Chuck Liddell Comments on Kimbo Slice

Recreation Sports
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sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=m … &type=lgns

Chuck Liddell irked by Kimbo’s popularity

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell (21-5), arguably MMA’s biggest star just as the sport began its march toward the mainstream, is appalled by Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson (2-0) and says a checkered past of beating up a “bunch of guys on the street” is the only reason for his popularity.

Liddell talked about EliteXC’s prized heavyweight in a recent interview with our friend Mark Gilbert of The Sun.

According to Liddell, Ferguson is training and learning MMA, but he “hasn’t done anything” to earn the praise he receives.

“Kimbo’s one of those guys who doesn’t have any ground game,” Liddell told The Sun. “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. He’s been built up because of the Internet and him beating a bunch of guys on the street.”

Ferguson’s initial fame came from underground fight videos posted on YouTube and other video-sharing websites. Based in Miami, the 34-year-old almost always dominated his opponents in the bare-knuckle fights. (Ferguson, though, was eventually stopped by Boston police officer Sean Gannon, who was later signed by the UFC with a mere 1-0 professional record.)

“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!” Liddell told The Sun. “F*** we can make a highlight reel tomorrow and go round beating people up and talking about it. We could just go up to people and start dropping them. Wow!”

Liddell is currently slated to face Rashad Evans in the main event of UFC 85, an event that takes place June 7 in London. After winning seven consecutive fights, Liddell suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time in his career, losing his belt to Quinton Jackson in the process. He rebounded for a victory over Wanderlei Silva in December.

Ferguson, meanwhile, is slated to headline the first EliteXC-CBS event on May 31. The organization hasn’t announced an opponent, but James Thompson appears to be the leading candidate.

Check out more UFC News at MMAjunkie.com. This story originally appeared on MMAjunkie.com and is syndicated on Yahoo! Sports as part of a content-partnership deal between the two sites.
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To KO Tank Abbott entitles the guy to a little respect. I remember watching his backyard fights on Youtube a while back- glad to see he’s trying his hand at MMA. Abbott down in 3 minutes or so- NICE!! Tank’s an asshole.

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I’d like to agree with you except that fight was a joke. Even MONSTER agreed that Tank looked pathetic. To me he looked drunk. It appeared that Tank could barely stand up. Honestly, have a look at the video mmatko.com/kimbo-slice-vs-ta … certified/

If he does fight James Thompson, that should be a real fight, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Thompson_(fighter

although some think that Kimbo is being matched with him because Thompson’s a bum and EliteXC needs Kimbo to win to make money from him
youtube.com/watch?v=2Zq2c3K5HcY

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Agreed. Tank looked outclassed and quite frankly, he looked disgusting.

James Thompson doesn’t look like much of a fight either. Watch him go on youtube and see for yourself. He looks like he’s all show and no go. Seems like he’s always getting KOd.

BTW Mr. Sommers, thanks for the luck. I’ll need it. Tough going so far.

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I agree with you about Thompson, but we’ll see.

In all honesty, I’m impressed that you’d take up BJJ. I’d like to hear more about your experience. I’m doing judo these days because I like the stand up element. Keep me posted on how things are going.

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Judo is a good core discipline.

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[quote=“ScottSommers”]I agree with you about Thompson, but we’ll see.

In all honesty, I’m impressed that you’d take up BJJ. I’d like to hear more about your experience. I’m doing judo these days because I like the stand up element. Keep me posted on how things are going.[/quote]

I have to tell you this: I was under the impression and still am that street fighting can dominate when put into real time situations. On the other hand, if you have no talent whatsoever then even the hand of God doesn’t give you much of an advantage. I’ve also found a humbling point with myself as M0NSTER; I cannot move myself around the mat for long and not like I would want. I gas out and find myself in situations that make me say to myself “Christ, I’m fucked”. And to me - that’s a scary thing.

I’m trying and have learned some good exercises that I can do during practice and have the ability to roll around and sharpen my known skills unlike other, more ‘proper’ gyms where I’d have to go through the motions and suffer through the monotony. At least I’m rolling around and wrestling with more experienced (and lighter) opponents while trying to gather my wits together. I thank these guys for taking me on and I hope to be somewhat of a force in Taiwan. We’ll see because it’s too early on and I can’t make any promises but boy oh boy would it be nice. A man/boy can dream, eh?

300lbs. 60lbs to lose. 240lbs and able to move. Power lifting background with a ton of street fights won and lost. I hope I don’t let anyone down. Especially myself. I want an MMA fight in Taiwan within the next year.

edit Kane and Mike are super supportive and I’m more than happy to have them teaching me. I’m so bloody impatient with myself and they make me feel welcome. If you’re reading this guys - Thanks.

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TNC, judo is great. Judo is so much fun. My balance is 1000 times better than before and I can say that even in BJJ, it’s become very difficult to take me down into an inferior position. I highly recommend it as self-defense and as general athletic training.

MONSTER, I’m glad to hear that you’re enjoying the training. Yes, Kane and Mike are really good guys. I may actually get a chance to train with you when I get down there for some business that’s coming up.

I’m just not sure what you mean by ‘street fighting’. If you mean fight skills learned through having fought people, I’m not sure how different that is from what I mean by MMA. Keep in mind that what you’re doing now is a sport version of jiu-jitsu. Just because something isn’t allowed in tournaments and isn’t taught in sporting clubs doesn’t mean it’s not widely known and practiced by fighters who compete in MMA, etc. Sport fighting may be limited by the rules of the event, but the techniques all came from the same place and are supposed to have be refined by scientific analysis to make them consistent with the principles of physics and biology. The same should also be true for training. This is why there are no ‘natural’ Michael Jordans or Kris Dielmanes. All pro athletes have received huge amounts of training and preparation and are always better than unprepared athletes.

I can believe there is some quality to a ‘real fight’ that is somehow different from even the wildest cage match - although I’m not sure what it is. But even admitting this, it’s hard for me to see why systematic analysis and training wouldn’t make even the naturally most gifted fighter in to a better one.

Anyway, good luck and I’ll probably be down there in the next couple of months. I look forward to your debut.