New Reasons to Pan Kimbo

It’s easy for us to bash internet fighting sensation-cum-cage fighting superstar Kimbo Slice. He’s nothing but a brawler who can take a punch. He’s being hand-fed weak opponents who play right into his only strength. As soon as he goes up against an actual mixed martial artist he will get his arm snapped off or get choked out.

ESPN Page 2 writer L.Z. Granderson recently ripped Kimbo too, but not for any of the reasons listed above. Granderson called out Slice for pandering to the basest stereotypes of black men, assuming animalistic poses and facial expressions to create and cash in on a less than wholesome image.

He’s hardly the first or only person to behave this way. Kim Kardashian parlayed a “leaked” sex tape and the small window of instant celebrity into a bad reality TV show. A bunch of ghetto/trailer trash has paraded itself in front of Flavor Flav and Bret Michaels looking for love but willing to settle for several weeks of staged buffoonery in the hope of landing a spin-off, a la I Love New York.

Even in the MMA world we have fighters with little if any talent willing to take a short beating and clown for two months to promote a seafood restaurant or shove a water hose up their their tailpipe just to make their name stand out among a bunch of other unknowns.

So if Kimbo wants to cash in on his internet fame by debasing his entire race, I suppose that’s his right in this country. But if he wants to play the part of a clown in a minstrel show, then that’s the way we should treat his fights.

 

Quick Predictions: Ultimate Fight Night

Main Card

Florian vs Lauzon- Florian SUB RD 3

Parisyan vs Alves- Alves TKO RD 2

Boetsch vs Hamill- Boetsch TKO RD 3

Pelligrino vs Diaz- Diaz SUB RD 2

Edgar vs Maynard- Edgar UD

Alexander vs Irvin- Alexander KO RD 1

Undercard

Gamburyan vs Cox- Gamburyan Lay N Pray UD

Guida vs Schiavo- Guida Sub RD 2

Neer vs Thomas- Thomas Sub RD 2

Mitichyan vs Sotiropoulos – Sotiropoulos TKO RD 3

Aurelio vs Roberts- Aurelio Sub RD 1

Speer vs Johnson- Johnson TKO RD 2

Quick Predictions: Shamrock vs Le

Shamrock vs Le: Shamrock 4th round TKO

Melendez vs Lemley: Melendez 1st round TKO

Fickett vs Lim: Fickett 2nd round Sub

Kyle vs Cole: Kyle 2nd round TKO

Villasenor vs Jensen: Villasenor UD

Its time to make this live again.

ENJOY THIS MOTIVATOR I JUST CREATED TO GET YOUR MIND OFF THINGS..

WE ARE NOT DEAD.

I have been taking some time off, and I apologize for that. I promise, if you stick with us, I will make it worth while. I am creating a resurrection of this site, and it will work.

APRIL 2008.

Middleweight rematch not postponed

So, after a bit of drama, the rematch between Paulo Filho and Chael Sonnen will in fact take place on March 26. The rematch is supposed to end the controversy that surrounded the last match.

The thing is, Sonnen lost that match—outright. I understand that he was dominating up until that point, but he got caught, plain and simple.

We all remember Sonnen’s fight with Babalu, and more specifically the leg lock that caused Sonnen to grab the fence and scream—it was a regular highlight for the show UFC Unleashed. And we should all remember that that fight didn’t end there.

However, Chael Sonnen was about to lose his freaking arm. You can say what you want about Filho’s standup and conditioning. When someone like that gets you in a tight armbar, you either tap out or lose the ability to move any part of your arm below the elbow for a while.

Having said that, I still feel this rematch is a good idea. Had Sonnen elected to keep the fight on his feet, he most likely would have continued to beat on the Brazilian and could have taken him down when he was already stunned. That would have left a great opportunity for the finish.

During the fight, Frank Mir (not the best at post-fight interviews), questioned Sonnen’s continued attempts at ground-and-pound on an opponent who’s only strength was on the ground.

Sonnen has the reach, boxing skills, and takedown defense needed to beat a guy like Filho. Hopefully he uses that in the rematch, and puts a blemish on Filho’s misleading record.

Martin Kampmann is back … but Silva is still here

I was excited to see the other day that Martin Kampmann is expected to make a return to the Octagon. The kickboxing specialist impressed me with his win over the more powerful Drew McFredries. He showed he could not only take a beating, but also that he is well rounded. One has to assume it takes a decent amount of skill to handle a Militich fighter on the ground the way he handled McFredries.

Unfortunately—and this happens every time—my excitement was soon smothered by the ominous sense that no one will ever challenge Anderson Silva.

That’s not to say that I don’t like Silva. Not only do I think he is an exciting fighter—he brings it every time, no matter what game plan his opponent tries—his sportsmanship is second to none. I just want to see interesting match ups, challenging fights and to be able to argue with someone about who will hold the middleweight title after his next defense. There is no one, at least not in the UFC, that stands much more than a puncher’s chance against Silva.

What I can’t decide on is whether this is because Silva is so god-damned good, or that the division is just too light on talent.

If you want to argue that the division is too light on talent, than you would have to argue that it is a worldwide shortage. According to Sherdog.com (an ESPN.com affiliate no less) five of the top six fighters in the division are either in the WEC or the UFC. The only non-UFC fighter is Robbie Lawler, who showed promise in the UFC, but ultimately never even reached a title shot. Most of the others have been crushed by Silva (Franklin, Marquardt, Okami), and Filho showed that he is horrible on his feet.

If you want to argue that he is just so god-damned good, you need look no further than a direct comparison between Henderson’s fights with both Silva and Rampage. While I completely disagree with Henderson’s opinion that he did enough to beat Rampage, it would be hard to deny that he put up a decent fight. His fight against Silva, on the other hand, seemed to be going in his favor, until Silva turned it on with the straight kicks.

I’d like to see Denis Kang come to the UFC. I know he isn’t on anyone’s radar really, but his overhand right and overall strength and speed seem like, at the very least, an entertaining match up for Silva.

Here is hoping someone gives Silva a scare soon.