Kimbo Slice was equal parts Greek mythology, Horatio Alger story, and sheer charisma.
It was also the unexpected end of a life that would have read like fiction if we hadn't watched it with our own eyes: a bald, bearded, skull-capped mesomorph from the wilds of South Florida with bare fists to be feared, whose illicit exploits against opponents on patchy lawns and pavement became staples of the mid-2000s Internet, who leapt from fighting in front of pre-HD video cameras to fighting in front of some of the largest audiences ever to tune into a mixed martial arts fight. They also discussed why Willow Nightingale might be a better pick than Mercedes Mone for this belt.It was news out of nowhere.
#Kimbo slice back yard brawl plus
They also looked ahead to Resurgence, and how Jon Moxley has been added to a show that already had Will Ospreay and Hiroshi Tanahashi on the marquee, plus a tournament to establish yet another title. Will he turn on his partners at Dontaku? Or will one of them walk out on him? The pair looked at those possibilities in their preview of Dontaku, which included the big IWGP title match between SANADA and Hiromu, whether Davied Finlay should win the NEVER Openweight title, Zack Sabre Jr. Jeremy and Steven also talked Kazuchika Okada, and the rough waters ahead for the former champion. Steven and Jeremy talked about the recent title matches in NJPW, how Kevin Knight was launched with KUSHIDA to junior heavyweight tag team gold, how Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls passed the torch to Aussie Open, how Hiromu Takahashi sold like a champ for a dramatic match against Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and how Taichi and Shingo Takagi put on a clinic in building drama in their KOPW match. Jeremy Finestone and Steven Conway are back with another episide of Speaking of Strong Style. The two women put on a fight for the ages and made me a fan, but if it wasn’t for Kimbo Slice over a decade ago, I don’t know that I’d have bothered. Zhang Weili vs Joanna Jędrzejczyk is the best MMA match I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t until UFC 249 happened that I came around to MMA again. What the hell just happened? My mentality for the next decade was that MMA was a bunch of BS.
I remember getting to the bar and instead of Shamrock, some dude with a mohawk kicked his ass in something like 14 seconds. Kimbo was supposed to fight Ken Shamrock and it was definitely a match to see. I don’t remember much about that match except for this Tank dude looking legit scared as hell before the bell rang. The first MMA bout I ever watched was with a 12-15 friends and we watched our boy Kimbo beat the hell out of some Tank Abbot dude. I thought, “If he turned pro, he could kick everyone’s ass.” Living in South Florida, Kimbo had become something of a local legend. His YouTube matches made me think that this is what Clubber Lang would look like if he were real. This dude looked like someone you would not want to fuck with. Being new to Florida as a New England transplant, there wasn’t much to do except fart around on the Internet and what kept popping up on my suggested videos was this big dude from Miami who was laying people out in backyard brawls. Internet video sites (not porn…ok some porn sites) came along in the early aughts, and I was hooked (on fighting, not porn). Ok, look, did I break down and watch UFC 100 for Brock Lesnar and howl at the “I might get on top of my wife tonight” speech? Of course I did. I was far too white collar for this blue collar nonsense. In turn, MMA was a bunch of dummies in Affliction shirts with even worse tattoos.
I’ve always been a wrestling fan and looked at wrestling as an art form. My first favorite fighter was, you guessed it…South Florida’s own, Kimbo Slice. The fourth crap actually gave me some perspective into the sport that I have come to really appreciate and love albeit it was a long rocky road to get there. Before COVID-19, I couldn’t have have cared three craps about MMA. I’ve been into UFC since the pandemic started this year.
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