# Kimbo Gets The Boot



## MJS (May 9, 2010)

http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/ca...the-UFC-is-over-White-cuts-him?urn=mma,239667

Looks like Dana gave Kimbo the boot from the UFC.


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## terryl965 (May 9, 2010)

All I can say is good and it is about time, I mean he has no real talent, never did. Kimbo should feel lucky he was able to make so much money in such a little time, I hope he saved so he has a good retirement.


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## MJS (May 10, 2010)

http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Kevin-Ferguson-22388

Here is his fight record, according to Sherdog.  Now, I will say this...I certainly would not want to trade shots with him, and most likely, I'd do everything in my power to avoid it.  He definately has some power behind his punches.  

I first heard about him, most likely the same way everyone else did...from his youtube fights.  Then again, were the people he was fighting, either on YT or in the ring, really that good?  I mean, I could go out and fight with some white belt beginner and make myself look good.  But fighting someone of some quality, well, the results may be different.  Were the people he fought, either in the UFC or Elite, really on a high skill level?  I dont know, as I'm not familiar with many of them, other than Tank.  

He won 3 out of 4 Elite fights, and is 1-1 in the UFC.  Was that enough grounds for Dana to give him the boot?  I didn't see the recent fight, so I dont know.  

It seems to me, and I may be wrong, but it seems that he was billed as something that he was not.  He was given an image and he wasn't living up to it.


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## theletch1 (May 10, 2010)

The way I see the situation is that White saw someone he could make a quick buck off of with a bit of hype.  When the newness wore off it was time to give him the boot.  I've seen a couple of interviews with Kimbo since the TUF thing and I'm impressed with the change I've seen in his personality since his YT days.  I think that may be White's problem, he wanted some street thug and he found someone who, once introduced to real training, found a love for the more legitimate sport of things.  I don't think Kimbo will have a problem getting a deal with Dream or one of the other japanese orgs if he continues to train hard.  I'm not a fan of Dana White.  Let him keep booting fighters as soon as they stop pulling top numbers and the other orgs will benefit in the long run.


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## MattJ (May 10, 2010)

Personally, I liked Kimbo after seeing him on TUF, and thought he should have gotten one more fight. But really, Dana made the right call here. Kimbo, despite his work and improvement, was not UFC caliber.


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## Andrew Green (May 10, 2010)

MJS said:


> He won 3 out of 4 Elite fights, and is 1-1 in the UFC.  Was that enough grounds for Dana to give him the boot?  I didn't see the recent fight, so I dont know.



Just looking at the numbers maybe not, but while Kimbo did win against Houston Alexander, he was far from effective in that fight.

I think the problem was he just jumped to high, to fast.  Had he started training his grappling & cardio seriously back when he first started in MMA, and not jumped straight into headlining big shows thing might have worked out better for him.  He's got a lot of punching power, and some pretty good slams and the ability to draw in fans...  Just had too much hype behind him when he wasn't ready to live up to it.


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## MJS (May 11, 2010)

Andrew Green said:


> Just looking at the numbers maybe not, but while Kimbo did win against Houston Alexander, he was far from effective in that fight.
> 
> I think the problem was he just jumped to high, to fast. Had he started training his grappling & cardio seriously back when he first started in MMA, and not jumped straight into headlining big shows thing might have worked out better for him. He's got a lot of punching power, and some pretty good slams and the ability to draw in fans... Just had too much hype behind him when he wasn't ready to live up to it.


 
Good points.  Then again, when Brock stepped into the ring, he pretty much went from zero to 60 pretty quick...meaning, he was fairly new to the UFC and fought Randy.  IMO, I'd think that fighting someone of Randys status, you'd think he'd have to put more time in, but apparently Dana thought otherwise.


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## LuckyKBoxer (May 11, 2010)

MJS said:


> Good points. Then again, when Brock stepped into the ring, he pretty much went from zero to 60 pretty quick...meaning, he was fairly new to the UFC and fought Randy. IMO, I'd think that fighting someone of Randys status, you'd think he'd have to put more time in, but apparently Dana thought otherwise.


 
Brock is a special case because he has a few things going for him that virtually noone else on the planet does... A huge following of fanatical professional wrestling fans, a huge pay per view draw already proven, millions of dollars  to spend on training camps, a huge bodysize and an incredible ability to cut weight, a great wrestling ability. All of this combined with the small cage, the small heavy weight fighters, the low skill level of heavy weight fighters, and the twilight of Coutures Career made Brock a sure bet for Dana..
Dana is all about the Benjamins.... not the sport.
If Ray Lewis from the Ravens wants to fight MMA tomorrow Dana White will hire him and give him a fight immediately...
If Shaq from the NBA wants to fight MMA tomorrow Dana white will hire him and give him a fight immediately....
If a well trained, extremely well rounded fighter in his mid to late 30s wants to fight MMA, and has beaten some current and past UFC Heavyweights in sparring sessions... Dana White will pass the vast majority of time... tell them to make a name in smaller venues and come back.. He is not interested in the best fighters... he is interested in the most marketable ones... ones he can tie up in contracts for 5-10 years plus and market his brand...


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## d1jinx (May 11, 2010)

I was against him also till I saw him on TUF.  Then I started to like the guy.

But Probably the MOST shocking thing to me about him was his LACK OF ACCURATE PUNCHING.  I thought he would be more accurate than that.  In every fight he swung hard as hell, but they were never on the mark.  And many of them the other person wasn't bobbing and weaving, he was still.  If you watch his fights, you will see that his punching is very inacurate.  That was very dissapointing for me.  And one that I found hard to believe.

but, if they ever did connect, we'd still be watching him.


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## punisher73 (May 12, 2010)

MJS said:


> Good points. Then again, when Brock stepped into the ring, he pretty much went from zero to 60 pretty quick...meaning, he was fairly new to the UFC and fought Randy. IMO, I'd think that fighting someone of Randys status, you'd think he'd have to put more time in, but apparently Dana thought otherwise.


 

People also forget that Lesnar had an even better wrestling pedigree than Couture does.  He was NCAA Div 1 HW Champ in college and went to the WWE to make money.


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## punisher73 (May 12, 2010)

Andrew Green said:


> Just looking at the numbers maybe not, but while Kimbo did win against Houston Alexander, he was far from effective in that fight.
> 
> I think the problem was he just jumped to high, to fast. Had he started training his grappling & cardio seriously back when he first started in MMA, and not jumped straight into headlining big shows thing might have worked out better for him. He's got a lot of punching power, and some pretty good slams and the ability to draw in fans... Just had too much hype behind him when he wasn't ready to live up to it.


 
Dana has always been against Kimbo Slice. Why is everyone surprised that he got the boot?  Kimbo lost to a B or C level MMA fighter while he was at the top of his YT fight days and they didn't even allow ground grappling.  That should have tipped some people off.

Kimbo got the contract with EliteXC and at the time was trained by Bas Rutten which gave him some credibility.  Kimbo was fed tomato cans known for weak chins so he could win and draw the numbers.  Kimbo lost to a nobody on a lucky punch and right after that EliteXC went belly up because they put too much money in it.

Now back to Dana White and the UFC.  Kimbo was being touted as a great HW in EliteXC and Dana always said he was a nothing and couldn't hold his own in the UFC.  Dana gives him a shot on UF and Kimbo doesn't make the cut.  He is still popular from the show, so he gets a couple fights.  After losing and showing that he isn't up to UFC standards, Dana can market it that he is getting the best fighters.


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## MattJ (May 12, 2010)

Lucky - 



> If Ray Lewis from the Ravens wants to fight MMA tomorrow Dana White will hire him and give him a fight immediately...
> If Shaq from the NBA wants to fight MMA tomorrow Dana white will hire him and give him a fight immediately....


 
I'm not sure I agree there. Neither of those guys has any kind of fight background - not the case with Lesnar, who has a very real elite wrestling pedigree. 



> If a well trained, extremely well rounded fighter in his mid to late 30s wants to fight MMA, and has beaten some current and past UFC Heavyweights in sparring sessions... Dana White will pass the vast majority of time... tell them to make a name in smaller venues and come back.. He is not interested in the best fighters... he is interested in the most marketable ones... ones he can tie up in contracts for 5-10 years plus and market his brand...


 
Again, not sure I agree. If Dana was *ALL* about the money, he wouldn't have cut Kimbo and he would have hired Hershel Walker. He wouldn't have brought on Lyoto Machida, or kept Koscheck or Andersen Silva, for that matter. He _is_ in this to make money, but your characterization seems a bit overblown to me.


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## punisher73 (May 12, 2010)

LuckyKBoxer said:


> Brock is a special case because he has a few things going for him that virtually noone else on the planet does... A huge following of fanatical professional wrestling fans, a huge pay per view draw already proven, millions of dollars to spend on training camps, a huge bodysize and an incredible ability to cut weight, a great wrestling ability. All of this combined with the small cage, the small heavy weight fighters, the low skill level of heavy weight fighters, and the twilight of Coutures Career made Brock a sure bet for Dana..
> Dana is all about the Benjamins.... not the sport.
> If Ray Lewis from the Ravens wants to fight MMA tomorrow Dana White will hire him and give him a fight immediately...
> If Shaq from the NBA wants to fight MMA tomorrow Dana white will hire him and give him a fight immediately....
> If a well trained, extremely well rounded fighter in his mid to late 30s wants to fight MMA, and has beaten some current and past UFC Heavyweights in sparring sessions... Dana White will pass the vast majority of time... tell them to make a name in smaller venues and come back.. He is not interested in the best fighters... he is interested in the most marketable ones... ones he can tie up in contracts for 5-10 years plus and market his brand...


 

I doubt that.  Herschel Walker was trained in martial arts before wanting to fight in MMA and Dana wanted nothing to do with him.

It's a BUSINESS, so of course he is out to make money.  But, at the same time he has to try and find elite fighters that fans want to see.  If you just get a bunch of popular people that can't fight, no one is going to want to see that over and over again.


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## LuckyKBoxer (May 12, 2010)

punisher73 said:


> I doubt that. Herschel Walker was trained in martial arts before wanting to fight in MMA and Dana wanted nothing to do with him.
> 
> It's a BUSINESS, so of course he is out to make money. But, at the same time he has to try and find elite fighters that fans want to see. If you just get a bunch of popular people that can't fight, no one is going to want to see that over and over again.


 
Hershal Walker is way past his physical prime, he has mediocre skills at best, and his name is nowhere near a draw like a Ray Lewis or a Shaq would be..Look at the viewership numbers for Hershals fight, they were non existant... no draw... the event intself was the draw.. Dana knows that, most people do. Even Pudz showed virtually no draw... which is a shame.

Shaq was probably a bad example because there is no way he will ever see the lighter side of 265.... maybe a better example would be someone like Lebron James.

I never said it was all about popular people who cant fight.... 
also Kimbo is no longer a draw, Dana got a look at the PPV numbers and knew Kimbos 15 minutes was over. Hes exposed as the fraud he is and noone is interested anymore. At least not enough to make a dent in the PPV numbers.
The comment before about him not keeping MAchida, Koschek, or Silva is ridiculous as well, all three of those guys fit right in to the parameter I listed of guys who Dana can get to fight for 5-10 years and promote his brand... Did you just not read my whole post?

If you really think Dana is putting the absolute best fighters on the planet in there, you are not very up too date on the fight game.. I would absolutely say the UFC has the best overall product, and the best overall  talent in the stables, however like I said they are not interested in making fighters rich... many of the better fighters are in their mid to late 30s and Zuffa is not interested in signing fighters who they believe have little chance to be around for less then 5-10 more years.
Obviously they want to get good fighters in their stables, but only under very specific terms. They have cut great fighters and refused to sign other great fighters simply because they refused to sign over complete control of their likeness, and complete control of their marketing. Zuffa refuses to allow certain sponsers, and has cut fighters for signing deals with certain sponsers. They do not cross promote to allow fights that fans would love to see, and if they were about the fight game, and fighters in general they would. No the UFC, Zuffa, and Dana are all about the business, all about the money.. everything else comes a distant second.
I never said it was bad, I am just realistic... 
If you do not think its about the money, then ask Dana if someone guaranteed him he could make a Billion dollars a year running a turtle racing business if he would leave the UFC.. He would be gone in a second.


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## MJS (May 12, 2010)

LuckyKBoxer said:


> Brock is a special case because he has a few things going for him that virtually noone else on the planet does... A huge following of fanatical professional wrestling fans, a huge pay per view draw already proven, millions of dollars to spend on training camps, a huge bodysize and an incredible ability to cut weight, a great wrestling ability. All of this combined with the small cage, the small heavy weight fighters, the low skill level of heavy weight fighters, and the twilight of Coutures Career made Brock a sure bet for Dana..
> Dana is all about the Benjamins.... not the sport.
> If Ray Lewis from the Ravens wants to fight MMA tomorrow Dana White will hire him and give him a fight immediately...
> If Shaq from the NBA wants to fight MMA tomorrow Dana white will hire him and give him a fight immediately....
> If a well trained, extremely well rounded fighter in his mid to late 30s wants to fight MMA, and has beaten some current and past UFC Heavyweights in sparring sessions... Dana White will pass the vast majority of time... tell them to make a name in smaller venues and come back.. He is not interested in the best fighters... he is interested in the most marketable ones... ones he can tie up in contracts for 5-10 years plus and market his brand...


 
I gotta rep ya for this post!   Very good points!  Guess this shows where his priorities are. *shrug*


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## MattJ (May 12, 2010)

Lucky - 



> also Kimbo is no longer a draw, Dana got a look at the PPV numbers and knew Kimbos 15 minutes was over. Hes exposed as the fraud he is and noone is interested anymore. At least not enough to make a dent in the PPV numbers.


 
What PPV figures are you basing that on? I haven't seen numbers for 113 yet, but Kimbo was a huge ratings draw on the last fight card he was on, as well as TUF, EliteXC, etc. Proven huge draw.




> The comment before about him not keeping MAchida, Koschek, or Silva is ridiculous as well, all three of those guys fit right in to the parameter I listed of guys who Dana can get to fight for 5-10 years and promote his brand... Did you just not read my whole post?


 
Yes I read your whole post. You said "marketable", and Machida and Silva for certain are not marketable (generally low PPV numbers). They are very good fighters, though. 



> If you really think Dana is putting the absolute best fighters on the planet in there, you are not very up too date on the fight game.. I would absolutely say the UFC has the best overall product, and the best overall talent in the stables,


 
You'll have to explain what you mean - this seems to be a contradiction. 



> however like I said they are not interested in making fighters rich...


 
This is a totally different complaint now. Is Don King interested in making his fighters rich? This is a business we're talking about.



> many of the better fighters are in their mid to late 30s and Zuffa is not interested in signing fighters who they believe have little chance to be around for less then 5-10 more years.


 
Who would you like to see in there?



> Obviously they want to get good fighters in their stables, but only under very specific terms. They have cut great fighters and refused to sign other great fighters simply because they refused to sign over complete control of their likeness, and complete control of their marketing. Zuffa refuses to allow certain sponsers, and has cut fighters for signing deals with certain sponsers. They do not cross promote to allow fights that fans would love to see, and if they were about the fight game, and fighters in general they would. No the UFC, Zuffa, and Dana are all about the business, all about the money.. everything else comes a distant second.


 
Again, it's a business. As far as cross-promotion, let's ask StrikeForce how well that's working for them.  

Hey look, if you want to say that Dana White is an a$$hole, I could agree with that. But to say that he doesn't care about the sport, or is not interested in the best fighters seems inaccurate to me.


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