lol - the non event of the year. If the fight (on either side) lived up to half of the histrionics and BS that the commentators are spewing... it's still be about .000001% of a fight. What a turd of a fight. Total turd.
Well in all fairness you're not stepping in with him and neither are any of the other haters out there. Even with no skills he put your lights out in short order.. and mine... and most peoples. So 'no skill' is relative here. He got plenty of standup backyard matches against guys who would clean most peoples clocks... but... Is the best thing since sliced bread... not by a long shot. Hype is part of the fight game... and angle run by promoters to gain fans and get money online... it's a neccessary evil of the fight world. But if you start taking it to heart... you're going to be disappointed your whole life long. Fighters can't and don't always win... if they do they've got a manager that is cherrypicking cans and has been's for the most part. He gets credit for stepping up to bat and getting in there. Not sure of your background but if you've ever fought on am advanced amatuer or a professional level of any sort - then you know it's a big thing to deal with. Lots of people who love to talk trash are people who've never stepped up to bat themselves... that's probably why the saying 'talk is cheap' originated.
True. Look at all the guys to grace everyone's P4P list: Fedor, A. Silva, Kid Yamamoto, Faber, GSP, Penn... they've all got losses. Sometimes very embarassing losses. There's the saying that "if you haven't lost, you haven't fought anyone good", and I think there's some truth to that. The only undefeated MMA fighters in the spotlight that I can think of are Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida, and Cung Le. They're all beatable. In fact I'll be surprised if Evans doesn't get his first loss by the end of next year, and Le doesn't get his first loss before his 10th fight. I can't hate on Kimbo. He actually seems like a nice guy with great respect for the sport. And with six kids at home, I can't blame him for trying to get the most money he can out of his 15 minutes of fame. But I totally understand why people would want to see him lose. When you get numbskulls insisting that he'd beat Fedor, Nog and Couture on the same night, you realize the hype has gone to some people's heads. And it bothered me that he was being so blatantly protected. I mean, even the substitute fighter (Petruzelli) was supposed to fight at LHW. But as someone pointed out, the mistake isn't to let Kimbo fight in MMA, the mistake is to have him in the main event and sell him like he's a top guy. I mean, good for him for making the most of his internet fame, but yeah, I'd want him to get dismantled by Hendo or someone else a few weight classes lower, just to hammer home the message that KOing a few has-beens and never-weres doesn't make you a good fighter.
Exactly. And I don't doubt that he's improving. If he does manage to get skills and experience and actually become a top fighter, then cool. But he isn't one and the whole image of him as some sort of fighting god was ridiculous. Those commentators were acting like Seth Petruzelli accomplished some sort of great "David vs. Goliath" feat or something. In reality, Petruzelli is a much more experienced than Kimbo Slice.
Here is what one sports-writer had to say: Final curtain for the Kimbo show By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports SUNRISE, Fla. – The legend of Kimbo Slice was built by beating bums in boat yards and back alleys not far from here. It came crashing down Saturday courtesy of a quick punch from a pink-haired journeyman giving up two inches in height, four in reach and 30 pounds in muscle and might. One simple shot sent Slice to the canvas and from there some guy named Seth Petruzelli needed just 12 punches and 14 seconds to put an end (we hope) to one of the great sporting charades of all time. It was just a matter of time before Kimbo got exposed. He was little more than a character out of central casting, a bunch of addictive YouTube videos and a lot of insane hype by CBS, which made him a headliner before he made himself a fighter. He was the Kimbo the Cash Machine, everyone lining up to exploit the lie that this was the baddest man on earth as long as he could walk through hand-picked tomato cans. Only this time his match with 44-year-old Ken Shamrock, who hadn’t won a fight in over four years, fell apart when Shamrock cut his eye in a light training session Saturday and was deemed unfit to fight by state officials. In the scramble to find a suitable replacement that Slice couldn’t possibly lose to, EliteXC considered Shamrock’s brother, Frank, who was there to be CBS’s color commentator, hadn’t fought lately due to a broken arm and would have given up around 45 pounds. Despite all this, Frank likely would have submitted Kimbo in the first round. When that matchup couldn’t happen (EliteXC said state officials wouldn’t clear him, Frank said they did but CBS blocked it), EliteXC promoters turned to Petruzelli. The Fort Myers, Fla., native had been dumped by the big-league UFC, was just 2-2 since 2004, had recently taken a year off to start a business, weighed just 205 (to Kimbo’s 235) and was so lightly regarded he was competing in the non-televised undercard. Despite the oft-repeated propaganda that Slice was a man of “courage” for taking a fight with this smaller guy who was likely to stand and trade punches anyway, EliteXC paid Kimbo a cash bonus just to get him to step into the cage. “We made it up to him,” said Jeremy Lappen, EliteXC’s head of fight operations. He wouldn’t disclose the amount. For the myth of Slice, the matchup may not be a 44-year-old on a losing streak or someone from the broadcast booth, but really, what was the worst thing that could happen? “It didn’t feel too flush,” Petruzelli said of the first punch that apparently didn’t even need to land squarely to fell Kimbo. Make no mistake – or listen to the EliteXC spin – this was a disaster for Slice and the company. “This is MMA, all the best have lost,” said Lappen. True, but Kimbo wasn’t defeated by a crafty Brazilian jiu-jitsu master. He wasn’t caught in a submission by an experienced wrestler. He didn’t lose a decision after a three-round brawl. Those would be understandable considering his novice status. Kimbo was KTFO by a guy he absolutely towered over yet was willing to bang with him anyway. Not that Kimbo did any banging. Slice charged him (“He was like a truck,” Petruzelli said) but he never actually landed a punch. In the end, Kimbo’s hand speed, defense and chin proved incapable against even an average mixed martial artist. Which was pretty much what every hardcore fan had predicted. Not that CBS didn’t keep up with the Slice willing to fight, “anyone, anywhere, at anytime.” This was a 100 percent true statement if “anyone, anywhere, at anytime” means “no one any good, anywhere, ever.” Slice seemed stunned and a bit saddened at the turn of events. After it was over, he initially began wrestling the referee. Whether that was a protest for the decision or because he was dazed isn’t certain. Then he walked around the cage complaining to fans about the stoppage. Later he walked out on his CBS interview (“Kimbo?” asked a stunned Gus Johnson), although not before inviting America to an after party at a local nightclub. Then he showed up 45 minutes late for the main press conference, where he gave a quick statement and bailed. “I got my first black eye,” he laughed. He later turned to Petruzelli and joked, “You knocked me out in front of my family; that’s (expletive) up.” Through it all Slice remained the only likable character of this foolish farce. He wasn’t the one claiming he was the best in the world. He was just a working-class dude who figured out how to beat the system and cash in on his 15 minutes of fleeting fame. He’s got kids to feed and bills to pay and right to the end, he was milking bonuses out of the promotion, a one-time homeless man holding the Tiffany Network’s prime-time programming hostage. Only in America. He was the grand actor in the middle of a three-ring circus, a tall tale that would eventually come tumbling down under the bright glare of reality. Where Slice goes from here is anyone’s guess. He can’t rebuild his reputation without stepping up in competition from the guy who just beat him in seconds. He can’t headline a card and have anyone believe he’s legit. He can’t claim he, “just got caught” when it wasn’t some wild, roundhouse right or sneaky arm-bar that did him in. The truth was always coming for Kimbo. Saturday it arrived sooner rather than later, the money train grinding to a halt courtesy of a smaller, less heralded fighter that no one can claim is some elite champion. No, this was it. It’ll never be the same, not for the fighter and not, perhaps, for his entire promotion that just lost its signature star on top of the $58 million it’s burned the past two years. Afterward, EliteXC execs tried to paint a bright future but admitted they needed a drink. Lower-level employees used gallows humor about finding new jobs. Kimbo just said he was going home to see his kids. In 14 seconds flat, the whole mirage was gone. I have seen people get knocked down by a jab before but it usually has more power on it. Just looking at the video it did not look like it was a very hard shot. There was a kick followed by the jab. I guess you could make the argument that he walked into it. What do you guys think? You think he is through? Thanks, Tom
Petruzelli was standing on one leg when he threw it. Didn't look like a powerful jab to me either. It must have landed just right. I doubt that Kimbo is quite finished yet. Another loss and he will be though. It'll be interesting to see if Kimbo learns anything between this fight and his next one.
No doubt he could put any of us out, but he's not unstoppable. I mean I work with 2 guys who did boxing for a long time and they swear by Kimbo and no one can stop him. I don't hate Kimbo, but he does not represent MMA in a good way. I haven't had a chance to compete at any event yet.
Kimbo's loss shook some people. Like me, I laughed, a lot. Not because Kimbo is a jerk or an inherently bad guy. Like the article said he was just taking advantage of a situation that got handed to him by a very shady organization, but because lots of people where I work swear that all the training in the world doesn't mean crap when someone is bigger than you and Kimbo's "street skillz" were all that. Petruzelli just handed us a perfect example of how timing and skill can be more important than size and strength, without any chokes, locks or anything anyone can claim to be "cheap". From watching the clip in slow mo it doesn't look like the jab really did a lot of damage. It just moved Kimbo off balance. His head was moving one way and his body was still moving in the original path. He just fell forward. The hammerfist to the side of the head disrupted Kimbo for just a second then the following haymakers to the face and body finished the job. For all of us who have dedicated a lot of time to studying and training martial arts this was a proof of concept experiment. The only bad effect I see from this, all the Joe Morons with a six month McDojo black belt automatically thinking since they study karate they can beat anyone 30 pounds bigger than them.
