TUF 10 Episode 3 Recap: Kimbo Slice vs. Roy Nelson

- Opening promo showed the clip of the punch again.  I think, I think they may be hyping this week up.  They opened up with a quick monologue with Kimbo talking.  He is so deep and the beard comes up right away.  "Not the enemy, the in emey, the in the me, the inner me."  So deep.  Both fighters are made likable from the start.  Kimbo is shown as a humble, family man and Nelson is shown to be empathetic and independent.  I think they want both fighters to have a career within the UFC.

- Jardine also showed up which led to some nice banter.  Rampage actually likes Jardine, Evans best friend, but this leads to Evans talking in Rampage's face which leads to some fireworks, which leads to McSweeney getting involved and a lot more tough guy (get it) attitude.  Really nothing is going to come of the constant shit talking, but it is still fun to see.  However, I think Rashad said it best that Rampage will run out material and tends to repeat the same insults.  This episode will have what this season has been about; Rampage and Rashad jawing and plenty of Kimbo.

- Commercial Break: I have seen that clip with Hugh Jackman birthing out of the liquid about 7,584 too many.  Around the 100^th time it started to get old.  All I need now is a Saw V commercial.  There it is, now I am okay.  Seriously a Saw 5, 5.

-They are really selling the humble Kimbo willing to learn hard.  We already know he is fighting in the UFC at the finale and they really want to sell him.  They are going to give him an opponent that matches up well with him.  Expect him to be protected as they are doing everything to shred the gangster, thug image.  They even show a clip of Ghoson (coach) forcing Kimbo to take a break because he is working too hard.

- Roy is shown teaching to the group.  He literally has 4 teammates listening to every word going over maneuvers and tricks of the craft.  Makes me wonder if this is an isolated 30 seconds or he really was a good learning tool for the younger fighters in the house. 

- Commercial Break: These commercials suck.  Thank you for the Zombieland commercial, but Absolut has to be kidding me if they are trying to sell themselves as the hip, trendy, option.  Dude you are what college kids buy when they want to be classy or professionals if they want a cheaper vodka.  You are no Goose or Belvedere.  In college I got sick of skull so I bought you or Smirnoff. 

- Marcus Jones and Rampage got a little tiff going on.  Marcus definitely played football for his life.  He refers to Rampage as coach and sir.  I bet there is almost no other fighter who does that.  You can tell right away in his apology to his coaches. 

- Oh my god he is Marcus awesome.  Comic books, I love this guy.  He is the biggest softy ever.  I love Marcus Jones.  Shit, gardening ain't for me, but we all got our stuff and he has no reservations about it.  That is a true sign of maturity.  I love Marcus Jones, man crush initiated.  There are a lot of similarities between Marcus and Kimbo.  Both have a football base, new to the sport and raw, but both have good strength and athleticism (more Marcus on that one). 

- Commercial Break: Another Saw 5 commercial, awesome.  Cannot wait for the Invention of Lying.  Great premise, great cast, and I laugh during previews.

- More on Kimbo wanting to learn, martial arts and spelling.  His need for knowledge is amazing.  They mention how he is a beast, trains hard, we should not underestimate him, and Kimbo may have been training this whole time off.  This is a little too thick for me, but I get that the show is more for the casual fan.

- They then switch to Roy's training camp.  Matt Mitrione actually brings up a great point on accident.  Roy and Kimbo are polar opposites.  While Kimbo is incredibly popular among the casual fan base and disrespected by the hard core fan, Roy is not well known at all, but respected by the few who know him.  Roy is Red Hot Chili Peppers pre Californication and Kimbo is post Californication.

- Commercial Break: I really want to be more excited for Brutal Legend, but I was never too big into the type of music.  Sorry boys.  Also, I really hope the push for Machida works as I would love for him to gain significant popularity.  I am a Machida era believer and cannot wait.

THE FIGHT:

Round 1: Pretty long feeling out period to start the fight.  A few jabs and hooks here and there, but do not really engage with any intensity until the 3 minute mark.  Kimbo landed some shots against the cage and Nelson looks for a takedown right away.  Some movement which ended up with Nelson controlling Kimbo against the cage for awhile until he gets the takedown and mount around the 1:30 mark.  Nelson moves to side control and locks Kimbo up the exact way he planned to.  Identical to what Matt Hughes did to B.J. Penn (kind of reverse crucifix position with strikes).  Nelson is not happy the fight was not called.  Nelson had complete control and was landing punches at will, but it did not appear to do much damage.  Would have been called if there was more time left on the clock.

Commercial Break: I am from Chicago, but live in Cleveland.  My roommate just went nuts for the LeBron documentary.  I told him LeBron was going to New York, he got pissed, and the fight came back on.

Round 2: Start out much more high energy.  Kimbo lands a knee, but gets taken down in process.  Nelson ends up in side control.  Nelson struggles to advance and it looks like Nelson is going to win via belly suffocation.  Nelson finally gets the same position he had at the end of the first and ends fight with ref stoppage. 

Dana is absolutely right that while Nelson was landing punch after punch they did not have much behind them.  However, Kimbo was not going anywhere and was barely moving and he was taken punch after punch.  It may not have been exciting, but Nelson was effective and used his weight for control while not stalling.  Dana, "Roy did just enough to win and not get hit."

Update: CompuStrike has the numbers from the fight.

Roy definitely did the belly rub, but he also is acting arrogant after the win.  He did beat a completely unproven fighter.  The UFC wants him so badly.  Dana mentions how fighters have come back, how they proud and impressed.  It is marketing bullshit.  Kimbo did not look good, Nelson was just unimpressive.  The promo for next week is Kimbo wanting back and Marcus might be bounced.  I think UFC is going to pull a Tonya Harding to get Kimbo back in.