CATCH THE REPLAY OF ELITE XC/STRIKEFORCE “SHAMROCK vs. BARONI”EXPLOSIVE SIX-FIGHT EVENTON SHOWTIME, SATURDAY, JUNE 30 (10 p.m. ET/PT)
Shamrock vs. Baroni Tops A Tremendous Night of Mixed Martial Arts Action;
Also Available At SHOWTIME On-Demand from July 1 – 27
NEW YORK (June 27, 2007) – SHOWTIME will televise last Friday’s EliteXC/Strikeforce mixed martial arts event—“Shamrock vs. Baroni”—on Saturday, June 30, at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The telecast includes tremendous performances by the first ever Strikeforce middleweight champion Frank Shamrock, the first-ever EliteXC middleweight champion Murilo “Ninja” Rua and rising star Cung Le. The action-packed six-fight telecast was co-promoted by EliteXC and Strikeforce and aired live on pay-per-view from the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., this past Friday.
“… just about everything mixed martial arts has to offer,” wrote the Houston Chronicle (www.Chron.com)
The telecast, which also will be available at SHOWTIME On-Demand, is capped by a main event that lived up to its hype. Shamrock’s exhilarating second-round TKO of trash-talking Phil “NYBA” Baroni had the live audience of 10,000-plus on their feet from the start.
“This was an unforgettable fight and beyond worthy of all the hype that preceded it” wrote MMACalifornia.net
In a display that personified the essence of MMA, Shamrock used his eclectic skill and cage smarts to dismantle Baroni for nearly the entire first round. In the second, Baroni battled back only to be stopped when Shamrock rendered him unconscious with a rear naked choke hold four minutes into the round.
Shamrock earned the first Strikeforce middleweight (185-pound limit) title and, as promised, ended a long war of words with Baroni in spectacular fashion.
Also on the telecast, “Ninja” Rua captured the first-ever EliteXC middleweight title after an exciting two round see-saw battle with Joey “Dream Smasher” Villasenor. After a crowd-pleasing first round, Rua landed a flurry of punches early in the second before dropping Villasenor with a right hand counter punch. Rua rushed in and scored a handful of blows on his downed opponent before the referee stopped the match at 1:05.
Le, who may have produced the finest individual performance on an evening of extraordinary performances, overwhelmed the game, aggressive-minded Tony “The Freak” Fryklund. Le, who seemingly couldn’t miss with the right hand, or either foot, won by third-round TKO.
Also included on the telecast will be Paul “The Headhunter” Buentello’s second round stoppage of Carter “The Beast” Williams and Josh “The Punk” Thomson’s first-round submission (rear-naked choke) over Nick Gonzalez.
The non-stop action was called by play-by-play announcer Mauro Ranallo with Bill Goldberg and Jay Glazer serving as color analysts. The executive producer of the SHOWTIME® PPV telecast was David Dinkins, Jr. with Bob Dunphy directing.
The evening’s undercard fights, exclusive interviews, pre and post fight press conferences are available for viewing www.proelite.com.
The June 22 “Shamrock Vs. Baroni” event was produced by ProElite, Inc. [PELE.PK] the parent company of EliteXC, Strikeforce, and SHOWTIME, and it was distributed by SHOWTIME® PPV.
Re-Air Schedule
If you missed last Friday’s thrilling event, you missed break-out performances, all-out, hard-hitting action and history in the making. Catch The Re-Air:
SHOWTIME: June 30 at 10 p.m. ET/PT
SHOWTIME On-Demand: July 1 – 27