said it will be "an interesting name."

Rogers is best known to casual fans for having a war of words with Kimbo Slice, although the reason that war of words hasn't yet become a fight in the cage is that Rogers is a much better fighter than Kimbo and EliteXC was trying to keep Kimbo from losing. (Whoops.)

The November 8 EliteXC card is shaping up as a very good one even though, Lappen said, the rumored Yves Edwards vs. Fabricio Camoes fight is not going to happen.

After Kimbo Slice defeated James Thompson in the first mixed martial arts show in prime time network television history, fellow heavyweight Brett Rogers took the podium at the post-fight press conference and called Slice's performance "garbage" and "unacceptable."

If that was Rogers' attempt to hype himself up as the next opponent for Kimbo, it worked. Slice appeared on Dan Le Batard's radio show today and said he'll fight Rogers next, "probably in October."

Notes from FanHouse in Newark.

The reaction to Elite XC's inaugural show on CBS has been mixed to negative and after spending the night cageside, I can't argue with that. The stoppages in each of the last two fights was much to quick and the controversy about an uncalled tapout by Kimbo Slice looms as an issue that Elite and CBS will have to deal with to confirm the legitimacy of what they're putting forth.

As you can see in the above picture of James Thompson, the stoppage didn't come completely out of nowhere. His ear is in awful shape. I don't think the context of the fight to that point called for a stoppage but Slice's punches and strikes were doing damage. Thompson's, on the other hand, weren't. He was on top and throwing elbows but, from my spot 10-15 feet away, they weren't doing much to hurt Slice. If Thompson weren't fatigued and/or hurting, I think he would have ended the fight during that moment in the second round but he couldn't muster the necessary might.

As you'll see after the jump, Slice looked better after the fight. Not the best picture, I apologize for my photo skills, but he didn't have a scratch on him.

Notes from FanHouse in Newark.

The fighting didn't end when Kimbo Slice stopped James Thompson in the third round of tonight's main event in Newark. Brett Rogers, a heavyweight who won his match in 61 seconds to start off the televised portion of the card, took the podium during the press conference and called Slice's performance "garbage" and said it was "unacceptable" to give that to the fans.

Slice wasn't there yet but he did show up later and the press asked Rogers to elaborate on what he meant. He was much clearer this time, saying that Slice tapped out when Thompson had him down on the ground during the second round of their match. Slice asked if that was a challenge and, as you can see from the photo above, things got pretty heated. Every fighter, cornerman and Elite XC employee kept the men apart but it was a good three or four minutes before things cooled down and Slice left.

From my vantage point at cageside, I didn't see Slice tap out. There was discussion along press row about a tapout but everyone seemed to say they heard someone else say it first. Thompson said he didn't and Slice obviously denied it so either Rogers saw something different or he's a savvy marketer who knows how to put himself in position to fight the league's big dog. Promoter Gary Shaw said the next CBS show would be in August at the earliest, perhaps he found himself his main event?