The latest installment of Elite XC’s ‘Saturday Night Fights’ on CBS was scheduled to feature the abysmal main event of Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock. In a bizarre turn of events, Shamrock received a cut to his eyebrow while sparring in preparation for the bout. The laceration required stitches, and the Florida Athletic Commission barred Shamrock from participating in the event. This left EXC scrambling for a last minute replacement to salvage the main event; they ended up pitting Kimbo against Seth Petruzelli, a lightheavyweight who was scheduled to face Aaron Rosa on the untelevised undercard.
Murillo Rua vs Benji Radach (185 lbs bout)
The televised portion of the event began with a #1 contender bout for the Elite XC’s middleweight title, which will be defended by Robbie Lawler against Joey Villasenor on November 8th. Radach came out of the gates swinging, throwing relentless hooks that staggered Rua and dropped him to his knees. Rua recovered and fired back, and twice in the first round both fighters found themselves knocked down simultaneously for a moment. Rua secured a takedown late in the round and worked for a leg lock, but Radach resisted and survived the round.
In the second, Rua seemingly figured out Radach’s stand up game, and was landing flying knees to the body of Benji, backing him up against the fence. Rua threw another flying knee; Radach countered with a jab which knocked Rua off-balance and dropped him. Rua was slow to cover up, and Radach landed several huge punches to his downed opponent, knocking ‘Ninja’ out cold. A great brawl to start off the evening.
Aftermath: Radach will go on to face the winner of the Lawler-Villasenor for the title – that is if the Elite XC organization survives beyond the November event. Rua suffers a very brutal knockout, another setback to his rollercoaster of a career.
Fight Grade: 5/5
[#4 SW] 
