They don't have the lengthy track record of Don King and Bob Arum, but Gary Shaw and Dana White are certainly off to a good start in creating MMA's version of boxing's most famous promotional rivals.

Say this for EliteXC's Shaw: When the promoter is mad, you don't need much prodding to pull it out of him.

Incensed by comments UFC President White made in a recent interview deriding Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson, EliteXC's headline attraction for its May 31 broadcast on CBS, Shaw fired back with both guns blazing during a Thursday media conference call.

In a May 21 interview with the Long Beach Press-Telegram, White offered up his assessment of Slice and rival promotion EliteXC, whose coveted CBS slot will be the first mixed martial arts broadcast in primetime on network television. The 16-month-old Elite XC lacks the massive brand recognition the UFC has spent years building, but with the CBS slot, they've landed a deal that eluded UFC when it fell out of negotiations with both CBS and HBO last year.

"The amount of talent and fights we put on are second to none. Think about it, the CBS fight that they are coming up with, who gives a crap about Kimbo Slice?" White told the Press-Telegram. "This guy can't fight MMA. You know what would happen if he fought in the UFC? I'd put him in against (UFC lightweight champion) B.J. Penn (Pictures) and (Slice) would get annihilated. Kimbo has no credibility at all in MMA. I am telling you, B.J. Penn would beat him."

With the 155-pound Penn giving up 80 pounds to the heavyweight Slice (including Kimbo's beard), that's saying something.

And Shaw didn't like it one bit.

"Dana White is a jack-off. Dana White is a f--ing idiot," Shaw said. "And you can quote me on that. If he cared about MMA, he would understand that. Comments like that make you look like a jerk. B.J.'s brother works for our company. If (Dana) wasn't an idiot, May 31 would be the UFC instead of us on CBS."

As of press time Thursday afternoon, White did not return calls for comment.

The debut of MMA on network television breaks new ground, but the bitter aftertaste of being beaten there is something Shaw no doubt is more than happy to remind White of. Yet Elite XC does not have a hit reality show, years of pay-per-view successes and the bulk of the game's best fighters on its roster -- all advantages the UFC and White would reflexively point to, and with good reason. Rome wasn't built in a day.

However, the larger issue is market dominance, something the UFC seemingly quelled with its purchase of Pride in 2007. Not unlike the dot.com phenomenon, suitors jump in when a buck can seemingly be made, and so far the Zuffa-owned corporation has kept pace with better offerings.

But unlike other rival promotions which have fizzled in recent months -- the much-hyped M-1 Global among them -- Shaw comes from a boxing background, where he quietly labored in the shadows of King and Arum, forever an underdog, financially outgunned, working the margins and fostering relationships to get his talent to the top level. He prospered despite this.

White, UFC and Zuffa have been the toughest guy in the neighborhood for a while, and for good reason. However, Shaw survived in a rougher one, longer than MMA has been around. In these personal attacks, both seem a little too quick to show how unintimidated they are. It's posturing for a confrontation both know might be inevitable, but neither wants to openly address.