A few weeks back I wrote about Kimbo Slice and his pros and cons and while I didn't think he was the real deal yet I thought he was on his way if he kept training. Then we finally got to see the fight and we all learned what many of you have long suspected-Kimbo was terrible. It was simply an awful fight that Kimbo may or may not have really lost (I don't think Thompson was doing enough damage to warrant a stoppage myself).
I knew going in the Thompson was a bum, but I expected Kimbo to knock him out in the first minute, instead as many of you saw the fight was stopped in the third when Kimbo exploded Thompson's revolting cauliflower ear. Even before that he looked awful, he was completely gassed by mid way through the second round and when he did win he collapsed on the ground and looked like he might have a heart attack. It was pathetic.
So all in all I felt like a moron for ever writing about Kimbo-but then I learned something interesting. A ton of people are now actually interested in MMA because of that awful, awful fight. I was in a sports bar the night of the fight and sitting at the table near me was an older woman who had never even heard of MMA. She started asking me all kinds of questions about Kimbo and at first I thought I was being mocked because of my excitement but I learned from a mutual acquaintance that she had since on her own done tons of research about MMA and Kimbo and consequently was now addicted. Hopefully it is only a matter of time before she starts watching some good MMA and there is another fan out there.
Being totally amazed by this I asked around and the consensus is that people who don't know anything about MMA were amazed and intrigued simply because on national TV he "exploded some dudes ear."
So all in all I have to change my opinion of Kimbo's role in the MMA world. I am no longer of the opinion that he was a waste of time but rather I think he may just be a good thing for MMA. For whatever reason he makes people want to watch when he fights. And while I can't condone watching him fight it can only be a matter of time before those who watch to see him, start to watch real fighters.
I knew going in the Thompson was a bum, but I expected Kimbo to knock him out in the first minute, instead as many of you saw the fight was stopped in the third when Kimbo exploded Thompson's revolting cauliflower ear. Even before that he looked awful, he was completely gassed by mid way through the second round and when he did win he collapsed on the ground and looked like he might have a heart attack. It was pathetic.
So all in all I felt like a moron for ever writing about Kimbo-but then I learned something interesting. A ton of people are now actually interested in MMA because of that awful, awful fight. I was in a sports bar the night of the fight and sitting at the table near me was an older woman who had never even heard of MMA. She started asking me all kinds of questions about Kimbo and at first I thought I was being mocked because of my excitement but I learned from a mutual acquaintance that she had since on her own done tons of research about MMA and Kimbo and consequently was now addicted. Hopefully it is only a matter of time before she starts watching some good MMA and there is another fan out there.
Being totally amazed by this I asked around and the consensus is that people who don't know anything about MMA were amazed and intrigued simply because on national TV he "exploded some dudes ear."
So all in all I have to change my opinion of Kimbo's role in the MMA world. I am no longer of the opinion that he was a waste of time but rather I think he may just be a good thing for MMA. For whatever reason he makes people want to watch when he fights. And while I can't condone watching him fight it can only be a matter of time before those who watch to see him, start to watch real fighters.
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