Do you guys remember Kimbo Slice? He was the absolute hotness about 8-9 months ago. The world of MMA was abuzz with Kimbo fever and everyone was wondering if he was on his way to superstardom.
Unfortunately, as intimidating as Slice was during his street brawls, he didn’t quite translate into the world of MMA. In fact, he promptly got knocked out by Seth Petruzelli, a skilled but hardly headlining MMA fighter. This loss began a downward spiral for EliteXC, the company promoting Slice, and ultimately led to a franchise shut down (which I wrote about here).
EliteXC is still gone, but Slice is looking to make a comeback. The UFC runs an annual show called “The Ultimate Fighter” wherein two groups of potential MMA professionals get together and duke it out in tournament style elimination matches to find out who is best. The show is presented like a reality TV program, following the fighters as they live together in a giant mansion and struggle not to get wasted and punch each other out before the real fights start.
This year Slice will be joining them.
This is an interesting move for UFC president Dana White who has openly doubted Slice’s skill in the past. He and many professional MMA fighters believe that this particular opportunity is perfect for Slice as “Ultimate Fighter” is a proving ground and has supplied the UFC with some of its most dynamic combatants to date.
This push to involve the ratings-friendly Kimbo is coming shortly after a successful yet risky gamble on former WWE superstar Brock Lesner.
Lesnar, who is an absolute mountain of a human being, also struggled during his debut into MMA. White, being a very savvy business owner, must have seen potential for Lesnar’s abilities and marketability because he supported the big man and gave him a second shot, which Lesnar used to secure the heavyweight UFC title from Randy Couture.
Will Slice have the same success as Lesnar? It’s hard to say. But one thing is for sure – “Ultimate Fighter” will be giving us some very interesting and entertaining clips as Slice makes his second bid for MMA glory.
