Like it or Not: Kimbo Will Fight in the UFC
By Josh Stein on Sep 13, 2009
Maybe Kimbo and Nelson will start a country band.
A friend raised a question to me while we were hanging out the other day regarding the upcoming season of TUF and what will inevitably be a heavyweight packed TUF 10 finale. Apart from the massive recruiting potential of TUF when they really focus on picking up talent, there are a lot of guys on this season who have the potential to be huge draws as personalities.
Former Tampa Bay Bucs defensive tackle and regular Howard Stern guest Marcus Jones (4-1 MMA) is one of the guys worth mentioning. He’s smart, clever and already featured in a video on the first page of the TUF website. The UFC is going to look to feature him in the future, especially if he makes it into the rounds of eight or four, which are very possible.
The most prominent, though, is beard enthusiast and country music fan Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson (3-1 MMA). The reality is, whether Slice wins or loses on the show, he (like the unforgivable douche-nozzle Junie Browning) will be granted a spot on the main card of the Ultimate Fighter 10 finale. I don’t have a big problem with putting Slice on the finale. I understand the desire to make money, and as long as he’s fighting a legit heavyweight (who will kick his ass) I’ll tune in to watch the beating. But I can see how it bugs some people. After all, Kimbo Slice has only beaten one fighter under the age of forty, and that James Thompson fight is hardly something he should be proud of.
Whether Kimbo ends up working with Rampage or not remains to be seen (though from the preview, it looks like that’s where he’s going to end up), and whether Rampage decides to keep him after seeing how crappy a fighter Slice is will make for some interesting suspense. Of course, the over-under in the betting pool I’ve started over how long Kimbo stays in the competition is four weeks, but maybe he’ll go to the Wolf’s Lair to train with Rampage after getting his ass kicked in the first or second round on the show.
Who Kimbo will fight remains to be seen. Frankly, I’d like to see him take on Jones or former Tennessee Titans offensive guard Wes Shivers (2-1 MMA). Shivers is 6’7 and while not a technical striker in the least, he’s got power that is absolutely devastating. I don’t know a lot about Shivers personality, but as one of the largest fighters in the house, it’ll be interesting to see how the guys react to him.
Rampage will try to be the show stealer, as the coach, but we’ll see if his emotions get the best of him. He’s already said that he’s pissed off at Rashad, but, frankly, this is the first season in a long time where I’m more interested in the fighters than the coaches. There was a little interest in TUF 8, with the dominance of Efrain and his destructions of Shane Nelson and Junie the Toehead, but the appearance of Jones, Shivers, and the return of the gargatuan Wes Simms (21-12-1-2 MMA, 0-3 UFC), not to mention the long awaited appearance of Big Country Roy Nelson (13-4 MMA) will make for an awesome season, and I’m down for hyping this, because (unlike seasons six, seven and nine) it’s going to be a great product.
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Jesus, did Kimbo Slice key your car or something? Cut him a little slack, the guy’s had, what? Four professional fights? I haven’t exactly crunched the numbers but I’m pretty sure the odds favor most 3-1 fighters being at or below his skill level, let alone the ones who started fighting in their 30s.
I’m definitely all for the hype with this season. Something seems awfully forced about the Rampage-Evans rival but it will make great television, something I’m sure Quinton “B.A. Baracus” Jackson is keenly aware of. Leaving an opportunity to face Lyoto Machida for the title to be featured on another season of TUF is definitely a really calculated move.
The Kimbo question? I think the bar is set very low for Kimbo. All he has to do is look great on television, win or lose. If he gets KO’ed out cold in his first fight, then its really not going to look good. If he makes it past his first and performs well then I’m sure Spike TV and UFC executives will be happy.
On top of all of that, on paper the entire card looks really impressive. This is the heavyweight season, a really huge heavyweight season. I’m looking forward to Ben Rothwell and Wes Shivers.
Alex, six of the guys in the house (including Kimbo) have four fights or less. All five of the other guys are better fighters than Kimbo.
The odds of a fighter being below Kimbo’s skill level after three fights are high, but those guys don’t make the Ultimate Fighter. The guys that have four or less fights are all killer athletes or have long standing backgrounds in other forms of competition. Two of those six guys are NFL players (Shivers and Mitrione) and one of the others is Brendan Schaub, who’s a legit contender to take the whole show.
The problem is, there are a lot of guys in the house this season who are really good, accomplished fighters and athletes, and Kimbo’s not one of them.
Also, most of the guys in the house spent their time fighting serious opposition, not having handpicked senior citizens selected by Gary Shaw.
Solid argument all around Josh.
I just wanted to add that when we do see Kimbo Slice in the argument it kind of dispels the who UFC company line that we’re all about putting together the best possible fights. If by best, he means the most marketable fights, or the fights that the “people” want to see then . . . well ok.
Did Junie Browning belong in the Octagon? Like it or not, we had to suffer through watching him compete. Kimbo Slice? Like it or not, meanwhile I’m sure there’s a solid fighter that did not get the opportunity because Slice has a name. With that said, I can argue, did Brock Lesnar deserve the same opportunity OR I can argue, after losing to Frank Mir, did he really deserve a fight against Heath Herring, a real top ACTOR-fighter in the HW division?
I don’t like Kimbo like that but the show is about opportunity and after watching the first 2 episodes there are more than just Kimbo who stole and chance for legit fighter. Don’t be fooled people UFC is out to make money and whether you want to see Kimbo succeed or in the words of Smokey,” GET Knocked the f#%k out.” He is gonna get signed because he brings money!