One high-profile fighter who won't appear on an EliteXC card in the coming year is Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (Pictures), this despite the light heavyweight verbally agreeing to a deal with Pro Elite that would have kept him busy, fighting four times in 12 months.
Reports surfaced Friday that Sokoudjou (4-1-0), who knocked out Ricardo Arona and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in his last two fights, fielded a late offer from K-1. Ryan Parsons, a representative for the 23-year-old fighter, told Sherdog.com that the K-1 contract promised "significantly more money" than the potential $200,000 per-fight Sokoudjou was slated to receive from Pro Elite.
Last week K-1 approached Sokoudjou with a one-year offer that would have placed the young Team Quest fighter against either Melvin Manhoef or Alistair Overeem on Monday's HERO'S card in Yokohama, the first of at least three fights he would have owed the Japanese promotion. However, failing to obtain a visa on short notice delayed the PRIDE veteran's return to Japan, and will keep Sokoudjou in Southern California this weekend.
Having backed away from EliteXC, Sokoudjou now awaits signing with K-1, which Parsons said should happen "shortly."
"We're sorry that we lost him," said Shaw, who was so confident a deal was in place that he flew Sokoudjou to San Jose, Calif. to watch Frank Shamrock stop Phil Baroni from cage-side.
"I guess K-1 is either throwing a lot of money or a lot of promises around," said Shaw. "I would have thought that he would have wanted to fight in the United States. I guess that won't happen now."
Japanese fans took a tremendous liking to Sokoudjou, said Parsons, recalling a "madhouse" during a photo shoot for the dreadlocked fighter the last time he traveled across the Pacific.
"He can be a star [in Japan]," Parsons said of Sokoudjou, who should make his HERO'S debut Sept. 17, possibly against Overeem.
Shaw said he doesn't hold anything against Team Quest for making the decision to put Sokoudjou in K-1. "I learned a lesson here: I'm not flying anyone in until they're ready to ink a deal," admitted the longtime boxing promoter, who in February promoted his first MMA card. "I don't need to have pretty faces in the audience that I pay to fly in."