EliteXC is dead

News spread across the blogosphere last night that EliteXC, a mixed martial arts promotion company, went under. There will be no more fights. Goodbye Kimbo Slice. But what this really hurts are the many female fighters who signed on to EliteXC. It was the highest profile place for them to fight. Now, it seems like it's back to Myth Nightclub, a great supporter of the local circuit, but a spot that doesn’t compare to fighting on CBS television with millions watching on.

Just a few weeks ago we profiled Kelly Kobald, Kaitlin Young and Gina Carano in a story called “Girl Fight.” While reporting the story we talked with Luke Thomas, a blogger on the popular MMA website Bloody Elbow. And while most of the interview focused in on his gradual acceptance of women’s MMA as an actual sport, the tail end of the story had him say that there might not be any big time fights for them by the end of the year. Thomas said that he guessed EliteXC was at least $50 million in debt, or more. Turns out that number was closer to $60 million.

But EliteXC gave us the sunny view of their future and of women’s MMA:

"We're looking into having two divisions. And we hope to keep bringing in top-level talent to fill our rosters," says Jeremy Lapin, head of EliteXC fight operations. "We're actually looking into having an all-female card in the future."

Well, so much for that.