The rules clearly state that a fighter has five minutes to recover from the infraction, but Smith was asked twice if he could see. He said no twice but said he could continue to fight, and the fight was stopped before he had a full five minutes to recover.

To Shaw’s credit, he promised to pay both men a win-bonus and said they would have a rematch in the near future, but it still left the night’s most exciting fight without any resolution.

“I hate fights ending that way,” said Smith, who suffered a broken foot in the bout. “I was close to going down on a couple of occasions and I thought I connected on Robbie a few times as well. I considered this a must-win for my career. I’m a single dad with two kids to support, and I am grateful for that win-bonus.”

“I don’t like how it ended, either,” Lawler said. “I was going for the kill and so was he. Let’s run it back.”

Female MMA star Gina Carano improved to a perfect 6-0 with a TKO win over Kaitlin Young. Carano, who is known by millions as “Crush” on NBC’s American Gladiators, overcame an uneven first round to take over in the second with sharp striking and straight kicks. With 30 seconds remaining in the round, Carano knocked Young down with a kick and took her back, locking in a rear naked choke that she tightened just as the last five seconds of the round were ticking away. Young was unable to continue and the fight was stopped.

“Kaitlin is amazing, I have a lot of respect for her,” Carano said. “She had a big ball on her eye, but she came into my locker room to say congrats and she still had a big smile on her face. She’s a real fighter.”

The sportsmanship that Carano and Young showed is the rule in the sport. The backstage trash talk between Slice and Rogers is the exception.

EliteXC’s show may not have been the perfect example of MMA, but that’s what happens on live television. Referees miss calls in football, umpires blow close plays in baseball, and the game goes on.

MMA doesn’t have the same luxury as those established sports. For years, its opponents screamed for it to go away, to die, to meet the same violent end it often illustrates in the cage. It almost did. For years, it existed on the fringe, kept alive by hardcore devotees who followed it like a religion, built their own communities like churches and spread their word like a gospel.

They watched it grow and spread, helped by the rise of the UFC through shows like The Ultimate Fighter. Watched the ratings rise, the sponsors come a little at a time, the news organizations’ interest become piqued. Listened as people told them it wouldn’t last; it was too violent, too raw, too dangerous.

Eventually, the numbers could no longer be denied. Millions were watching TUF or tuning into live cards on SpikeTV. Hundreds of thousands shelled out their cash for pay-per-views every month. Fighters like Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz were getting roles on Hollywood shows and movies. Pro athletes like Shaquille O’Neal and Brett Favre were proclaiming Randy Couture their favorite athlete. It was seeping into mainstream.

It was only a matter of time. The time came on May 31, 2008 in the Prudential Center with thousands watching live and millions more watching around the country on CBS.

Fittingly, the card was headlined by a fighter who rose from the fringes of life to the biggest stage on the sport. Once upon a time, Kimbo Slice was a homeless man with no real prospects for a future, but he turned his streetfights into an internet phenomenon, then used that as a launching pad to a pro career. It was a surreal ride for him, and for the sport, both taking parallel "back-from-the-dead" paths to rise to national prominence, and taking lumps along the way.

It was a wild and bumpy ride to get here.

It still is.

FULL RESULTS

Undercard
Joe Sampieri def. Mike Groves, via TKO, 4:58 Rd. 1
Zach Machovsky def. Andre Soares via unanimous decision
James Jones def. Calvin Kattar via rear naked choke, Rd. 1
Wilson Reis def. Justin Robbins via rear naked choke, Rd. 1
Matt Makowski def. Nick Serra via TKO, Rd. 2
Carlton Haselrig def. Carlos Moreno via TKO, Rd. 1
Chris Liguori  def. Jim Bova via TKO, 4:31, Rd. 2

Main card
Brett Rogers def. Jon Murphy via TKO, 1:01, Rd. 1
Joe Villasenor def. Phil Baroni via TKO, 1:11, Rd. 1
Gina Carano def. Kaitlin Young via TKO, 5:00, Rd. 2
Scott Smith vs. Robbie Lawler, no contest
Kimbo Slice def. James Thompson via TKO, 0:38, Rd. 3