Staff Columnists
BENT: Some things are always a bad idea; Herschel Walker, Kimbo Slice and rims on a Kia
By By: Jason Bent, MMATorch Columnist
Sep 22, 2009 - 4:57:07 PM

Herschel Walker has just signed a deal with Strikeforce, and it's a beyond atrocious move. I have been away for a while due to various personal reasons and when I read this news I had to check around to make sure I didn't somehow go back in time for a moment.

Herschel Walker?

The guy who sang "4 Beers and Seven Scores Ago" with Doug Supernaw on the wonderful NFL Country CD from years back?

A 47 year old former NFL player fighting and it isn't taking place in a courtroom over back due child support or in a club over someone making it rain?

This one is just bad all over and Strikeforce should have their collective feet held to the proverbial fire, but by no means does this mean the complete promotion is a joke, in much the same way that every good decision Dana White and company make should not be taken as proof positive that they can absolutely do no wrong at all.

As long as Dana White and the UFC do something, it is generally lauded as the right thing or a great idea. However, should another promotion pull a similar move, the critics lash out and bury them completely while again praising the UFC for being so much better.

With that said, Kimbo Slice was and is a joke in MMA.

Is he a marketable name? Certainly.

Toughest guy at the barbecue? Indeed.

Signing him to a contract and putting him on 'The Ultimate Fighter' was a shrewd business move by the UFC which has already paid off thanks to the huge ratings of the first episode. Even if Slice never fights in the UFC, he has already proven his worth and done more in drawing ratings than Cro Cop has done inside of the Octagon. So, it has been worthwhile and we can't blame the UFC for bringing Slice into the fold and carrying on with the fantastic storyline of Slice needing to truly fight his way into becoming a real UFC fighter.

However, when Elite XC hitched their cart to him and used him to carry the first ever MMA card on network television it was derided as the worst thing ever. Yes, Elite XC was pretty close to being the worst thing ever, and it was indeed a sad state of affairs to have to place Slice in the main event position, but the company was putting the biggest and most marketable name into that slot to garner ratings and draw viewers to their product. The problem was that while Slice was a great name and a marketable face with a bad ass reputation, he simply could not fight.

So Elite XC closed up shop and everyone piled on to piss out the flaming piles of cash that Gary Shaw and his son helped set fire to. Elite XC was awful, and they did most everything wrong, but we can no longer bash them for their use of Kimbo Slice while praising the UFC for their shrewdness in doing the same.

Dana White brought back Cro Cop, Frank Trigg and is now bringing back Phil Baroni. Yet, those same fighters have been routinely dragged over the coals and roasted for being past their primes, and it has been noted how the sport has passed them by. Other companies have gotten bashed for picking up UFC scraps, but now the UFC is doing the same thing and yet is again lauded for this.

Frank Trigg was blasted out by Josh Koscheck, and Dana White was ready to send him packing; he had a change of heart, however, and is giving Trigg one more chance inside the Octagon. Had this happened over at Strikeforce, the story would be that Trigg is done and the promotion is merely using his name when they really should be trying to build young fighters up and not just bank on known names with UFC on their resume.

When the UFC was in talks with Fedor, it seemed that everyone was a teenage girl at a Jonas Brothers concert and rubbing one out to the thoughts of the day he would meet Brock Lesnar in the biggest card in MMA history. Suddenly, when talks fell through, it was as if Fedor was not as good as we once thought, or he didn't care about his legacy and that Dana White did the right thing. I agree with that take, but that was my thought from the start. The problem I have is with everyone who was gung-ho for Fedor in the UFC suddenly switching sides the very moment Dana White announced that they could not come to an agreement.

Strikeforce signed Fedor, and the snickering began from the peanut gallery as everyone acted like the promotion had just bought a lemon which Dana White had wisely opted not to purchase upon seeing the CarFax. Yet, if Dana White would have posted a tweet that Fedor was coming to the UFC it would have been hailed as the greatest thing ever.

Look, everyone is not perfect and this goes for everything as well. Referees in the NFL do not get every call right and politicians often times will not do the right thing by their constituents. Dana White is not perfect nor is the UFC, and while we should praise them for the good, we also should not be so quick to brush away and forget the questionable decisions they make.

Canning Franklin-Henderson II was the right move, and so too was bringing in Vitor Belfort who looked like the phenom of old on Saturday night. We should kiss the rings over these decisions and take pride in knowing that a major sports promotion can do the right thing by the fans and truly provide us with the best available matchups when possible. We pay these decisions back with our wallets and will gladly continue to do so in the future. This is but one example showing why the UFC is where they are today, and why MMA is such a hot commodity in the world.

While we can point to the examples such as this and laud the UFC for what they have done right while pointing out what everyone else does wrong, it would be wrong of us to never admit that the UFC sometimes is just as bad as everyone else.

Elite XC used Kimbo Slice to draw viewers to CBS and tried to use Ken Shamrock as well to do just that. The UFC is using Kimbo Slice to draw viewers to Spike TV and did use a very past his prime Ken Shamrock to bring in PPV buys and draw viewers to Spike TV. And yet here we are, very quick to rag on everyone else for using guys who cannot fight and those who are past their prime, but the UFC always does the right thing so they can get away with it.

The UFC historically has done the right thing more often than not, and this can be quickly ascertained by taking one look around and realizing that they have their insignia on damned near everything except condoms, ice cream bars and the backs of homeless people in major cities. This sport has grown exponentially and is getting bigger and better by the day.

But competition is always good as it brings out the best in most, and for now Strikeforce is at least giving us more fights to watch and inspiring the UFC to reach greater heights, if only to squash them. The UFC is the very best and is the only brand of MMA which truly matters to most fans, but even though they bring us some perfect cards it does not make them perfect. The UFC does damned near everything better than any other promotion could ever do, but they are indeed just as wrong when they do some of the same things their opposition has done, and continues to still do.

If you thought Fedor was the best in the world two months ago, why would you suddenly change your tune simply because he didn't sign with the UFC?

It makes no sense.

Scratch that, it does make more sense than signing Herschel Walker. But if you would laugh at someone for putting rims on a Kia, it would make no sense for you to tell someone else that they look good for having done the same thing. Putting rims on a Kia is just not a great idea no matter who does it, and the same goes for some of these curious decisions that the UFC has made.

Though if Kimbo Slice showed up to the barbecue after getting out of the passenger side of a Kia with rims on it, it would be wise to not mention this until well out of hearing range. It would also be wise to let him have the biggest piece of chicken or the last hamburger on the grill.

It just wouldn't be wise to suddenly proclaim Kimbo Slice to be a fighter. He is a marketable face, known name and a proven ratings draw, but he isn't a mixed martial artist. He wasn't a fighter for Elite XC and he still isn't one for the UFC. I just have this sinking feeling in my gut that had Herschel Walker signed a UFC contract that it would somehow be spun into making sense, and based on the reaction to Kimbo Slice and Frank Trigg it has been proven to be true.

If Fedor had signed with the UFC and was set to fight on November 7, most would be counting down the days and hyping the fight. Instead it is being derided as some sort of sideshow or an afterthought when Strikeforce hits CBS with Fedor vs. Rogers, though it most certainly should be some kind of a big deal.

If Strikeforce were featuring Kimbo Slice on basic cable it would be derided, and if the UFC were featuring Fedor on network television it would be hailed as the biggest thing in MMA.

Switch promotions and everything changes. Bad ideas should always be bad and the opinion of them should never change, though it would still be a bad idea to say anything to Slice while he is still in hearing range at the barbecue.

Because we all know what Kimbo can do in a backyard.


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