| 04 December 2009
It is a rare occurrence - an undercard match overshadowing a card's main event matches, but when the undercard match in question involves Mr. Kimbo Slice, then hierarchy be damned. This isn't a result of tomorrow night's The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale card being weak either - there are several good matches scheduled. The Ultimate Fighter 10 Final between Roy Nelson and Brendan Schaub should be an interesting match, although it is hard to envision either guy ever really making a mark in the UFC and becoming a top ranked heavyweight contender. The Matt Hamill-Jon Jones match should be real good also, as Bones Jones is always an exciting guy to watch and Hamill should offer stiff competition for the undefeated Jones. Plus, one of the best lightweights in the world, Frankie Edgar, is taking on undefeated UFC newcomer Matt Veach, so the card is pretty solid all-around. But, still, this event is all about Kimbo.
Not only is it all about Kimbo, it also could be Kimbo's last stand. In getting knocked out by Seth Petruzelli and losing to Roy Nelson in his last two fights, Slice's mystique has taken a big hit. No longer is he the indestructible street warrior with the heavy hands. Now he is an inexperienced 35-year-old with no ground game, whose only shot at winning against a talented opponent is to swing for the fences. And are Kimbo's hands as heavy as we were led to believe in the past? In his match against Nelson he peppered the big man with a few shots to no avail (mind you, Nelson showed on the TUF series that he has a good chin).
When saying that this could be Kimbo's last stand I don't mean that this is the last time we'll see him fight in the UFC. But if he can't beat a journeyman like Houston Alexander (and the oddsmakers and experts don't think he can) then why should anyone care about watching his fights anymore? The allure of Slice in the past was his mystique - he looked menacing, he had the street fighting legacy and he seemed to have cinder blocks for hands. What the loss to Petruzelli and his appearance on the TUF 10 series has proven is that he isn't indestructible, he actually is a nice guy (not a scary monster, which would have been far more interesting and marketable) and his MMA skills are rudimentary at best. So Saturday night is a big night for Kimbo Slice - is he a legit MMA fighter, or will the curtain be pulled back to reveal him a phony?
Check back with The MMA Manifesto tomorrow night at 9:00pm EST for a TUF 10 Finale live blog/chat. Invite your friends/grandmas/enemies.
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