This past Saturday was one of the most chaotic nights in the history of Mixed Martial Arts as Elite XC received the biggest scare of their 18-month history on Saturday when they were alerted that Ken Shamrock had injured himself during some final training in the waning hours before his fight with Kimbo Slice.

Only those in the gym with Shamrock know for certain what happened but the result was a cut above the left eye of Shamrock that required six stitches and the refusal of three Florida doctors to sanction Ken to fight that night.

It was a fight that Elite XC was hoping would be the most watched Mixed Martial Arts fight in North American history and with one head butt those dreams of millions of eyeballs were turned into nightmares of not even being able to produce a show for CBS. Through last minute negotiating a panic stricken promotion with 2-hours of prime time network time to fill, made the only choice they felt they could with Frank Shamrock being turned down to fight Kimbo, they gave the golden opening to former TUF 2 contestant Seth Petruzelli.

Whatever spin is woven from Elite XC coming off of Saturday night - the fact remains that the top drawing card in the company, who brought 6.5 million viewers to watch his last fight on May 31st, was destroyed in only 14-seconds by someone whose last name cannot even be spelled by half the audience that watched the fight.

The belief that a win over a top draw instantly transfers his drawing ability onto the victor is a fallacy and anyone kidding themselves that Seth Petruzelli is now equipped to place Elite XC on his "silver" back is sorely delusional.

The company cleared the immediate hurdle of attracting a healthy audience with an average viewership of 4.3 million viewers throughout the 2-hour window and an unknown amount sticking around for the main event, which occurred after 11pm EST. The bigger hurdles lie ahead for the company, who will present a Showtime card on November 8th and then plan for 2009 in hopes that there will be plans to be made.

The show Saturday night made zero mention of a return date to CBS and with Pay Per View at the forefront of company executives to recoup the high double digits of millions lost, the questions are now based on who and what fights are on the table for Elite XC?

Kimbo Slice is a star in the eyes of the audience and it's difficult for a star to lose all drawing ability from one major loss but it can happen and building a Pay Per View around Slice after his performance on Saturday seems ambitious to say the least. When it comes to another CBS card, there still remains value in a Kimbo Slice fight against the right opponent. Let's not forget that Ken Shamrock hardly looked like a world beater going into this fight nor did he resemble one for his record setting fights with Tito Ortiz in 2006. There is something to be said for the aura of a star and its midas residue that remains long past the expiry date of a performer.

As talented as fighters such as Jake Shields, Antonio Silva, Rafael Feijao and Wilson Reis may be - they are not the level of stars that can carry a network show to the levels that CBS will demand for a prime time event. The July 26th card was a cold shower for those of the mindset that solid fights alone with sell a show and attract new audiences.

Monday morning after a result like Saturday's is not the time to accurately gauge the damage done because it is so fresh in everyone's mind and the knee jerk reaction is to carve out a headstone for Kimbo Slice's career. Let's be honest - fans forget. When Chuck Liddell lost to Keith Jardine in Setpember of 2007 the panic buttons were hit, when Ken Shamrock lost to Robert "Buzz" Berry people said he would never draw an audience again and the build for Saturday showed that he absolutely would have and 3-months from now when they announce Kimbo Slice's next fight there will be a segment who will shake their heads at why Elite XC continues to go in this direction but they will be overruled when more people tune in for the car wreck enjoyment of a knockout.

The jury is out on Kimbo Slice but dollars to donuts tells me that if Slice wants a career in MMA, that he can recover from this and be re-introduced on free television in 2009. This guy is not a Top 15 Heavyweight and the bloom is off the rose but one cannot deny the ability to draw an audience and the biggest question of all is whether those people will return to see a star as opposed to moving on from someone that is not an elite fighter?