Roundtables
ROUNDTABLE: On Bellator 138 and Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock
Jun 18, 2015 - 11:00:22 PM ROUNDTABLE: On Bellator 138 and Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

What are your thoughts on the Kimbo Slice-Ken Shamrock fight at Bellator 138? What are your thoughts on the card they've built under that fight?


RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

Clearly, it's an abomination before The Seven. The High Sparrow demands atonement for the horror that this fight represents. Fortunately, I'm kind of a heathen who loves freak shows, so I so I say bring this shit on, and bring it now!

Look. Is there any reason for this fight to exist? No, not really. Other than to, you know, entertain the masses with fun, I mean. MMA, I mean human cockfighting, sorry, is by definition a freak show, so let's embrace when we get to step back in time. Shamrock vs. Slice is completely unnecessary, semi-dangerous to both fighters' health, likely to be ugly as Cersei's black little heart, and I can't freaking wait.

As to the rest of the card? Um... I couldn't tell you one fight on the rest of the card. I've heard rumours that there might be an undercard, but nothing's confirmed.


DAYNE FOX, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

I know I've used this to describe it before, but it feels so appropriate to describe it as a car wreck from which you just can't look away. Shamrock's prime was two decades (decades!) ago and Slice was never a very good MMA fighter to begin with, so there is no way that this fight is going to be a classic. But with very little chance of this fight going to decision and the potential of a catastrophe happening, I can't help but be curious about how this one ends.

The rest of the main card is one of very high quality with Patricio Freire defending his Featherweight Title against Daniel Weichel, former champions Michael Chandler and Daniel Straus try to get back on track against Derek Campos and Henry Corales respectively, and Bobby Lashley gets a chance to avenge his loss to James Thompson. Wait... Thompson is out with injury? Oh... well at least Scott Coker tried to add intrigue to Lashley's fight. Instead, Lashley is being fed a sacrificial lamb.


FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

It's a joke and an obvious attention-grab from Bellator. The problem with these type of attention-grab fights (see Tito Ortiz vs. Stephan Bonnar for another), other than being an insult to current fighters who are much better than these guys, and the fact that these fights usually suck hard, is that they don't work long term. Yeah, a lot of people might say "Hey, I remember Ken Shamrock and/or Kimbo Slice" but the very next words out of their mouths will be "Aren't they older than dirt?."

They'll draw some attention for the freak show aspect but Bellator is advertising this as the main event, as the main draw. That's a spot that's supposed to be reserved for the best fight of the night. By booking Shamrock-Kimbo as being above Michael Chandler-Derek Campos and Bobby Lashley-Dan Charles and Daniel Straus-Henry Corrales, they say that Shamrock and Kimbo are above those guys. Even worse, they have this joke of a fight above a title fight. I'll repeat that to show my indignation and outrage. Bellator has a fight between 51-year old Ken Shamrock and 41-year old Kimbo Slice booked ABOVE a title fight between Bellator Featherweight Champion Patricio Freire (who's 23-2, by the way) and a challenger, Daniel Weichel, who's 35-8.

Every other fight on the main card will be as good, or better, than the fight between Shamrock and Kimbo. This is mind-blowingly dumb on the part of Bellator. They'll get a nice little ratings boost to crow about for a few days, but at the cost of making their real fighters look like puds who aren't even as good as a pair of fossils.


BRAD WALKER, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

First I'm shocked that they both got cleared to fight. Second I think we're going to see Shamrock go old school, take down the boxer, and beat him senseless on the ground. It's pretty academic how this should go and I'm stunned that Bellator is using it as a headliner, OK maybe not stunned but more saddened. The main event draws my semi-interest in seeing two guys with seniors discounts go toe to toe.


MICHAEL BANE, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Nice to see a fight that shouldn't have been made seven years ago suddenly rise from the dead in an attempt to torment us with its sideshow-like appeal. I'm totally watching it. Here you've got two guys who are way past prime-fighting age, so much so that they have to undertake special screening in order to get licensed for this fight.

Purists may argue that the freak show nature of this bout somehow diminishes the legitimacy of the sport, but I don't agree. I'm fine with Bellator putting this fight on. For starters, it's going to draw eyeballs, and that is going to provide significantly more exposure to the "real" fighters on the card. Look, your true fans or hardcore fans or whatever you want to call them were going to watch this card anyway, and they're not going to suddenly stop watching because backyard brawler Kimbo Slice beats up a senior citizen. The additional people who tuned in just because of the aforementioned fight?

Who knows, maybe they'll see something that makes them stick around longer than this "fight." Michael Chandler is a good looking, well-spoken fighter who has put some exciting performances on in the past. Patricio Freire is a knockout and submission artist who has UFC caliber talent. Bobby Lashley is... wait, BOBBY LASHLEY is on this card? I get KIMBO SLICE and BOBBY LASHLEY? There better be a Bellator card in 4-6 months that has them square off against each other.

See how easy it is to get excited about this stuff? #sarcasm. In all seriousness though, the card features some of their best fighters on it, fighters who will be showcased to a larger audience due to the main event. Freire, Chandler, Straus, and yes, even Slice and Lashley are all apart of fights that I actually want to see. Granted, I want to see them for different reasons, but this is a legitimately good card from an MMA perspective, and a legitimately stupid-fun card from a drunken fan perspective. Bellator is using the tools they have the best they can to compete for viewers and dollars. While purists may not like it, that doesn't mean it isn't the right move for them.