While I won’t admit that EliteXC’s primetime debut was a spectacular event, ratings don’t lie when it comes to how well the show actually did. According to Adam Swift at MMAPayout.com, the ratings for the evening’s show started out at a 2.4 and rose to a 4.7 by the time the main event hit the screen. The gate wasn’t exactly great at only a bit over 8,000 attending, but the point of the show was to produce primetime numbers.

The media ripped EliteXC apart on Sunday with articles ranging from calling the event a “mockery” of the sport to columns focusing on the exposing of Kimbo’s weak skills, the referee stoppages, and the highly far-reaching notion that some of the fights were “fixed”. Overall, the media deemed the event unsuccessful in portraying the sport as legitimate and professional.

As we know, however, the casual fanbase has a strong pull in producing ratings for these shows. It’s amazing how many writers have denied the very existence of the type of fans that Luke Thomas pointed out were in attendance at the event. Luke stated on his blog in reviewing the event:

I hate mixed martial arts fan. Not all of them of course, but I can't even describe to you how much I loathe the functional retards who come to these shows. It's as bad at UFC events as it is at any other. I wish there were a way to offer free tickets to some of these people in exchange for castration (the women are generally not the problem).

In general, this is the casual fanbase. While a lot of fans don’t fall into this mold, there are a majority of casual fans that do fall into this mold. Do you think I’m kidding? As I’ve stated in the past, find a bar in your hometown that broadcasts a UFC event on the big screen and see how many fans are completely oblivious to the notion of a ground game and how much they boo at every instance a fighter tries to shoot for a takedown.

Those may be the fans that we as hardcore fans don’t want to associate ourselves with, but in order to keep this sport making money and attracting new fans; we have to put up with that crowd. Eventually, that crowd may move into the hardcore fan grouping, but it obviously takes time to analyze the ground game and see the beauty in the reversal or transition game.

EliteXC cashed in on the casual fanbase on Saturday. While the hardcore fanbase and writers in the MMA community mocked the spectacle of EliteXC’s inaugural event, people still tuned in to see Kimbo Slice take on James Thompson. Some of those fans actually believe Kimbo destroyed Thompson and became instant fans of the Internet sensation.

Kimbo’s game was exposed, and he was shown to have a lot of weaknesses on the ground, but in the end was able to get the stoppage that secured EliteXC’s chances of using his name to promote another event. In some odd reality, EliteXC’s inaugural event was technically a success from a standpoint of purely ratings. We will be seeing another go at it for CBS and EliteXC, and their success may only help other networks see the reality in MMA being on primetime television. Specifically, one of the other networks may want to promote an MMA event more professionally, and that’s where the UFC could come in and turn around the unprofessionalism that EliteXC displayed on Saturday. We can only hope.

If there is anything that people should have watched this weekend, it was the crisper broadcast at WEC 34. Lots of action, good commentary, decent production, and two unbelievable title clashes that lived up to the hype. EliteXC should take notes, or other networks should see what the UFC can produce.