Kimbo Slice took out MMA pioneer Ken Shamrock via first round knockout at the main event in Bellator 138’s “Unfinished Business”.
The match went off without problems, though when Shamrock weighed 204 lbs. and Kimbo came in at more than 230 lbs., and you consider the age difference as well (Kimbo is 41, Shamrock 51), the match should probably not have been approved by the athletic commission.
Shamrock got an early takedown and was trying to work a rear naked choke, but as Kimbo predicted, Shamrock faded fast and Kimbo powered out. Once they got back on their feet, Kimbo was swinging and Shamrock went down from a punch, causing referee Jon McCarthy to step in.
Shamrock said before the fight that anyone who knows him “should bet the house on him”. Let’s hope not many of Ken’s friends are now homeless.
Bellator did ratchet up the live show for this fight, and the had a lot of hype around it that will likely mean they will have a lot of viewers. But what did Bellator present? A spectacle that was far from sport, and it got a three-munute main event that under no circumstances can be called a “great fight”. Like Bellator President Scott Coker’s last great offering – the Stephan Bonnar vs Tito Ortiz main event back in November – this fight featured two washed up fighters still clinging to the past, and the in-ring action was extremely average. People may have watched, but in the case of both of those gimmick main events that Coker has offered, why would they watch again?
For Shamrock, this has to be the end. To his credit, coming in at light heavyweight, he likely came in clean, and honestly Slice did not look as yoked as he has in the past either, so the two may actually pass a steroid test. But Shamrock literally has nothing left. He had Kimbo in a rear naked choke, arm under the chin and both hooks in, and he could not close the deal. To be that tired that you cannot finish from a kill position less than two minutes into the fight is a good indicator that you should no longer be doing this for a living.
Unfortunately for the viewing public, Kimbo’s win likely means we will have to see him fight again.
