Why do people think Kimbo Slice is way too overrated?

Question

A couple points I need to make:

-He's undefeated so far. Yes, its only been 3 fights, but he's won all three in different ways (KO, Submission, and TKO).

-The only fight that I know of (im pretty sure its true anyway) that he lost was against Sean Gannon.

-Kimbo arguably has the strongest punches in all of MMA. note the word "arguably"

-Kimbo has shown some skill in the various aspects of MMA fighting. he got into trouble during his fight on saturday while on the ground, but its nothing that he can't be taught.

-Its not his fault that he's over hyped.

-there is a difference between being overhyped and being overrated. learn it.

I'm a fan of Kimbo. But seriously, he's not overrated. He's overhyped, yes, but you can't say he's overrated after three official fights.

Answer 1

He has been fighting way overrated people as well. His mere presence in the cage is an insult to ever true MMA fighter. He is marketing ploy and gimmick to make CBS dominate a sport that is on the break of mass popularity. Kimbo is a joke.

Answer 2

All I have to say is started fighting back yard and street fights does he consider that his training.... if he was such a bad A** then how come Elite picked him up rather than Dana and the UFC or Pride.  Old and passed there prime yes he has fought but Shamrock helped make what this sport what it is.... my future prediction is that Randy Corture will fight Kimbo when the court decision is over with Elite XC and Zuffa/UFC.

Answer 3

I can see your point, how about he fight Tito Ortiz's old self after Tito had only had 3 official MMA fights? theres a better fight i'd say. Give Kimbo a chance to work his way through the ranks, Bas Rutten (his trainer) admits that Kimbo is still a beginner, he needs time, some fights with blokes of similar caliber, and he has the potential to one-day be a great, key words: "one-day"

Answer 4

He is 3-0 yes but against who ?? A bunch of soft batches that dont amount to anything and combined have losing records.

Strongest punches in all of mma ? r u serious ? Never in all of his fights , backyard street fights or otherwise, has he shown that he has 1 punch knockout power !! Ever ! Pound for pound, Pulver has better power than Kimbo.

Over hyped and over rated. His complete game or lack thereof is weak.

He’s training as hard as he can, but he has to know the truth. Fedor Emelianenko, the best heavyweight in the world, would toy with him. Every heavyweight and light heavyweight in the UFC would beat him handily.

CBS and EliteXC made a spectical of MMA. That is not the card,commentating or theatrics you put out on primetime to gain respect and try to build a fan base of true mma fans. Come on , the first 90 min and all u have is 2 mins of fight time ??

The stoppage in that kimbo fight was a joke. I agree with many when said that it was stopped to save them from embarrassment. Had Thompson been a truely skilled fighter we would have seen a different outcome.

CBS and EliteXC should be embarrassed. I am for them and the sport. What a black eye.

Answer 5

He relies on his punches too much. If he fought a more diverse grappler, he could find himself in a bit of trouble. He's tough, and I'm rooting for him. But he wouldn't last with the best the UFC has to offer, and that is why people say he's overrated. It didn't help that he had trouble defeating a guy that hasn't won a fight in ages.....

Answer 6

Nor even arguably the strongest punches in MMA.  He could not knock out Thompson who fight experts refer to as soft and with a glass chin.  He lacks one punch power.  Thompson took three of his best punches and stood there.  OBTW, am I the only one who thought the fight should have went on?  Thompson was still standing at the end of the fight, where I'm from, that means more fighting is needed.  Thomspn had that crossed eyed dazed look the whole night, and I don't think the ear should have anything to do with the stoppage, I really hope it didn't.  If that fight is allowed to go on and JT takes him down again, he wins the fight.  Kimbo got help from the owners of Elite by stopping the fight when they did.  They did not want there star to be beat in their first prime time fight.  Called way to early in order to save Slice!!

Answer 7

Yes you can say he's overrated after 3 official fights. The main reason is because he hasn't fought anybody worth a d**n. You can't walk around saying you're the best (yes he does say it) If you haven't beaten anybody that counts. Not to mention that in his most recent "win" he took a decent amount unanswered elbows to the head w/out defending himself, there are several witnesses who say he tapped but then gave a thumbs up, and, my favorite, Thompson was advancing on Slice when the ref stepped in.

Roger Huerta is STILL called by some to be overrated, and he's on a n 11 fight win streak, the last six of which have been in the UFC. Clay Guida was his toughest comptetition yet.

Its not only a matter of how many fights you have won, but also who those fights were against. If Lyoto Machida's undefeated record consisted of beating people like Wayne Weems, Gabe Rudeger, Noah Inhofer, Danny Abbadi, Marlon Sims, and other schmucks who thought they were fighters, nobody would care.

Yes there is a difference between overrated and overhyped. But no sane person would actually think somebody is a good fighter because of some stupid street fights on youtube, and then 3 pro victories against a guy nobody has heard of (submission by strikes should count as a TKO, not a Submission, but thats just my opinion. Its not like he won the fight with an anaconda. though he did win an exhibition by guillotine), and proceeding to win a fight against Tank Abbott, who has long since used up whatever little fighting talent he had, and then "beating" Thompson, when Thompson dominated him in the second round and by all rights the fight shouldve been stopped then, not when Thompson was advancing towards him on his feet, ready to throw down.

I say his youtube streetfights were stupid because he mostly beat on guys that had no chance. The first time he ever fought someone who had any kind of fight training (Gannon was well versed in hand to hand combat, as he is a police officer, and had also trained in martial arts), Kimbo lost. Which is why EliteXC hasn't given him anybody talented to fight, which is why any REAL fan of the sport will tell you that he is overrated, overhyped, and unproven.

Answer 8

Kimbo whether he's overrated or not, defeated two professional fighters within the total of 62 seconds fair and square, and won against John Thompson with a stop by the ref due to the bleeding from the ear(which I thought was a fair call) and Kimbo put a pretty good fight against him too.

He did lose to Sean Gannon but after being famous online for beating Kimbo, he got matched in a professional fight and got brutally beat up with his face covered in blood and currently stands in the professional record of 2-1 and Kimbo is calling him out, now that he knows how to deal against submissions and on the ground.

Seems like couple of people hated my answer for supporting Kimbo's side and explaining my point of view and nobody liked the fact that I was supporting him. What I said was true and I didn't see anything wrong with it but oh well.

Answer 9

I honestly can't say that he's overrated one way or another because I've never seen him fight.

Answer 10

Because he is...

"-He's undefeated so far. Yes, its only been 3 fights, but he's won all three in different ways (KO, Submission, and TKO)."

And who has he fought? May I remind you that when you combine his fighters records, they've lost 18 of their last 23 fights; Abbott lost 11 of last 13, Thompson 7 of 9. Mercer never even fought MMA before Kimbo. If you take that into account, his 3 wins don't mean anything.

'-Kimbo arguably has the strongest punches in all of MMA. note the word "arguably"'

Not even arguably. Rampage Jackson, Wanderlei Silva, Chuck Liddell all have unarguably stronger punches than Kimbo Slice. So there goes that argument.

"-Kimbo has shown some skill in the various aspects of MMA fighting. he got into trouble during his fight on saturday while on the ground, but its nothing that he can't be taught.

-Its not his fault that he's over hyped."

Again, against who? Nobodies, has-beens and washed up boxers...that's who he's beaten.

"-there is a difference between being overhyped and being overrated. learn it."

There is a difference and Kimbo is both.

Answer 11

all of this is hogwash actually. the dude didn't ask to be in the position he's in nor did he refuse to take it on.

that being said, my overall analysis of his as a mma fighter is still the same.

-he has no ground game

-stamina is shot and he won't ever have it (not his fault, it is what it is sometimes in the fight game)all he can do is try to manage himself in there

-JT has a glass jaw and was tailor picked b/c of it and he still stood up to all those shots and he wasn't nearly as steroided up as he was in PrideFC

-JT has a crappy ground game and managed to do a half *** version of a side mount and grnd n pound still.

I give kimbo all the credit in the world for doing this and getting in there and learning while under fire and tremendous pressure to try to live up to all this hype.

I hope he pulls through and actually turns into a good fighter and atleast get one big time show down with a highly ranked guy.

he's 34 with only one solid year of mma training under his belt, so he's waaaaaay behind.

If I were his trainers I'd pay the $$$ to a guy like a randy coutour (sp)in there asap to get his ground game strong NOW.

Answer 12

Why do I think he is overrated?

1. He was the headliner on a card that was broadcasted nationally, when he only has 3 fights.

2. James Thompson beat him for 2 rounds... James Thompson has six 1 round losses via KO. Butterbean KO'd Thompson, Kimbo could not. Not even remotely one of the strongest punches in MMA.

3. Being undefeated against cans doesn't mean anything. I have had more pro fights than Kimbo, and was undefeated at 3-0 before my first loss. Was a headliner worthy? h**l no.

4. What skill has he shown in MMA? He couldn't check a kick, he couldn't kick himself, he had no take down defense, horrible guard work, and questionable cardio. In fact I saw nothing more than the same backyard brawling, just when he got put on his back, instead of people forcing them stand back up, he pulled guard... Wow...

5. Yes there is a difference between over hype and over rated, maybe you need to learn it. Headlining a show = overrated. Being put online or on par with UFC Champs like the 10 questions a day around here "Kimbo vs. Rampage" etc. = overrated. You saying he has "arguably one of the strongest punches ALL of MMA" = massively overrated.

6. No it isn't his fault, nor would anyone in the same situation do differently. Obviously if someone wants to give me 6 figures to headline and event even though I still "feel like a baby in this sport" I am surely not going to turn them down or be like "Naw, pay me 5g, and let me fight on the undercard.." Not sure how these has to do with him being over rated or is an argument against that.

Who legitimate has Kimbo knocked out? Oh wait, let's not say that he hasn't fought anyone legitimate.

He fought Ray Mercer in a modified rules bout: Did he stand and bang with Mercer? Nope... didn't KO him. Did a horrible takedown and a choke that anyone with 1 month of MMA could have landed on a boxer.

He fought Bo Cantrell, and seriously I have watched that video a hundred times, if there has ever been a dive in MMA, that fight was definately it. I still can't see how Cantrell got hurt in that fight.. But let's give him that... let's say he legitimately knocked Cantrell out. Considering that Cantrell has been knocked out 7 times doesn't exactly make him a top tier opponent.

He KO'd Tank Abbott: Hmmm only 6 or so other people have done that, including guys a lot lighter and smaller than Kimbo.

He couldn't KO James Thompson, who as I said has been KO'd in the first round six times. Furthermore Thompson was beating him for the first two rounds before having his cauliflower ear ruptured.

There is a point by point rebuttal to your arguments (Which I feel are very weak) not only is Kimbo massively over hyped, but yes is very much overrated. 3 official fights are hardly the measure of any fighter, watch the Ultimate Fighter, guys who were eliminated in the first rounds were 3-0, 4-0 fighters. Guys who people think are skillless clowns on there are 4-0 or even 5-2, guys who have more fights than Kimbo. Saying he has the "Strongest Punch in ALL OF MMA" is an example of severe overrating. Chris Leben had more KO's then Kimbo had when went on the Ultimate Fighter Does he have "arguably one of the strongest punches in all of MMA?"

Maybe you need to learn something about the sport, because if you knew MMA you would realize how much Kimbo is over rated and how little being 3-0 against cans is, how little of the skill set of MMA he has shown, and how his punching power isn't anywhere near the top tier of MMA.

Don't get me wrong, I think he is talented and has a lot to offer, I think he is fighting the sort of people he needs to fight. I just don't put him in the top 20 heavyweights in MMA, and anyone who does is overrating him.

Answer 13

First if you watch all of his internet fights, not only does he break his own rules when he's in trouble but he also fights dude that are out of shape.Secondly, the Official fights he's been in have been against either no names or old timers.

Sorry guy but i believe he's a bit of both overhyped and overrated. Let him fight someone like Tito Ortiz or Ken shamrock or someone of that caliber. If he can beat them, then i will give him respect. Honestly though, if you watch all of his internet fights i dont' know how you can be a fan of his after all the dirty cheatin' B.S. he pulled on those guys.