Jared Shaw returns to the MMA History Podcast for his fourth and most revealing appearance yet, pulling back the curtain on the spectacular rise and sudden collapse of Elite XC. As the promotion’s Vice President during its groundbreaking CBS era, Shaw was at the center of the Kimbo Slice versus Seth Petruzelli fight that many still blame for sinking the company overnight. In this unfiltered conversation with Mike Davis and Joey Venti, he sets the record straight on the real reasons behind the fall, the internal power struggles, the fight-fixing rumors, and the fighters who could have built an empire.
From the Cyborg debut that stole the show to the Gina Carano era, the frantic final months, and the untold stories of what happened when the lights went out, Shaw delivers raw insight into one of MMA’s most controversial chapters and the golden opportunities the sport lost forever. This is the definitive inside account of how close Elite XC came to challenging the UFC—and why it all ended so abruptly.
This has been a really interesting series. I’ve always been conflicted on what to believe regarding everything surrounding Ken having to pull out of this fight. It would be amazing if those old contracts were floating around somewhere with the actual purse numbers. I’ve been asking for Dan Freeman on @MMAHistoryPodcast for a long time. I would love to hear his take on the events of this night and everything that led up to it. Dan was who Ken was rolling with when the cut happened. I’d love to hear about this alleged confrontation with Jared Shaw as well as his experience coaching on TUF 3 & years as strength coach at the Lion’s Den. Dan has to have tons of stories that he could share. I’m not sure if he is still running his supplement company Fight Labs or not.
@LionsDenGuy
Believe ME ! I honored your requests and tried to find your choices, If they were possible , I guarantee they would have come to fruition. Most had No Social Media and were MIA ?
No worries HKP! I know you guys are trying hard! You reward us every week with amazing guests. Extremely grateful for all you, Mike, Joey, etc. are doing for this community. You are the best in the business and it isn’t even close. Sorry my wish list is so long. I’m “hot for information” as John Perretti said about Mike!
Here is a link to Dan’s supplement company Fight Labs. It still appears active.
Dan’s Fight Labs Facebook link. Still seems relatively active.
He also has an Instagram Dan Freeman @fightlabs.
It seems like he & Ken are still pretty close and I get the sense he would want to talk to Ken first about what he would be cool with Dan sharing before he would come on the show for an interview. He also seems pretty religious these days as well.
Yeah that’s him. He was the strength coach at Lion’s Den for many years. Ken brought him on TUF 3 as an assistant coach too. I bet he has a ton of stories. I would hope if he came on the show he would be willing to share a lot. In particular, Lion’s Den stories from the 90’s/early 2000’s, his TUF 3 experience, & what really went down leading up to the EliteXC Heat event.
No worries HKP! I know you guys are trying hard! You reward us every week with amazing guests. Extremely grateful for all you, Mike, Joey, etc. are doing for this community. You are the best in the business and it isn’t even close. Sorry my wish list is so long. I’m “hot for information” as John Perretti said about Mike! 