Next Stop, UFC? Kimbo Slice to Battle Big Country on Spike Reality Show

Next Stop, UFC? Kimbo Slice to Battle Big Country on Spike
Reality Show

Share on Facebook posted 09-28-09 by John George

Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson’s fight with Roy “Big Country” Nelson, to be broadcast Wednesday night on Spike’s The Ultimate Fighter 10 reality show, will likely be one of the show’s most interesting events this season.

Kimbo Slice rose to notoriety on YouTube for clips of his brutal backyard brawls, and he had a run of three wins in professional Mixed Martial Arts fights until he got knocked out by 205-pound Seth Petruzelli in 14 seconds during an EliteXC event in October 2008. Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White has publicly derided Kimbo’s abilities a number of times, calling him “the toughest guy at the barbecue,” and stating that the only way Kimbo could ever make it into the UFC is if he proved himself by winning The Ultimate Fighter title.

Well, Kimbo is now attempting to do just that, as the prize for winning that title is nothing less than a six-figure, multi-fight contract with the UFC. And on Wednesday night we’ll see if Kimbo can take the first step toward his goal. But it won’t be easy. In fact, I really doubt if he can do it. I’d bet five to one that he won’t be able to defeat Nelson.

“Big Country” Nelson: The Dude Is Pale, Tubby, and Looks Like a Long-Haul Trucker.

At first glance, most people would likely think that Kimbo would demolish Nelson. Kimbo is a truly menacing figure, standing 6’2” and 235 pounds, with really, really big muscles and very little body fat. The guy’s arms and shoulders are huge, and he looks like he stepped out of a comic book. By contrast, Nelson is downright fat at 6’0” and 265 pounds. The dude is pale and tubby, looking more like a long-haul trucker than a fighter.

But appearances can certainly be deceiving. Nelson is a former International Fight League heavyweight champ, who successfully defended his belt three times. He is an excellent wrestler and a top-notch Jiu Jitsu fighter, who holds a black belt under Renzo Gracie. His record of 13 wins and four losses includes some contests against world-class competition. He lost his last two fights, but they were nothing to be ashamed of.

Most recently, Nelson lost a unanimous decision to former UFC heavyweight top contender Jeff “The Snowman” Monson, who is truly an elite ground fighter. Previously, he was knocked out in the second round by former UFC heavyweight champ Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski, a beastly Belarussian who is still considered one of the world’s most fearsome heavyweight strikers.

Rumor Has It That Kimbo Is Developing a Ground Game

By contrast, Kimbo has not fought any really good fighters. Petruzelli was in the UFC, but he lost both those fights in that organization, and he lost his one fight in the World Extreme Cagefighting promotion. His wins all came in smaller, less competitive competitions. To be fair to Kimbo, though, anyone can be caught by a punch at any time during a fight. His loss to Petruzelli doesn’t mean he can’t fight, it just means he got caught with a good punch. It happens.

Kimbo’s most interesting win, for me, was his first round knockout of David “Tank” Abbot during an EliteXC event in February 2008. In many ways, Kimbo is following in Tank’s footsteps. Tank was the original Huntington Beach Bad Boy, before Tito Ortiz appropriated that moniker. Tank refused to be considered a martial artist and insisted that he was merely a streetfighter. He was a big, strong and fat dude who came out swinging and always went for the home-run punch. He was always fun to watch, even as he started compiling loss after loss after loss to truly professional fighters who worked hard at their sport.

While Tank is a white biker type who prides himself on sitting on a bar stool drinking beer a couple of hours before he has to fight, the Bahamas-born Kimbo clearly takes better care of himself and exercises. You don’t get a body like Kimbo’s from just sitting on a bar stool. Also, Tank had some decent wrestling to go along with his punching power, but he used wrestling mainly as a way to avoid getting taken down or to keep his opponents down while pounding them out, and he never truly developed a ground game.

Kimbo’s ground game is certainly a weakness, but rumor has it that he’s working hard to improve. Judging from the snippets we’ve seen of him on the reality show, he is very coachable and trying to learn as much as he can.

But I don’t think he’ll be able to improve enough to hold up against Nelson. His one chance is if he manages to catch Nelson with a punch before Nelson can clinch or shoot in. There’s always that possibility, but I don’t think it’ll happen. Nelson is too experienced and too good. I think they’ll go to the ground within the first minute, and Nelson will either pound Kimbo out or finish him with a submission.

The Man-Boobs vs. The Gold Grill

I’m actually rooting for both these guys, and I’ll feel sad for whichever one of them loses.

I like Kimbo because I believe his appearance and history belie his true nature. As is the case with many “street” people, there’s some real goodness under all the hardness. With his gold grill and unkempt beard, the guy looks like he’s an enforcer for some cell block boss in some prison somewhere. But if you look past the required bravado during his on-screen appearances, you see a man who is actually pretty humble and respectful. In this respect, he’s definitely got one up on Tank Abbot.

I like Roy Nelson because he’s an everyman. There’s something to be said for someone who can make it in the fighting sports without being ripped, cut, and shredded. All us guys who don’t have the time or the inclination to spend half our lives in the gym can’t help but root for the guy with the belly and the man-boobs. We can relate.

The fact that Nelson has been able to achieve this much success while carrying around that much lard is really amazing. Imagine if he gets serious about training and sheds 25 or 30 pounds of fat. He would almost surely be a top-10 UFC contender instead of a reality show flunkie trying to fight his way into the big show.