EliteXC held a media conference call yesterday in advance of its July 26 CBS event in Stockton, Calif. On the call were EliteXC middleweight title-holder Robbie Lawler and challenger Scott Smith, women's fighters Shayna Baszler and Cristiane Cyborg, and Executive Chairmain of Pro Elite, Inc. Doug DeLuca. FightTicker.com has combed the transcript for the most relevant items, which are presented here.

QUESTION: Doug, can you comment on any potential deals with Fox Sports and EliteXC?

Doug DeLuca: We're not prepared to really talk about anything in detail, but we certainly are talking. You'll probably see something soon.

QUESTION: Doug, could you comment on Eddie Alvarez’s phenomenal performance over the weekend, despite the unfortunate injury. What are your hopes for him and EliteXC hopefully for the end of this year?

Doug DeLuca: Eddie is an amazing fighter. We knew when we let him go fight in DREAM -- we often let our fighters fight in other promotions when it's good for them, the sport and, obviously, for both promotions -- he was going to do well over there. We hold really high hopes for Eddie.

He's a great fighter and I think he speaks to that new breed of MMA fighter, a guy well rounded in all aspects of MMA and all disciplines of the sport. And you're going to start seeing that super athlete emerge more and more. I think Eddie is (one of) the poster child for that. We're really happy to have him. He’s an exciting fighter and great guy. We're looking forward to getting him on an EliteXC card soon.

QUESTION: Eddie Alvarez, in the ring after the Dream card ended both he and Joaquin Hansen indicated that they thought they would fight each other next. Is there anything with Eddie's contract that would prevent that from happening?

Doug DeLuca: The way his contract works, and the way we work with most of our fighters, is when a fight arises that they really want to take or will help their career, they come and talk to us. We sit down and we see if it's the right move for everyone.

So, I mean, it's a potential, but it has not been brought up yet and it's nothing that we've discussed. So I can't really comment on it specifically. Certainly we'll entertain all thoughts and all comments.

QUESTION: Shayna, what do you know about your opponent?

Shayna Baszler: I know she's very aggressive and she's very much the Chute Box template. She's one of the best that Brazil one of the best fighters that has come out of Brazil. And I dig that. I'm honored to fight her. I've always said throughout my career I want to fight the best in the world. And she's one of the best out of Brazil. So I think that fits right into what I want to do. So I think it's going to be a great fight.

QUESTION: When asked if he has any interest in setting up any female divisions in the UFC, Dana White politely questioned the depth of talent. What is your response to that?

Shayna Baszler: I don't care what Dana White has to say. If he wants to question the depth of talent; that is just going to give companies like EliteXC one more thing to tap into that he's not. He wants to question the depth of the female division, but every fight, every female fight that ProElite has put on has been a showcase of women's talent and has been "fight of the night" type material. If he wants to give that avenue to others to pursue, then, fine. The more the merrier. I don't care. I just want to fight the best. I don't know, if he wants to question that, then I'd question the talent of his heavyweight division.

Cristiane Cyborg: I'd love to fight Dana White to show him how tough women are.

QUESTION: Robbie, did you want to get a rematch right away?

Robbie Lawler: Yeah, definitely, and the fact they told me in the ring before they even announced the decision, ‘don't worry, you guys will do it again.’ I kind of knew it was coming. I'm glad neither of us had another fight in between. There's always a chance of injury and this is some unfinished business we have to take care of. And I don't want to take the chance of it not happening.

So I'm really glad it is happening as soon as it is. I didn't think it would be as quick. But I figured it would be both of our next fights.

QUESTION: Doug, there's been talk that it's going to be difficult for Saturday's event to draw the type of ratings that the first EliteXC event did -- just because there was so much marketing for that event. What do you expect in terms of ratings and what would it take for you to deem it a success?

Doug DeLuca: We certainly are managing all of our expectations. It is summer. And we did have a number of good PR items going for us on the first event. It was the first event on primetime network television. That alone drummed up a huge amount of press for the event and a lot of people were interested in seeing.

But, look, I'm confident in our fight card. I'm confident in mixed martial arts and I'm confident at what we can do at EliteXC in terms of producing events and our PR team is second to none. So we've got a lot of press for this event as well.

We understand the numbers might not be as big as the first time, but (still) we're all expecting to do some good numbers. I really couldn't tell you what a success is, or what a success isn't. I'm just looking forward to putting on the best event possible and getting as many people out to watch it as we can get.

QUESTION: Doug, how big is the Stockton Arena and how many tickets are sold so far?

Doug DeLuca: The Stockton Arena fits 10,000 fully built out. I think we have it scaled for either 7500 or 8,000. And we're definitely well up over half sold already and that was as of the weekend. I know we picked up a full head of steam on Monday. I'm not sure where the exact ticket sales are, but we're fully expecting it to be completely full.

QUESTION: Is KJ Noons going to be in the arena and is there going to be any kind of footage shown of what happened in Hawaii with KJ and Diaz as part of the package of the Diaz fight?

Doug DeLuca: What happened in the cage in Hawaii is not something that ProElite or EliteXC is proud of. That's not what the sport's about. I mean, the one thing that impresses me on a daily basis, and I never cease to be impressed, is the sportsmanship of these athletes. Just the respect and discipline of these guys the way they care for each other. This is a community here and it's not something that we're looking to underline what happened there. That was an unfortunate circumstance.

There was a little bad blood, and I'm sure those two are going to get a chance to work that out in the cage down the road. I don't know if KJ is coming, but (you won’t be) seeing the melee in the cage in Hawaii.

QUESTION: After this show, what dates does EliteXC have coming up on the schedule so far?

Doug DeLuca: There’s an Aug. 15 fight card on SHOWTIME, a ShoXC: Elite Challenger Series event from the Table Mountain Casino (in Friant, Calif.)

(Here’s) a bit of a tip. You'll see an EliteXC show in September. We'll announce that fully I believe on Saturday. And, then, you're probably going to see another CBS show down the road.

QUESTION: Robbie, do you notice after fighting on CBS you get a different reaction; is there more response from people than your previous fights?

Robbie Lawler: I don't really do much except for training and hang out at home.

QUESTION: But you go into the local store and somebody goes, hey, I saw you on CBS?

Robbie Lawler: Yeah, a little bit. But I don't go out that much.

QUESTION: Scott, do you notice people reacting to you differently that you've been on CBS?

Scott Smith: Yeah, definitely. Before everybody just knew me because of my big knockout in UFC with Pete Sell. Now everybody is talking about how great a show Lawler and I put on last time. And I think that's great. That just shows there's going to be a lot of people tuning in to watch a great rematch.

QUESTION: Doug, most of the businesses use the Pay Per View business model. Do you see the network deal with CBS as a jumping off point to Pay Per View to monetize the promotion? And, if so, what kind of time frame did you have?

Doug DeLuca: Absolutely, the Pay Per View model is the goal for most people in this sport. So, yes, it's our goal, too. The exact plan is broadcast television drives the Pay Per View. It builds stars. SHOWTIME to CBS. CBS to Pay Per View. Build stars, build the interest in the stars, let people know even more that these fighters – the guys and gals -- are people and they have real stories and make people care about them and drive the Pay Per View. So that's absolutely the goal. As far as timing goes, you'll probably see a Pay Per View from us early in '09.

QUESTION: Are there any negotiations or conversations with other parties about doing a co promotion?

Doug DeLuca: You know, we speak to everybody probably except one competitor in the sport. We speak to everybody. We're friendly with all the other promotions. We've all talked about doing co promotions.

We've done two co promotions with Strikeforce. We will definitely do more. Like I said, we talk to everyone. There's nothing definitive in the works. We've talked to DREAM about doing a co promote in Japan. We've co promoted with FEG when we did that fight card at the (Los Angeles) Coliseum last year.

So we're no stranger to good promoting and it's something we really like to do. I think it's good for the sport. It brings all the organizations together as a community and it gives the fans an opportunity, hopefully, to see the world's best fights and the world's best fighters. So we're up for it.