Street Certified was (discounting co-promotions and their ShoXC challenger series) their fourth EliteXC event and was held on Feb 16, 2008 in Miami, Florida. The commentating team consisted of hyperbolic mouthpiece Mauro Ranallo, ex-wrassler Bill Golberg, and Steven "The Fight Professor" Quadros.

The main fight card begins with James Thompson Vs. Brett Rogers- Heavyweight Thompson is a UK import and Pride veteran best known for two things- charging his opponents like a raging bull and having a jaw made of glass. Needless to say both of those qualities are in display in this match. Roger's suffers a slight blow in his post fight interview when interviewer Goldberg, apparently unaware that Rogers had fought for Elite before, says "Welcome to EliteXC."

Yves Edwards Vs. Edson Berto- This was probably the cards most interesting match in terms of competition. Here you have a newcomer/untested lightweight prospect in the submission-based Berto and a well-traveled, all around veteran fighter in Edwards, who has fought some of the best in the UFC and Pride. The fight has a great finish, Berto grabbing hold of Edwards leg for a takedown, and Edwards delivering a quick, hopping, one knee to the face with his sole free leg, the kind of improvisation that one expects from a man with Edwards resume.

Scott Smith Vs. Kyle Noke- Smith was a former WEC and UFC fighter cast off into the free agent market where he signed with Elite. Noke was a mostly unheralded Aussie fighter. Not much to speak about with this fight. A lackluster round of hesitant amateur kickboxing is quickly deflated by a quick one-two KO by Smith at the start of the second.

Antonio Silva Vs. Ricco Rodriguez- Silva is Elite's legit heavyweight prospect. Unfortunately they don't have many people to pit him against and Silva's had all kinds of problems from benign brain tumors to getting busted for steroids. Rodriguez is the troubled former UFC champ, these days best known for being unceremoniously dropped from the UFC, ballooning in size, and having drug problems that led from everything from jail time to a stint on VH1's Celebrity Rehab. All of those facts are more interesting than the fight, which is a sluggish affair that goes to a split decision.

The main event is Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson Vs. David "Tank" Abbott- Tank made his name in the early days of the UFC. A beer-bellied, goateed, one-liner spouting brawler, Tank went from initial fame to complete irrelevance once UFC/MMA started to grow in terms of technique. Kimbo made his name as a Miami street brawler fighting dudes in boatyards and backyards and then having those videos posted on the internet. That's the kind of freakshow appeal that still unfortunately plagues MMA. When a guy like Kimbo gets six-figure paydays for his first pro fights, it is nothing but a black spot for this fledgling sport. But, of course, he wouldn't get paid that if there weren't suckers who bought into the hype, so Elite's not totally to blame. As for the fight, Tank might have been a name ten+ years ago but within this millennium his fight record is 1-7, with all those seven losses by submission or KO, so you can only imagine the outcome.

The DVD: Image Entertainment.

Picture: EliteXC: Street Certified is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen. Showtime broadcasts in HD but so far true HD quality DVD's of sporting events are in short supply. Still, the image looks decent and everything from beads of sweat tot he Vaseline glisten of Kimbo's beard are fairly well-defined with no transfer quibbles.

Sound: The event has one Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track. Not exactly an assault on the eardrums but it gets the job done. The track is relatively crisp and clean with a few live show fumbles but nothing severe or distracting.

Extras: The DVD contains a pretty decent round of extras housed on a second disc. Actually, the main extra, I don't consider an extra at all. The off television (but broadcast for free on the internet) preliminary bouts are the sort of thing that should be default on any fight card DVD and not considered an extra. The hour and thirty-three minutes worth of fights are, Rafael Feijo Vs. John Doyle, Lorenzo Borgameo Vs. Mike Bernhard, Eric Bradley V.s Mike Gomes, Mauro Rinaldi Vs. Dave Herman, and John Kirk Vs. Yosmany Cabezas.

The rest of the extras include a Kimbo sticker, Photo gallery, Text rules of the cage, fighter bios, and fight glossary, and several Video Featurettes: Promo spots, Post fight interviews, Press conference footage, Ref cam feature, and Kimbo Slice interviews.

Conclusion: Though I wrote this review over a month ago, I'm just getting around to submitting this review. Kimbo Slice fought last weekend. Originally pitted against Ken Shamrock, like Tank, an old school veteran with a recent losing record, Slice was forced to fight a late replacement, an unheralded UFC rejected, light heavy, and was dropped with one punch and pounded out in seconds. I just want it to be known, that loss did not color my comments. I never bought into the hype and wrote this review criticizing Kimbo and Elites stock in him as a star well in advance of last weekend.

Not exactly the greatest fight card. The DVD presentation does go the extra mile in terms of extras, but I think only MMA die-hard, those building a library of DVD's, will want to own this one. Rent it.