FanHouse Jeremy Lappen

UFC President Dana White pulls no punches in discussing the bankruptcy of EliteXC:

"Today is a great day in MMA," White said. "ProElite is dead."

White had harsh words for EliteXC officials Jeremy Lappen, Gary Shaw and Jared Shaw, talking about "how bad these guys were for the sport."

White also says the UFC used to pay a sports radio host named Scott Ferrall to come to their shows and cover the events. As Zach Arnold notes, this is a statement that should get a lot of attention.

On Friday I interviewed EliteXC head of fight operations Jeremy Lappen, and pointed out to him that he had seemed to contradict himself about whether or not EliteXC offered Seth Petruzelli a submission bonus.

Lappen was quoted by Sports Illustrated as saying that EliteXC does not give submission bonuses, while he was quoted by ESPN as saying that Petruzelli was offered a submission bonus. Lappen told me that both stories misquoted him.

Today the writer of the Sports Illustrated piece in question, Josh Gross, told me flatly, "I stand by my reporting. I did not misquote Jeremy Lappen." Indeed, Gross played for me a portion of his recorded interview with Lappen, in which Lappen says to him that Petruzelli was given "Just a knockout bonus. We don't give submission bonuses."

I have read a great deal of Gross's work, and I have read a great deal of the work of Franklin McNeil, who wrote the ESPN piece in question. I do not believe either one of them would misquote a source.

The mainstream media has hit EliteXC harder than Seth Petruzelli hit Kimbo Slice this week, with prominent sports writers and commentators saying the MMA promotion is no better than pro wrestling and that Kimbo's loss to Petruzelli was fixed.

Today I asked EliteXC head of fight operations Jeremy Lappen what that does for EliteXC's credibility. Lappen told me he believes the media is focusing on something that's "not a story."

"I don't know what it does for our credibility," Lappen said. "I think it's an unfortunate situation. I think it's not appropriate for the media to say things like that when there's not a story. We didn't manipulate the fight. How somebody could think Kimbo Slice threw the fight, it's ridiculous. We should be getting credit, Kimbo should be getting credit and Petruzelli should be getting credit for putting on the fight after Ken Shamrock pulled out at the last minute. I think most organizations and most fighters in Kimbo's situation would have just said, 'Sorry, but we're just going to cancel the event.'"

Regarding the controversy over whether EliteXC paid Petruzelli a bonus (or, as some would call it, a bribe) to keep the fight on his feet, I pointed out to Lappen that he had seemed to contradict himself about what, exactly, EliteXC offered Petruzelli.

Now that EliteXC has stripped K.J. Noons of its lightweight title, who will fight for the vacant belt?

I asked that to EliteXC head of fight operations Jeremy Lappen today, and although he wouldn't give an official answer, I was left with the clear impression that it's going to be Nick Diaz vs. Eddie Alvarez.

When I asked Lappen when we'd see an EliteXC lightweight title fight, he answered, "We should probably see one pretty soon. We hope to announce something in the next couple of weeks."

When I asked whether Nick Diaz would definitely be in the lightweight title fight he said, "We haven't finalized anything, but he definitely deserves to be."

And when I asked whether Alvarez would be Diaz's opponent, he said he thinks Alvarez is worthy and that Alvarez will be fighting in EliteXC soon.