(What a range of honest facial expressions.)

When I first heard that Kimbo Slice would be helping with commentating duties at this weekend’s K-1 World Grand Prix, I immediately wondered where he would fall on the scale of fighters-turned-broadcasters.  Obviously he’s not going to be a Randy Couture or Kenny Florian.  Anyone who saw his dour appearance on Jimmy Kimmel knows that.  But could he maybe be as inept, yet hilarious as the “Rampage” Jackson/Don Frye duo was?

Then I read the official press release and realized one of his broadcast partners will be Michael “The Voice” Schiavello.  Suddenly, it seems like Kimbo is going to be far from the worst sportscaster at the table on Saturday night.   If you don’t know, Schiavello’s an Australian commentator who’s done K-1, Dream, even the Beijing Olympics, and has never shied away from an unfunny quip in any of those jobs.  Check out some of his favorite lines.  As in, his favorite lines that he said, which he was kind enough to compile for us on his official website:

"There are two things I know for sure: Britney Spears will never win Mother of The Year and Albert Kraus didn’t win that fight!"

"Two things I know for sure: we will never beat Amy Winehouse in a drinking contest, and Texeira definitely won that fight."

"He’s been on his back more than my ex-girlfriend."

"He wears more hair product than Bon Jovi."

"He’s proving harder to catch than Osama Bin Laden!"

(Will Kimbo kick ass after “Without a Trace”?)

MMA Junkie is reporting that ProElite – the parent company of EliteXC – is set to announce a partnership with CBS to air their events. An agreement has apparently been approved between both parties.

The EliteXC airs on Showtime under EliteXC and ShowXC. As we already stated, EliteXC and Kimbo has had at least something to do with Showtime’s recent spike in subscribers. Showtime is cheaper than dishing out for UFC pay-per-view events every month and you get to see tasteful adults films late at night as a bonus. This rumor is easy to buy into because CBS owns Showtime and has certainly recognized the channel’s cross-over potential to network television – “Dexter” airing on CBS being a recent example. EliteXC: “Street Certified” pulled in a sold-out crowd and pulled in over 500,000 viewers to Showtime. Sure, Kimbo was a major part of that, but other EliteXC shows will reap residuals from him being in their fold. Network execs know that larger-than-life sports personalities draw ratings, so naturally they’d want to be in the Kimbo business.

And with Dana White ruining every chance of getting the UFC on network television – CBS was once the frontrunner to air UFC events – networks have started seeking other organizations to sign up. CBS and EliteXC is by far the marriage with the least hoops to jump through, so we could get this announcement very soon. The events would be broadcast live in prime-time and probably every month.

This could be a very large step and do for MMA what network TV has done for Arena Football…okay, bad example, but you get what I’m saying about the exposure. And I know I probably don’t even have to mention it, but “What Would Kimbo Do?” would be natural fit for CBS’s Saturday morning kid’s programming. Story line ideas now being accepted.