Heavyweight bout: Kimbo Slice vs. Matt Mitrione
Odds: (-115 Slice /-115 Mitrione )
The second bout of the evening fits inexplicable fan favorite Kimbo Slice against his Ultimate Fighter housemate Matt Mitrione. Slice, whose Youtube brawls made him the kind of star most real fighters dream of being, has a very limited skill set, but Mitrione’s style plays right into his one strength, which makes this a potentially exciting fight.
Mitrione, who appeared on Season 10 of The Ultimate Fighter alongside Slice, showed a lot of toughness on the show, but not a whole lot of skill or conditioning. He clearly has a solid chin and very heavy hands, but his cardio is laughably bad, and unless he has made huge improvements in that department he is going to be walking into punches with his hands down by the second round, if this fight even goes that far. It doesn’t appear that Mitrione has much of a ground game, but he is probably a better wrestler than Slice is, not to mention larger and physically stronger.
Kimbo Slice probably doesn’t need an introduction thanks to his Youtube superstardom and the massive ratings he pulled in on The Ultimate Fighter. Unfortunately for anyone buying this pay per view, Slice’s in-ring abilites are nowhere near commensurate with his level of exposure. An extremely one-dimensional puncher who doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of punching power, Slice’s ground game basically consists of trying to outmuscle the other guy, something that is not going to worker against the larger Mitrione.
To put it simply, this is a crappy fight. Neither guy has any business being in the UFC, but Kimbo’s name recognition ensures he will stay and Mitrione is a bad enough fighter that he might feasibly lose to Kimbo, although I don’t see it happening. Chances are this will be an ugly slugfest, but I think Mitrione has enough power to put Slice away in the first.
Prediction: Matt Mitrione via first round T/KO.
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