knockout bonus

(ESPN's Jim Rome lays into EliteXC at about the 5:20 mark.)

This thing isn't going away quietly. In the wake of allegations that EliteXC offered Seth Petruzelli extra money to stand and bang with Kimbo Slice, Head of Operations Jeremy Lappen issued a formal statement defending the company's actions and refuting any claims of impropriety, saying in part:

"Seth Petruzelli was offered a fee to fight Kimbo Slice, plus a knockout bonus, a common practice throughout the industry. EliteXC organizes and promotes fights. We have not...do not...and will not suggest or dictate fighters’ strategies or tactics. How the fighters perform in the cage is at the sole discretion of the athletes involved.

"The circumstances leading up to the Petruzelli/Slice fight were unusual. Ken Shamrock was declared medically ineligible less than three hours before the fight. As an organization, we made a decision to serve the paying audience in the arena and the prime time audience at home by delivering on a Kimbo Slice fight, which we had promised. This was done simply and solely with a standard fee and bonus offer to Petruzelli and by increasing the purse to Slice. Elite XC is grateful to both Seth and Kimbo for taking this fight against an opponent they didn’t train for and on such short notice.

He then goes on to trumpet Frank Shamrock's willingness to step in even though everyone knew it wasn't a feasible offer (even Frank, one has to assume), touts the exciting and "diverse" night of fights, and mentions what great ratings it got.

Problem solved, right? I mean, all they did was offer the guy extra money to knock Kimbo out. They didn't say that knockout had to be on the feet. And sure, they didn't offer a submission bonus, but that's only because they think submissions are boring. Nothing wrong with that...or is there? Well, yeah, there is actually. But don't take our word for it.

Fortunately, Dana White spoke to the Boston Herald about it, and he's not the type to mince expletives. I mean, words: