Saturday night ultimate fighting or mixed-martial arts (MMA) finally got the spotlight on primetime non-cable television with the Elite XC (Xtreme Combat) Saturday Night Fights on CBS. With a fight card featuring five matches, including a female bout, and our favorite Gus Johnson handling the commentator duties, there was definitely a lot of hype surrounding the night.

Although the night started out with only about two minutes of actual fighting in the first hour, the final three fights lived up to the hype. The women’s match between Gina Carano and Kaitlin Young might have been the best girl-fight I’ve ever seen, the fight was called when Young’s left eye swelled up to the size of a hot-air balloon between the second and third rounds, giving Carano the victory. Carano, known as the face of female fighting, is pretty darn good looking for someone who gets punched in the face for a living - also of note, Carano is “Crush” on American Gladiators. I’m sure we’ll be seeing her as a Monday Morning Pick Me Up soon.

Robbie Lawyer and Scott Smith had an epic battle, which unfortunately ended after an accidental eye gouge in the third round left Smith with impaired vision. Watching the slow-mo replay, I almost went blind too.

In the main event, Kimbo Slice (a.k.a. Kevin Ferguson) went up against James “Colossus” Thompson - the “Colossus” nickname I assume comes from the colossus cauliflower ear that protrudes on the left side of his head, it’s so big I’m surprised he can stand up straight. Kimbo is known from just being a brute street fighter who is essentially a YouTube phenomenon because of this fight. People knock Kimbo for being an amateur MMA fighter who is untrained and relies on his raw fighting style. My roommate continued to be frustrated with Kimbo’s inability to execute moves/holds throughout the whole fight and expected Kimbo to not even last past the first round.

The highlight of the fight for me was when Thompson was attempting to choke-out Kimbo, the ref was asking if Kimbo wanted to tap out, instead Kimbo gave him the thumbs up and continued to fight on. In the third round, Kimbo put together a series of punches that knocked Thompson into a drunken stagger resulting in the ref to step-in and end the fight.

Overall it was a good night for the sport. Although it still has its critics, with the growth of the sport, the hype and popularity surrounding it, we’ll surely see more of these events in the primetime spotlight.

Check out the videos of the fights online - MMA TKO is a good source.