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Wrestler knows Mixed Martial Arts

Posted: Feb 6th 2007 By: CMBurnham

Former wrestling champ and international star Bill Goldberg goes from the ring to the announce desk when Mixed Martial Arts promotion Elite Xtreme Combat (EliteXC) launches on the Showtime cable network Saturday, Feb. 10.

The former football player turned wrestler, who has been training in Muay Thai five years, owns the Extreme Power Gym in Oceanside, CA.

Above all, he is a fan of the sport.

''There is legitimacy to my name,'' said Goldberg, who announced a World Fighting Alliance (WFA) event in the summer and a handful of Pride Fighting Championship shows.

``I do have a pretty extensive background. It's not just like getting someone cold and putting them in the booth just because they're a well-known name.''

Through the years, Goldberg has also built a relationship with many of the fighters in the MMA world. Included are Frank Shamrock and Renzo Gracie, the two men who will headline the card on Saturday.

''I'm as objective as humanly possible,'' said Goldberg, who joins actor and Dancing With the Stars celeb Mario Lopez for the show. ``At the end of the day, I'm going to probably note all of their skills, and it will be up to them to dictate the finality of the fight.

``You can train as much as you want. You can be as prepared and skilled as much as you want. When that bell rings, any single thing can happen.

``Take the Gracie-Shamrock fight; they're both good friends of mine and unbelievable liaisons for the business in their own right. It's going to be tough to see one lose, but I know through their years involved with the sport the loser is going to take it like a man and go back to the drawing board. He's going to find out why he lost, and he's going to work on his game. They're perfectionists and will come back even stronger than ever.''

The company tentatively plans to hold four to six events in 2007, complete with pay-per-view quality fights on the premium network.

''Showtime is the first premium channel to put MMA on,'' said Goldberg. ``Obviously, they have a plethora of subscribers that have the channel anyway, and this fight is going to come free to them. Many of them have never seen an MMA fight before. It's kind of a cornucopia of MMA stars on one card.

``We're going to use it to try and bring new fans in along with the ones already out there by bringing them good, reputable and dangerous fighters.''

As the MMA spotlight shines on EliteXC, Goldberg is content watching from the sidelines.

''I'm 40-years-old so my days of putting those skinny tights on, whether it be for wrestling or fighting, are pretty much over with,'' said Goldberg. ``Although, [Live Events President] Gary Shaw, like pretty much any good promoter I've been associated with, is going to try to get me in the ring or cage. You never say never, but the reality is for me to be a successful MMA fighter you have to be well-rounded and put the time in. It's tough to put six months in and say `Ok, I'm going to fight.'''

With a recent guest appearance on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (SVU), Spike TV's Pros vs. Joes, a number of movies and a hosting gig on Spike TV's new automotive reality show Bullrun, debuting March 13, Goldberg has put pro wrestling on the backburner.

Despite not making a major national wrestling appearance since WrestleMania 20, his name still is mentioned in those circles.

Recently Total Nonstop Action (TNA) wrestling put Goldberg and fellow former WWE star and MMA enthusiast Brock Lesnar on a ballot where fans voted who they believed would be NWA champ Christian Cage's mystery trainer for his match against Kurt Angle at the Against All Odds PPV on Sunday, Feb. 11.

''If it wasn't for a phone call from Lesnar, I wouldn't have known about that,'' said Goldberg. ``Brock said, `You know that they are using our name again.'

``I told him it pisses you off to a point because you see people capitalizing on your name, and it benefits you in absolutely no way, except for the fact that it keeps the name out there.

``If it were not for wrestling, I wouldn't be doing this Showtime gig and the Spike TV gig, because as many bad things that were associated with it, that profession kind of put me on the map. I owe a lot to it, and I owe the fans even more, but it pisses me off as a promotion that somebody would do that.

``That is no big deal. It just gives me more of a reason to beat the hell out of them even more.''

While Goldberg might not be beating up people in the ring anymore, his mother Ethel, a resident of Miami, remains proud of any entertainment endeavor her son enters.

''I think she's happy,'' said Goldberg, whose father Dr. Jed Goldberg, also a South Florida resident, passed away.

``However, she was happy walking down the street, knowing her son was pulling in some ratings on television -- but I'm doing it in a different way, with a different company and a different network.

``We all have to evolve and reinvent ourselves at the drop of a hat, and I have done it a number of times, and hopefully this isn't the last. The reality is this is something I enjoy, and a lot of these guys are friends of mine. I've got the best seat in the house.''

Frank Shamrock and Renzo Gracie main event a 10-bout card, as EliteXC makes its debut on Showtime at 10 p.m. (ET.) Saturday, Feb. 10 from the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven, MS.