The Phenomenon of Kimbo Slice
Last night we bore witness to an official phenomenon in mixed martial arts. His name is Kimbo Slice. And no, I’m not talking about his skill set in the cage. I’m talking about his personality, his name, his charisma, his appearance, his demeanor in the cage and his prior history of internet street fight. Because of those factors the guy sells tickets. And probably some Showtime subscriptions to be quite honest. In the future, he’ll sell pay per views for EliteXC and he’ll sell out even more arenas. If you don’t believe that then you didn’t see or hear what went down at the BankUnited Center in Miami, Florida last night.
It was absolutely deafening over the television as the crowd chanted Kimbo’s name during the referee’s instructions. People tried to tell me before the fight that Kimbo Slice would not draw in Miami. Last night was a testament to his drawing power. Here on the site we had people coming in the chat room who didn’t know a thing about MMA. But they damn sure knew who Kimbo Slice was.
As for the fight itself? It couldn’t have gone better for Kimbo or EliteXC. He demolished Tank Abbott with a quickness. Tank looked surprised at how hard Kimbo was hitting him. And man can that guy throw some f’n leather. He has serious power, folks, the kind of power that makes him dangerous against any heavyweight fighter and that includes the big boys in the UFC.
I’m not saying that Kimbo would beat any of those guys right now so don’t go thinking I’m an idiot. If you made me pick Kimbo vs. any top ten fighter in the world right this moment, I would go with the top ten fighter every time. But his power gives him a chance in any fight against any fighter in the world. The guy is going to destroy some people’s faces in brutal fashion during his tenure in MMA. Believe that.
On top of that, he’s creating a mystique about himself in the eyes of the casual fan. The hardcore sees Kimbo for what he is. He’s a guy with a lot of potential, great trainers, tons of power, and he seems dedicated to the sport. Past that, there’s not much that hardcores know about him. In two pro fights and one exhibition bout, Kimbo Slice hasn’t even been in the cage for a whole five minute round so it’s still impossible to completely evaluate him. For the casual fan, though, Kimbo has beaten three opponents in a row now in under five minutes total time and that creates this mystique that he’s running through guys to people who haven’t seen his MMA fights yet. The next time Kimbo fights the event will be even bigger than it was last night.
EliteXC and Gary Shaw better do everything they can to keep Kimbo Slice with EliteXC. Kimbo is helping them build their brand right now and they are riding the wave of his popularity. If another promotion comes along and nabs Kimbo away from EliteXC it would be very bad news for them. It would be in their best interest to keep Kimbo Slice with the company. Last night should have struck that point home with EliteXC. Kimbo Slice is a phenomenon.
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This article should’ve been titled, “The Awesome Chesthair of Kimbo Slice”
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Hardy har har.
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You said it Adam, “EliteXC and Gary Shaw better do everything they can to keep Kimbo Slice with EliteXC.”
They also need to get him better oppenent’s too. His last two last were fine, for him. But, neither had a winning record and with what he did to them. They’ve got up the ante for Kimbo next time. Why not have him fight Bigfoot Silva for the EXC HW Tilte in say…4 or 5 months? Keep the ball rolling boys.
If he fought Ken Shamrock next, that’d be cool but. I’ll tell you right now, Ken would lose. He’d get KTFO inside of one round, maybe two. I don’t see that fight going the distance. Ken also has a fight soon too. What if he were to get badly hurt? They’ve got to have a Plan B or C.
I will say, Kimbo looks downright scary before he’s about to fight. Nothing seems to faze him. He just stands there calm, cool and collectd. Almost sorta like Fedor or Chuck in that the guy looks as if he’s showing no emotion. He’s there to fight and that’s it. Period. That’s a bad man to have wanting to kick your arse if you ask me.
Oh…and he hit’s like a Mack Truck. Ouch.
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if bas believes in kimbo, i believe in kimbo
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I don’t know if I put to much into him selling out the arena last night because it was his hometown, if it was somewhere else I would have been impressed, I wonder who they are going to have him fight next, they talked about Ken Shamrock right after the fight but I kinda want to see him against that Brett Rodgers guy but if they want another quick KO for Kimbo they can have him face James Thompson or do you guys think it is possible he could face Sean Gannon next? since he has been calling him out.
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I don’t know who said Adam that Kimbo couldn’t draw in Miami. If he couldn’t draw there, he wasn’t going to draw anywhere. Plus that venus was the perfect size for that show. They didn’t try and sell a 20,000 plus venue and they didn’t go with some rinky dink place. I’d have some doubts about Kimbo selling elsewhere but building him up like they are will certainly help ease those doubts shortly.
I agree with what Jordan Breen said on Beatdown After the Bell, next up for Kimbo should be Brett Rogers.
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I suspect they’ll give him Ken next, because of the name and the likelihood that Kimbo will win. After that, perhaps a match w/ Antonio Silva for the title.
Brett Rogers may fight once or twice more in order to have more of a name when he fights Kimbo.
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A title fight is too soon. He’s got to fight someone with some descent HW ground skills whether it be a wrestler or grappler before that happens. Shamrock would be alright although he hasn’t been a HW in a long time.
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Kimbo crap! Tank looks like he took a dive! Kimbo shave the stupid beard & the rest of that dumb looking hair! You look stupid. Ape like really!
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“If you made me pick Kimbo vs. any top ten fighter in the world right this moment, I would go with the top ten fighter every time.”
How about against the Top 25 in the world…or how about a guy who is fighting for more than a paycheck…He possibly is a talented mma fighter but right now Kimbo Slice, is nothing more than a freak show…and until he fights a talented fighter, he shouldn’t be considered as anything else…
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#7.
Amen.
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You can make ANYONE look like a STAR ATHLETE. You give a big scary looking guy a bunch of overweight, out of shape, simpley horrible fighters and you will look good.
You could put in a zoo monkey and make him look unbeatable. It is who you put him against.
Put Kimbo against even people like Pedro R or even Ricco R. They are NOT top HW, but decent fighters. Put Kimbo against guys like that and it will show his real skill level, which is average at BEST!!!
It is sickening that, with all these different promotions out there today…….They all do NOT want to see how good a particular fighter is, THEY WANT TO MARKET HIM AND MAKE HIM LOOK FAR BETTER THAN HE ACTUALLY IS. and this happens with EVERY promotion. Pretty soon will be like boxing, where guys will have 40-0 records who has fought no one better than sub par competition
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Hell, if I were freakish looking, and maybe over the years posted videos of me in felony street fights or committing other crimes I could be the next big mma star…..
Because that is what it is. STAR being the key word. These days it is SIMPLE to breed a STAR, but an actual great mma fighter is hard to come by these days because it is all about selling tickets and the personality, not who is actually the best fighter
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“Pretty soon will be like boxing, where guys will have 40-0 records who has fought no one better than sub par competition”
Ok… so EliteXC is going to have Kimbo fight 38 more times before he fights a contender???
the dude is GOOD! admit it. Yes, Tank is past his prime but nobody questioned Tanks chin… and was DEMOLISHED in less then 2 minutes… it would have been less then a minute but kimbo wanted the fight to go longer..
i mean he crushed tank even before tank had a chance to gas out.
give the man some credit.
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Kimbo Slice pwns noobs!
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this is why i respect what the ufc did with brock. say what you want, but they put him against a really good fighter in his first fight. sure, they were hoping he would win but they didn’t give him a guy he could just walk over.
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I totally agree with this article…..forget fighting ken shamrock….why? that doesnt even make sense. Put him to fight Antonio Silva, whatever that brett rogers guy…..i dont know i just think he should be fighting top top people….Honestly before i didnt think kimbo could beat Bigfoot but now im kinda leaning towards maybe he can….., but it also reminds me of Houston Alexander against Thiago Silva, put him on his back, and he will probably get smashed. Key thing also is can you get him to the ground? I feel that it will be an intresting ride to see whats going to end up happening with this guy….man this guy had soooooo many haters in the mma world, and he totally is going to prove alot of people wrong.
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Kimbo is getting an awful lot of credit for doing what everyone expected him to do. I’m excited to see him fight a real opponent, but maybe we should put the coronation on hold until then.
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Elite XC is looking to put people in the crowd and that’s exactly what they achieved during this last event.
They are doing a great job with entertaining people in the crowds. I wish the fights would last longer than 1 round though.
I have to give Ricco alot of props during his fight with Antonio Silva. I thought that he really showed heart during the fight, and he proved the Silva isn’t ready to take on top competition. I was very proud of Ricco and I would like to see something written up about his performance if possible.
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To be fair, EliteXC are one of many vying to be the number 2 (or maybe one day the number 1) MMA promotion. They need to build names like Kimbo in order to achieve that goal. Having him fight the best will appease the hard core fans, but do nothing to build the organisation in the eyes of everyone else (i.e. the people they need to draw in).
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Ben,
I’m not praising Kimbo’s skills in the ring. I’m not saying he’s anything more than a brawler at this point. What I am saying is that he’s an incredible draw and a true internet phenomenon. Without Kimbo, EliteXC is nothing.
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Let Kimbo fight and beat Ricco, who looked better than I expected he would. If he had been in better condition, he would have beaten Silva. If Kimbo can beat a legit BJJ fighter like Ricco, I’ll take Kimbo more seriously.
Speaking of Silva, what’s his back story? I’d never seen him before the fight this weekend. His facial structure–heavy lower jaw and prominent brow–suggest a pituitary gland disorder or HGH use. Remember Andre the Giant? He was a true pituitary giant, and had the same facial characteristics. Much taller than Silva, obviously, so that’s why I wonder about him.
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I’m with Adam with this. He puts people in the seats and that’s exactly what EliteXC needs/needed.
We all know that Kimbo hasn’t faced a real tough opponent and I think they want to keep it that way for the next 6 months of so.
I’d love to see a fight between kimbo and Antonio Silva.
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Mike Silva could have had a brain tumor when growing up.
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Derek
You’re right, and I was trying to allow for that. Something’s going on there, though.
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I’m sure it has something to do with a certain type of brain tumor…The same kind of tumor that the 2nd tallest man in the world has. It developes in the brain which allows the brain to keep on producing some kind of chemical that makes your body keep on growing.
I’m sure he’s not on steroids or HGH because he wouldn’t have been so gassed out if that was the case.
I’m sure that if Thompson was back on the juice he might have defeated Brett…but that’s a completely different discussion.
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Point taken about Thompson. On the other hand, ‘roids don’t help your jaw take punch, as far as I know.
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no doubt about Thompson.
I was just happy to see him in the cage again. I kinda had a feeling that he was going to lose the fight, but I’m hoping to see him stop trying to kill his opponents.
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I do recall a few comments stating that this event wouldn’t sell out… ahem… i told you so
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Complete sidebar–who would win in a fight between Brock and Kimbo?
A few buddies of mine think Kimbo, and tho I am a fan of Kimbo (Miami native), I would have to give Brock the 1up.
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Brock is much stronger than Kimbo and it seems as if Kimbo likes to rely on his strength and power. I don’t think that Kimbo would be able to do anything while being face down on the ground with a strong solid wrestler like Brock.
No doubt in my mind that Brock would easily be able to ground and pound, but wouldn’t want to keep the fight standing up.
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I gotta agree with Derek B on Kimbo vs. Brock. Brock’s ability to take down Mir was impressive, and I don’t think Kimbo has anywhere near the grappling ability of Mir. I’ve never seen Kimbo try to fight off his back. Elite hasn’t matched him with a fighter who has any BJJ or wrestling skills to speak of, suggesting they know it’s a weakness for him. One of these days they’ll have to pit him against a good grappler, and it will be interesting to see how Kimbo holds up. I’ve got some doubts.
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No doubt Mike, It’s hard for Kimbo to be good on his back when he hasn’t been put in that position yet.
I like kimbo as an entertainer but I’m not sold on his MMA skills set.
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What I would really like to see–though I know it’s obviously not possible is Kimbo vs Houston Alexander. Those guys are both brawlers and are both at virtually the same spot in their careers. I would give a slight advantage to Houston since I know he can use the clinch and his knees. I would have also expected him to have done a lot of focusing on his ground game after his last loss.
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KIMBO SLICE IS A JOKE. FIRST, HE NEEDS TO SHAVE THAT GOOFY FACE, THEN HE NEEDS TO FIGHT SOMEONE REAL. YOU NOTICE HE DOESNT FIGHT ANYONE IN THE UFC, BECOUSE THEY HAVE PLENTY OF PEOPLE THAT WOULD WHIP HIM .
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THAT FIGHT SATURDAY NIGHT WAS STOPED WAY TO FAST. IF THEY WERE GOING TO STOP IT THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE IT WHEN KIMBO WAS EATING ALL OF THOSE ELBOWS IN THE SECOND ROUND. I THINK THAT SOMEONE WAS PAYED OFF . THE STUPID OAF COULDNT EVEN WALK OUT OF THE RING AFTER THE FIGHT. ITHINK THAT REF SHOULDNT BE ALOWED TO CALL ANOTHER FIGHT EVER.
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lol. omg the guy that wrote this article should quit because kimbo just got his ass handed to him by a “light heavyweight”. How can this guy call him a Phenomenon he was a fucking joke from the start. Its good that this happen now if he ever had a chance to fight anybody in the UFC they would of really made him look bad.
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