Why are my fights exciting? Ask yourself that. It’s because I risk it, man. I want to fight. I want to step in there and go to war. I want to leave it all out there in the cage, instead of giving a boring-ass fight like Houston Alexander running around, trying to do a few leg kicks on this weekend’s Ultimate Fighter finale. That’s not what the fans want. That’s boring. That makes our sport look bad.

In an interview with SLAM! Sports, top 155lb contender disses Houston Alexander for his lack of action during his bout with Kimbo Slice. Despite the circling, the fight peaked out at over 6.1 million viewers, proving once again that Kimbo is a huge draw, even if he’s watching Houston circle, and circle and circle. And circle again.

Sanchez is set to challenge 155lb Champion BJ Penn this Saturday in Memphis Tennessee at UFC 107.

The real life B.A. Baracus

Thus far, I think Kimbo has accomplished his mission, and then some.

First, he showed balls by stepping up and signing on for the Ultimate Fighter. Second, he has come across as an honest and down-to-earth guy. Third, it has become apparent that Kimbo has lost next to no drawing power; his fight on TUF was the highest rated UFC event ever, topping the UFC 75 main event of Rampage Jackson vs Dan Henderson. Some were concerned that once Kimbo lost, and lose he did in embarrassing fashion to Seth Petruzelli, he would lose his drawing power. He hasn’t.

It’s hard to be a guy like Kimbo, who has a monstrous target on his back, but is as green as the grass Nick Diaz smokes when it comes to mixed martial arts. His loss to Roy Nelson does hurt his image as a fighter though, as he looked like a turtle on his back, underneath that “moon” of a belly. Although, sometimes I do start to wonder (just a little bit) what he’s been doing, if he’s such a sponge and training and learning for two years, and he hasn’t shown a lick of improvement on his known weakness, the ground…

Watch for the UFC to keep on milking the Kimbo cow for as long as they possibly can, at least until the finale on December 5, and then some. The UFC is kind of doing the same thing EliteXC was, except the “unreasonable hype” part.

I wonder if Dana White will do what he did with Junie Browning in season 8, and that’s give Kimbo an unbelievably long leash…so long in fact, that the only way Slice is leaving the show is if he’s beaten off. Wait, that didn’t come out right. In a fight that is.

Filming starts shortly, and I’m curious to see what Slice’s deal is, since he was paid $175k and $500k for his last two fights in Elite XC. I really don’t see the man fighting for the standard TUF 10k to show, 10k to win deal.

And lastly, it looks as if Kimbo is in great shape…but what’s with that chest-hair arrow?

The coaches for season 10 are Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans, two Grade A trash talkers. Throw any combo of those two and Kimbo Slice and that equals instant ratings. I’m dying, really dying, to see how a big star (he’s got his own video game, endorsements, commercials, etc.) like Kimbo deals with getting confined for 6 weeks inside a house with 15 meatheads. Despite his looks, Kimbo seems like a genuinely nice guy in interviews and is quite articulate and soft spoken. None of the other 15 guys have been named thus far, but it doesn’t matter. Kimbo is the draw here.

Though White has poked fun at Kimbo in the past, it’s obvious Kimbo is willing to let bygones be bygones for the sake of business. Besides, it wasn’t Kimbo’s fault Elite XC made him the face of their promotion, and made him headliner before he was ready.

We had an option to exercise Kimbo’s contract from Pro Elite. Basically out of all those fighters we took, he was the only one that we didn’t grab — it was an option… With that option, there was an expiration date on it. …we tried to have dialogue with them about trying to make the deal a little more realistic and we just couldn’t work it out.

Since the fall of Elite XC and Strikeforce’s subsequent purchase of the company, Elite XC fighters have started appearing on Strikeforce shows, with two notable exceptions being Gina Carano, and Mr. Kimbo Slice. Their CEO Scott Coker had the option to take on Slice’s bulky contract but declined due to the steep price tag.

At this point, Kimbo is good for the odd “freakshow” fight, but he’s nowhere near a top calibre heavyweight. Plus, I assume he does well for himself with the various sponsors and such, so Slice is in no hurry to take less money to fight in MMA. Slice reportedly got paid $500, 000 for 14 seconds of work in his last fight, a TKO loss to Light Heavyweight, Seth Petruzelli.

Credit: Sherdog.com

Rumor has it Kimbo Slice will face off against Seth Petruzelli again on New Year’s Eve in Japan, under the Dream banner.

The two first met under Elite XC: Heat on October 4th on CBS when Petruzelli was a last minute replacement for Ken Shamrock, who had to drop out due to a laceration above the eye. Petruzelli was agreed upon by the Kimbo camp with literally hours to spare, and Petruzelli knocked Kimbo out in 14 seconds.

After wards, Petruzelli hinted on a radio station that Elite officials “suggested” he remain standing and trade blows with Kimbo, rather than take him down, playing into Kimbo’s strength. Elite was firmly on board the Kimbo-Train as their mealticket and wanted to protect him at all costs. A subsequent investigation cleared Elite XC of any wrong doings, but the company folded soon afterwards.

Also rumored to be on the New Year’s Eve card in Japan, are: Hayato “Mach” Sakurai, Kazushi Sakuraba, Kuniyoshi Hironaka, Caol Uno, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, Gegard Mousasi and the “Techno Goliath” Hong Man Choi.

If this isn’t the quote of the day, I don’t know what is. This is what White said during the UFC 90 Press Conference about Kimbo Slice:

If he really wants to get into the UFC and he wants to fight, he should get on ‘The Ultimate Fighter. What has he done, other than getting ten million hits on YouTube, what’s the guy done to deserve to be in the UFC? Nothing. I don’t consider him a real athlete or anything. He won’t win ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ The offer’s out there if he wants to take it. He won’t win it.

That would be something to see for sure, and send the sagging ratings of the show through the roof. I have a hard time believing Slice will bite though. He’s a huge name as it is, and although this would be great exposure for him, I can’t see him doing it. The UFC would need to change the name of the show to “the Surreal Life” should Slice come on board. Here’s hoping!!

• Kimbo Slice: Suspended for 30 days
• Murilo “Ninja” Rua: Suspended by the FSBC indefinitely or until cleared by a doctor to fight
• Roy “Big Country” Nelson: Suspended for 60 days following his second round TKO loss to Andrei Arlovski
• James Edson Berto: Suspended 30 days after TKO loss to Conor Huen

These numbers are often on the high side, and fighters often return to competition faster as long as a doctor clears them. I wonder how long Ken Shamrock was suspended for the 6-7 stitch gash over his eye?

Side note: Ken Shamrock vs Frank Shamrock: Blood Brothers has been signed, sealed, and delivered according to Frank. It will go down in March/April 2009 and the brothers are looking for an outlet to show the fight. Elite has a deal with CBS, but Frank feels this bout is pay-per-view worthy. We’ll see, Frank.