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John Pollock of The Fight Network is reporting that EliteXC has canceled a planned Sept. 20 event titled “Showdown” to take place at “The Pit” in Albuquerque, N.M.

No details for the cancellation have been provided but the promotion has struggled in the last week to put together a fight that could headline a show set to take place in an 18,000 seat arena.

It is believed that matchmakers wanted to add EliteXC welterweight champion Jake Shields for a featured match on the show. However, complications were encountered when John Alessio, his proposed opponent, recently revealed to MMAjunkie.com that he would not be ready for the Sept. 20 show.

With only slightly more than 30 days until the event, EliteXC had yet to officially announce a single fight for the show. The promotion was also planning to run an extremely ambitious schedule, with cards still scheduled to take place on Sept. 26 (ShoXC), Oct. 4 (CBS) and a yet-to-be announced ShoXC event in October.

Proposed bouts for the ill-fated show included Wilson Reis vs. Bao Quach for the vacant EliteXC welterweight title; Paul Daley vs. Lyman Good; and Cris Cyborg vs. Yoko Takahasi. Dave Herman, Alberto Crane, Joey Villasenor, and Michelle Watterson were also expected to fight on the card in separate bouts. It’s possible that EliteXC will now look to book them for their other shows set to take place in September and October.

The cancellation of Cage Rage’s “Contenders” event is being sold as a way for the UK-based promotion to focus on its bigger November event. The reality is that cost cutting is taking place. The promotion is down to three full-time employees and they are now renting out smaller venues. You don’t cancel an event days out before it is supposed to take place because you want to focus more on a future event. When an event is canceled that close out, it’s done because the promoters anticipate taking a loss and they cancel it to cut those losses.