I am sure most people have seen the myriad of Kimbo fight videos posted on You Tube, and other various internet sites. Most if not all of us have enjoyed the sheer ass whippings he has put on his opponents, and the subsequent eye socket damage he seems to inflict in almost every brawl. The latest of such was one I recently finished watching where Kimbo fought this guy named Adryan, and like all his opponents before Adryan walked in looking confident. The fight starts, and like many fights before after a few blows from Kimbo his opponent all of a sudden realizes he doesn’t want to fight anymore and turns his back to “Mr. Slice” who subsequently knocks him out cold, puts his shirt on and leaves the scene. This is the scene we have all become accustomed too, and what has made Kimbo a popular figure. 

Kimbo recently decided to put his hat in the MMA conversation, and he has defeated Ray Mercer and Tank Abbott fairly easily on both accounts. But Kimbo recently fought James Thompson after he racked up a quick 2 – 0 record, most pundits and MMA experts had Kimbo winning this fight by knockout because Thompson had lost 3 of his last 4 fights all by KO. This fight was much hyped and CBS marketed the fight heavily along with Burger King and other sponsors who wanted to jump on the Kimbo Slice marketing drive. The fight was the main event of the card which is almost unheard of; a guy with two professional fights under his belt, and a journeyman fighter who was average at best being the featured attraction. This showed the hope all the sponsors and fans had that Kimbo would come in knock Thompson out then walk around the ring grunting as in those You Tube videos. Well that didn’t happen, after two rounds of Thompson taking hard shots from Kimbo, and them rolling around on the ground displaying piss poor ground skills we get to the third round and witness Kimbo rock Thompson with a right cross and the fight stopped because of Thompsons ear bleeding. The fight didn’t live up to the billing or the hype because Thompson just kept taking Kimbo down (because of his inferior sprawl) and laying on him not doing much at all. So, the fisticuffs everyone was hoping for and expecting were spread out and in small spurts, plus Kimbo doesn’t usually fight three rounds and he was visibly tired. The referee in this fight should have kept standing them up to push the action, but that’s only my opinion. In the end Kimbo found a way to win even if people think the fight was rigged, or somehow stopped early to preserve a “Slice” victory.

Well I disagree, and this is what prompted me to write this article. Look James Thompson was busted up he took a lot of blows and was visibly dazed at many times during the fight, plus when someone lands a hard blow to the side of someone’s head and the blood starts to flow like a rain gutter from the side of their head that’s a cause for concern. I have seen fights in the UFC and Pride stopped for less blood than that, and if you look closely you couldn’t tell if the blood was coming from the “cauliflower ear” or from his inner ear. This is all semantics who knows what it was from, and the guy was getting hit with bombs since the round started, I know it wasn’t a classic Kimbo victory but a victory nonetheless. I noticed after the fight all the bloggers and MMA beat writers started calling Kimbo a second rate fighter, and talking about how bad the entire event was.

This is a sheer case of the media frenzy turning on someone when they don’t get what they want, first and foremost Kimbo isn’t a second rate fighter; if you compare him to oh let’s say Quinton “Rampage” Jackson of course he isn’t going to compare, but you have to remember fighting is all about styles. Kimbo is a guy you don’t want to “throw hands” with, but if you add in submissions, takedowns, and grappling then yes he doesn’t have those skills, but that isn’t what made him popular knocking dudes the f*ck out is what made him popular so who cares if he doesn’t have a ground game. Frankly to be honest grappling and submissions is boring to most fans, I appreciate those skills because of the work it takes to do those things well, but most fans don’t like watching it. Kimbo should have fought in K1 which doesn’t have any grappling; it’s all standup styles so Kimbo’s American Street Fighter style would fit well. We all know Kimbo has a good chin, and if he can fight without worrying about defending takedowns and submissions he is much more aggressive and pushes the action. If you notice against Thompson he was waiting back and trying to counter punch at times which just isn’t natural for the way he fights. I don’t think anyone can say Kimbo sucks or is a second rate fighter based off of one subpar performance where he still inflicted punishment on his opponent although it was a mediocre fight overall. It’s quite simple if you ask Dreads, Adryan, Afro Puff, Tank Abbott, or any of the other fools he has knocked out, if he is a second rate fighter I am sure you would get a no. Most people don’t know this, but those Kimbo street fights dudes had to put up $10,000 to fight him, these guys didn’t just go out and say I am going to let Kimbo whip my ass on you tube for the hell of it. Who puts up $10k if they aren’t confident that they can whip his ass, half the dudes wanted to quit after only a few blows I think that says a lot. So, for all those who think Kimbo is a subpar fighter; I have a question would you fight him in a street fight or even a caged ring?

Most normal people will answer no to that question, and the people criticizing Kimbo probably wouldn’t fight him either. It’s simple EliteXC wanted to profit off of the popularity Kimbo built himself and Kimbo took the money, you can’t blame him for that, at least he is fighting in a “legal” venue now. But one mistake was made EliteXC should not have made it the main event, and they should have made sure the referee kept them standing up as much as possible if they weren’t active on the ground. They could have even avoided all of that by matching Kimbo with a standup fighter, Thompson is a stand-up fighter but always had a tendency to go to the ground if he was losing the stand up game. But you can’t argue Kimbo is 3 – 0 with 2 knockouts and a submission, and he has loads of “street fight” victories under his belt. Does he have the same skill set as a Frank Mir, or Mirko Cro Cop? Of course not, but give Kimbo the same time training in the sport and coaching on takedown defense that those fighters have and he will be a formidable heavyweight on the MMA scene.