Kimbo Slice isn’t the best heavyweight in the world and he’s not in danger of even being in the top ten. He never was. I kept hearing people talk about how Kimbo was unbeatable and how he’s a top fighter. This annoyed me to the point where I decided that I wasn’t a Kimbo fan. I disliked Kimbo until I asked myself why I dislike the man, Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson and I came up empty. Kimbo is a hard worker and a humble fighter. I’m not a fan of street fighting but I can’t get upset that it made him famous. He is all about being professional and he made sure to stress that when CBS tried to hype up the last minute shuffle in the card by comparing it to Kimbo’s old days of street fighting and throwing hands with whoever stepped up at the last minute.
Kimbo is just a victim of EliteXC’s incredible Hype Machine. It saw Kimbo and made him out to be unstoppable. With a status like that comes a lot of money and for a man trying to support a family, he can’t be blamed for utilizing such an opportunity but on the other side of the coin is the large amount of scrutiny. Whenever Kimbo doesn’t live up to his image of baddest mma fighter on the planet, most criticize.
As of Saturday, that facade has crumbled. Kimbo was set to fight Ken Shamrock who most would agree, should have bowed out a long time ago. Ken sustained an injury warming up and had to back out. In steps Seth Petruzelli. Petruzelli ended Kimbo’s night in 14 seconds by way of TKO. You may remember Petruzelli from season two of The Ultimate Fighter (but probably not). I had to slap my forehead when I heard that Kimbo was the heavy favorite.
Just to lay everything out on the line, here are the facts:
- Kimbo’s first MMA win was against Bo Cantrell who has a record of 10-11. Before he lost to Kimbo, Cantrell was riding a 4 fight losing streak.
- Next for Kimbo was the 43 year old David “Tank” Abott. Abott holds an MMA record of 9-14. Before Kimbo, Abott won 1 of his last 9 fights and was also riding a four fight losing streak.
- After Tank was James Thompson who was arguably decent competition. He won 2 of his last 8 and was coming off of two losses. Thompson has a very questionable chin but he still beat down Kimbo in a very ugly back and forth battle that saw Dan Miragliotti stop the fight in the third round in favor of Kimbo. It was called a TKO and Thompson was still on his feet punching.
- Then he was slated to fight Ken Shamrock who lost 8 of his last ten fights. His two victories were over MMA’s running gag Kimo Leopoldo and Sam Adkins who has a record of 7 wins with 20 losses.
Petruzelli hadn’t been fighting top competition either but he had a welth of experience over Kimbo. Petruzelli was 9-4 and was coming off of a TKO win. He fought UFC up and comers Matt Hamill and Wilson Gouveia.
In what world was Kimbo Slice favored to win this fight? I actually heard one of the commentators say “The most incredible win in the history of mixed martial arts!”
Really? Seriously? This is a sport scratching and clawing for legitimacy and YOU Elite XC are shitting all over it
I’m sifting through the bullshit so you don’t have to. Don’t hate on Kimbo. Don’t put him on a pedestal. If you’re a fan, keep an eye out but if he is to be a a fighter rather than a sideshow, he needs to escape the hype.
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