First EliteXC, now Cage Rage Contenders card cancelled

Hot on the heels of ProElite, Inc. cancelling its Sept. 20 EliteXC event planned for The Pit in Albuquerque, N.M., is news of the cancellation of Cage Rage Contenders 11. ProElite owns Cage Rage, as well as other mixed martial arts brands, including King of the Cage, Spirit MC, Rumble on the Rock, and Icon Sport.

Contenders is a sort of feeder event for the full blown Cage Rage events. Contenders 11 had been planned for Aug. 16.

Cancellation of the event was never officially announced.

"We cancelled the show in order to focus on the November contenders show, which will be the first time we have done a live contenders show in full direct to TV," said Cage Rage co-founder Dave O'Donnell when contacted by MMAWeekly.com. "It made no sense to spread ourselves thin on this occasion."

The cancellation of Contenders 11 comes amidst a time when ProElite is scaling back many aspects of the Cage Rage promotion. Main Cage Rage events, once hosted at Wembley Arena in London, is now being relegated to the Troxy Theatre, a much smaller venue once used primarily for the Contenders events.

Additionally, ring announcer Mark Aplin and commentator and public relations agent Rob Nutley have been relieved of their duties with the promotion, leaving Chris Cordeiro, O'Donnell and Tony Colosanto as the only full-time Cage Rage employees.

All this after co-founder Andy Geer resigned from the company shortly after ProElite acquired Cage Rage.

As O'Donnell said though, Contenders will begin airing on Nuts TV in England, which no other U.K. event of its size can claim. There is also talk of a possible reality series built around the promotion in the works.

Some of the fighters from the cancelled event will be bumped to the main Cage Rage show, while many fighters are also being picked up by other regional promotions such as FX3.