Roy Nelson and Kimbo Slice
It was billed as the biggest fight in the history of The Ultimate Fighter and one fighter was less than impressive. And that fighter was Roy “Big Country” Nelson. As predicted, Roy Nelson took out Kimbo Slice. But it was not all that impressive. He was fighting a guy that has next-to-no MMA training. A guy that didn’t know how to get out of a takedown or sprawl before he got on the show. And that’s the best Roy Nelson, the clear favorite to win the season, can do?
Say what you will about Kimbo being overhyped. Real MMA fans know that Slice is vastly inexperienced and that Nelson, considering he’s a former IFL champ, is the most respected fighter on this season. Nelson should not have had any trouble disposing of Slice in the first round.
So where does the show go from here? Clearly Kimbo has to get back into the game at some point for him to impress the UFC enough to get a deal (which is already done -- reportedly Kimbo is under contract now and will fight in December). Someone will get hurt, Kimbo will step in and he’ll finally do something to warrant some hype.
Otherwise, who wants to keep seeing him fight? We get it -- he was on YouTube. We get it -- he was overhyped before he was ready and everyone hates him for it. We get it -- he is a “fighter” and not a mixed martial artist. But how many times are people going to want to see him get controlled and outclassed in the Octagon?
Eventually people are going to stop caring about him and that’s a good thing for Kimbo the fighter, because he will grow better without the huge spotlight. But it’s a bad thing for Kimbo the brand. Let’s face it, he’s 35 and is too old to pick up the sport from scratch. Better for him to fight in smaller promotions, fight in Japan, etc. and make $100,000+ per fight until he’s in his 40s and then get involved in something else. He will never, ever be a champion in the UFC so he might as well take the big paydays where he can find them.
I have respect for Slice’s humility and willingness to learn, but I would think no less of him if he went the sellout route. It’s what anyone would do.
Say what you will about Kimbo being overhyped. Real MMA fans know that Slice is vastly inexperienced and that Nelson, considering he’s a former IFL champ, is the most respected fighter on this season. Nelson should not have had any trouble disposing of Slice in the first round.
So where does the show go from here? Clearly Kimbo has to get back into the game at some point for him to impress the UFC enough to get a deal (which is already done -- reportedly Kimbo is under contract now and will fight in December). Someone will get hurt, Kimbo will step in and he’ll finally do something to warrant some hype.
Otherwise, who wants to keep seeing him fight? We get it -- he was on YouTube. We get it -- he was overhyped before he was ready and everyone hates him for it. We get it -- he is a “fighter” and not a mixed martial artist. But how many times are people going to want to see him get controlled and outclassed in the Octagon?
Eventually people are going to stop caring about him and that’s a good thing for Kimbo the fighter, because he will grow better without the huge spotlight. But it’s a bad thing for Kimbo the brand. Let’s face it, he’s 35 and is too old to pick up the sport from scratch. Better for him to fight in smaller promotions, fight in Japan, etc. and make $100,000+ per fight until he’s in his 40s and then get involved in something else. He will never, ever be a champion in the UFC so he might as well take the big paydays where he can find them.
I have respect for Slice’s humility and willingness to learn, but I would think no less of him if he went the sellout route. It’s what anyone would do.
Kevin Richardson has been a fan of mixed martial arts competition ever since UFC 3, when 600-pound sumo wrestler Emmanuel Yarborough was beaten by Keith Hackney. Kevin will cover the world of MMA — in Baltimore, nationally and internationally. He plans to take readers into the locker rooms and MMA schools, where they'll hear from local fighters and trainers. If you have a news tip or suggestions for the blog, please 
Comments
Big Country Roy Nelson...wow. Just wow. I saw him defeat Arlovski awhile back, and I was less the impressed. Sheesh, the guy has the same physique I do, and I'm an out of shape 275lb non-fighter. The guy will get detroyed by the likes of Lesnar, Mir, Nogueira, Couture, Carwin, Velasquez, etc.
Posted by: Bill Drain | October 1, 2009 3:31 PM
This is a pretty innacurate account of Kimbo as a "MMA Athlete". Kimbo had been training with Bas Rutten (Old school MMA great) and definitely had a basic ground game, including stuffing takedowns and submissions. This is not to say that he is anywhere on Roy's level when it comes to ground game but he wasn't completely in the dark. The fact of the matter is he isn't on the level of many of the other athletes competing and his main weakness was his lack of wrestling/jujitsu skills. His standup is quite impressive but without being a well rounded fighter, its no suprise that he lost to Roy. Being 35 it will take him a long time to learn a solid ground defense/offense but he didn't come in empty handed.Just wanted to clarify.
Posted by: Andy | October 1, 2009 3:36 PM
This is a pretty innacurate account of Kimbo's exsperience as a "MMA Athlete". Kimbo had been training with Bas Rutten (Old school MMA great) and definitely had a basic ground game, including stuffing takedowns and submissions. This is not to say that he is anywhere on Roy's level when it comes to ground game but he wasn't completely in the dark. The fact of the matter is he isn't on the level of many of the other athletes competing and his main weakness was his lack of wrestling/jujitsu skills. His standup is quite impressive but without being a well rounded fighter, its no suprise that he lost to Roy. Being 35 it will take him a long time to learn a solid ground defense/offense but he didn't come in empty handed.Just wanted to clarify.
Posted by: Andy | October 1, 2009 3:38 PM
My issue is this . . . Kimbo didn't just step off the YouTube screen! Hasn't it been a good 2-3 years since he fought Ray Mercer? What the heck has his training consisted of? Wasn't he being trained supposedly by legend Bas Rutten? What was he training him on all that time, where Kimbo STILL looks so dang helpless on the ground?! Or were all his EliteXC opponents paid to take dives?! I understand that "Big Country" is a champion and is very skilled, but come on Kimbo . . . what have you been doin' all this time?!
Posted by: Flex | October 1, 2009 3:44 PM
Andy-
He did train with Bas Rutten but it's very debatable how hard he was training. The coaches on the show claimed he didn't know how to get out of a takedown and that he didn't know how to properly stall. He literally knew nothing about the ground game.
Which begs the question, what the heck did Rutten do with Slice? Because based on comments from people on the show and based on that fight with Nelson, it looks like a hell of a lot of nothing.
Posted by: Mark Chalifoux | October 1, 2009 4:11 PM
After watching last night's fight I really got annoyed by Roy Nelson. It's obvious that Kimbo Slice is not an MMA fighter yet and he lacked a ground game, take down defense, etc. I'm not a Kimbo Slice fan but after last night I started to like him a little bit more and have more respect for him as a person. He was very humble in his loss and he was very honest stating that he is not an MMA fighter yet but he's trying to learn. I respect that. On the other hand, Roy Nelson annoyed me last night. He looked horrible in his fight, he wasn't impressive and he's an out of shape bum. He's crowned himself the Ultimate Fighter Winner this season and acts like he's the man. What has this guy done in the UFC? Nothing but he's like I want a cheeseburger and continued to talk about how impressive he was in the fight and impressed everyone. I don't care to much for Dana White but Dana White said it best when he said that he wasn't impressive at all and why is this guy thinking he's great. If Roy Nelson fights like that again in his next fight he will lose. Better yet, if he does win the show (which I don't think he will) he'll get smashed by any Heavyweight that's currently in the UFC. What a bum this guy is, he needs to get more humble and stop crowning himself the HW champ when he looked like $h*t last night.
Posted by: BmoreSportsFan28 | October 1, 2009 4:33 PM
I'm just throwing this out there and I may be way off base, but my brother and I both agreed that there appeared to be something "lacking" in Kimbo. After watching him be completely ineffective getting off his back, I said to my brother that I think what he is lacking as a fighter is athleticism. I know you have to have some degree of athleticism to fight at all, but he appears to be way, way at the bottom of that curve. I don't know if it is because he has muscles falling over other muscles or if he just doesn't have it in him, but to wrestle and escape, you have to be somewhat athletic. Could it be possible that it's not just training that he's lacking and perhaps it's a basic tool of any mixed martial artist? As a layman watching the fight last night and seeing some of his other fights, that's how it looks to me. What do you guys think?
Posted by: Nicholas Sadaka | October 1, 2009 4:36 PM
I watched this on Spike TV and thought it was a boring match. The hardest punches were to the top of Kimbo's head while he laid on his back and slept.
Posted by: Frank | October 1, 2009 5:02 PM
Bill Drain:
Want to know what happens when Roy fights the likes of Mir. Search youtube for Roy Nelson versus Mir, and you'll see what happens. Roy won.
Posted by: bobsmith | October 1, 2009 5:26 PM
It is just unfair to belittle Roy defeating Kimbo. Maybe it was not the most entertaining fight, but Roy won and nobody should take it from him.
Also, if Kimbo has "next-to-no MMA training" why was he allowed in the house? I think Dena White is trying to promote Kimbo and that's why Roy was chosen to fight him; had Kimbo come out on top, everybody would have given credit to him for beating a champ. Now that he has been defeated, it is easy to say that this outcome was predictable and Kimbo was not totally humilated.
Give Roy credit for beating Kimbo
Posted by: KNT | October 1, 2009 5:52 PM
It looked to me like Nelson's strat was just to smother Kimbo with his fatass - that's all he did the whole fight was sit on him. That was the worst fight I've seen yet.
Posted by: Mika | October 1, 2009 7:23 PM
Kimbo is a big dissapointing DUD !
Posted by: BJ | October 2, 2009 1:30 AM
Mark,
I agree with you. It was definitely obvious that kimbo wasn't capable of even executing basic techniques while fighting Nelson. I don't think it was becuase Roy was such a great practitioner but becuase Kimbo just doesn't have the skills. Fact of the matter is, you can train for a long time but not make progress if your aren't in the right environment. I'm no fan of Kimbo, in fact I don't think he deserves to fight in the UFC at all. I also think it's a joke that they try and make him out to be a self proclaimed "family man" (ex-porn star body guard and backyard brawler). Personally, even I as a fighter with a less than stellar track record, I feel that I could give the guy some pointers. I like your recap of most fights and I agree that I don't thnk that hes got what it takes to hack it in the UFC. Even with his Bas Rutten background. It goes to prove that there are many prime cut looking individuals that can knock out hack "fighters" but will never be able to master all of the aspects of MMA to let them hang with real competitors. Good luck to him at 35.
Posted by: Andy | October 2, 2009 2:50 AM
I don't have that big a problem with how Nelson won this fight. He wasn't going to stand and trade with Kimbo. He actually told his teammates how he was going to win the fight early in the episode. He kept himself healthy for his next fight. I thought it was a smart game plan...That being said I don't see any of the guys coming out of this season as a title contender. It seems like TUF has become more about strategy and not finishing the fight. I want to see more taps & KOs
Posted by: Barn | October 2, 2009 1:49 PM
Big Country fought a smart fight and did just enough to win - sometimes you just gotta do what ya gotta do...
That was a painful fight to watch just knowing Kimbo was not going to get out of those crucifixes unless Roy let him up or the ref stopped it.
This fight reminded me of a school yard bully taking to a little kid.
Dana sees dollar signs in Kimbo so I am sure he will be around for at least a couple fights just to see if he can put butts in seats or sell PPV's.
Love,
Sammie
Posted by: Sammie Shain | October 3, 2009 5:37 PM
What is with the big push for Kimbo Slice? I have to admit I don't religiously follow this stuff but before his "big" debut on "Ultimate Fighter 10" I had only seen him fight two times and he lost both of those. One a bare knuckle street fight with supposedly a cop, and the other against some kid with pink hair. Now, he lost his fight on the show but he's still hanging around. None of the other fighters who've lost have been able to do that, why is he? The South Florida porn posse must really be banking him, or are they supplying Dana and the Fertitta brothers with all the young bimbo porn starlets they want?
Posted by: Joe | October 26, 2009 5:10 PM