Slice follows script in successful debut
Kimbo Slice came away from Saturday night’s Ultimate Fighting Championship card at the Palms with a win in his first official bout in the organization.
It just didn’t go the way he had planned.
On a night that saw the conclusion of Season 10 of the UFC reality show, ”The Ultimate Fighter,” Slice’s win over Houston Alexander strayed far from the script.
Alexander was selected as Slice’s opponent because of his propensity to fight in much the same way Slice does, standing in the middle of the cage and trading shots.
That never materialized as Alexander chose to circle around the outside of the cage for most of the fight.
Slice won a unanimous decision.
Roy Nelson won ”The Ultimate Fighter” title and Matt Hamill was victorious in a fight in which he could not continue after enduring a barrage of elbows.
Slice said he was surprised by Alexander’s antics.
“We kind of trained and were prepared for some of his attacks, but I wasn’t prepared for the ring running he did,” Slice said. “I would have preferred to knock him out, but it went the way it went. You’ve got to be happy with a victory regardless of how it comes.”
The crowd was clearly unhappy with Alexander’s strategy, booing on several occasions during the fight.
“I would have booed too,” Slice said. “He rode the ring a lot. I wanted to bang. The crowd is there to be entertained and we’re the entertainers. If they booed, it’s because they weren’t happy with what was going on.”
Slice said he never got frustrated.
“If I would have ran in there foolishly, I would have got knocked out,” Slice said. “So it wasn’t difficult to stay patient.”
Hamill might have won in even stranger fashion than Slice.
Hamill was thrown to the mat and mounted early in his fight with Jon Jones.
Jones spent nearly two minutes raining punches and elbows on Hamill, but eventually came straight down with an elbow, an illegal maneuver in mixed martial arts.
Jones originally was deducted a point, but when Hamill was unable to continue, the referee awarded him the victory by disqualification.
“I was kind of confused. I thought I was getting a point taken away,” Jones said. “I thought I won and when they said I lost, I thought, ‘No, this can’t be happening.’ But I lost.”
It marked the first time instant replay was used in the state of Nevada. Referee Steve Mazzagatti used a ringside replay to verify his original decision that the illegal strike caused at least part of the damage that caused the fight to be stopped.
Jones thought the fight could have been stopped sooner.
“I looked at (the referee) twice, and I was like, why am I still hitting this guy?” he said. “Why is this fight not being stopped?”
Jones insists the odd way he was dealt his first defeat won’t affect his career.
“I took a lot of pride in being undefeated. I’ve strived so hard to be the best I can be, but everything happens for a reason,” he said. “I try to look at everything in life as a positive, so now I don’t have to have that pressure of not having a loss.”
Nelson left nothing to chance in knocking out Brendan Schaub to win the “The Ultimate Fighter: Season 10” title.
The Cimarron-Memorial High School graduate is known primarily as a wrestler, but he floored the supposedly superior striker with a big right hook just 3:45 into the fight.
“Brendan is definitely a good striker. He has a good career in front of him,” Nelson said. “It was just a thing where the better fighter won tonight.”
Also, Matt Mitrione knocked out Marcus Jones in the second round in a matchup of former NFL players and Frankie Edgar submitted Matt Veach.
Contact sports reporter Adam Hill at 224-5509.
