While Kimbo Slice has not fought professional since his loss to Seth Petruzelli in EliteXC back in 2008, he has hinted that he would like to remain an MMA fighter.
UFC President Dana White has consistently belittled Slice saying he was not a “real fighter”, and also criticizing his “lack of talent” over the course of his MMA career. White stated on many occasions that the UFC was not interested in signing Kimbo, and the only way he would make it into the UFC at this stage would be through “The Ultimate Fighter” process.
Well, it appears that all the stars have properly aligned as Dana White confirmed yesterday that Kimbo Slice is indeed a participant in the upcoming tenth season of TUF.
“It should be interesting, given some of the things I’ve said about him,” said White
Interesting indeed. Both interesting to see how Slice performs and interesting to see how Slice is “in the house” with his fellow competitors. Considering Kimbo now tools around with an entourage of “associates”, being cooped up with 15 other fighters will be a huge change of pace.
Win or lose, the end result is clear for Kimbo. He will get some sort of contract and make his UFC debut. Even if Slice loses in the first round and at the TUF Finale show, you can be guaranteed he will at least get one other fight in the UFC.
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Caesar Gracie
John
Yael Grauer
Dale
Tyler Johnson
felo
Mike
Tony
Shawn
Ben Cartlidge
lol so how long before they start hyping Kimbo vs. Lesnar as the greatest fight in heavyweight history lol. i guess things couldnt have worked out better for Dana, he gets the Kimbo hype machine at a small price tag AND if he fails in TUF he doesnt even need to put any money into promoting him to crush the hype. its win/win all the way around for Dana.
exactly, win, win, win for Dana.
No matter what happens, this was Dana’s way of being able to weasel Kimbo into the UFC without sticking their neck out there.
A few interesting points here, this season there will be no preliminary fights where you have to “win your way onto the show”. I will bet my left testicle that Kimbo will be the last guy to fight his first match ensuring that he is not knocked out early. Even if he loses his first fight Kimbo will be around atleast half the season keeping the Kimbo fans eagerly watching.
And ofcourse as you guys said, we will see Kimbo in the UFC regardless if he wins or loses in TUF, i dont think anything can bar him from the UFC.
I think its win,win,win,win for all of us because im sure its gonna be entertaining as hell, imagine Kimbo on Rampages team lol.
Theres gonna be some black on black crime!!
While I too find it amusing that Kimbo has gone from a ‘no talent hack’ to a viable contender for tuf, the fact remains that like Lesnar, Kimbo has name value. They’re using him to hype the upcoming season, and obviously it’s working. Let’s not forget that while we’re in the fastest growing sport, the keyword is ‘growing’. Walk down the street and ask a random person if they know any MMA fans, and 75% will say “MMA? what’s that?”
Name value is important from a marketing standpoint. Lesnar pulled in WWE fans to UFC and Kimbo will do the same with his followers. And perhaps we’ll actually see some new blood and good competition come out of this tuf for the heavyweight division. Gods know we need it!
Michelle Harlow
Ideal MMA
ive said for a long time that im willing to accept a fighter purely based on name if its going to bring the sport into more living rooms. no matter what way you slice it, the fighter still has to get in the cage and prove him self and your name doesnt win you fights, unless your name is Fedor lol.
Kimbo makes me sick. he’s not good for the sport. He is causing MMA to take a step backward. MMA needs college and or olympic athletes. not homeless street fighting scum. He brings the whole fixed aspect to the UFC do to the elite xc showing. no way will he win the TUF show. he’ll probably lose his first fight. hopefully Dana doesn’t sign him. I will probably stop watching the UFC if he does.
i dont know if i would say having Kimbo around is taking a step backwards, MMA has a bunch of Olympians and collegiate standouts and its a good thing for sure but the sport also needs fighters from different backgrounds. Roger Huerta is loved by fans because he was a street kid with no future that fought his asss off to get to where he is and people can relate to that, i have a big respect for Joe Stevenson because he (like me) has a bunch of kids and thats who he works so hard for. the point is, the more diversity the better, if street thugs can watch Kimbo fight and think “hey if he can do it maybe i can too” how can that be a bad thing? as long as the fighter isnt making the sport look bad by being an idiot i can accept them, if Kimbo comes along and makes a mockery of the sport i will be all for giving him the boot but as long as he shows some respect and class for the sport and it competitors i have no issues with him.
RJ you forgot to metion that Kimbo also targets the hair dresser demographic with his creative titty shaving. Wait a minute… male hairdressers dont have chest hair.. scratch that..
your right male hair dressers dont have chest hair, but i bet they will style the f*ck outta big Kimbo’s titties lmao.