KIMBO sLICE RETURNS TO ufc 113.............

Kimbo Slice is never going to win a world jiu-jitsu championship. He’s no threat to make an Olympic wrestling team.
He makes his living with his fists and that’s probably never going to change.
It would be a mistake, though, to continue to regard the one-time street brawler and YouTube legend as a one-dimensional fighter. He’s arguably the most improved athlete in the Ultimate Fighting Championship thanks to the hours of work he’s put in with the American Top Team and coach Ricardo Liborio in Florida.

He’s the first to admit he’s got a long way to go, but he looks more like a fighter even watching him go though a light workout.
Slice, who fights Matt Mitrione, a former cast mate on Season 10 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” on Saturday at the Bell Centre on the main card of UFC 113, is getting the kind of coaching now that he’d never received previously.
When he was paired with Houston Alexander in “The Ultimate Fighter” finale in December, it was reasonable to assume the fight would become a toe-to-toe slugfest.
Alexander’s plan wasn’t to stand and trade, however. What was telling, though, was that Slice adjusted enough so that he won. It was hardly a memorable fight, but it was an indication of the growth he’d made from the days when he became part of the Internet mythology by engaging in street fights in back yards and later posting them on YouTube.
“It showed patience and it showed that I had a good training camp, a smart training camp,” Slice said of the adjustments he made against Alexander. “I didn’t run in there like I would have done in my street fighting days.”
With good reason. Alexander is a powerful puncher whose right hand can knock anyone out if he lands it square.
Slice, whose real name is Kevin Ferguson, was a limited fighter in his street fighting days who won by intimidation and the power in his fists.
Had he tried to rush Alexander, odds are good things wouldn’t have happened.
“I’d probably have made a mistake and I would have gotten hit with something I wouldn’t have been expecting,” Slice said.
The fight between Slice and Mitrione is fascinating on multiple levels, but not the least of which is the growth of the two. Mitrione is a former NFL lineman who earned the dubious nickname “Meathead” on the show.
He claimed he was hearing voices and thought he injured his brain, among other antics.
But throughout all of his nuttiness, he showed great potential, particularly as a striker.
He’s been working with Duke Roufus and sparring with Pat Barry. And while Slice may expect Mitrione to stand toe-to-toe and match power shots, Mitrione has other ideas.
He’s not averse to slugging, but he believes he’s developed greatly, too, albeit far from the spotlight that surrounds Slice.
“I really doubt that the both of us plan to stand in front of each other and punch each other in the face,” Mitrione said. “I think there will be more variables in there. The important part is that we both acknowledge that neither one of us is scared to trade them off. It could turn into that, but I think there will be a lot more strategy. There will be a lot of clinch work and, on Kimbo’s attempt, a lot of dirty boxing.”
Mitrione had never fought professionally before joining the TUF 10 cast. And while he became known for his zany behavior, there is a serious fighter inside.
He split his two fights on TUF, defeating Scott Junk and losing to James McSweeney, but knocked out Marcus Jones at the finale in what was officially his pro debut.
He’s joined Roufus’ camp and said he is amazed by how much he’s learned about techniques and the psychology of fighting. Yet, he knows he’s a long way from being his best.
“I’m probably a three, or something like that,” on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of development,” Mitrione said. “There’s so much game I have to develop. Really, think about it, this is just my fourth fight ever. I don’t know how often it happens that (someone makes his) pro debut in the UFC.
“I have a lot to learn, I know that. I’m somewhat young. I’m 31, but heavyweights in this sport develop later, it seems. A lot of it is up to me, what I allow myself to do. I think there is a lot of talent in there and I just have to develop it.”
Slice said much the same thing. He conceded that in quiet moments, he’s bitten by self-doubt.
But even when he was being universally ripped for his lack of skills – and no one was louder or harsher than UFC president Dana White – Slice insisted he wanted to develop his full MMA game and make his mark in the sport as a complete fighter, not a street brawler.
The best move he ever made was joining ATT.
“I’m still like that,” he said of having self-doubt. “It’s an ongoing process. American Top Team, let me tell you, that’s not a gym. It’s a learning facility. If you go there, you’re going to learn. You almost have no choice but to learn. The trainers there, I call them professors. They have professors there and you have no choice but to learn.
“I have six kids and the distractions are going to be there. But I’ve had to isolate myself and make some sacrifices. When I’m at ATT, I put on my thinking cap and try to absorb everything. With learning, the key is repetition and Coach Libo, he drills me with that.”
Slice is one of the world’s most famous fighters. He may not be that recognizable on Saturday, at least in terms of his style.
Nor, for that matter, will Mitrione.
“You want to develop and you want to get better or you should go do something else,” Mitrione said. “The guys in this sport are too good. The days of coming in there with just a lot of toughness and winning fights are long over. You have to learn the sport from the ground up.
“Kimbo’s evolving, I’m evolving. It’s a process and it’s going to be fun to see where we are along the road.” YAHOO.COM

Kimbo slice wins ? UFC spot tuf 10 ?

I swear hell must have just frozen over.

Kimbo Slice is in the UFC. More shockingly, perhaps, is that he actually won in the UFC.

Seriously.

The one-time street brawler, who was mocked incessantly for more than a year by Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White, won a unanimous decision over Houston Alexander on Saturday at The Palms.

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The elite fighters in the heavyweight division, men like champion Brock Lesnar and contenders Shane Carwin, Cain Velasquez, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir, among many others, have nothing to worry about.

Truth is, without denigrating Slice, there are more fighters in the UFC’s heavyweight (and light heavyweight) division that he can’t beat than there are that he can.

If he never wins another fight, though, it won’t matter.

Slice has made his point.

He was classy as White mocked him – “What,” White asked at a UFC 90 news conference in 2008, “has Kimbo Slice done other than get 10 million hits on YouTube to be in the UFC?” – and responded only by trying to become a better fighter.

White had snidely said that the only way Slice would ever find his way into the UFC was by going onto, and winning, “The Ultimate Fighter.”

Slice took him up on that offer and agreed to appear on the show, turning down an opportunity to box and another to fight K-1 kickboxing in Japan. And while he lost his first bout on the reality show to eventual champion Roy Nelson, who knocked out Brendan Schaub on Saturday, he hardly was out of place and by far was not the worst fighter in the house.

White wasn’t about to apologize for tweaking Slice so often, but he gave Slice his props.

“I don’t know what Houston Alexander’s corner was doing, but that was the worst game plan they could have ever come up with,” White, who was not at Saturday night’s postfight press conference, said in a phone interview. “I am not sure if Kalib Starnes was training him or what, but that wasn’t the Houston Alexander I had seen fight before.

“I don’t think I have to apologize to Kimbo. I helped him. I said what I did and he did the thing athletes do: He went out there and he worked and he made himself better. He deserves credit. He took me up on the offer I made, did what he had to do and went out and beat a legitimate UFC fighter.”

True to the way he’s been ever since he started in mixed martial arts, Slice went to the American Top Team in Coconut Grove, Fla., after filming ended in July in a bid to improve his game.

Slice (4-1) was clearly better than he had been when he left Elite XC after getting knocked out just 14 seconds into an Oct. 4, 2008, fight with light heavyweight Seth Petruzelli.

He was satisfied with the victory, though he wasn’t gloating. Asked if he felt he proved a point to the legion of skeptics who doubted he could make the transition, Slice nodded his head.

“I hope I did,” Slice said. “The goal was to come in and fight and to get the best training I could possibly get to be prepared for the standup or a ground game. Like I said, whether the fight goes to the ground or stands up, I wanted to come in and fight, but be smart about it.”

The fight on Saturday was ugly and what had seemed to be a slam-dunk slugfest degenerated into a boo-fest as fans in The Pearl became angry at the lack of action.

Alexander (9-5, 1 no-contest) spent the first round circling in the cage, rarely threatening a punch. He landed a few kicks as Slice simply held the center of the cage. Clearly, though, Alexander was wary of Slice’s power and was not eager to engage.

This is a guy who knocked out light heavyweight contender Keith Jardine, after all, but Alexander was exceptionally cautious of Slice. Slice, though, didn’t show his inexperience and didn’t take an unnecessary risk by rushing at Alexander.

“If I would have run in there foolishly, I would have gotten knocked out,” Slice said. “It wasn’t difficult to stay patient, but I was going, ‘Come on, man.’ A few times, I just called him out. I called him by his name and I said some things in the ring, like, ‘Let’s do this.’ I reverted back to the streets a little bit, verbally. He didn’t engage. He stuck to his plan, so I said to myself, ‘I’m not going to be foolish and run up on him.’ I wanted to be a smart fighter as well.”

He was a smart fighter on Saturday, but he was a better draw. Not counting Saturday, the season was by far the highest rated in the history of “The Ultimate Fighter.” The show averaged 3.4 million viewers per episode compared to an average of 2 million over the first nine seasons.

Ratings will come out on Tuesday for Saturday’s finale, and they should be equally large.

Whether Slice can maintain as that type of attraction is debatable because sooner or later it will come down to performance, and Slice has a long way to go before he can compete with the majority of the men in the UFC.

But this night wasn’t about the future. It was about a man who believed in himself despite massive ridicule from all corners, about ignoring the thousands of skeptics and chasing a dream.

Kimbo Slice may never become a superstar but he’s in the UFC, and that’s better than 99.9 percent of the men in the world.

“It’s hard,” Slice said of making the transition to MMA. “It’s not an easy thing. I first was a street fighter. Being a street fighter, there was no training in my style of fighting. I just went in there based on my instincts, watching the guy’s movement and countering him.

“But at this level of the game, as a professional fighter in the UFC, you have to be almost genius-like smart because you have all these dimensions to battle. You have to know when to counter and when to not hit and when to engage and when to try to wait it out.

“There’s a lot you have to go through. (I hope) this shows my maturity as a mixed martial artist.”

He has a lot of maturing left as an MMA fighter, but on this night, Kimbo Slice finally left the streets behind.

He’s in the UFC and the spot wasn’t given to him.

He earned it.

Yahoo.com

Kimbo Joins Ultimate Fighter 10 ??

Challenge accepted: Kimbo Slice will be a competitor on next season's "The Ultimate Fighter" on Spike TV.
Slice (3-1) has signed on as one of 16 fighters competing on the heavyweights-only season, UFC president Dana White confirmed Monday to Yahoo! Sports.

What began as an insult hurled by White, has become a reality.

"I don't consider him a real athlete or anything," White said last October, back when Slice was arguably the most popular MMA fighter in the world. "He won't win 'The Ultimate Fighter.' The offer's out there if he wants to take it. He won't win it."

At the time it made no sense to go on "The Ultimate Fighter." Slice, who commanded $500,000 in his last fight with EliteXC, simply did not need to enter a competition to secure a fight contract.

But after his embarrassing loss to Seth Petruzelli and the subsequent fall of EliteXC, Slice's value began to diminish. He was also recently passed over by Strikeforce when he couldn't agree to a new deal that would have paid him less than his EliteXC terms.

Still the move comes as a shock since Slice could still make money in Japan and mid-sized promotions and recently said he would leave MMA for professional boxing.

Curiously, according to White on a radio appearance on The Carmichael Dave Show, Slice is not being offered big money to appear on the show.

"You come on 'The Ultimate Fighter,' you fight for the contract," White said. "You don't come on 'The Ultimate Fighter' to get paid. You get paid if you win 'The Ultimate Fighter.'"

The controversial Slice would certainly boost ratings for the UFC on Spike TV, luring viewers to see if Slice is more than just an internet phenomenon. Additionally, the presence of White as the host could lead to more drama for the show.

"I don't think he's a big Dana White fan either," White said on the Sports 1140 KHTK radio show. "How could you be, after all the things that have gone back and forth? So we're going to find out this season if he's for real or not."

Filming for "The Ultimate Fighter 10" began Monday in Las Vegas.Dana White, the UFC’s outspoken president, has repeatedly mocked Slice for his lack of fighting ability. Slice, whose real name is Kevin Ferguson, became a cult figure by competing in street fights that were posted on YouTube. Slice’s “bouts” drew tens of millions of views and led him to turn professional.

He fought for the now defunct Elite XC, garnering massive media attention but getting mocked by White and others affiliated with the UFC for a lack of ability.

White has called him a “joke,” a “bum” and “not a real fighter,” among other less than kind descriptions. He said that Slice would “get murdered if he fought in the UFC” and suggested that his lightweight champion, 155-pound B.J. Penn, would “annihilate” the 230-pound Slice.

The UFC president has repeatedly insisted he would not allow Slice to compete in the UFC unless he won his way onto the show by competing on “The Ultimate Fighter,” which beings taping Wednesday and is scheduled to air in September.


Slice has called White’s bluff and will appear on Season 10 of the highly rated Spike TV series, White has confirmed. Fighters live in the same house and train together, and then fight during the show in a bid to earn a UFC contract.

His appearance, along with that of former UFC light heavyweight champions Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans as coaches, should guarantee massive ratings.

“It should be interesting, given some of the things I’ve said about him,” White said.

Slice, who has a 3-1 professional record, appeared in the main event of the first MMA card shown on network television in the U.S. when he fought James Thompson on May 31, 2008, on CBS.

Slice won by third-round stoppage in a bout that attracted a record 6.5 million viewers and remains the most-viewed MMA bout in history.

But Slice hasn’t fought since Oct. 4, when he was knocked out by a jab from late replacement Seth Petruzelli, a light heavyweight, just 14 seconds into another fight broadcast on CBS. The plug was pulled on Elite XC, which reportedly lost millions of dollars, in the aftermath of the fight.

White promised “some major surprises” as he announced on a Thursday conference call that Jackson and Evans, each of whom is a former light heavyweight champion, would serve as coaches on Season 10.

He declined to say anything further but urged reporters on the call not to miss media day, which is Tuesday at the UFC Training Center in Las Vegas.

White worked hard to keep Slice’s appearance on the show a secret, hoping to have unveiled him Tuesday. Season 10, which is being called “The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights,” was originally slated to feature a cast of eight heavyweights and eight middleweights, but the UFC quietly informed the middleweights who tried out that it was going with an all-heavyweight show.

And unlike in recent seasons, where the competitors had to win a fight to earn their way into the house, there will be no such arrangement this time. All 16 fighters – Spike and the UFC are keeping names of the others a closely guarded secret – will automatically move into the house.

Though White goes to great lengths to insist that nothing on the show is scripted, it’s virtually guaranteed that Slice won’t fight early in the competition. Having him around and alive in the competition is going to keep ratings elevated.

If Slice is able to advance to the live Dec. 5 finale, with a chance to earn a UFC contract with a win, ratings would likely be the largest in Spike history.

Kimpo Sliced out of MMA ?

The collapse of Elite XC has left its talent in limbo.

The company has two types of top talent: marquee fighters like Kimbo Slice, Gina Carano and Frank Shamrock; and several quality fighters with no real marquee value.

Slice is the biggest name of the marquee stars, although his name was certainly damaged by events of the past few weeks, both the quick knockout loss to Seth Petruzelli and much of the sports media calling him a fraud as a fighter.

“We’ve avoided going the freak show route,” said Dana White, president of UFC. “Way back when we were bleeding money, we could have gone after

(Mike) Tyson. He was still wanting to fight. But that’s not what we wanted the sport to be.”

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Still, White did not close the door on bringing in Slice.

“If he wants to do Ultimate Fighter, yeah, we’d give him a chance,” said White. “If he picks up a bunch of wins in fights, we’d consider him.”

With what Slice has earned, including more than $500,000 on Oct. 4, it makes the idea of him going into Ultimate Fighter competition unlikely, particularly since there will be plenty of organizations willing to pay a proven draw a whole lot more than TUF wages.

Slice’s people don’t know what is next. On the surface, Japan seems like a perfect fit. Fans there are more interested in unique characters than top-ranked fighters, and if you are popular, you can lose and it really doesn’t matter. Japanese MMA fans have more of a mentality like pro wrestling fans, where nobody cares about won-loss records, only seeing popular stars.

Although he has never been to Japan, Slice has garnered a significant amount of mainstream attention in the country, both as a fighter or as a potential pro wrestler, with the country’s iconic pro wrestling figure, Antonio Inoki, frequently mentioning his name as someone he’d like to bring in.

But interest in MMA has fallen greatly in Japan over the past year, and both major groups, Dream and Sengoku, are in trouble. Pro wrestling is now even less popular and the money that would have been waiting for someone like him two years ago may not be there today.

If Showtime continues to run MMA, and even more if CBS stays involved, Carano would be at the top of the list of those they would want. She has proven to be a huge ratings draw. Unlike Slice, Carano is squeaky-clean of any negative baggage to the public, even though many hardcore MMA fans are critical of her problems making weight.

Carano’s contract is only $25,000 a fight, a ridiculously low figure given her marketability. Plus, Carano has a fight with muscular Brazilian Cris “Cyborg” Santos ready made that could be promoted as the biggest women’s match in the history of the sport. The match, which, stylistically, almost can’t miss being an exciting fight, also has tremendous potential as a television event due to the contrast between the two women.

“I think that Gina Carano is a real star,” said White. “She’s beautiful, talented and she’s a real fighter. I just don’t think there are enough good women fighters that you can start a division around them. It just doesn’t make sense.”

Shamrock was originally groomed to be Elite XC’s top star when the company opened in early 2007. He was given a six-fight contract for $1.8 million, which has three fights left, and 400,000 shares of company stock, which peaked at a worth of nearly $6 million, but ended up being largely worthless. He also had an announcing deal with CBS.

Shamrock’s match with Cung Le on March 29 in a co-promotion with Strikeforce, drew the company’s most successful live event, with 16,326 fans paying $1.12 million in San Jose. Le, who was not under contract with Elite XC, broke Shamrock’s arm with a series of kicks, to win the fight after three rounds, to take Shamrock’s Strikeforce middleweight title.

The show didn’t do well on Showtime, but was the most watched event in the history of The Fight Network in Canada. Shamrock’s matches with Phil Baroni and Renzo Gracie were the second- and third-highest rated EXC events on Showtime, trailing only the Slice vs Tank Abbott match.

White and Shamrock have had verbal battles back-and-forth for years after Shamrock left as an announcer with UFC shortly after White was put in charge of the organization, and even nicknamed White “Uncle Fester.”

White did make a lucrative offer for him to rejoin UFC in 2006. Shamrock figured, and was correct at the time, that he was more valuable as one of the biggest name MMA stars not affiliated with UFC and Pride at the time.

White has shown, with Tito Ortiz, who he had personal problems with, and later B.J. Penn and Randy Couture, who each had sued the company, that he is willing to bring back personal enemies if it was the right thing for business. Shamrock is the most skilled MMA fighter at the ability to build up a fight, but where he would stand in the modern UFC in his late-30s is a major question.

The second tier of EXC names includes the likes of welterweight champion Jake Shields, heavyweight champ Antonio Silva, and middleweight champ Robbie Lawler.

One would think both the UFC and rival Affliction would have interest in those names, as they would be competitive in the upper ranks of their respective weight classes.

Another potential issue regards groups like King of the Cage, Icon Sports, Rumble World Entertainment, and Cage Rage, all of which were purchased by Pro Elite, Elite XC’s parent company.

Most deals included putting the former owners under contract as executive consultants (and then not listening to them), giving them some cash as well as company stock, at the time worth millions and now worth almost nothing.

The deals were structured as such that if Pro Elite went bankrupt, all could go back to promoting using the names they developed. King of the Cage, which was the only group profitable underneath the Pro Elite banner, is expected to continue running events as soon as possible. Cage Rage, a U.K. based group whose losses were so staggering they greatly sped up the demise of Pro Elite, is likely not to last much longer.

T. Jay Thompson, the promoter of the Honolulu-based Icon, isn’t sure what is next for him. Thompson is the longest-lasting promoter in the sport, having started in 1995. Honolulu was the best drawing city in America for MMA events during the sport’s near-death several years ago, but Thompson noted Hawaii is no longer a fertile market for live MMA events.

Watch Kimbo Slice Get Knocked Out ! TKO!

On Sat. Night this was a disappointing showing of Elite XC , first Ken S. can"t Fight , and then Kimbo Gets knocked down within a few seconds , thank god it was free to watch on CBS ! Your Thoughts ??

EliteXC: Heat - Weigh In ( Kimbo vs. Shamrock ) Gina Carano takes off Clothes for weigh in !!

Kimbo Slice & David Blaine Fight ?

Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock on October 4th for EliteXC®

Watch it Free on CBS !

I have Ken Shamrock to win , By Tapout in 2 round ,Even though he is old, Ken still has alot of talent and should over - come Kimbo Slice ! Your Thoughts ??

Kimbo Slice Vs. Ken Shamrock Fight

Kimbo’s next fight is confirmed for October 4th, and it will in fact be Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock. Immediately after the fight between Kimbo and James Thompson, Shamrock declared that he saw holes in Kimbo’s game, saying he’d be a perfect opponent for him. Needless to say, Brett Rogers is pretty pissed.

After Kimbo vs Shamrock was announced, Brett “The Grimm” Rogers started calling out everyone from Kimbo to Dan Severn. He questions Kimbo’s credibility, calling him and his skills a myth, and claiming Kimbo’s a fraud about coming from any mean streets.
This is devolving into another “who’s harder and from a meaner ghetto” argument but Rogers doesn’t want to shut the hell up. He thought if he called Kimbo out right after fighting Thompson, he’d get the first shot just because it would have everybody talking. Apparently EliteXC doesn’t care, and it’s even rumored that they don’t want Kimbo to fight Rogers for fear that Kimbo might actually lose.
The odds don’t indicate a loss in this next Kimbo vs Shamrock fight. Ken “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” Shamrock is the 44-year-old UFC Hall of Famer with five consecutive losses. His last win was four years ago in 2004 against Kimo Leopoldo. While he has real skills, particularly in submissions, he just gets knocked out way too easily these days. But let’s hope Kimbo vs. Shamrock turns out to be an explosive fight on a good card.
Check back for more as it happens.