Liddell Sounds Off On Kimbo
Apparently, former UFC light-heavyweight champion Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell doesn’t care much for MMA newcomer Kevin “Kimbo Slice†Ferguson. Here is an excerpt from Liddell’s recent interview with English publication The Sun.
On Kimbo’s last fight:
“When Kimbo fought Cantrell, that was the third time he’s been knocked out in under 30 seconds…the THIRD time! So is that a real fight? I mean come on! The guy tapped before he hit the matt – he was tapping on the way down.â€
On Kimbo’s talent or, lack there of:
“Kimbo’s one of those guys who doesn’t have any ground game. He’s training and he’s learning but he’s been built up as such a big star and that’s the thing that bothers me. People talk about him like he’s the next great thing when he really hasn’t done anything.â€
And to cap things off:
“He’s been built up because of the Internet and him beating a bunch of guys on the street. I could make some impressive knockout videos too if you let me walk outside and just punch people and knock them out – “hey you, come fight! F*** we can make a highlight reel tomorrow and go round beating people up and talk about it – we could just go up to people and start dropping them – wow.â€
Okay, so Chuck Liddell dislikes Kimbo Slice, we get that. My question is why does Chuck so passionately hate a man he has likely never even shared the same room with? Liddell sounds awfully bitter toward Slice despite the fact that the two have never even met and as far as I know, Kimbo has never made any sort of public statement about the Iceman. You have to wonder if maybe the reporter stung Liddell with one too many Kimbo questions after which Chuck just snapped or something. I also find the volume of Liddell’s comments very surprising because, traditionally, Liddell had never struck me as a terribly outspoken guy apart from his little feud with Tito Ortiz.
Any how, even if Kimbo Slice fizzles out and fades like so many are hoping he will, at least the man is making a genuine attempt at professional fighting with a great trainer no less, and is from what I can tell taking his MMA path rather seriously. I’m not a huge Kimbo Slice fan but if I were Bas Rutten, I’d tell Kimbo to tune out whatever negativity fans or fighters are throwing out there, and just concentrate on becoming the best fighter you can be. I understand it’s easy to hate on Kimbo because of his unpolished street-thug reputation, but before we start cutting this guy down a la Chuck Liddell, let’s at least see what he can do once bigger fights start coming his way. I’m not convinced either way on Kimbo just yet but in the game of MMA, you never know who could become the next big thing.
Tags: Chuck Liddell, kimbo slice
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Hey,Eric, you’re not a Kimbo fan?..re-read your article, sure as hell sounds like it. The point is Kimbo hasn’t done anything and he’s all you hear about. That’s the point!
I have to agree with Chuck even though Im not a Liddell fan. When Kimbo fights someone with ground game it will be a quick end!
maybe or maybe not.. we will see.
Kimbo is phoney!
I have nothhing against Kimbo,but Chuck will crush him
I am not a Chuck fan, but I have to agree with him on this one. Besides if these two ever fought Chuck would destroy Kimbo!
Kimbo is a hack. He hasn’t fought anyone worth a s*** and everyone knows that follows mma the best and deepest 205 division is in the UFC. If you want to make a statement at 205 you need to be in the UFC, not some hack-filled league.
Chuck would take kimbo down and knee bar him just like mir did to brock
hey jwilly84us…kimbo is a hw
kimbo thinks hes the ****, but im not impressed at all by him. im glad someone with such a huge fanbase has finally agreed w/ me that kimbo aint worth d***. i like bas and i think he is tarnishing his rep by taking in a thug like kimbo. its Mixed martial Arts, not streetfighting, tell kimbo to go train some muaythai and juijitsu just like everyother god*** fighter and then maybe i’ll give some respect.
im tired of ppl sayin kimbo should fight arlovski or fedor or couture. no, kimbo shouldnt because hes had 2 or 3 pro fights. ridiculous…
way to go chuck… kimbo sucks.
Kimbo is the real thing I don’t care what any one says.This guy has loads of experience fighting on the streets theirs alot of fighters that wouldn’t dare do that.and true he maybe has no ground game but first you have to take the risk of trying to sweep him and getting knocked out on the way in.I truly think that if Chuck ever fought Kimbo he would probably get knocked out too! On the streets or in the octagon.DON’T SLEEP!!!!!!!!KIMBO IS HERE TO STAY!!!!!!!!!!
sgtrocknroll, I’m really not a big fan of Kimbo, but “before we start cutting this guy down….let’s at least see what he can do once bigger fights start coming his way.” That pretty much sums up my argument.
Kimbo fights for Elite XC. I really don’t want to disrepect those fighters but overall the promotion reminds me of a very mediocre, amature, wrong concept of mma and a weak minded promotion. Many of the matches are jokes along with the hype built up around their fighters. Kimbo is a street fighter making an attempt in a mma promotion where he has not fought ONE decent opponent. As far as MMA goes, Kimbo is nothing! This is MMA and Elite XC doesn’t believe in ground games. Elite XC is a joke.
CHUCK WOULD KNOCC KIMBO THE HELL OUT!
haha chuck is a legand he speaks his mind and im not even guna disrespect chuck by puttin that guys name in with my comment,
chuck will be champ again no question!
kimbo has the potential. yes he doesnt have ground game but i dont think ground games are intersting. stand up combat is better to watch and thats what makes liddell interesting. kimbo has that too so why are u guys agrueing ur specialties? =)
I think Dana and Chuck want Kimbo in the UFC. They’ve both bad mouthed him now.
Chuck’s comments dont seem that inflamatory to me. He is just saying that he hasnt fought anyone, has a weak chin, and Chuck doesnt like the media hype. To me, its just Chuck saying its all hype.
As for Elite XC, they have hype fights to try to attract some bigger names. Maybe if they get some talent, they will be able to make better matchups.
Chuck walking around smashing people is a funny thought.
Ill give Kimbo the credit he deserves… He made the You Tubes to make a buck. When he saw he could make a career out of it, he found the best trainer he could. I cant fault the guy for making an effort. By MMA standards, he is garbage at this point but he has to start somewhere.
well said DigYourOwnHole
Why should Kimbo have to train muay thia or jj, wouldn’t it be better to train mma that means everything. duh…
oh my f***ing GAWD…. chucks streetfighting highlight reel hahahhahahaaaa i would pay so much to see this haha
Chuck makes a very good argument about Kimbo’s cred and where it came from. At no point does he say that he hate Kimbo, he simply questions the hype. That’s smart in my book. Kimbo has a lot to prove and a big hill to climb if he plans to not only live up to the hype but also stick around for more than a few crowd-pleasing bouts and then fizzle out after a few good losses.
Eric is also part of that same media pool that is hyping up Kimbo.. Kimbo’s “genuine attempt” is nothing more than promoters smelling easy money from viewers addicted to youtube, poor Kimbo is going to end up getting hurt and not even know why.
Really, why is people hating on Kimbo Slice. Chuck is just upset because is no longer the face of MMA. Chuck even has to audacity to comment on someone’s ground game. When have you seen Chuck’s ground game? Never. When have you seen Chuck submit someone? Never. Not too many fighters coming in MMA a complete, well rounded fighter; but they work on it when they’re in. Anyone who thinks that Chuck could Kimbo is F#CKING smoking something. Let’s be serious. Obviously Kimbo hasn’t fought the best talent out there; he just got introduced to the sport, give him some time to prove himself. It’s like you want a rookie in the sport to go up against the Mike Tyson (when he was in his prime) of MMA. Ask yourself “Do that really make sense?â€
I just have to laugh at how Chuck says he has no ground game. Maybe Chuck does have a ground game, but I’ve never seen it. So is he saying if you stand and fight all the time that isn’t good, because that is what he does?????
I love how people get pissed at Kimbo, like all the media hype is HIS fault. He’s not the one controlling the way the media portrays him, just like any other athlete. He has shown respect to the sport, and he’s working hard with legit trainers…I think if anyone is to blame for “Kimbo Mania” it’s the media and the MMA talking heads, not Kimbo Slice himself.
Kimbo is a bad ass street fighter, just like Charles “Crazy Horse” Barnett. Both are real life street fighters that these mma fighters have a hard time dealing with because its not corriographed set of moves. These guys come straight at you with jaw breaking punches and they don’t stop.If Chuck wants to run his suck about Kimbo, why doesn’t he step up and knock Kimbo out of the spotlight? You wanna know why, because Dana White has ruined UFC. Elite is where its at and you will be seeing alot of fighters going that way. Just give them time to get out of thier UFC contracts.
What the hell!!! Kimbo is a rookie in MMA yes he’s a street fighter and yes the media is hyping him up way too much (that’s what they do). All the stupid critics dislike him because of what??? cause he was on the internet??? The man doesn’t claim to be the best he just getting experience in MMA working his way up. You can’t just put him to fight a top fighter yet, he has to work his way up and gain way more experience.. Chuck shouldn’t let the media get to him cause the media is just trying to stir up drama thats all and chuck and kimbo are in two different weight classes and personally i dont think chuck is strong enough to take down kimbo and kimbo has the power to knock chuck out like rampage did.. If the media should hype a good fight it shouldn’t be kimbo and chuck how bout chuck lose some weight and fight anderson silva what do you think?
Ok did anybody read chuck’s book he had his friends start fights so he could finish them. Chuck is no differnt then kimbo on being a street thug just kimbo was smarter by filming it and putting it on the net. Now don’t get me wrong I’m a liddell fan but come on chuck was a wrestler and kickboxer going out and doing that crap kimbo didn’t have any trainging. Maybe chuck is mad that it took him a long time to get where he was at and kimbo is getting it handed to him like lesner is just my opinion for what its worth