Kimbo Slice was beaten on The Ultimate Fighter last night. He is a tough guy and as long as the fight was standing up, he was winning. But once it hit the mat, he had no clue. The winner, Big Country, was not a great mat man, but he was much better than Kimbo.
Kimbo is now 34. There are older fighters out there, but I think he has seen better days.
UFC President Dana White seemed to want to make a statement with Kimbo. For the first time, one of the other "novice" fighters was a champion from another league. Of course, the first guy Kimbo fought was this very experienced former champion. "Big Country" was flabby and didn't look like a fighter at all. But he has skills. He was tough enough to be rocked by Kimbo's shots, but not flattened.
Since the concept of The Ultimate Fighter is to take novice or failed fighters and train them to compete in the UFC, it seemed kind of strange to have two guys who were champions in their old leagues show up.
Kimbo could be big money for the UFC and I think he will continue training and get some prelim fights against non-championship caliber UFC members.
BTW, in every fight on the show so far, the fighters seem to be gassed after the first round. In previous years, these guys could fight forever without breathing hard. Of course, the fact they are only using heavyweights this season may be part of the problem. But a bit more cardio might be useful. |
