The Greatest MMA Column 12.08.09: The Kimbo Problem

Posted by Dan Plunkett on 12.08.2009

On Saturday night, Kimbo got the best win of his career in winning a decision over Houston Alexander. 411's Dan Plunkett takes a look at Kimbo's prior opposition, how he was promoted, and what the hardcore MMA fan base thought of it. Plus, do we have a Kimbo Problem?

In June of 2007, Kimbo Slice made his amateur mixed martial arts debut. This is Kimbo's first big attempt to monetize the amount of attention he had received on YouTube. His opponent that night was former boxing champion Ray Mercer, who hadn't been in a meaningful fight since a 2002 loss to Wladimir Klitschko. The bout was thrown on PPV on an event promoted by the now defunct Cage Fury Fighting Championships. Fans hoped they would see a stand-up fight, but the opposite happened and Kimbo took Mercer to the ground and submitted him in 72 seconds. After the fight, Kimbo and Tank Abbott had a confrontation at cage side, making that the next logical fight for both men.

Before an October date between the two could be fulfilled, CFFC folded. It didn't take much time before ProElite, seeing dollar signs, signed Kimbo, immediately making him their biggest star. Kimbo made his EliteXC - and professional MMA - debut against Bo Cantrell. This matchmaking was for one reason: to make Kimbo look good. Cantrell hadn't won a fight in nearly a year. In his previous four fights, he had been knocked out three times and was coming off a gogoplata loss to Brad Imes. This time, Cantrell tapped out due to strikes just 19 seconds in. In EliteXC's mind, the Kimbo Era had begun.

The Cantrell fight was really just a formality; a fight thrown in to give EliteXC some footage of Kimbo to better promote him with. Next, EliteXC had a fight to promote where Kimbo's opponent was known. Despite the fall of CFFC, people still wanted to see former street brawler Kimbo take on MMA's resident brawler, Tank Abbott.

In the mid-nineties, Tank was arguably the most popular fighter in the UFC. He never held back and always swung for the fences. By 2008 however, Tank Abbott was, well, not very good. Since returning to MMA in 2003 following an ill-fated run in WCW, Abbott was just 1-6, the last two of which were TKO losses.

Despite it only being his second professional fight, Kimbo put on what is probably the best striking performance of his career (so far) in this fight. He knocked Tank out 43 seconds with a nice combination. For ProElite, the fight was a great success. Not only did the right guy win for them in highlight fashion, the bout became the highest rated MMA fight in Showtime history, a record that wouldn't be broken until Gina Carano met Cyborg Santos.

It was around this time that the Kimbo Slice Hate Train picked up a lot of stream. Dana White said of the fight, "Tank Abbott?! I mean, come on. That guy was a bad UFC fighter. A friend of mine said he was out at a bar the week before that fight and he saw Tank there drinking beers. He went up to him and was like 'Aren't you supposed to be fighting Kimbo soon?,"

Kimbo received a lot of attention that most hardcore MMA fans felt was unwarranted. After all, this guy is just a brawler! Many felt the same way as Ricco Rodriguez, who stated, "Kimbo is a tomato can. What has he done to prove himself? He hasn't fought anybody. He's a nobody. Kimbo Slice is just a clown."

One of Kimbo's biggest critics was Chuck Liddell. At the time, Liddell was coming off a win over Wanderlei Silva which seemingly rejuvenated his career. "Kimbo's one of those guys who doesn't have any ground game…he's been built up as such a big star and that's the thing that bothers me," said Liddell. "People talk about him like he's the next great thing when he really hasn't done anything."

After the Abbott fight, there were people talking about Kimbo taking on Liddell. Even UFC President Dana White said he'd make the fight in a second, but only after Kimbo fought somebody that mattered.

Kimbo's next fight was set for the main event on May 31 on EliteXC's first CBS event. His opponent was James Thompson. Thompson was by no means a step up in competition for Kimbo, he was knocked out in 3 of his past 4 fights and gets knocked down by a mild breeze nowadays.

In front of 6.1 million viewers, Kimbo struggled with Thompson for two rounds. MMA fans around the world pointed to Slice's ground game as his weakest point, and Thompson listened by taking Kimbo to the floor. "The Colossus" clearly won the first two rounds, nearly finishing Kimbo in the second. In the third round, Kimbo landed three big shots, hurting Thompson and exploding his God-awful cauliflower ear. Despite not being knocked down, the referee stopped the bout and awarded a TKO victory to Kimbo.

Following the event, EliteXC head honcho Gary Shaw was interviewed by 411mania. Here is a gem of a quote from Mr. Shaw: "[Kimbo] is the greatest striker in the world." It was this type of blatantly untruthful, ‘Kimbo is the greatest' promotion that made people so angry.

After that Kimbo got knocked out by Seth Petruzelli, who in turn was "misquoted" in a radio interview which caused CBS to pull out of a deal that would have made them a major partner in the company. As a result, ProElite didn't have the funds to go on so they folded. In November, they cancelled an event that would have been their best yet (Diaz vs. Alvarez and Lawler vs. Villasenor II), but they never officially announced that they were done and their fighters were still under contract. Many of those fighters couldn't sign to fight anywhere else because of their contracts, so they couldn't provide for their families. Eventually, ProElite sold select assets to Strikeforce, including Kimbo's contract. Kimbo convinced both Strikeforce and Gary Shaw that he wanted to become a boxer, so he was let go from his contract. Later, it was announced that Kimbo would go on the UFC's Ultimate Fighter reality show.

On Saturday night, Kimbo made his official UFC debut. Despite not winning a fight on the show and being trashed by Dana White a countless number of times, Kimbo was featured on the event poster in place of the two fighters that made it to the finale. His fight was far more promoted than any other fight on the card, and during the show you could tell what the real main event was.

Something's different about this time though. EliteXC promoted him as a world beater. They wanted those 6.1 million viewers to believe that Kimbo was the baddest man on the planet and could fly. Maybe not the last part, but I wouldn't be surprised if they thought about going in that direction. The UFC is taking a different approach. They know Kimbo isn't the best heavyweight fighter in the world; they know he'll never be that (though they may not admit it now). What Kimbo is is a man fighting for acceptance, whether comes from the fans, media, or his peers. He is a work in progress; a man just trying to become a legitimate MMA fighter.

I purposely went into detail about how Kimbo's first four opponents weren't guys that should be fighting "the best striker on the planet." The thing is, they weren't fighting that guy. They were fighting a rookie trying to get some experience. Look the records of all the fighters in the UFC, a lot of them will have fights against fighters you've never heard of that have bad records.

Take Matt Hughes for instance. As well all know, Hughes is the greatest welterweight in the history of the sport. Back in college, he was an All-American wrestler for Eastern Illinois University. That's a great background to have for MMA and certainly better credentials than Kimbo had in striking when he entered MMA. Matt's first opponent was Erick Snyder, whom he fought twice. Mr. Snyder finished his career with a 2-8 professional MMA record. Look at these records:

Craig Quick – 0-1
Joe Guist – 0-2
Maynard Marcum – 2-2
Daniel Vianna – 2-2-1
Marcelo Aguiar – 2-3-1
Tom Schmitz – 3-3
Joe Stern – 4-4

Clearly, none of them are world beaters. They probably shouldn't have fought a guy like Hughes with an established, good wrestling base. However, even the best prospects get some warm up fights. They need to get acclimated to the sport of mixed martial arts in a way you can't in the gym.

Kimbo wasn't even a good prospect. By the time he started MMA, Kimbo was over 30, had no ground skills, and his stand-up was average at best. Even today, there's virtually no chance he becomes a top heavyweight.

Kimbo needs to gain experience, doesn't have a lot of potential, and is still learning the sport, but he's one of the most popular fighters in MMA because of his YouTube fights. That is the Kimbo Problem. Any organization he signs with is going to come under fire by fans because they promote him more than better, younger fighters with more potential. But the reason they promote him more because he draws more money.

It's not Kimbo's fault that he's popular. You can't blame him for trying to chase the American Dream and feed his family. He's giving MMA his best shot, that's all you can really ask for. Brock Lesnar, Georges St. Pierre, Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin, Rampage Jackson, and Fedor Emelianenko are all among the most popular fighters in the sport. They're also the best (or were the best) fighters in the world. Kimbo is certainly among the most popular fighters in MMA, but he's an outcast in that category because he's the only MMA mega-star that isn't very good and never was. He's a unique fighter that presents a very unique problem.

MMA fans may not like it, but they're going to have to make peace with it. Kimbo will continue to be heavily promoted while not fighting near top level competition. Just hope they stick with the ‘still learning' angle.


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