Kimbo Falls
That’s Kimbo Slice at the press conference following his fight last night. Kimbo was knocked out in 14 seconds by a last minute replacement for Ken Shamrock. Shamrock sustained a cut to his eye in a warm-up session just hours prior to the fight. State officials wouldn’t clear him. So Seth Petruzelli, scheduled to fight on a non-televised undercard match, was brought up to the headliner.That’s when a funny thing happened. Kimbo Slice, who had always proclaimed that he’d fight anyone, anytime, anywhere, almost didn’t take the fight. I can understand hesitation if you’re a fighter and train specifically for one individual and then have to face another. It happens all the time in boxing and MMA. However, if your reputation is that you are the baddest brawler on the planet and you will indeed fight anyone, anywhere, anytime; then you’d better be prepared to do just that! According to reports, it wasn’t until twenty minutes before the show was supposed to go live that Kimbo agreed to the fight – perhaps it was the substantial cash bonus that swayed him. Still, he seemed pretty upset in his brief pre-fight interview.
The crazy thing is, the brief interview lasted longer than the fight itself. Kimbo rushed across the ring and was clipped with a short right to the chin, he went down and was pummeled by Petruzelli until the ref stepped in to save Kimbo from worse punishment. The emporor was shown to have no clothes. Kimbo had no clue how to protect himself once he was down. He didn’t cover up, he didn’t try to grab and close the distance so Petruzelli would have no punching room, he simply laid there taking shots.
All great fighters have lost. There is no shame in losing if you’ve prepared and give it your best. I credit Kimbo with preparing and giving it his best. Unfortunately, it became clear last night what his best is. Don’t get me wrong, if Kimbo walked into any bar across America, he could probably whip 19 out of 20 in there… maybe even 20. Walking into the octagon is a different story.
I don’t fault Kimbo for taking advantage of the opportunities that have come his way. What’s happened with Kimbo is very similar to what’s currently going on with Brock Lesnar. Kimbo did show class after the fight. He credited Seth for taking the fight and thanked the fans for coming out to see the show. He then left the octagon… maybe for the last time.
I think Kimbo would have protected himself or tried to clinch once he fell down. However, when a fighter falls on his face after taking a shot he’s temporarily out so he didn’t come into any awareness until the ref gave him breathing room. Just like when GSP got TKO’d by Matt Serra, he got tagged hard enough that no skill sets in the world will help because the brain is asleep. I’m glad I missed that show from the way it sounds -it was poorly managed. Shamrock is a veteran MMA guy, so he should have known better than to do anything crazy that would cause an eye injury.
While it’s true anyone can get caught with a shot, the one that Kimbo took didn’t appear to connect squarely. In fact his opponent said that he was surprised that Kimbo went down from it. Perhaps it was a combination of things. I guess the real test will be to see how Kimbo comes back from this loss… and if the fans will as well.
Was Kimbo leaning into his own punch when he got caught? If that was the case and he got caught on the chin during the middle of his own punch delivery then he basically KO’d himself. His own powerful momentum brought him into it. That is what caught Liddell as well. His opponent would have to be braced against the octagon fence or leaning into his own punch to deliver that halfbeat KO counter.
My biggest problem, and maybe it was just a front, is that he didn’t really seem to care whether he lost or not. MMA is not the sport for you if your heart isn’t in it. Send him to Hollywood where he belongs as B.A. Baracus in the A-Team movie.
Also, I like Gus Johnson as an announcer, but sometimes he gets a bit too Harry Knowles with the hyperbole. “Rocky is here!” “The most incredible…victory…in the history of mixed martial arts!”
RockyB76
Yea made some money betting on seth last night. kimbo has been overhyped since the beginning and now people see it. Elitexc might be out aswell.
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