Yeah, EliteXC pretty much gets UFC's sloppy seconds. Lawler's a top ten Middleweight, although mmaweekly ranks him #4 ahead of Lindland and Henderson (!). I don't know if you caught the first fight between Lawler and Smith; it was a pretty decent fight with a shitty result. But both fighters were game for a quick rematch, and I think it told the tale. Smith just didn't have it, and that's why the UFC let him go last year. He can bring good fights, but he's not consistent. I think if her were to go on a 3-5 fight win streak and his EliteXC contract ran out, the UFC might bring him back. As far as the rest of EliteXC's roster, the only real talent they have is Jake Shields, who would get most likely lose to any top UFC welterweight.
That all being said, that doesn't mean that EliteXC can't provide exciting fights. The quality of the broadcast from Saturday night was vastly improved over their first network appearance back in May. Ironically, without Kimbo their ratings were about 1/4 what they were the first time. That could hurt them.

However, I'm not ashamed to say that watching Cristiane Cyborg and Shayna Baszler fight was totally hot.
Except that Cyborg sounded like a man after the fight.