Veiled Racism Towards Kimbo Slice Alert

by Luke Thomas on Feb 18, 2008 1:37 AM EST in MMA News

If Kimbo Slice were white, you'd have never heard of him. In fact, if Kimbo looked like Fedor he wouldn't even be headlining local shows, let alone Showtime. Kimbo is not a bad fighter. He's just not a top 50 heavyweight. His popularity comes from the same suburban white kids who want to be black because they somehow equate being black with being tough. These are the wiggers who have spinning rims on their cars, have gold teeth in their mouths, and actually put effort into talking to sound black. You even have guys like Mayhem on his nuts which absolutely amazes me. I guess it shouldn't since Mayhem is walking around with a "grill" in his mouth, but if anything, Kimbo should be sucking Mahem's dick. Put Kimbo in right now with a top 10 heavyweight and it doesn't last 2 minutes. Period.

-- Sean McCorkle, pro MMA fighter, engaging in analysis that is filled with mind numbing platitudes and "definitely" not at all thinly veiled racism. I mean, of all the things this breathtakingly idiotic comment could be, racist is for sure at the bottom of the list. For sure.

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Re: Veiled Racism Towards Kimbo Slice Alert

If there was a white version of Kimbo that had an intimidating look with a huge bushy beard and long viking hair, who beat the crap out of people in streetfights on the internet, I think he would be just as popular.

McCorkle is a 'tard, 'nuff said.

by MikeyPatriot on Feb 18, 2008 2:09 AM EST reply actions

Re: Veiled Racism Towards Kimbo Slice Alert

Tank was the a white guy with an intimidating look and big beard who was a claimed bad ass street fighter and all that. Shit Tank was popular and headlined shows only because of that. He fought Frank Mir after a five year hiatus from the sport.

McCorkle is a 'tard.

by Yasnian on Feb 18, 2008 2:55 AM EST reply actions

Re: Veiled Racism Towards Kimbo Slice Alert

How is this racism? He says nothing racially oriented about Kimbo's abilities. He only brings in race in terms of people's response to Kimbo. While he might be wrong about the specifics of this situation, I have no idea if he is, and it is ridiculous to think that race does not affect people's response. If Kimbo being black can affect some people negatively, it can affect other people positively. Maybe McCorkle is completely wrong about where Kimbo's popularity comes from and the basis behind it. I don't know. He might be wrong, but dismissing it out of hand as racism is intellectual laziness and kneejerk political correctness.

Do you jump out of your skin every time anything seems like it should offend you, Luke?

by Michaelthebox on Feb 18, 2008 3:43 AM EST reply actions

Re: Veiled Racism Towards Kimbo Slice Alert

Degrading a person down to the color of their skin is the definition racism.

by Simco on Feb 18, 2008 6:50 AM EST up reply actions

Re: Veiled Racism Towards Kimbo Slice Alert

I don't see McCorkle doing that, not unless you qualify a person's worth as his popularity.

by Michaelthebox on Feb 18, 2008 2:34 PM EST up reply actions

Re: Veiled Racism Towards Kimbo Slice Alert

Did you even READ the statement? Let's break this down, in order:

Kimbo's popularity is entirely based on his skin colour.
Kimbo is not a top 50 heavyweight.
The only people who are fans of Kimbo are white kids who idolize black violence.
Kimbo's fans are "wiggers".
Something about Jason Miller that doesn't make sense.
Kimbo doesn't last two minutes with a top-10 heavyweight.

That's six points, of which three rely on racializing either Kimbo or his fan base, two are fair assessments but sound like sour grapes, and one is simply odd. There's two ways to look at this comment: either he is claiming that Kimbo is a fraud and being given an ufair "boost" based on his skin colour, or Kimbo's fans are idiotic "race traitors" who will follow anyone who is black. Both are racist statements, just directed at different people.

Kimbo headlines shows because of his unique reputation, the same way that Tank was a legend back in the 90s when the crowds were generally smalelr, and the same way that Brock Lesnar has become a massive draw in the UFC despite real gaps in his game. Beside that, it's not like he's headlining a massive PPV card that drew millions of viewers. It was on Showtime, with an organization that has a notoriously shallow talent pool.

Neither I nor my friends fit Sean's "profile", and we all know about Kimbo and are interested in seeing him fight, even though we're aware he's not a top heavyweight. To chalk it all up to race is really shallow, narrow thinking.

by AJB on Feb 18, 2008 1:47 PM EST up reply actions

Re: Veiled Racism Towards Kimbo Slice Alert

You took the words right out of my mouth. Superb breakdown. End of thread.

by Luke Thomas on Feb 18, 2008 2:41 PM EST up reply actions

Re: Veiled Racism Towards Kimbo Slice Alert

Nice try, Luke. I'm not letting your superior self-righteous nonsense off that easy.

by Michaelthebox on Feb 18, 2008 3:00 PM EST up reply actions

Re: Veiled Racism Towards Kimbo Slice Alert

I'm off to go train, but I'd be happy to elaborate. Give me a few hours and I'll get something up.

by Luke Thomas on Feb 18, 2008 3:52 PM EST up reply actions

Re: Veiled Racism Towards Kimbo Slice Alert

You're confusing racism with recognition that racial bias exists in people. Racism is the act of discriminating against a person based on their race. Recognizing racial bias just means recognizing that, for better or worse, many people have racist tendencies, and there is nothing racist in recognizing that. Further, your biased analysis of McCorkle's points suggests that you share the same overly politically-correct sensibilities that so many other people do.

1. Kimbo's popularity is entirely based on his skin colour.

Incorrect. He merely says that if Kimbo were white, you wouldn't have heard of him. You also would not have heard of him if he was 120 pounds, did not have youtube videos, was an accountant, or was named Tom Smith. Kimbo's popularity is a unique, singular creature, a combination of having a lot of the right qualities and being at the right place at the right time. Its very possible that if Kimbo were white, all the right things would not have happened.

3. The only people who are fans of Kimbo are white kids who idolize black violence.

He does not say that. He says his popularity is due to white people who equate being black with being tough. I have no idea if this is true or not. But its certainly possible, and dismissing it outright as racism is ridiculous. Again, Kimbo's popularity is built on a whole lot of different aspects, and removing the so-called "wigger" fanbase could easily bring the whole house down.

4. Kimbo's fans are "wiggers".

Yeah, this is more of a class assessment than a race assessment. If you don't think that such a class exists and demonstrates such behaviour, you're fooling yourself. Recognizing race-driven actions and behaviour is not racism. Its sociology.

The motive behind McCorkle's statements seems suspect. But writing off his statements as racism just because they involve race is the worst kind of PC bullshit.

by Michaelthebox on Feb 18, 2008 2:54 PM EST up reply actions

Re: Veiled Racism Towards Kimbo Slice Alert

Oh, come on. Read what I said. It's not just about racism, which is an ideology of discrimination, not just an act of discriminating; it's about racializing, the act of constructing a race-based identity for perceived "Others" that over-rides other identity factors. Shit, what do you want me to do, write a fucking thesis about it? I've been through grad school and I could, but this is a message board. If you want to nitpick wording to feel like you're proving your point, go right ahead. But it's not PC - frankly, I'm an anarchist and I couldn't give a shit about PC - it's just the recognition that one person is painting both the fighter and the fans into a defined box based on skin colour. If that doesn't betray a race-based ideology, then I just don't know what does.

by AJB on Feb 18, 2008 4:53 PM EST up reply actions

Re: Veiled Racism Towards Kimbo Slice Alert

I am really tired of people equating a guy that got in fights in his backyard with a guy who was an NCAA champion. It's pretty big difference.

by Richard Wade on Feb 18, 2008 3:32 PM EST up reply actions

Re: Veiled Racism Towards Kimbo Slice Alert

They both have an incredible skill set in one particular area - Lesnar could out wrestle Kimbo any day of the week, but I'm pretty damn sure Kimbo hits harder and faster. Just because they don't have NCAA scholarships in "hitting really fricken hard" doesn't mean they're all that different. Last time I checked, a one-dimensional Thai kickboxer or BJJ grappler likely wouldn't come out of an NCAA school, and would likely be regarded the same way. I just don't see the difference, especially since Kimbo and Lesnar are both doing the same thing now: working like hell with respected people to try and round out their games.

by AJB on Feb 18, 2008 4:56 PM EST up reply actions

Re: Veiled Racism Towards Kimbo Slice Alert

The one thing I agreed with:

"He's just not a top 50 heavyweight."

by DirtyML on Feb 18, 2008 6:40 AM EST reply actions

Re: Veiled Racism Towards Kimbo Slice Alert

on another thread mccorkle said that elitexc pushing kimbo makes up for the whole slavery bit. after a comment like that it slants any comment by him to be taken in the worst way possible

by goodfriend on Feb 18, 2008 1:59 PM EST reply actions

Re: Veiled Racism Towards Kimbo Slice Alert

Yeah, rap sucks. But people follow trends and Kimbo is a trend. These are the same people that blast their rap music all night, drive Civic's, and misspell every single word in favor of "Dah", "toofth", "screet", ect. These are also the same so-called fight fans that rave about Chuck Liddell, then make fun of him when he lost to Jackson. Then raved about him again when he beat Silva. These are not fight fans, they are just an embodiment of trends, rolled into a stereotypical frame, driven by other trend followers.

by the2ndflood on Feb 19, 2008 3:57 AM EST reply actions

Re: Veiled Racism Towards Kimbo Slice Alert

The one thing that I love about both MMA and my years in the Army, neither combat in or out of a ring give a shit about the color of anything but your blood. I've seen racism dissolve in violent combat more times that I can remember. These retards need a little time in Irag or Asscrackistan.

by MoreThanUFC on Feb 19, 2008 6:25 AM EST reply actions