give me a break, when is bobby going to step up? probably when he’s 40 or something..

read this:

- AMERICAN TOP TEAM SENDS KIMBO BACK TO SCHOOL

Postby broiler81 " Sat Oct 03, 2009 1:37 pm
- AMERICAN TOP TEAM SENDS KIMBO BACK TO SCHOOL
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A pack of wolves waited for Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson when he entered the flagship gym of American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Fla., on Thursday.

Position to position, hour to hour, Thiago Alves, Luis Cane, Mike Brown, Yves Edwards, Jorge Santiago, and Dan Cramer drilled Kimbo in jiu-jitsu. The hardened veterans didn’t hold back. Boxing coach Howard Davis got a little time, but striking took a back seat to the mat.

Kimbo, a longtime resident of Miami, came to the gym two years ago and left in a rage after a fighter caught him in a painful armbar. This was his first time back since then.

Ricardo Liborio, founder of American Top Team, has sent Kimbo back to school to learn the basics.

"Right now, what we can see is a big, hardened guy with a fight mentality and a lot of heart," Liborio told MMAWeekly.com. "It’s just a guy who knows how to punch and is very heavy handed, but has a long way to go with the grappling and the wrestling stuff."

After cutting his teeth with Bas Rutten and Randy Khatami in a rush from YouTube brawler to mixed martial artist, Kimbo this week signed a training contract with American Top Team and plans to stay there for the foreseeable future.

Liborio’s goal for Kimbo is to stay upright long enough to use his heavy hands.

"Don’t engage in an exchange of wrestling that you’re not prepared for," says Liborio.

What Kimbo lacks, by his accord, is the muscle memory that comes with years of dedicated practice. Jiu-jitsu black belt Liborio and American Top Team are there to fill the gap.

"I think I’m still there… working on my ground game," said Kimbo. "You’re gonna learn a lot, but you’re not going to master anything in two years. The more you roll, the more you learn, just like as long as you live, you gonna learn as you live. It’s not something that you say okay, you’ve learned it, you’ve got it, you’re good, you can go kick someone’s ass now. No, no, no. That’s something that you have to continue to do."

Nowhere was Kimbo’s lack of seasoning more evident than in his most recent televised fight against Roy Nelson on the tenth season of "The Ultimate Fighter." As soon as the former streetfighter let his hands go, Nelson swarmed and took him down. Kimbo floundered as Nelson passed his guard and twice pinned his body and arms in a crucifix, the second of which brought the fight to an end.

Many of Kimbo’s castmates were surprised by his humility in asking for help on the ground, particularly Nelson, who was his roommate in the fighter house and broke down his victory step by step afterwards.

And well-rounded fighter or not, Kimbo is still ratings gold. Fueled by legions of YouTube fans, the Wednesday broadcast broke records in viewership for Spike TV. He has now participated in three of the four most watched fights in U.S. MMA history.

After three days of twice-a-day sessions with his bearded pupil, Kimbo has lived up to some of Liborio’s expectations and confounded others.

"Let’s put it this way: he’s exactly where I thought he would be in skill level, but he’s way more acceptable in terms of learning and mentality," he said.

The idea is not to let Kimbo get ahead of himself.

"Number one: ABC’s, you know what I’m saying?" said Liborio. "You’ve got to go back to basics. There’s no way to get a solid foundation, sort of jumping over positions and try to do something that’s acrobatic and crazy. He’s not at that level of skills right now. He‘s gotta go through the fundamentals of grappling and ground and takedowns. Very basic stuff; foot positions, and hand position."

The good news, says Liborio, is that Slice is a sponge for learning, an observation backed by his camera time on TUF.

"Maybe two days is too early to say something, but it’s been easy to work with him," he said. "He’s very coachable. If he keeps the way he’s doing right now, it’s going to pick up fast."

Kimbo all but confirmed he is set to fight on the show’s season finale Dec. 5 in Las Vegas, and says he is currently "in camp." UFC president Dana White has declined to confirm his participation in the finals or elsewhere, but it’s clear that the company has big plans for Kimbo down the line.

Liborio, meanwhile, hopes this week is the beginning of a constructive partnership.

"The plan is, win or lose, to keep the guy in the family," he said

at least he’s fighting.

at least he’s fighting.

good stuff!! the beauty is in the attempt.

LOL at the muscle memory thing. Fighting I believe is like music. It’s 5/6 muscle memory, and 1/6 instinct. But what do i know, I’m just a former street brawler, hehehe! NIce update on ATT johnny boy!

Hmm that’s interesting. At least Kimbo is learning and trying to get better. Glad the camp is feeding him to the wolves and helping him out win or lose.

Yeah, we want a REMATCH!

I dont think you guys wanna see mir beat down nog again, nog has no head movement fighters are picking up on it.

I don’t think anybody is worried about seeing that again, cause they know Bullshit never strikes twice in the same place. …unless of course Mir puts Ebola in Nog’s lemonade again.

Wow the excuses are even getting more pathetc.

just like your fantasies, guru!

Zing! high five shonuff:)

War SHonuff!

no, im telling the truth. if you can’t take it then that’s your prob.

RSS I have never been a rampage fan but I respect his skills, rashad was a huge test, but I still thot rampage wud win. My picks r shogun to beat machida by sub, rashad will win by split desicion

+2

He beat that Liddel too.

of course he did, Randy Couture is a wrestler not a boxer. Randy’s boxing has gotten better now that he’s older, but nothing special and also remember that his hands aren’t the fastest and heaviest + Chuck’s td defense and you have or atleast had a favorable matchup for Chucky. Rampage on the other hand was always better than Chuck at Chuck’s own game, he had more punching power, better technique and most importantly better defense which he used to come back and counter. He was simply just tougher than Liddell was, if Rashad could have beaten that Liddell we don’t know cause he’s just starting to come into his own years after Liddell went out of his prime.

Rampage definately had better defense than Chuck, considering Chuck’s defense was basically just having a cast iron jaw. I wouldn’t say that Rampage had better technique than Chuck though. Rampage may have had a more crisp boxing style of punching, but Chuck could actually pick up his leg and kick someone, a feat I have never seen Rampage do well. Chuck has also used elbows and a few knees as well. As far as power goes, I would say they where about even. Whenever either of them hit someone, that person fell down. They both had great KO power.

As far as I am concerned, only Randy and Rampage beat Chuck when he was in his prime. Randy went on to get KO’d in the next 2 fights, but Rampage was able to win his rematch with Chuck right around the time Chuck was starting to fade. I would have liked to have seen the rematch between Chcuk and Rampage sooner than we did. I think it would ahve been a war, but probably would have ended the same. Rampage seemed to have Chuck’s number.

Captain Paycheck does need to prove himself. Remember he was trounced out of the HW division first then trounced out of LHW division second before he retired. Now that Big Nog sent him packing again – i would think the man needs to prove himself as a contender before getting his 15th undeserved title shot.

yeah he did, Chuck may have had a more diversified striking game but im talking about their boxing technique which was the deciding factor in both fights. Rampage was a little wild back in the day though when they fought in Pride but he still had that defense and chin. He improved his technique/defense and movement over the years and this second time they fought he had just gotten too good of a boxer for Liddell!

Ya he sent that out to all the dudes at that site.

Oh shut up you are the same type of fan that would say “oh Rashad beat an over the hill Randy” if he won. You actually expect us to believe u would give Rashad credit if he won hahahahaha hater!

I wouldn’t say that. If Rashad beat Randy, I would definitely give him his props. But I’d lay odds 3 to 1 against that happening. Rashad has better KO power than Couture, but he’s nowhere near as smart, as strong, or as good a wrestler. But we’re not gonna find out, cause Rashad is too chicken to face a legend like Couture. He’d rather fight Thiago who is 1-1 against ranked opponents.