The circus is back in town. This Friday, Bellator MMA continues its pursuit for ratings as we see the return of Kimbo Slice, Ken Shamrock, and the ghost of Royce Gracie. Despite being ridiculed as a freak show, the men involved need a look at (in more ways than one) and today we’ll do that in our Bellator 149 preview.
In the main event, Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie meet in the culmination of a feud that we didn’t know needed culminating. Stemming from a rivalry that was born in the earliest days of the sports, the fight will be the third between the pair, with their last fight taking place in 1995.
The two men are, to put it kindly, past their best.
Shamrock, aged 52, enters the fight having lost eight out of his last 10 fights. His last appearance was a loss to co-main event star Kimbo Slice, being knocked out in the first round after seemingly having Slice in serious trouble via rear naked choke.
Gracie, a name that is virtually responsible for MMA let alone synonymous with it, hasn’t fought in nine years. Despite others in the sport pushing forward with new techniques and different training techniques, Royce also takes the unique approach of claiming jiu-jitsu is enough to succeed in the sport.
The fight is listed as a catchweight affair, meaning the two will likely be divisions apart. Shamrock is estimated to enter the cage at 205lbs, while Gracie is likely to be around the 170lbs mark. Just another strange asterisks to an already strange occasion.
Let’s be clear. The fight isn’t going to be pretty, nor is it going to be a brilliant technical display. It will be the representation of two warriors who don’t want to stop, and will likely look very much what it is; a 52-year-old fighting a 49-year-old.
In the co-main event, brings us a fight no less bizarre. As in, one of the men involved is brandishing a sledgehammer on the poster bizarre.
Dada 5000 (real name: Dhafir Harris) faces off against YouTube street fighting sensation Kimbo Slice (real name: Kevin Ferguson).
Another grudge match, the two made their name by fighting on the underground scene in Florida, before Slice graduated to the world stage in the UFC. The talk between the two has been particularly aggressive in the lead up to this bout, with Slice accusing Dada of stealing his image, and disrespect.
The talk has resulted in Bellator President Scott Coker bringing in extra security and booking separate hotels to ensure no pre-fight fights take place.
Again, preview wise, it’s a tough one to analyze. Slice, despite only have seven fights in MMA is still the more experienced man. Dada 5000 has only appeared in two sanctioned bouts. Realistically, Slice has trained longer and with more talented partners. Slice appears to value his career in the sport, whereas Dada 5000 spoke earlier this week about how this will likely be his last appearance in gloves.
Assume this one will be as ugly as the main event, although perhaps in a different fashion, with Slice likely the only winner, with the rest of us having all lost something.
It should also be mentioned, as of yet, no word on how the sledgehammer fits into all this,
Elsewhere on the card, in an actual fairly relevant bout, we see Light Heavyweight Emanuel Newton face off with Linton Vassell.
Newton comes in on a loss, being submitted by Phil Davis last September. Seemingly not wanting to be too separate from the odd nature of the rest of the card, Newton blamed that loss on being too eagre. Be it eagerness of an unobvious form.
“I had sex like three or four hours before the fight, which was stupid,” Newton told MMAjunkie. “[Sex] definitely took away my hips. My trainer Antonio, even the day before when we were doing the open workouts I was kicking him off his feet with spinning back kicks. But right when we were warming up my trainer looked at me and said, ‘What happened to that power?’ Lesson learned. It happened for a bigger reason and I did learn a lesson and get a deeper understanding of myself.”
Sigh.
The event takes place this Friday, February 19th, with the main card starting at 9:00 pm.
