It was never going to be a clash between two state of the art mixed martial artists, but Kevin Ferguson aka Kimbo Slice and Ken Shamrock just about produced a semi-interesting fight in the space of 2 minutes and 22 seconds on June 19.
Thankfully, the worrying clinch period passed in the early moments, and the 51-year-old Shamrock proved that his knees indeed still function with a pair of takedowns that made Kimbo appear slow and ill equipped. Shamrock took the back of his 41-year-old opponent and sunk in what looked to be a perfect belly down rear-naked-choke.
Impressively, Kimbo survived the choke attempt and managed to turn into his opponent and escape Shamrock’s clutches. Both fighters stood up but it was Kimbo who jumped on the opportunity to unload and Shamrock was dropped by a right hand that stopped the contest.
The Marmite match up was slammed by may but embraced by others, particularly the sizable crowd in attendance at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
Purists may have considered the fight to be an irrelevant freak show between Kimbo; an infamous internet celebrity whose 15 minutes of UFC exposure quickly passed, and Shamrock, who despite being an MMA legend, was over the hill a long time ago.
In contrast, many fans are simply intrigued by the concept of two highly recognizable figures throwing down in a grudge match. Rankings, records and relevance are irrelevant, and this bout was a stand alone attraction, maybe even an exhibition, just to see what the outcome would be, like when an aged Rocky ‘Balboa-Saurus’ decided to face Mason Dixon (Antonio Tarver); not quite the same deal, but we liked it.
Both sides are correct in their own way. Throwback fights indeed make it hard for the promotion to be taken seriously by those who want to see the sport maintained at a high level when it comes to a big stage, but nevertheless, we all kept an eye on it, whether it be from the front row or an inconspicuous Google search the following morning.
That being said, there’s no shortage of premier MMA to come from Bellator, and UKMMA fans will be particularly excited with the recent announcement of what looks to be an incredible cross promotion between Bellator and top kickboxing promotion Glory, featuring UK front runners Paul Daley, Linton Vassell and Bellator Light-Heavyweight Champion Liam McGeary.
Bellator 138 results:
Catchweight (232 lbs): Kimbo Slice def. Ken Shamrock TKO (punches) round 1, 2:22
Featherweight Championship: Patrício Freire (c) def. Daniel Weichel KO (punch) round 2, 0:32
Heavyweight: Bobby Lashley def. Dan Charles TKO (punches) round 2, 4:14
Featherweight: Daniel Straus def. Henry Corrales Submission (guillotine choke) round 2, 3:47
Lightweight: Michael Chandler def. Derek Campos Submission (rear-naked choke) round 1, 2:17
Preliminary Card (Spike.com)
Welterweight: Justin Guthrie def. Steven Mann Submission (D’Arce choke) round 2, 1:09
Featherweight: Justin Lawrence def. Sean Wilson TKO (elbows and punches) round 1, 4:56
Catchweight (160 lbs): Chris Heatherly def. Garrett Gross Decision (unanimous) (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Welterweight: Kyle Kurtz def. Adam Cella Submission (armbar) round 2, 4:13
Lightweight: Hugh Pulley def. Eric Irvin Decision (split) (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
Strawweight: Miles McDonald def. Dan O’Connor Submission (rear-naked choke) round 3, 4:30
