The perception that EliteXC's event on CBS is being pushed by the popularity of Kimbo Slice is a bit inaccurate when we look at the bigger picture. Interestingly enough, many of the other promotions in the business are being critical of ProElite for using the image that Kimbo Slice to promote the event. In reality however, Gina Carano is the push behind what could potentially sell the event as a success on CBS.
According to Yahoo! Buzz, Gina Carano's upcoming bout with Kaitlin Young has produced more searches for the American Gladiator in the last couple of weeks. In fact, her searches soared %6,000 and put her into the top 200 searches on the web. Yahoo! Has these small notes in comparison of other top searches:
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Nearly 19 times higher than what MMA icon Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell got for his fight with Quinton Jackson
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10% higher than Paris Hilton last week
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25 times higher than John Edwards after his endorsement of Barack Obama
Most of the searches are from males (89%), and those males have pummeled the search boxes for sexy pictures of Gina Carano at her weigh-ins, in Maxim, on MySpace, and in a red dress. The searches and percentages are astounding considering some of the search words she beat out for the week are weekly staples for many search engines. Google's trends are a bit more back to Earth:
Although Kimbo has huge buzz at Google's searches over a bigger timespan, Gina seems to be making a run in the last few weeks. Kimbo still produces some good numbers, and they have slightly edges Carano. With American Gladiators currently running on a primetime spot on Mondays, it'll only help Carano's pull. Although you can't put huge amounts of credibility in the trends due to the fact that much of the male demographic is simply wanting to see a semi-naked Gina Carano cutting weight at a weigh-in, it still tells us that the 18-34 demographic is interested and may tune in for the event. Couple Carano's appeal with Kimbo's knockout style and brawling, we could very well see some decent numbers.
The disaster blow would be a Carano defeat though, and a surprise Kimbo loss as well. EliteXC has a lot riding on this one.