The credibility of a man and a company were put on the line Saturday night in Florida. And to be perfectly honest, neither survived the test.
EliteXC, an upstart mixed martial arts company, presented “Saturday Night Fights” and placed all of its hope on the broad shoulders of a formerly homeless street brawler named Kimbo Slice.
Even the casual MMA fan has heard of Slice. A former bodyguard for porn companies, Slice made his name on the Internet as a YouTube sensation, with his street fights garnering countless hits on the site. EliteXC, seeing dollar signs, immediately placed the fate of the company in his hands.
Slice performed as expected in his first fight, dominating aging Ultimate Fighter Tank Abbott into oblivion in only 43 seconds. His second pro fight, a nationally televised affair on CBS against James “The Colossus” Thompson, ended in controversy when Slice won on a referee stoppage after Thompson’s cauliflower ear ruptured and Slice added three unanswered punches.
The air smelled of the fight being fixed. And as he stood mid-cage gasping for air, obviously exhausted from the encounter, every television viewer could see in his eyes what they already knew: Slice’s days as the toast of the town were numbered.
Personally I’ve never liked Kimbo Slice or what he stood for. Criticize my opinion all you want — mixed martial arts is a sport. A brutal sport, but one nonetheless. Most of these fighters train for years in a given discipline, be it karate, kickboxing or Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Slice’s training was cracking skulls. A great skill to have when you’re a bodyguard, not a professional athlete. His opponents to date had been carbon copies of him, tough guys with cement fists.
When it was announced that Slice’s opponent for the Oct. 4 fight would be former UFC heavyweight champion Ken Shamrock, I, like many people, was skeptical of this decision. Shamrock hadn’t won a fight in over four years, and it seemed a desperate attempt by EliteXC to make Slice look legitimate. However, Shamrock is an accomplished shoot fighter, and not just a big lug who throws hard punches.
What the company didn’t foresee was Shamrock getting injured shortly before the fight and not being able to compete. At the last moment, a fighter on the under card, Seth Petruzelli, was announced as Shamrock’s replacement, and the crowd at BankAtlantic Center began to lick their chops, anticipating seeing the youngster broken in half by the burly brawler.
Unfortunately for the crowd, and more importantly Slice, no one gave Seth Petruzelli the memo.
I sat down, ready to see Slice beat this poor kid senseless, just as everyone else did. Fourteen seconds later, I stared in disbelief at the result of the fight. Slice had been conquered.
After taking a stiff jab to the side of the head, Slice dropped like a rock, and Petruzelli began pounding away. As the ref stepped in and ended the fight, MMA fans around the world came to the conclusion that I did a year ago: Kimbo Slice is a joke.
It was only a matter of time before it happened, too.
Seemingly it took all their power to make the Thompson decision look even halfway legitimate, and throwing Petruzelli into the cage against Slice last minute seemed to be a good idea, as well. The fans would get what they wanted, Slice would build his record and the company would make more money.
Slice’s camp can claim that they weren’t prepared for Seth Petruzelli. However, he could say the same as it pertains to Slice.
The bottom line is this: Slice got beaten, plain and simple. And it wasn’t in a blockbuster pay-per-view at a gigantic arena. It was in a mid-level capacity stadium, in front of a live television audience. The entire viewing public was privy to the downfall of Kimbo Slice’s mystique. And without those smoke and mirrors, he’s simply a street brawler. A skilled fighter will always have the upper hand in a match against a brawler. Petruzelli is living proof of that.
EliteXC is now left with a compelling dilemma. Their king has been vanquished and much of their hype has been deflated. How will they rebound? I certainly can’t wait to find out, and neither, I’m sure, can Kimbo Slice.