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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
A report yesterday from MMAFighting.com cited Moosin USA executive Corey Fischer as saying the organization was targeting a bout between Kimbo Slice and Mariusz Pudzianowski for an October 9 event in Chicago. Well, that bout will not be happening, and if one of Fischer's fellow execs has a say, Pudzianowski may not appear on the card at all.
According to two Tweets from Sherdog.com's Loretta Hunt, Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson's manager shot down talk of any bout with Pudzianowski this fall, saying there were other things in the works for Slice.
In addition, Moosin executive Eric "Butterbean" Esch disagrees with his fellow Moosin officials and doesn't believe Pudzianowski deserves a featured spot on their October 9 pay-per-view event.
"I know he allegedly broke his foot in the fight against [Tim] Sylvia,” Butterbean said of Pudzianowski. "But he didn’t show anything before he quit. Pudzianowski has no stand-up and as strong as he is, he punches like a girl. All he does is throw arm punches. He needs a lot of help. He’s the 5-time World’s Strongest Man but hits like a 130-pounder, not a strong man who weighs 270 pounds. He doesn’t have the skill level to get to the level he wants to fight."
While that harsh criticism is harsh coming from one of the men that helped push Pudzianowski for their first pay-per-view event in Boston this May, Esch puts the blame on his coaches and says Pudzianowski needs to prove himself before getting another spot with Moosin.
“Once he gets a stand-up game – you can’t have a ground game working without one – he could be a force in MMA," Esch said. "He still needs some work on his ground game, too. We all know he’s very strong but that’s not enough at the highest level of MMA. I don’t know who has been coaching him but that trainer should be fired. Pudzianowski needs to prove himself, showing he has a good stand-up game by beating a good MMA fighter, before he gets another big fight like a spot on the October 9th show.”
Moosin USA is expecting to bring their next event to Chicago, Illinois, on October 9, and could feature a heavyweight bout between Tim Sylvia and Hong Man Choi.
Penick's Analysis: Moosin is fine putting on these so-called "freak show" bouts because they're not trying to present themselves as something they're not, and I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't have been intrigued by the spectacle of a Kimbo vs. Pudzianowski bout in front of a Polish heavy crowd in Chicago. Still, even though he'll probably be out-voted by his fellow officials, I'd completely agree with Butterbean on his take on Pudzianowski. He's simply a strong man that is trying to fight, and his fighting "ability" was laughable against Sylvia in May. Still, I'd expect him to be featured on this card in October no matter what because of the Polish population that Moosin can get to attend this event.
RELATED STORY: OTHER NEWS: Moosin USA making a return in October; targeting Kimbo vs. Pudzianowki in main event: [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]
[Kimbo Slice art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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