Asked about Kimbo Slice after UFC 90 last night, Dana White said that now that EliteXC is out of business and Kimbo is looking for work, he's welcome to appear on the UFC's reality show The Ultimate Fighter:
Asked about Kimbo, White said, "He can be on The Ultimate Fighter. What's he done other than get 10 million hits on YouTube, what's he done to deserve to be in the UFC? Nothing. I don't consider him a real athlete. He won't win The Ultimate Fighter. The offer's out there if he wants to take it, but he won't win it."
When White was then asked whether he would focus an upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter on heavyweights just for Kimbo, he answered, "We might do that."
Realistically, there's zero chance that Kimbo -- who made $500,000 for his loss to Seth Petruzelli this month -- would agree to appear on a reality show where the grand prize is a UFC contract that pays $100,000 a year. But White says Kimbo is welcome to try it out if he wants.
And, of course, White is correct that Kimbo wouldn't win The Ultimate Fighter. After all, Seth Petruzelli didn't.
















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-26-2008 @ 8:40PM
Orange Chuck said...
Wonder what Dana would do if Kimbo went on there, won it and said, "screw you Dana, just did it to prove you wrong" and signed with another company. Personally, I would put his odds at about 5% to win it but I also have learned never to count someone out. And who knows, if StrikeForce signs with NBC or someone else gets a network deal, knock out by Seth or not, I bet someone looks to sign Kimbo for the name value alone. I think Dana is stupidest though for instantly blowing off a women's division when asked about it when Gina Carano/Cris Cyborg would give him great buys/ratings if promoted by them. I will give him credit for this, like him or not, and I don't, the guy sticks with what he thinks works and is not afraid to speak his mind. I think Kimbo is more likely to do the Fedor reality series though myself as I am sure that would pay more but I would feel so sorry for the guy if he won and had to face Fedor right now.
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10-27-2008 @ 12:01AM
JKDilla said...
Women's MMA? Please, there isn't enough talent out there to legitimately fill the weight divisions. Bad idea. Let the other promos build up women's MMA... then purge their rosters if it takes off. But to field a women's division just becuase you have one potential superfight? Bad idea.
Even worse idea is to create division just because you have a face(Gina Carano). You'll run into the same matchup problems you have when trying make a Kimbo fight.
Gotta avoid putting Gina in there with someone who has legit all around skills? Aside from Gina, public does not like female fighting.
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10-28-2008 @ 11:17AM
Brayan said...
The main face of women's mma should just go into movies n stuff.
I dont see her doing anything in UFC other than maybe commentating which would be pretty ridiculous but not impossible.
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10-27-2008 @ 11:34AM
Brayan said...
After everything Dana said and all the criticisms hes made about EliteXC and their star Kimbo and all the things he said about Kimbo, he comes out and says he would put together a heavyweight division on a reality show which would be centered around him most likely otherwise youd be losing money.
Dana doesnt give a crap about anyone lol.
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10-27-2008 @ 1:09PM
Frederick said...
I am not a kimbo fan and I dont really watch that much of the ultimate fighter but I am sure the ratings would be very high
thats until he gets eliminated which I predict would be show 2 or 3 lol
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10-27-2008 @ 8:06PM
peter p. said...
hey killa!.......you seem to know so much about mma, it's potential market and what the public wants to see. you must be some type of business consultant for some major companies. i'm sure you make tons of dough advising major corporations when and where to invest their money........give me a break. i know people like you, know everything, but have little. womens mma is just getting started and its picking up steam fast. the talent pool will work its self out as soon as women know their is a venue for them. why is it that their is such a tremendous amount of fight fans with all these great ideas on how to build a promotional company, when these guys can barely afford their mortgage????
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