kswizzy99
12-19-2009, 06:46 PM
Here are some interesting theories on Kimbo vs Houston possibly being a fixed match.
Was Kimbo vs. Alexander a ‘work’?
By Jim Murphy December 6th, 2009
At the time I was watching, it looked like two horrible ground fighters with bad cardio, but there’s a lot of people out there on the Intertubes that think something was fishy in the Kimbo v. Houston fight. First, the Underground Forum suggests that the two guys were actually ‘working’ the fight:
That was either a work or Houston was on Vicodin.
Houston threw weak kicks the whole fight except the one that took Kimbo down. It looked like he was taking a lot off of them and then he “slipped” a few times and Kimbo should have jumped on him but didn’t seem to know what to do.
Houston failed to attack when Kimbo went down from the kick, clearly because he kicked him too hard by accident, and then when he did finally jump in, he didn’t start with strikes but actually GAVE KIMBO HIS LEG!!!
Houston TRIED to give Kimbo the rear naked choke and Kimbo didn’t even know how to get it and then Kimbo moved to the side. And THEN Houston could have rolled up into guard but waited and waited on Kimbo to try and get on top (which he eventually did).
Even with all that Houston almost accidentally won the fight.
There’s a lengthy discussion of the fight here with several ‘work’ scenarios. The one I don’t really buy is that the judges were ‘bought off’. Much of the displeasure with the decision is based on the 30-27 scorecard but–while I don’t agree with it–I can understand the guy’s thinking. Neither guy did anything in the first round but I gave it to Alexander based on his weak leg kicks. If someone gave it to Kimbo since he *wasn’t* the one avoiding an exchange I can see that as well. Second round was clearly Kimbo and the third round was more inactivity. Alexander did get something of a ‘knockdown’ with one of his leg kicks but aside from that it was pretty even. Again, I had the fight scored 29-28 for Alexander, but nothing in the judging really outraged me. It’s gotten to the point when anyone disagrees with or doesn’t like a decision in MMA they scream about the judging–it’s become something of a ’straw man’ for fight fans.
Slice v. Alexander @ The UG Forums
A more interesting scenario is suggested by Dave Meltzer at The Wrestling Observer–he doesn’t ‘connect the dots’ but he strongly suggests that the fight was ‘booked’ to go the distance for the benefit of ****e TV’s ratings. That was my thinking of why they announced the Kimbo fight was “coming up next” and then put on the undercard fight with Mark Bocek and Joe Brammer (who was sponsored by a neo-Nazi clothing company, another issue we’ll get in to later). Here’s Meltzer’s call of the fight with my emphasis added:
Kimbo Slice vs. Houston Alexander.
Kimbo decidedly bigger. Fans booing as Houston is staying clear of Kimbo. More booing. No action. Well, it’s already gone longer than I figured. Great strategy to build ratings and make it go a few minutes. Not that I think Houston is doing that for that reason. 2:30 in and no action. Kimbo swinging wildly. Alexnader with a knee. Kimbo chant. Alexander hit him a few times and connected with a knee. Low kick by Alexander. What a terrible round. Alexander at least threw low kicks but also was the one avoiding contact, but it’s a 10-10 Severn/Shamrock round.
More of the same. Alexander with more low kicks. Kimbo swung wildly and missed. A few more low kicks. Slice finally connected with a punch. Slice took him down and got mount. Alexander up. More low kicks by Alexander. Alexander slipped and Kimbo got a few punches in. Body punch by Slice against the cage. Slice with a Saito suplex. I can’t believe it. Alexander tried a takedown and Slice on top again. He’s throwing a few punches, Alexander turned and Slice has his back. Slice with punches and going for a choke. He doesn’t have him though. Slice back to full mount. Slice throwing elbows. Alexander gave up his back. Alexander up. Slcie with another suplex at the bell. 10-9 Slice. Kimbo could barely get up after the round he’s so tired.
Trading paunches. Good exchange. Slice is exhausted at this point. Alexander not far behind. Low kick by Alexander. Low kick by Alexander. Alexander with several shots and Kimbo stayed up. Good left by Alexander. Kimbo swung and missed. Low kick and Slice went down. Slice up and grabbed a single leg and took Alexander down with 2:18 left. Longest 2:18 of Slice’s life coming. Kimbo chant. Body punches by Kimbo. Why was there a stand up called with Slice on top and at least throwing punches? Alexander trying to take out Slice’s left knee. Fans booing with 20 seconds left. Trading punches. Alexander hurt Slice and sent him flying backwards. More low kicks. Alexander’s round 10-9. Fans booing the fight. So I’ve got it 29-29 draw. Will be interesting.
29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 for Slice. Fans mostly cheered, some boos. So Kimbo has a UFC win. Some fans cheering and some booing.
****e absolutely thrilled they got three rounds of Kimbo plus a close decision.
Dana just said he thinks Kalib Starnes was working Houston’s corner. I sense Alexander is on the endangered species list.
This is a more plausible ‘work’ scenario IMO–Meltzer likes his gig working for Yahoo Sports so he won’t come out and say it, but there did seem to be a decided effort to stretch out the Kimbo portion of the card.
Ultimately, Kimbo demonstrated nothing to suggest that he belongs in a high level MMA promotion. A half decent amateur boxer would knock him out and despite Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg crowing about his ground game like he was the second coming of Roger Gracie he looked pretty bad there as well.
Was Kimbo vs. Alexander a ‘work’?
By Jim Murphy December 6th, 2009
At the time I was watching, it looked like two horrible ground fighters with bad cardio, but there’s a lot of people out there on the Intertubes that think something was fishy in the Kimbo v. Houston fight. First, the Underground Forum suggests that the two guys were actually ‘working’ the fight:
That was either a work or Houston was on Vicodin.
Houston threw weak kicks the whole fight except the one that took Kimbo down. It looked like he was taking a lot off of them and then he “slipped” a few times and Kimbo should have jumped on him but didn’t seem to know what to do.
Houston failed to attack when Kimbo went down from the kick, clearly because he kicked him too hard by accident, and then when he did finally jump in, he didn’t start with strikes but actually GAVE KIMBO HIS LEG!!!
Houston TRIED to give Kimbo the rear naked choke and Kimbo didn’t even know how to get it and then Kimbo moved to the side. And THEN Houston could have rolled up into guard but waited and waited on Kimbo to try and get on top (which he eventually did).
Even with all that Houston almost accidentally won the fight.
There’s a lengthy discussion of the fight here with several ‘work’ scenarios. The one I don’t really buy is that the judges were ‘bought off’. Much of the displeasure with the decision is based on the 30-27 scorecard but–while I don’t agree with it–I can understand the guy’s thinking. Neither guy did anything in the first round but I gave it to Alexander based on his weak leg kicks. If someone gave it to Kimbo since he *wasn’t* the one avoiding an exchange I can see that as well. Second round was clearly Kimbo and the third round was more inactivity. Alexander did get something of a ‘knockdown’ with one of his leg kicks but aside from that it was pretty even. Again, I had the fight scored 29-28 for Alexander, but nothing in the judging really outraged me. It’s gotten to the point when anyone disagrees with or doesn’t like a decision in MMA they scream about the judging–it’s become something of a ’straw man’ for fight fans.
Slice v. Alexander @ The UG Forums
A more interesting scenario is suggested by Dave Meltzer at The Wrestling Observer–he doesn’t ‘connect the dots’ but he strongly suggests that the fight was ‘booked’ to go the distance for the benefit of ****e TV’s ratings. That was my thinking of why they announced the Kimbo fight was “coming up next” and then put on the undercard fight with Mark Bocek and Joe Brammer (who was sponsored by a neo-Nazi clothing company, another issue we’ll get in to later). Here’s Meltzer’s call of the fight with my emphasis added:
Kimbo Slice vs. Houston Alexander.
Kimbo decidedly bigger. Fans booing as Houston is staying clear of Kimbo. More booing. No action. Well, it’s already gone longer than I figured. Great strategy to build ratings and make it go a few minutes. Not that I think Houston is doing that for that reason. 2:30 in and no action. Kimbo swinging wildly. Alexnader with a knee. Kimbo chant. Alexander hit him a few times and connected with a knee. Low kick by Alexander. What a terrible round. Alexander at least threw low kicks but also was the one avoiding contact, but it’s a 10-10 Severn/Shamrock round.
More of the same. Alexander with more low kicks. Kimbo swung wildly and missed. A few more low kicks. Slice finally connected with a punch. Slice took him down and got mount. Alexander up. More low kicks by Alexander. Alexander slipped and Kimbo got a few punches in. Body punch by Slice against the cage. Slice with a Saito suplex. I can’t believe it. Alexander tried a takedown and Slice on top again. He’s throwing a few punches, Alexander turned and Slice has his back. Slice with punches and going for a choke. He doesn’t have him though. Slice back to full mount. Slice throwing elbows. Alexander gave up his back. Alexander up. Slcie with another suplex at the bell. 10-9 Slice. Kimbo could barely get up after the round he’s so tired.
Trading paunches. Good exchange. Slice is exhausted at this point. Alexander not far behind. Low kick by Alexander. Low kick by Alexander. Alexander with several shots and Kimbo stayed up. Good left by Alexander. Kimbo swung and missed. Low kick and Slice went down. Slice up and grabbed a single leg and took Alexander down with 2:18 left. Longest 2:18 of Slice’s life coming. Kimbo chant. Body punches by Kimbo. Why was there a stand up called with Slice on top and at least throwing punches? Alexander trying to take out Slice’s left knee. Fans booing with 20 seconds left. Trading punches. Alexander hurt Slice and sent him flying backwards. More low kicks. Alexander’s round 10-9. Fans booing the fight. So I’ve got it 29-29 draw. Will be interesting.
29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 for Slice. Fans mostly cheered, some boos. So Kimbo has a UFC win. Some fans cheering and some booing.
****e absolutely thrilled they got three rounds of Kimbo plus a close decision.
Dana just said he thinks Kalib Starnes was working Houston’s corner. I sense Alexander is on the endangered species list.
This is a more plausible ‘work’ scenario IMO–Meltzer likes his gig working for Yahoo Sports so he won’t come out and say it, but there did seem to be a decided effort to stretch out the Kimbo portion of the card.
Ultimately, Kimbo demonstrated nothing to suggest that he belongs in a high level MMA promotion. A half decent amateur boxer would knock him out and despite Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg crowing about his ground game like he was the second coming of Roger Gracie he looked pretty bad there as well.