Comments on: Kimbo Slice, The Ultimate Fighter, and White America

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 19:53:00 +0000

Fedor could just barge into Zuffa HQ and threaten to break his thumb every time he wants his way.

By: Ultimo Santa

Ultimo Santa — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:00:27 +0000

Fedor knew (knows) that if he signed a UFC contract he’d win the title, and likely not lose it.

Back when they were negotiating with Fedor in 2008, Nogueira was the champion. I think we all know how a fourth Fedor/Nog fight would have gone.

And I have a hard time believing Lesnar, Mir or Couture would present more of a problem to Fedor than Sylvia or Arlovski (and we saw how those fights went).

So I guess he doesn’t want to sign into slavery and not be allowed to leave?

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:50:21 +0000

Ivan, I think the key is “while” you are a UFC champion.

By: Jeremy (not that Jeremy)

Jeremy (not that Jeremy) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:11:39 +0000

Finally, Ivan?

This was one of the things that was bandied about way over a year ago when UFC last failed to sign Fedor.

By: Ivan Trembow

Ivan Trembow — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:08:35 +0000

This statement from Dana White about Junie Browning and Kimbo Slice is hilarious on several different levels:

“”It’s easy to say we sit back and think about the ratings all time. (Sure) I want the ratings to be good, we want to stay on Spike. But I’m not going to do anything that hurts the business or the reputation of the UFC by keeping someone on the show. I’ll never do that.”"

Also, it looks like someone finally figured out that UFC contracts have lifetime no-compete clauses if you’re a UFC champion: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Fedor-says-UFC-contract-terms-stink?urn=mma,167990

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:35:14 +0000

Also, why is it only Rampage ’standing up the for Black man’? Is Rashad playing the Uncle Tom role?

By: Zach Arnold

Zach Arnold — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 04:09:14 +0000

In Dana’s interview with Carmichael Dave, he says that he was negotiating with Kimbo (Dana was in Miami, Kimbo was in California) and Shaw went to the media and said Kimbo was preparing to box all while the TUF negotiations were being finalized.

By: William Holmes

William Holmes — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 04:04:56 +0000

One thing about the second article, despite what the author suggests, I really don’t think Gary Shaw had anything to do with the UFC signing Kimbo, and I have a hard time seeing Dana negotiating with Gary Shaw.

http://mma.fanhouse.com/2009/06/02/gary-shaw-shocked-disappointed-that-kimbo-slice-signs-with-uf/

Maybe I’m wrong, but I think I read somewhere else that Dana said Gary Shaw had nothing to do with this…

If anything, it appears that Kimbo did this without Gary Shaw’s knowledge, since he seemed ready to to promote him in boxing.

Did Zach really write both of these articles?

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:35:22 +0000

Kimbo’s thuggish persona has never been part of his professional MMA career promotion. To paint him as another Krazy Horse is wrong.

I don’t think Dana is going to go out of his way to feud with him. That would involve bashing his abilities and Dana has never done that to someone signed to the UFC. It would be stupid to say on television a guy you hope makes you money sucks. Because even if Kimbo gets eliminated, you know he’s getting some kind of contract. Now granted if Kimbo loses every fight I’m sure Dana will gloat. But until then he’ll treat him with complete respect.

The Tito ordeal was completely different. They had a long history, Tito had been there long enough to get into several contract disputes, and Dana only insulted his intelligence, not his fighting ability. Okay, and his resemblance to a gorilla as well. But if he says that about Kimbo the NAACP would boycott UFC so that won‘t happen.

By: Jeremy (not that Jeremy)

Jeremy (not that Jeremy) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:57:16 +0000

I’m easily confused, btw, is this post tongue in cheek, or does everyone who posts to MMA Memories get credited as Zach Arnold?