ALUmnus wrote:It's amazing to me the hatred toward kimbo slice by the "real fans" of ultimate fighting. When this sport first started, it was pitted as any fighting style you can imagine going up against each other, nothing held back, and the best fighter would win. Now it's turned into a submission love-fest. And just because the guy doesn't fight exactly like every other fighter, he's branded as hype or not a true fighter. Come on, at least he's bringing some variety to an otherwise snooze-a-thon. I don't want to see tap-outs, I want to see knock-outs. I wish they'd get back to the roots of this contest and make it a world-wide, all styles welcome fighting competition.
that not why we hate him. the fact is that he is not even remotely skilled, yet is hyped up and paid well over what many higher skilled and better fighters are paid. the sport is trying to get away from the image of a bunch of thug street fighters running around swinging for the fences and move towards the image of highly intelligent, highly trained and technical athletes who deserve to be paid well for what they do.
the fact is that it IS a world-wide all styles welcome competition. you just happen to see the same styles over and over again in top competitors. id call that more than coincidence.
kimBLOW happens to be nothing more than an overhyped big guy that hit really hard against a bunch of untrained guys in street fights. why should he be entitled to jumpingover all of the guys that are better and have worked harder? he shouldn't. further, he is being protected by EXC and several people (including myself) have called the NJSAC to ask them to investigate 3 of the fights this past weekend. (there is actually a concerted effort by thousands of fans on the worlds largest MMA forum to voice our displeasure at this event t the NJSAC)
lets look at his fight on sat night. james thompson. the ultimate can. 2-6 in his previous 8 fights and was beating kimBLOW until the ref decided to find a reason to save kimBLOW from losing. NEVER has a pro fight been stopped for a cut that wasn't getting the persons eyes. further, there are reports from SEVERAL people online that kimBLOW actually TAPPED during the first round when the camera jumped from in the cage to that far away shot of the entire arena. (just so you know, the show was on 2 hr delay) so now you have two serious allegations of tampering with the outcome of the fight. that's illegal.
so, KimBLOW struggled HEAVILY with a can, that was KO'd in the first by the guy that won the first HWT fight of the night. good thing thompson didnt have ANY ground skills, or kimBLOW wouldn't have made it through rd. 1. second, thompson has a suspect chin and mediocre at best striking. so ESPN goes ahead and puts him front page ESPN Mag? he gets 6-figures/fight? rich franklin never got that when he was UFC champ. very FEW get that EVER for a fight, even with a win bonus added in. so why should he be special and be paraded around like a poster boy when he is currently the antithesis of everything the sport is trying to become? bottom line: he SHOULDN'T! and THATS why the people actually involved in the sport cant stand him.
HMO is correct his stand up skills AREN'T good enough to compete at the highest level. heck, I don't think they are good enough to compete at even a B level. (James Thompson certainly is not B level striking and he out punched him) kimBLOW's ground skills are non existent. Thompson is not even C level on the ground, and he almost (or very well may have) submitted him.
If BJ Penn @ 155 fought kimBLOW (even with close to 100lbs difference) he would not only have a very good chance of KO-ing him, but he would DEFINITELY take him down and submit him, and make it look easy. Heck, lets say that we won't use BJ because he is a UFC champ. Lets go with Clay Guida who is only top 10 in the UFC. His striking and grappling is STILL light years ahead of kimBLOW. The fact is that currently, kimBLOW is a step back in the evolution of the MMA game, and that's why he is catching all the flack. Do i hope he improves? Yes. Do I hope he becomes a LEGIT mma fighter? Yes. Does he deserve all the hype and money he is getting? ABSOLUTELY NOT! and Thats why there is all the kimBLOW hate.
As for Tim Sylvia, I personally can't stand him. I think he's a boring fighter. However, I do respect his fighting ability in regards to his effort against Big Nog in his last UFC fight for the title. Tim is getting ready to fight Fedor (possibly the best hwt on the PLANET) and I'm looking forward to seeing how that shakes out b/c it could have a lot to do with quelling the drama with Randy Couture and the UFC.
If KimBLOW and Tim fought, Tim would destroy him. Sean Gannon beat kimBLOW in a street fight. Gannon in turn fought in the UFC and was TKO'd @ 4:14 R1 by Brandon Lee Hinkle (a nobody - but obviously a better nobody than Gannon) who then lost to both Jeff Monson (choked out @ 4:35 R1) and Jason Lambert (TKO 5:00 R1) before being dropped by the UFC. Monson then beat Marcio Cruz and Anthony Perosh before losing a unanimous decision to TIM SYLVIA (i believe 50-45) for the UFC HWT Title. Monson, then beat two nobodies inbetween losing to a washed up Pedro Rizzo (of early UFC fame) and Josh Barnett (Top 5 Hwt in the world from Pride and now other pro organizations in Japan). Jason Lambert lost to Rashad Evans from TUF (KO @ 2:22 R2) dropped to 205 and beat Renato 'Babalu' Sobral (fought Chuck Liddell and lost 2x) KO @ 3:26 R2 and then lost to Wilson Gouveia (KO @ 0:37 R2) both in the UFC.
So, as you can see, kimBLOW is not anywhere NEAR the top of the food chain (even if he were to drop to 205). Not only do I believe Tim Sylvia would beat him handily (as he is much taller, knows how to use his reach - and somehow KO'd andrei arlovski - and has much better cardio, but his ground game isnt bad either). That being said, Randy Couture made Sylvia look like a little child, beating him 50-45. In this light, kimBLOW is pretty much irrelevant on the landscape as far as skilled fighters go. Given that, you can see why people despise him and his 'fighting ability.'
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