Posts with the tag "Kimbo Slice"

The EliteXC Heat event was actually pretty entertaining. You can find more on the event here. Of course I watched it with the aid of digital video recorder, so I didn't have to watch all the fluff. For me, the highlights where...

• Ken Shamrock out of the main event - This sucked at first, but got all the more interesting when Kimbo lost. By the way, did anybody actually remember that Seth Petruzelli actually was on The Ultimate Fightar 2?
• Benji Radach fighting style "facesmasher-fu" (or something like that) - I still can't find a reference to what the hell his fight style was, but he sure looked good kicking the crap out of Murilo Rua.
• The weigh-ins - The Kimbo-Shamrock escapade almost looked scripted but Carano getting naked had millions of fans watching.
• Seeing Jake Shields fight - Having never seen Shields fight, I was impressed. I can now justify putting him in my rankings.
• Andre Arlovski looked aggressive - I don't think the Arlovski of old is back, but he definitely showed some of the signs.

I am still waiting on the fallout from this event. What happens with Kimbo now? Who will Petruzelli fight next? Will pictures of Carano surface? These are the important questions.

One thing is for sure, EliteXC's Primetime show this weekend has people talking about Mixed Martial Arts. Today, I heard discussions on SportsCenter, The Dan Patrick Show, and Mike and Mike in the morning. It seems everybody in sports is weighing in with their opinion.

Most conversations have been focusing on the violent nature of MMA. I do think it is violent, but is it more violent than boxing or the NFL? I would argue that boxers take repeated shots to the head even after being knocked down. The ref counts to 10 and lets the fighter back up to take further punishment. In MMA, once a fighter is knocked down or can't defend themselves, the fight is over.

The NFL is at least as violent as MMA. Just look at the highlights on SportsCenter after a Sunday of Football. You will see more bone-jarring hits than in any MMA event.

So far, any press is proving to be good press. The key is to inform people what MMA is about and see where it goes from there. At the very least, this is a very exciting time to be a MMA fan.

I have mixed emotions after watching EliteXC's Primetime event. In fact, I see a lot of similarities between the event and the fight between Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith. It got off to a good start and was exciting to watch, but in the end it left something to be desired.

I won't rehash the whole event. If you want more details, see Ram Maramba's article over at Five Ounces of Pain. However, I will touch on a few of his points.

I agree that announcer Mauro Ranallo was horrible. When he started talking about the UFC and their fighters, I knew it was downhill from there. He did manage to make me laugh, specifically when he was describing Kaitlin Young's face. He said it was "put together like a ransom note."

Speaking of Kaitlin Young, her fight with Gina Carano put women's MMA fighting on the map. Not only was it an excellent fight, but it immediately caught the attention of the females in the room. I am guessing it was the only fight they paid attention to. Congratulations to Gina Carano, she should be a star for some time to come.

The best fight of the night went to Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith. Both fighters were throwing haymakers trying to end the fight. I actually thought Smith was winning the fight before it abruptly ended with an eye poke. This will prove to a good thing for EliteXC as they can show the rematch on their next show.

Finally, the main event was disappointing. Of course, I never thought Kimbo Slice was a top-twenty fighter, still I thought he would steamroll through James Thompson. Slice was eventually declared the winner, but the fight did little to make him a star. I must say, Thompson's ear was most disturbing. We kept laughing that it would explode at any minute and eventually it did. That image will be haunting most of our dreams for some time to come.

All in all, EliteXC did a fairly good job presenting the event. It still doesn't sit very well with, but I am not exactly sure why. I guess it's the nature of televised events. They are always longer than they need to be with all the extra fluff between fights. Still, I am intrigued enough to watch their next show.

Sam Caplan wrote a great article about Crossover MMA fighters. The article talks about the success of Brock Lesnar and Kimbo Slice and how that success may lure others into MMA. Here are the names that he mentions as possible future MMA fighters:

• Mike Tyson
• Bobby Lashley
• Bill Goldberg
• Kelly Pavlik
• Chuck Zito

I would pay to see Tyson get his ass kicked and Goldberg would have me interested, otherwise... probably not.

I ended up going to a friends house to watch the Elite XC Street Certified event. I must say, I wasn't particularly impressed with the presentation but the fights were great. Slice proved to be the ultimate street brawler knocking down Tank Abbott 3 or 4 times before the referee stopped the fight.

We found it extremely funny that the announcers said that Tank was in shape for the fight. To us, he looked pretty flabby. Also, what was up with Slice's chest hair? It seemed as though he had shaved a mustache for his tattoo. At least that is what I thought at first.

Scott Smith was impressive in his win over Kyle Noke. It took him a round to get going but he floored Noke with a stiff right. I was surprised to see Smith in this fight as I hadn't heard he had left the UFC. I wonder why the UFC let him leave?

Street fighting legends collide this weekend when Kimbo Slice faces Tank Abbott at the Elite XC Street Certified event. These guys love to trade punches and there is no way this fight should go past the first round. Too bad this fight didn't happen ten years ago, seems Tank is on his way out of competitive MMA. Good thing it only takes one punch to win a fight.

Still, the fight should be interesting as a good knockout is always fun to watch. Believe me, these guys will be swinging for the fences. Slice has the most to lose in this fight, since he built his whole reputation as a street fighter. If you haven't seen any of his videos, head on over to YouTube.