New York – When Elite XC signed legendary broadcaster CBS Walter Cronkite to provide commentary for the first live network broadcast of a mixed martial arts bout - between Kimbo Slice and veteran James Thompson - it seemed a match made in heaven.

 

Apparently even in heaven, divorce is alive and well. 

 

Elite XC and Kimbo have filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court accusing CBS and Cronkite of breach of contract. According to Elite’s legal team the case is simple: Cronkite didn’t show up. (Gus Johnson, a veteran CBS announcer, replaced Cronkite.) 

 

Reached at his home on Martha’s Vineyard, Mr. Cronkite said, “I had an opportunity to go sailing, and that’s the way it is.” 

 

“I was promised the moon, and got squat,” said Mr. Slice, who described Johnson as a “wanna-be fighter” who “wouldn’t recognize an English sentence if it eye-gouged him.”

 

After the bout, which a plainly distracted Kimbo won in unimpressive fashion, a blood-splattered Johnson said, “It’s a wonderful sport, I’m tickled pink to be a part of it.”  

 

“Kimbo is America,” Johnson once said, an enthusiasm that is now clearly on the wan. When contacted about Mr. Slice’s derogatory comments, Johnson – an MMA fan who rigorously trained with Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighters for over a month in case the 91-year old Cronkite might not be available – challenged Kimbo to a “pride” bout, “any place, any time.” A diminutive man, Johnson would seem to be at a huge disadvantage with the 250-lb Kimbo. “Okay, I’m not big,” said the broadcaster, “but I’ve been embarrassed and that makes me a dangerous man.”