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Saturday, Oct 22, 2011

Media Watch: Chuck Liddell To Make Pro Elite Debut On CBS – Sort Of

By FCF Staff

MMA legend and former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell will make his debut for another promotion, Pro Elite, on Monday, Oct. 24, live on CBS, at 10 p.m. ET/PT.  Well, sort of.

Liddell will make a cameo appearance on an all-new episode of Hawaii Five-0, the reincarnation of the popular police drama that also aired on CBS from 1968 until 1980.

According to a CBS media handout, the show’s lead character, Steve McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin), takes part in a charity MMA fight after the police squad begins investigating the murder of a restaurant owner.

The appearance is the second  of 2011 that the 41-year-old Liddell will have made on the TV screen.  Earlier this year, he showed up on an episode of SpikeTV’s Blue Mountain State.

Liddell has made several other appearances on the small screen, including a cameo on a 2007 episode of HBO’s smash-hit series Entourage, as well as on the big screen, including a cameo in the 2008 comedy Drillbit Taylor, which starred Owen Wilson.

Former UFC Champ Chuck Liddell (right) goes to battle for Pro Elite on Monday's all-new episode of Hawaii Five-0 on CBS. Photo Credit: The CBS Television Network

To some, the Pro Elite branding present in the Hawaii Five-0 episode may seem shocking, especially given the tip-toe approach that the organization has made back into the sport since it originally exited the business after a  near two-year effort it made to  compete with UFC came to an end at the close of 2008.  With minimal marketing muscle behind it, Pro Elite will quietly put on its second show, an HDNet-televised affair headlined by a heavyweight matchup between former UFC champ Tim Sylvia and Andreas Kraniotakes on Nov. 5 in Moline, Illinois.

A closer look, though, reveals why the cage in the episode is filled with Pro Elite-branded corner pads.  According to reports, Viacom, the parent company of CBS, remains a 20 percent equity holder in the publicly traded Pro Elite (stock symbol PELE).

Could this be a sign that CBS will re-enter the MMA business through Pro Elite 2.0?

 

posted by FCF Staff @ 6:54 pm
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