In an interview with The Monsters in Orlando radio show on Monday, October 6th, Seth Petruzelli hinted that EliteXC promoters may have tried to rig the fight between him and Kimbo Slice.  Petruzelli said,

Ther promoter kind of hinted to me, and they gave me the money to stand and trade with him.  They didn’t want me to take him down, let’s just put it that way.  It was worth my while to try to stand up and punch with him.

The decision to stand up and punch it out with Kimbo definitely made the fight favorable for Kimbo, who is famous for his backyard street brawls.  A factor that Petruzelli took into consideration himself before the fight saying that his original plan was to get Kimbo to the ground and exploit his weak wrestling skills and submission defense, since Kimbo out weighed him by 30 pounds and it didn’t make sense to try and punch it out.  However, in the end Petruzelli decided to punch it out and it only took 12 punches and 14 seconds to TKO Kimbo.

If these allegations are true and EliteXC did give Petruzelli money to fight in a way making the fight favorable for Kimbo it can be a devastating blow to the MMA world.  They are already trying to prove that they are not scripted or fake like professional wrestling.

EliteXC has denied these accusations and Seth Petruzelli claims that he got the story confused.  Seth said,

What that meant was they offer a knockout bonus, submission bonuses, fight of the night bonuses.  I think it just got misconstrued.  I wanted to have an exciting fight and I wanted the knock out bonus so I wanted to keep it standing.

As a MMA fan myself, I prefer to see the ground fighting and submissions more than the standing exchange of punches.  It show their knowledge of mixed martial arts.  If I wanted to watch two guys exchange punches, I would watch boxing.  What do you think?  Did they try to rig this fight?  Have all of Kimbo’s fights been rigged?

In what was suppose to be Kimbo Slice’s defining moment ended up being a disaster for EliteXC and Kimbo himself.  A loss to a relatively unknown MMA fighter, Seth Petruzelli, in just 14 seconds by TKO.

Kimbo Slice, AKA ‘The toughest man in America,’ was scheduled to fight MMA legend Ken Shamrock on Saturday night, but Shamrock was replaced by Seth Petruzelli due to a cut above his eye.  The last minute change in fighters turned out to be EliteXC’s worst nightmare.  EliteXC was already near bankruptcy when they obtained youtube sensation Kimbo Slice and turned him into a MMA fighter in hopes of cashing in on his huge fan base.  However, until Saturday EliteXC had reportedly only chosen fighters that they knew Kimbo could beat.  The fight against Shamrock was suppose to validate Kimbo’s career as a fighter even though Shamrock had lost his last 5 fights and is well past his prime.

Kimbo Slice was brought down in just 12 punches by an unknown opponent that gave up 2 inches in height, 4 inches in reach and 30 pounds in muscle proving what true MMA and UFC fans have known all along…. That Slice was all hype and not worthy of being known as a true MMA fighter.  Petruzelli said, “It didn’t even feel too flush,” in regards to the punch that didn’t even need to land squarely to TKO Kimbo.

“I got my first black eye,” Kimbo stated after the fight, but it is much more than that and you could see it in his face and the faces of EliteXC’s executives, who tried to act as though the loss wont affect Kimbo’s MMA career.  Lower-level employees even joked about finding new jobs.

It took years to build a name for Slice, but only 14 seconds flat to bring it crashing down.

Kimbo Slice will be beating taking on 44 year old Ken Shamrock at EliteXC’s October 4th ‘Friday Night Fights’ in Florida.

The fight that is scheduled to air on CBS is reportedly mismatched.  Shamrock is no doubt a MMA legend, but he has not won a match in the last four years and may be endangering his health by taking this fight.  Allegedly, Shamrock’s only purpose in this fight is to give Kimbo Slice more exposure and to buy some time for EliteXC to find him a more suitable opponent.

Kimbo first rose to fame as a street fighter on YouTube and has been trying to gain some respect in the MMA world.  However, he has only been giving beatable opponents to fight so far.  MMA fighter Brett Rogers, a more suitable opponent, wanted Shamrock’s spot for the October 4th fight and even challenged Slice to fight back in May.

It is now rumored that Rogers will be fighting the winner of the Slice vs. Shamrock fight sometime in the future.  If Slice can pull off a win against Rogers he may end the battle of proving his legitimacy as a fighter.  However, a loss against Shamrock or Rogers may cut his MMA career short.

I think people are underestimating Shamrock.  He has a lot more experience in the ring than Slice.  Plus Kimbo wasn’t even able to knock David Blaine down in one punch, do you really think he will be able to take down an experienced MMA heavyweight legend?

Rumors of a Tyson vs. Slice fight have been all over the internet, and since we all know who Mike Tyson is, I thought I’d give you some information about Kimbo Slice. Kimbo Slice is probably the most infamous youtube street-fighter there is.

Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson began his career as a street-fighter in Miami, Florida. He became famous after airing his street fights on youtube, some of which received over 3 million views. One of his most famous fights “Kimbo vs. Adryan” has been viewed 2,197,142 times.

Kimbo has now left street-fighting behind him and is working on a career as a professional MMA fighter. He has been training with retired MMA fighter Bas Rutt and made his MMA debut on June 23, 2007 at the Cage Fury Fighting Championships 5 in Atlantic City. Kimbo fought WBO heavyweight Champion Ray Mercer and won the fight in 1 minute 12 seconds by submission.

In October 2007 Kimbo signed a deal with Proelite. His debut fight with Proelite was on November 10, 2007 on EliteXc. Kimbo fought Bo Cantrell and won by submission, 19 seconds into the first round. His next match, “Kimbo vs. Tank Abbott,” was the main event at Proelite’s Feburary 16, 2008 EliteXC: Street Certified. Kimbo beat Abbott in 43 seconds by KO.

Kimbo Slice will enter the ring again on May 31, 2008 to fight James ‘Colossus’ Thompson. The fight will air on CBS’s Saturday Night Fights.

MediaTakeOut.com is reporting that Mike Tyson has tentatively agreed to fight, streetfighter, Kimbo Slice.

A ProElite insider claims that the two are scheduled to fight, “late this year or early next.” However, Kimbo must first win next Saturday’s match against James ” Colossus” Thompson.

If these rumors are true Tyson has a lot of training to do. He is not exactly in fighting shape anymore, see Mike Tyson, from fit to flab.

Kimbo on the other hand is at the top of his game. He has had three sanctioned MMA fights all of which he has won in the first round. He beat MMA fighters Rob Mercer by submission (Guillotine Choke) in 1 minute and 12 seconds, Bo Cantrell in 19 seconds by TKO, and Tank Abbott in 43 seconds by KO. Kimbo is definitely a fierce competitor and as Maxim magazine put it, “Kimbo Slice is simply the toughest man in America.”

Check out this video of one of Kimbo’s fights.

So what do you think? Does “Iron Man” Mike Tyson even stand a chance? I think not!

UPDATE: EliteXC Live Events President Gary Shaw has issued a statement, denying rumors of a scheduled fight, saying, “I’ve had no discussions with Mike or anyone around Mike.” However, he did go on to say that if Mike Tyson was willing he’d, “make that fight in a heartbeat. Call it a freak show or a circus or whatever you want, but it would be the most watched pay-per-view event ever.”

Kimbo’s trainer and former UFC Champion Bas Rutten said, “We don’t want him to be treated like a circus act, because he he’s not.”