The Ultimate Fighter 10 Discussion Thread

[clovett]

Disappointed in Nelsons perormance, considering his ground skills.

 

[CrimsonGhost56]

well this season was fun. someone shoot me a pm when the finale is on.

 

[Epidemik]

By far the best part of the Episode is where they are teaching Kimbo how to get him out of the mount if Roy Mounts him and Rampage does his Belly Jokes on Nelson

"biggest Belly i'd ever seen"

"i bet he hasn't seen his little friend in yearrrrrrrs"

"I wonder if his feet get wet when he takes a shower"

"I wonder if he aims when he pee pees"

"Kimbo's hands and wrists are gonna slide into his belly... like the blob.... blb blb blb blb blb"

:rofl:

 

[Epidemik]

well this season was fun. someone shoot me a pm when the finale is on.

If it means anything, in the previews (which is doubtful) Marcus Jones looks like he goes down and Kimbo might have to step back in

Maybe its just a ploy because they know they just lost half their audience after Kimbo lost and are trying to say "hey kimbo might have a second chance?!?!"

 

[Epidemik]

Even loss can’t stop Kimbo hype machine
No one ever said Dana White and his Ultimate Fighting Championship didn’t know how to market itself, its sport and its fighters.

There may be no greater proof than the job they’ve done with Kimbo Slice, the famed YouTube street fighter who crashed and burned under the weight of ridiculous hype that his last promotion and CBS television put on him. One year ago this week, it took 14 seconds to prove he wasn’t really the comparable figure to Tiger Woods that they laughably claimed.

Kimbo lost again Wednesday on Spike TV’s “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show. In a match taped in June, he was smothered by Roy Nelson, a round mound of fighting experience who twice exploited Slice’s inexperience, laid him out in a crucifix position and dropped dozens of light but unanswered punches.

Referee Herb Dean, who allowed Kimbo to be saved by the bell at the end of the first round, called it early in the second.

Kimbo got beat, although not beat up. And within a minute of his loss, White, the UFC president, was on the program dropping unsubtle hints that Slice would soon enough return to active competition on the show. He’ll likely replace fellow competitor Marcus Jones, who in scenes from next week appears to come down ill.

The return of a promising fighter that had lost isn’t unusual. In past seasons of the show, fighters have left due to injury, behavioral trouble and simple homesickness.

What’s most amazing isn’t that Kimbo will return. It’s that the show – either through the magic of reality television or by brilliantly showing what was legitimately real – has turned Kimbo into a likeable, humble and easy-to-root-for guy.

Dana White had changed the expectations game.

Suddenly Kimbo was being hailed for putting up a decent fight against Nelson, a former International Fight League heavyweight champion with far more experience.

White and coaches Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans all hailed his effort.

In truth, Kimbo landed just a couple significant punches, one knee and used solid takedown defense to stop Nelson another time. Other than that, it really wasn’t much of a performance. Nelson got him down twice and then just swallowed Kimbo up.

At no point did Nelson look to be in any trouble, although the few times Slice’s fists connected, it couldn’t have felt all that good.

“Can I get a Double Whopper with cheese?” Nelson shouted to White after the victory.

Yet for losing, Kimbo was the big winner.

And it all has to do with expectations. If he had lost this way a year ago at the final card for his old promotion, EliteXC, he would have been mercilessly ripped by fans. (That night, he lost even more decisively, a near-instant TKO at the hands of man who weighed 30 pounds less.) If anyone had made an excuse that his opponent was too good, they would have been heckled.

White would’ve been the first one doing the mocking.

Back then, though, Kimbo was being hailed as some mixed martial arts legend, when even he now admits he had virtually no skills. There is no comparison to winning backyard fights for a couple hundred bucks and taking on trained professionals inside a cage.

Now, close enough is good enough because the UFC is smartly selling Slice as a boots-straps up-and-comer, someone willing to admit he has a ton to learn, a family man (six kids) who just took the opportunity given to him.

It’s the same fighter, just better promoters.

White isn’t above hyperbole. He also knows that honesty sells. In this case, he isn’t selling an inaccurate image – he’s showing a real human. The guy who used to beat people up at barbeques now seems like a guy you wouldn’t mind having over to your house for one.

Slice has helped deliver record ratings for the 10th season of the show. White himself was predicting six million people would watch Wednesday’s fight – and with the promise of Kimbo returning next week, the ratings won’t drop far.

White has said Kimbo will stay with the company – whether he wins this season or not. Slice will fight in December, presumably at either the undercard of the TUF 10 finale on Dec. 5 or at UFC 107, a pay-per-view event in Memphis.

It stands to reason that many fans will be rooting for him, more now than ever.

He’s become a person on this show, not held up as some scouring force of terror. The beard and gold teeth are still there, but TUF has shown him training relentlessly, begging for additional coaching and getting along with fellow contestants who initially mocked and cursed his presence.

More than anything, special attention has been paid to showing (if you can believe it) Kimbo’s emotional vulnerability, particularly considering the built-up-and-torn-down-year he just went through.

“He’s just a good person,” said Jones, who played seven years for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “The things put in front of him would probably crush the mental state of any other man.”

Slice was seen praying, talking about how he realized “the enemy is the inner me” and making a series of hysterical malapropisms (upon realizing he’s been losing weight, he noted, “I haven’t developed a good eating résumé.”)

The guy is Yogi Berra with knockout power.

Or does he really have knockout power? We’ll see. He didn’t show it against Nelson, and the pressure will be on to display more in his next fight, be it on TUF or in December. As with all contestants, Kimbo will stick around and train until filming is done, a time where he can improve dramatically.

He is currently working with American Top Team in South Florida, home to a number of top fighters. They have a reputation as a no-nonsense operation that gets fighters in top shape. It is home to MMA stars such as WEC champion Mike Brown and UFC welterweight contender Thiago Alves.

He’s supposedly serious about it – even if various movie roles keep pulling him away for a couple days here and there. It’s worth noting, though, that when Slice was in EliteXC, we heard he was training hard under legendary former UFC champion Bas Rutten, only to later find out it wasn’t nearly so intense.

Time will tell whether at 35 he can develop into a viable fighter. Better won’t work forever. Still, his performance thus far on TUF has given him a second, and perhaps third, opportunity with the UFC. It’s rebranded him from street thug into modern day Rocky.

It’s found a way to make a loss where he mounted minimal offense into a victory that’s reviving his career.

All hail the marketing power of the UFC. No one ever said Dana White wasn’t good at his job.

Dan Wetzel is Yahoo! Sports national columnist.

.

 

[BigBiss]

This Show needs a injection of some Wes Sims

 

[Bmore]

This Show needs a injection of some Wes Sims

I bet he gives rampage his first win.

 

[Herm]

What did I say? Kimbo is weak. Don't think IFL Heavyweight Champion Roy Nelson is fat. He used his body weight on a sideguard. Kimbo was rocking him for awhile. But still Roy Wins.

I think only the biggest of Kimbo fanboys are making excuses for him. Hes 230 lbs of muscle and yet he just gave up when a 264 guy was on top of him, if hes that easy to keep on the ground he will never win a fight in the UFC.

I would like to see him do well, as hype sells fights. But PLEASE Kevin work on your ground game.

 

[RKO BLACK RKO]

Kimbo Slulz

 

[Steel Mamba]

You're on his dick pretty hard right now.

 

[Kuzzy Powers]

What did I say? Kimbo is weak. Don't think IFL Heavyweight Champion Roy Nelson is fat. He used his body weight on a sideguard. Kimbo was rocking him for awhile. But still Roy Wins.

Roy "the whole country" Nelson definitely is fat.

 

[Epidemik]

What did I say? Kimbo is weak. Don't think IFL Heavyweight Champion Roy Nelson is fat. He used his body weight on a sideguard. Kimbo was rocking him for awhile. But still Roy Wins.

Not a Kimbo Fanboy by any means, i was rooting for Tank to knock him out.
But when they showed the segment where Roy explained his strategy to the other guys and was like "even if im tappin the guy on the face" Roy had an excellent strategy, you want to beat Kimbo take him to the ground, but i least try to knock him out. I mean he's trying to get in the UFC for shits sake.

What do Kimbo Slice, Jenna Jameson and a Turtle have in Common?? When they're on their back they're fucked

 

[KINGOFOOTBALL]

Do Kimbos legs cease to function when hes on his back ?

He just refused to move them both time he went down.

Nelson was terribly unimpressive.

Why would Kimbo who is a disaster on the ground and got beat handily get the nod to comeback while a guy who should have won but got robbed and looked WAY more impressive doesnt ??

 

[Kuzzy Powers]

Do Kimbos legs cease to function when hes on his back ?

He just refused to move them both time he went down.

Nelson was terribly unimpressive.

Why would Kimbo who is a disaster on the ground and got beat handily get the nod to comeback while a guy who should have won but got robbed and looked WAY more impressive doesnt ??

Ratings.

 

[clovett]

from mmamania.com

I fought Roy with caution. I did go for the kill one time, but I knew to be careful because Roy will bait you, that’s how good he is. He can look rocked, but the minute you go in for the kill, shwoop! You know what I’m sayin? He’s a smart fighter. When I felt like I rocked him I went in for the kill and that’s when I made my mistake. That’s when I realized, ah, this motherfucker was slick. But in the midst of the fight I had to figure that out. By the second round he figured out how to get in, how to play possum and get me down to the ground. That weight was hard to move. The crucifix is not my favorite position. I been in that position with James Thompson and was stuck. Roy had me also in that same position. That’s a position I would really like to know how to get out of. I know some shit on the ground. It’s not like I get down there and I don’t know nothing. I have some skills. I’ll beat Roy next time around. You’re only gonna beat me once. If I fight anybody and they beat me that one time, that’s it. You gave me your best. You didn’t beat me at my best. Now I know how you’re comin’. You ain’t beatin’ me twice. Damn right I’d rematch Roy.”

 

[clovett]

quote from big country

I could have stayed in mount and finished him there with elbows and punches, but my game plan was to get to the crucifix, and once I got to the crucifix, finish the fight there. First round was 44 punches to the face, and then (referee) Herb Dean doesn’t know how to ref, but we’ve seen that before. And then the next round was 22 punches. You could even see me yelling at Herb Dean, ‘Come on, ref.’ But the thing is, there’s a lot of people; there’s a lot of money. Kimbo’s the only one that I know that had an entourage there; he actually had his family there, his management, while the rest of us kind of had to suffer. The UFC made, we’ll say, different concessions for Kimbo. I think he had a media room. Kimbo’s definitely, I guess we’ll say, special. I don’t see the specialness fighting-wise, but more for TV-wise. He puts butts in the seats. So I think it was more that Herb Dean was afraid to lose his job, because there’s a lot of people with a lot of money that can have a lot of influence with his career.”

 

[Liquidrob]

its a tourney and 2 round fights, no reason to get hurt or go crazy when you can just coast for a win against an unskilled guy

roy just playing the game, a finish would be nice, but you have to fight on short notice and usually dont know how you are fighting next, he is just getting to the next round

 

[calgaryballer]

its a tourney and 2 round fights, no reason to get hurt or go crazy when you can just coast for a win against an unskilled guy

roy just playing the game, a finish would be nice, but you have to fight on short notice and usually dont know how you are fighting next, he is just getting to the next round

That's my thinking. And Rampage's team still has no idea how good he is for when they have to match up again later

 

[Steel Mamba]

its a tourney and 2 round fights, no reason to get hurt or go crazy when you can just coast for a win against an unskilled guy

roy just playing the game, a finish would be nice, but you have to fight on short notice and usually dont know how you are fighting next, he is just getting to the next round

That stopped him from throwing hard punches from a crucifex?

 

[BigBiss]

something tells me that if Nelson wins and Dana is stuck with him for 6 fights TUF will be scraped sooner rather then later.