Is Kimbo too marketable to fail?
by Zak Woods on Oct 1, 2009 4:33 PM EDT
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The moment the third episode of The Ultimate Fighter ended Zuffa and Spike teased a possible come back for the freshly defeated Kimbo Slice.
Despite Slice's underwhelming performance against Roy Nelson and the repeated questions on how seriously Kimbo is taking his venture into MMA; it appears that Kimbo will still have a meaningful impact on this season of TUF.
Is Kimbo Slice simply too marketable to fail?
Kimbo is definitely a driving force in the ratings department as the first episode of this season beat Spike's previous record for original programming. Slice has also secured a spot on The Ultimate Fighter Finale in December and will most likely boost that event's ratings to rival the Griffin vs. Bonnar Finale.
Ironically the UFC's new found "respect" for Kimbo (or in other words, his drawing power) was exactly what Gary Shaw and EliteXC took advantage of when they made Slice the focal point of their promotion. While many of us saw through the smoke and mirrors, Kimbo was able to generate ratings that no other MMA fighter at the time could. Perhaps Dana White owes Gary an apology.
Despite the UFC's best efforts in re-branding Kimbo --something Dan Wetzel thinks the UFC has accomplished in spades-- it doesn't change the fact that in order to be successful you have to win.
How long will Kimbo remain marketable if he keeps losing fights on the UFC's big stage? What will happen to all those viewers when they tune in time and again to watch Slice be taken down and smothered into defeat? Will companies still line up to pay the a fighter who keeps losing?
It won't matter how far Zuffa has lowered expectations, eventually, Kimbo will have to perform.
Yes, there is some strange star power that Kimbo poses causing us to watch his every move, so perhaps he is simply too big to fail?
Too bad we will have to tune in next week to find out if Slice gets his government bailout courtesy of Zuffa and Spike.
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He doesn’t have to win much, but he does have to win. If he goes 0-3 in the octagon he will be shown the door. If he wins a third of his fights he will stay on and fight sparingly, make mad bread, and most likely match up with a can from time to time to keep his marketable image up. I think they were uuber jealous when they realized the draw this guy has… and now they have him. But is it too late? Can he actually learn some jits? Some rasslin? I think he can. But I doubt he’ll ever be ‘polished’ in that way. Is he too big to fail? No. Any fighter can fall out of grace if he simply can’t perform the way he should. People will get tired of watching him get layed and prayed upon and out he will go… if he doesn’t knock a few heads off that is.
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