If you follow mixed martial arts, you are probably looking forward to this bout.
On one end it will be Kevin Ferguson, a.k.a Kimbo Slice, a backyard street fighter notorious for bringing down people with his bare fist and a beast who spawned enough views on YouTube to get himself a specialized career in MMA.
He will be facing legendary Ken Shamrock a.k.a the World’s Most Dangerous Man, the 51-year-old UFC Hall of Famer who has locked twenty-two opponents to submission in the octagon.
The bout – part of the Bellator 138 under Bellator MMA, a mixed martial arts promotion based in the U.S., has already drawn quite a few headlines with distasteful statements recorded by both fighters against each other.
After persistent attempts by Kimbo to bring on the fight, the two had originally expected to fight in 2008. The event would draw in many passionate about the sport and those who were just romanticized what would it be if both of them were thrown into the ring. However, the fight had to be cancelled hours before it was scheduled after Shamrock received a cut to the left eye during a warm-up. There was more to it back then.
“Yeah, there’s a lot to it. My father had gone into a coma and I spent about three weeks at the hospital with him while I was training for this fight. I got on a plane because he told me I needed to go take care of business. So I get on a plane and I fly down to do the fight. The night before the fight they called and told me he went into a coma or they put him on a machine or whatever…they had to keep him on life support. They asked what I wanted to do. So I said don’t do anything until I get back. So there was a lot of stuff going on, along with some different business stuff that was happening,” said Shamrock in an interview with Cage Potato.
When Shamrock pulled out, an unknown fighter was called into replace Shamrock with the name of Seth Petruzelli. Kimbo was knocked out in 15 seconds. That was 2008.
Both fighters have been away from the ring for quite some time, with Shamrock coming back into this after nearly five years. Nonetheless, the war of words and mental games between the two continues to draw in people in numbers to tune in to watch the fight. Kimbo aims to perpetrate as much damage based on his statement to a TMZ reported “I’m gonna break his ribs and break his jaw.”
Obviously Shamrock didn’t enjoy the statement from Kimbo and had words of his own during a press conference held by Bellator for the event.
“All the things that were said that just disrespected me. The guy’s not even in a league with me. I mean, I started from the beginning with bareknuckle. I fought four times in one night. I won Japan. I won The States. I’ve got some friggin’ poser up here standing and trying to be a tough guy, showing no respect whatsoever. He’s a punk. If I don’t finish him in the first round I’ll be disappointed with myself.”
To many the announcement of this fight could not have come at a perfect timing. After the recent fervor over the Mayweather – Pacquiao matchup, both fighters along with the promoter are working towards promoting the fight. Many of the MMA enthusiasts will be hoping for a Shamrock knocking off Kimbo down in less than 10 seconds, as they believe the presence of a street fighter in an organized sport like the MMA, will only harm the sport and keep others away from the ring. On the flip side, many are also curious how a brawler could compete against a top performer in the form of Shamrock.
In terms of broadcast rights, though this fight will not be able to generate anywhere close to what we saw in terms of the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight, it will raise particular interest for the sport and aims to take away fans from UFC.
For those in the region, you can catch the fight live on June 19th from Missouri, U.S.A, via OSN (the leading pay-TV network in the Middle East and North Africa region) reflecting on Bellator’s continuing global expansion through a multi-year broadcast agreement announced in 2014. Since then the network has solely transmitted live events along with exclusive content such as fighter features, highlight shows and reality-based programming through HD which you can subscribe to here.