October 1, 2009, at 12:14 am
Did the biggest fight in the history of the Ultimate Fighter live up to the hype? In a word, no.
Kimbo vs Roy Nelson was a disappointment. A major disappointment. Either Kimbo was suppose to pull off the underdog win or Roy Nelson was suppose to dominate and show why, despite his…um…shape, he’s considered a top 25 heavyweight in the world. Somehow, neither happened.
This is not what anyone hoped for.
Early in Round 1 Nelson did a good job of keeping Kimbo at bay with his jab. Kimbo couldn’t get off any flurries and the first minute and a half of the round saw both fighters circling not doing a whole lot. Kimbo did land a solid combo but in the process got pushed up against the cage and far, far out of his element. Kimbo did a solid job of defending Nelsons first take-down attempt but Nelson persisted and eventually landed a trip take-down that put Kimbo on his back. From there Nelson seamlessly moved into mount. However, instead of posturing up and landing solid shots Nelson played it safe. Nelson moved to sidemount and eventually into the crucifix position, commonly known as “Hughes/Newton.”
From this position, where the top guy isolates one of his opponents arms with his legs, it’s difficult to land solid punches. However, it’s a hard position to escape…especially when you have a skilled ju-jitsu fighter with a 25 pound weight advantage on top of a guy who can’t spell ju-jitsu (his quote, not mine.) So for a solid 35 seconds Roy landed baby punches and hammer fists t the top of Kimbos head. Kimbo made a valiant attempt to escape but it was to no avail.
Now this brings up a point of contention that will probably be greatly debated this week, did the fight deserved to be stopped at the end of round 1?
My initial reaction was absolutely. Nelson had Slice pinned and was landing unanswered shots…no matter how hard they may or may not have been. By the book the rule is “intelligently defending yourself” and Slice wasn’t intelligently defending himself. His legs weren’t bucking, his hips were flat, he wasn’t making an attempt to reverse position. While Dana White would disagree, it was too difficult from our angle, or really any angle, to see how hurt Slice was. Herb Dean said “Kimbo you have to fight back” and then let 20 seconds go by without any defense from Slice. Like it or not, the fight should have been stopped at the tail end of Round 1.
The fight wasn’t stopped and Kimbo almost mounted a great comeback. In Round 2 Kimbo came out swinging and landed some serious shots right out of the gate. He had Nelson rocked but made a rookie mistake. While his momentum was taking him backward Slice attempted a knee. Unfortunately gravity dictates that type of move will result with you on your back. It reminded me of Mir/Lesnar II when Mir started to land some solid shots standing and then went for a jumping knee. Why are you attempting a jumping knee when you want to stay on your feet?!?
The rest of Round 2 was a carbon copy of Round 1. Nelson move to side-mount, crucifix position and landed 20 unanswered shots (as his teammates counted along) before Herb Dean had seen enough. After the fight, Nelson was incredibly cocky and Dana White was incredibly angry.
This is not what anyone hoped for.
In victory Nelson looked like crap. He needed an impressive win to shed both Whites, and the public’s impression, that he’s more then just a tub of goo. Instead of punishing Kimbo from mount, or submitting him (Kimbo basically gave him his arm and said “arm bar me, please”) he played it safe. Yes, a win is a win but the problem is (outside of the MMA hardcore) no one knows who he is. His physical appearance is going to prevent people from taking him seriously.
When I heard Kimbo was going to be on TUF I thought “Ok, he’ll win one fight…fight a grappler and lose. He’ll get a few UFC fights, and then never be heard from again.” I tuned in for the Kimbo spectacle, while most people tuned in because “dude, that guys a street-fighter…he’s going to beat everyone!” Yet isn’t it bizzare that in defeat I gained more respect for Kimbo the MMA fighter then the public will. While it’s “Kimbo put up a solid fight against a former IFL Champion” to me to most it’s “why did that fat-ass just lay on Kimbo?”
This is not what anyone hoped for.
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