Kimbo Slice Is Now UFC-Certified
by Kid Nate on Dec 7, 2009 9:58 AM EST
in MMA News
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Unofficial UFC scribe Kevin Iole does the write-up:
The elite fighters in the heavyweight division, men like champion Brock Lesnar and contenders Shane Carwin, Cain Velasquez, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir, among many others, have nothing to worry about.
Truth is, without denigrating Slice, there are more fighters in the UFC's heavyweight (and light heavyweight) division that he can't beat than there are that he can.
If he never wins another fight, though, it won't matter.
Slice has made his point.
...
White wasn’t about to apologize for tweaking Slice so often, but he gave Slice his props.
..."I don’t think I have to apologize to Kimbo. I helped him. I said what I did and he did the thing athletes do: He went out there and he worked and he made himself better. He deserves credit. He took me up on the offer I made, did what he had to do and went out and beat a legitimate UFC fighter."
Ken Pishna of MMA Weekly breaks down Kimbo's technical performance in the fight:
Another incremental progression was his approach to the ground game. He was presented with a couple submission opportunities, and he made an attempt at them, but was smart in his approach.
He started on a guillotine choke at one point, but quickly let it go.
"I knew I didn't have it successfully, so I didn't want to exert a whole lot of energy on a hold I knew it wasn't guaranteed," he recounted.
Kimbo was presented with another opportunity, but again chose the more conservative route.
"When I took his back I was going for a chokehold. I was going for the rear naked or ten-fingers. When I realized I didn't have it... I just went ahead and looked for something else."
No one will be calling for him to step into a title shot anytime soon, but Kimbo did show progress at The Ultimate Fighter finale.
We certainly have not heard the last of Kimbo Slice. Expect Kimbo to be fed a nutritious diet of near cans in his future UFC career. Also expect to pay to see those fights on PPV.
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i would really hope to see kimbo put on fight nights. image all the extra eyes it would draw to the up and coming fighters. it would boost its tv ratings (making it more attractive to networks). but on the other hand, i’m sure kimbo is pulling 75k + per fight (if not far more) and would likely make the ufc lose money on their fight nights.
I'm old school hating Lesnar, I've been hating Lesnar since '08
When will salary numbers for the finale be released?
The only thing Jon Jones does better than Matt Hamill is hear.
(And smash faces)
by ufc4 on Dec 7, 2009 10:04 AM EST via mobile reply actions
Takedown, Slam, submission attempts, I was surprised. I won’t blame him on not engaging houston, houston looked crazy in that fight, and you always fear a crazy guy. It reminded me a bit of Florian against Penn, asking myself wtf might be the gameplan, but waaaaay worst.
10/24
I really don`t get the Kimbo-hate at this point. Before the fight, most of BE (including me) thought Houston was a clear favorite. Say what you will about Houston , but he does have wins over Jardine and Sakara. Plus, I seem to remeber that he did hit Thiago Silva with some powershots before it went to the ground.
Houston is a guy that just about beats anyone NOT in UFC and his glaring weakness, the ground, is kinda negated by that being Kimbo`s biggest weakness too.
"Marcus Davis is a plastic paddy"-Dan Hardy
by BlueberryMuffin on Dec 7, 2009 10:23 AM EST up reply actions
Yep, people acting like Houston is a joke need a reality check. He looked real good in his fight outside of the UFC, and his past showings have been on and off…but acting like him losing to Kimbo says nothing positive about Kimbo is just plain ignorant.
"You guys are jerking eachother off with some pseudo deep bullshit." - Kid Nate
by Kaleb Kelchner on Dec 7, 2009 10:32 AM EST up reply actions
Despite his performance last night, I would still believe Houston would have a shot against Stann (who won last night) or Razak or just about anyone in the lowest exhelon of LHW in UFC.
"Marcus Davis is a plastic paddy"-Dan Hardy
by BlueberryMuffin on Dec 7, 2009 10:42 AM EST up reply actions
I gave the fight to Houston personally and wouldn’t hesitate to pick him in a rematch
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by Brent Brookhouse on Dec 7, 2009 10:43 AM EST up reply actions
those powerpuff inside leg kicks shouldnt have counted on any judges scorecard...
i was pretty disappointed in houston for being that timid.
What was the record of the guy Houston fought before Kimbo? Not good as I recall. And it didn’t help that he had a terrible gameplan. Houston has KO power but that’s it, if he would have fought Kimbo like he did Jardine and Sakara he probably wouldve won but he’s not a great fighter. He would probably do better in boxing.
The only thing Jon Jones does better than Matt Hamill is hear.
(And smash faces)
by ufc4 on Dec 7, 2009 11:20 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
I would think Houston would do much worse in boxing.
by John Nash on Dec 7, 2009 11:33 AM EST via mobile up reply actions 2 recs
also expect
me to continue to dislike him, and anyone who “just wants mor epeople to watch the sport” to love him
id rather people watch the sport more but id rather they watch with the context that he is developing as a fighter and not wiht the context of holy shit why isnt he fighting lesnar
I don’t think ANY Kimbo fan is going to say he should fight Lesnar. And the more people that tune in to see Kimbo, will be exposed to serious MMA fights, and if it works out, the sport gets new fans.
"You guys are jerking eachother off with some pseudo deep bullshit." - Kid Nate
by Kaleb Kelchner on Dec 7, 2009 10:11 AM EST up reply actions
i wish people could just enjoy some fighters for what they are. kimbo is a B level fighter with huge fame. cant we just enjoy him fighting other B level fighters? no one should ever say he’d beat anyone in the top 10, but that doesnt mean i cant enjoy his fights.
I'm old school hating Lesnar, I've been hating Lesnar since '08
B stands for bad
The only thing Jon Jones does better than Matt Hamill is hear.
(And smash faces)
by ufc4 on Dec 7, 2009 11:22 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
True story, a guy who worked at Wal-Mart told me he thought Kimbo was gonna win TUF then fight Brock, swear to god.
The only thing Jon Jones does better than Matt Hamill is hear.
(And smash faces)
by ufc4 on Dec 7, 2009 11:22 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
I had some guy who was changing my tires at Sams tell me he was going to fight Fedor.
by Riney on Dec 7, 2009 12:32 PM EST up reply actions 10 recs
I just have to wonder who the UFC can give him to fight and at what weight class is Slice going to fight in. I can see them giving Kimbo a Chuck Liddell because the money would be huge, but as far as fighters that he can beat, I don’t know. I don’t think the UFC wants to give him the Tim Boetsch’s or Mike Patt’s because they are no-names who have a good shot at actually beating Slice. It is a very thin line here in that the UFC will most likely give him someone with name value, , has no ground game, but also it would have to be someone that Kimbo could beat. My only answer is Heath Herring even though I think Herring would win.
Herring would DESTROY Kimbo...
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by Brent Brookhouse on Dec 7, 2009 10:23 AM EST up reply actions
Absolutely. Kimbo should be compared to LHW`s though…
"Marcus Davis is a plastic paddy"-Dan Hardy
by BlueberryMuffin on Dec 7, 2009 10:25 AM EST up reply actions
I said that I think that Herring would win. The thing with Herring is that he fits the bill as far as what I feel that the UFC wants to give Kimbo. Herring has some name value and is a standup fighter and won’t force the fight to the ground. I too think that Herring would win though. If not Heath Herring, then who does the UFC give Kimbo as his next fight?
Someone who has a name… Doesn`t use leg-kicks… Does`n`t utilize takedowns or jui-jitsu… and is slightly past his prime.
Chuck Liddell would be my man (Damn you TUF!!) (and while I would bet on Chuck, I´m not sure exaclty how much slower he`s gotten. He looked sloooow against Shogun.)
"Marcus Davis is a plastic paddy"-Dan Hardy
by BlueberryMuffin on Dec 7, 2009 10:34 AM EST up reply actions
I mentioned above that “I can see them giving Kimbo a Chuck Liddell because the money would be huge.” As bad as Chuck has looked, even in his devastating knockout losses from Evans and Shogun, he was in the fight until the knockouts happened, and these are to top five light heavyweights. It is not like Liddell got totally dominated throughout the whole fight in those two fights. I think the fight between Kimbo and Liddell will happen, but what about in the near future: who does the UFC give Kimbo Slice?
I thought they’d have Chuck fight Kimbo but with him coaching TUF against Tito I think he might be one and done, a fight with Tito would be a great ending to his career, especially if he wins. So who does Kimbo fight next? Hmmmm……that’s tough. I’ll have to think about it.
The only thing Jon Jones does better than Matt Hamill is hear.
(And smash faces)
by ufc4 on Dec 7, 2009 11:26 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
I will take back my stance on Kimbo fighting Heath Herring
I just realized that the criteria I put as why I thought that Kimbo should fight Herring would also work for Cheick Kongo and CroCop (to some extent). Because of that, I DO NOT think that Kimbo should fight Heath Herring
They could go with these two, but they don’t have too much name value. While I think either of these two would beat Kimbo with Kimbo having a little bit of a chance, these two are solid mid-tier Heavyweights, so the risk for Kimbo would be high risk, but pretty high reward if he somehow beats Heavyweights of their caliber.
The answer is simple
Brian Stann. I actually think Kimbo would have a chance with GnP.
Wow, I never thought I would say that.
The only problem with Stann is name value in that he has none. However, Stann will stand and trade and has a weak ground game. For Kimbo, a fight against Stann would be high risk, low reward.
Stann is the cousin of one of my friends, and is one of the baddest mofo’s around. His story is online.
Second Lieutenant Stann personally directed two casualty operations, three vehicle recovery operations and multiple close air support missions under enemy small arms, machine gun and mortar fire in his 360-degree fight.
I met him at my friend’s graduation, and he’s this nicest guy ever. I’m just glad he’s still getting fights in the UFC, a Kimbo fight would be great for him (profile-wise)
We're just a million little gods causin' rain storms, turning every good thing to rust.
One thing that is getting overlooked is that AGAIN Slice was put in with a guy who has a reputation of having a bad chin. And AGAIN he was able to land on that chin at times. And AGAIN he wasn’t able to do anything with that “legendary” power
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by Brent Brookhouse on Dec 7, 2009 10:24 AM EST reply actions 3 recs
When exactly did he land? I saw him land one or two jabs… A gif would be nice.
"Marcus Davis is a plastic paddy"-Dan Hardy
by BlueberryMuffin on Dec 7, 2009 10:26 AM EST up reply actions
And while he didn`t put Houston out, Houston didn`t seem overly thrilled to stand and exchange with Mr Ferguson…
"Marcus Davis is a plastic paddy"-Dan Hardy
by BlueberryMuffin on Dec 7, 2009 10:28 AM EST up reply actions
And when you complain about Housons chin, I`m guessing you`re referring to THe Irvin-fight? Cause Thiago hit him with clean power-shots while Houston had his head firmly planted on the mat.
"Marcus Davis is a plastic paddy"-Dan Hardy
by BlueberryMuffin on Dec 7, 2009 10:39 AM EST up reply actions
I’ve always defended Houston’s chin as able to be dented but far from glass. But he was put out in the Irvin fight, Thiago put him out, he was dropped in the Jardine fight before finishing it. It’s not a chin that breaks the second you touch it. But it hasn’t proven to be great at absorbing shots either.
I’m speaking more on reputation than anything.
Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
MMA Editor - SBNation.com
by Brent Brookhouse on Dec 7, 2009 10:45 AM EST up reply actions
houston said he said he slipped...
but def got cracked lol…
how is kimbos power legendary? does he have some long string of devastating ko’s that im unaware of? he just hits hard when he connects—link most strikers at HW.
Id also have to agree with BlueberryMuffin “while he didn`t put Houston out, Houston didn`t seem overly thrilled to stand and exchange with Mr Ferguson…”
Agreed.
I’ve long thought Kimbo’s power was overrated, and that last fight further cemented this belief for me. Other UFC fighters surely recognize this, so I don’t expect people to be scared of his punching strength in future fights.
I love me some Sexyama!
He’s officially an “Ultamit Fightah”
Walking the line between intelligence and ignorance since 1985
@deowade
PAT BARRY
Walking the line between intelligence and ignorance since 1985
@deowade
by Damon O. on Dec 7, 2009 11:21 AM EST up reply actions 2 recs
Kimbo-Pat Barry could definitely headline a Fight Night card and who wouldn’t want to see it?
Giving Shogun his props. I had the fight 48-47 Machida but Shogun put up a monumental performance and I am honored to have seen it in person.
Pat Barry might kill him.
Bolts from the Blue // "I have got to be the most boring GM in the league." - A.J. Smith
Bloody Elbow // "I win again. Engrish is my bitch." - Steven Zucconi
Kimbo really impressed me in the 2nd. Semi impressed me in the 1st and totally disappointed me in the 3rd. So overall my mind is a split decision in favor of kimbo slice at this point
He needs cardio before I start regularly rooting for him. I hate watching fighters gas out and stop fighting.
maybe this makes me a horrible person...
But what intrigues me more is his LAST fight for the UFC.
I’ve written I think Kimbo is of pretty limited use to the UFC, precisely because we’re all scratching our heads wondering who the hell he can fight. let’s say he (probably) loses his next fight (of course I thought Alexander would beat him easily) and Dana decides he’s not going to resign him, and just wants to discredit Kimbo so that he can’t make money for someone else. I wonder if he’d throw him in with someone like Kongo who could make Kimbo look really bad, just for insurance purposes?
I could see it happening. Dana always used to talk about how he’d get murdered in the UFC…
Oh, either that, or he can just bring back Sean Gannon!
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