The head-to-head battle between the fledgling Affliction promotion and the UFC last week spurred some of the most intensive media coverage in mixed martial arts history.
Now, MMA's third major promotion, EliteXC, gets back in the mix with their second live prime time special set for Saturday on CBS from Stockton, Calif. It's a major test for the group which lacks the star power of its competitors but has the plum network television deal with "The Tiffany Network."
EliteXC's first effort on May 31 was an unqualified success behind the drawing power of heavyweight Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson and the fetching Gino Carano in the women's division. In fact, the ratings were so good in the coveted 18-to-35 male demographic that CBS wanted the second special moved up to July.
Despite being wanted, EliteXC wasn't exactly thrilled and would have preferred to wait until October when Kimbo and Carano, who doubles as "Crush" on NBC's American Gladiators, would be available to fight again.
Now the promotion must sink or swim with its lesser stars. The CBS portion of the show is headlined by a rematch between Scott Smith (13-4) and Robbie Lawler (15-4) for Lawler's EliteXC middleweight crown.
The first bout between the two on the CBS debut show went to a no-contest after a controversial stoppage. Lawler dominated the opening round but Smith came out surprisingly strong in round 2 and got back into the fight.
An accidental eye poke in the third round by Lawler caused doctors to stop the action and declare the no contest. The decision was booed vociferously by those in attendance at The Prudential Center in Newark, NJ but officials had no other option since Smith was clearly heard saying "he couldn't see" while being examined.
That's an old fighters trick that tells the doctor to stop the fight while also enabling him to save face. The fact that Smith protested the stoppage after telling the ringside physician that he couldn't see did not go over well with seasoned fight fans.
Nevertheless, Smith gets his second shot at Lawler, the more talented and well-rounded fighter, and he hopes to take advantage.
"Robbie is a great fighter and I'm honored to fight him a second time," Smith said at a recent press conference. "In the first fight I got hit way too much. In training camp we worked on some things that will remedy that.
"I can't let Lawler find any kind of rhythm because once Lawler gets rolling, he's hard to stop. I have to keep him off balance."
Locally, the main event is the charismatic Nick Diaz (17-7), who is from Stockton, taking on 37-year-old journeyman Thomas Denny (26-16) at 160 pounds.
Diaz means little to the mainstream fight fan right now but his natural star power along with a major CBS promotional blitz could turn him into a player rather quickly, turning a potential rematch with K.J. Noons into a much anticipated one.
"Fighting in Stockton is going to be great for me," Diaz said. "There's a little bit more pressure for this fight because it's in my hometown. I'll have a lot of familiar faces in the audience. I don't mind the pressure though. It will just make me mentally stronger."
Noons, the current ElieXC lightweight king who beat Diaz by TKO in November of 2007, got into an altercation with the high-strung Diaz after a recent title defense against Yves Edwards in Hawaii.
During the post-fight interviews, Diaz was brought into the cage with his brother Nate Diaz. After Nick made some unflattering remarks to Noons, Karl Noons, K.J.'s father, lunged at him prompting Nate Diaz to throw a water bottle at him.
The Diaz brothers were quickly escorted out of the cage by security and a natural rivalry was reborn.
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