It's hard to miss Kimbo.  Not hard, actually, impossible.  If you have your TV turned to Spike

for any length of time, you're going to see either an ad for the show, a clip from the show, or

a head shot in the bottom-right corner of your screen.  As the tenth season rolls on with full-

force, one can't help to think that there is Kimbo-overload.  How can an entire season full of

talented fighters including a former IFL heavyweight champion, several UFC veterans, and four

former football players be overshadowed by a fighter who made his name in backyards and on

youtube.  Is this fair?  No.  Is this good for the UFC?  Hell, yes.  Is this good for mixed-

martial arts?  Absolutely.  In fact, as hard as it is to say, Kimbo may be one of the more significant

things to happen to MMA in a while.

Look at the numbers: Kimbo's fight with Roy Nelson reached a population of 6.1 million viewers. 

Aside from the same season's premiere, the most watched TUF episode or event was the third

season's series finale with 2.8 million viewers.  In fact, forget limiting it to The Ultimate

Fighter, look at the numbers for the most watched fights in American history.  The highest

honors go a fight with 7.2 million viewers - Kimbo Slice versus James Thompson.  Next goes to

Tito and Ken Shamrock with 6.5 million.  Third most watched had 6.4 million, featuring Kimbo and

Seth Petruzelli.  The fight with Roy Nelson comes in fourth.  See a pattern?  Three of the four

most watched fights in American history featured Kimbo Slice.  Two of them were with EliteXC,

which aired 21 events over the period of 19 months, only three of those events were not on pay-

per-view or a premium channel.  Imagine what Kimbo would do in the UFC, which in 2009 alone will

have held 21 events, eight of them being free.  Who better and in what better organization to

bring mixed-martial arts to the casual fan than Kimbo and the UFC?  And... wait a second.  We've

been loyal fans.  Who cares about the people who are just starting to watch UFC because of some

guy off the internet?  I do, and so should you.

When the Kimbo-machine has gotten the most work it can on the fuel that it has, 8-10 million

people will have tuned in to his biggest fight.  Who would be watching somthing else if the UFC

announced Kimbo and Chuck Liddell?  Pretty sure a few curious Dancing With The Stars fans will. 

When all those casual fans take a moderate-to-serious interest in MMA, several things are going

to happen.  First, advertisers and sponsers are going to want their names in-between fights and

all over the bloody-stained trousers, which brings in more money, which of course means better paid fighters.

 Better paid athletes means more talent.  A rush of new and dynamic talent means that not one company, not even

the UFC, can contain all of it and fighters would have to be divided amongst two or more.  Competition between

companies means more frequent cards and, quite possibly, and more competitive price for them.  Everybody wins:

 the advertisers, the fighters, and you.  Remember, I said Kimbo was one of the most significant things in a while to

happen to mixed-martial arts, not just the UFC.  So next time you're thinking that Kimbo doesn't

belong in the cage with such talent, try to remember he's walking in there with his greatest

weapon - his popularity.