My Take on the Latest News in MMA
There hasn’t been a whole lot going on the last couple of weeks in the MMA world but things are going to get pretty busy the next couple of months. However, there have been a some stories worth mentioning and that’s what I’ll touch on today.
I’ve been trying my best to avoid all the Kimbo Slice hype but now he’s being featured on ESPN’s E:60 and next month he’ll be gracing the cover of ESPN Magazine. So it’s kind of hard to ignore. I have no problem with Gary Shaw of EliteXC bringing Kimbo along slowly, (he hasn’t been training MMA for that long) but don’t insult us (longtime fans of MMA) by saying he’s a legit MMA fighter. His two pro fights have been absolute joke’s, Bo Cantrell tapped and Kimbo wasn’t even hitting him, while Tank Abbott simply should not be fighting anymore. From all the interviews I’ve seen of Slice he seems like a decent guy and pretty respectful to other fighters (other than calling out Chuck Liddell). Eventually he’ll have to face a real MMA fighter and he’ll be exposed. Until then EliteXC will continue to feed him has-beens and never-will-be’s all the while telling us he’s the real deal. His next opponent James Thompson could ruin EliteXC’s plans as he definately has KO power but his chin is not exactly made of granite, so it will be interesting to see how this one unfolds. The one positive is Kimbo fills seats! And bringing new fans to this sport is not a bad thing. Just don’t expect to see a great display of Jiu-Jitsu.
So Tim Sylvia finally gets his wish. Sylvia has stated several times he would like to take on Fedor Emelianenko, it appears this will happen on July 19th at an event being put on by the Affliction clothing line. This will be Fedor’s first real test in quite sometime, or will it? People seem to be split on this one, I for one think Fedor will run right through “Big Tim”. Not to take anything away from Sylvia but if he thought Randy Couture was tenacious wait until he gets in there with Fedor. I just don’t think he can fight at the pace Emelianenko likes to set. What makes this interesting is that it now gives Couture and Fedor a common opponent. If Sylvia wins it makes Couture-Fedor less appealing, if Fedor wins it will really turn up the heat for an eventual Super-Fight between the two best Heavyweight’s in MMA. My opinion is Fedor wins and we see Couture-Fedor in the UFC for the BIG end of year fight.
