Kimbo Slice Gets Knocked Out

Kimbo Slice woke up Saturday morning thinking he’d be taking on faded veteran Ken Shamrock in the main event of an Elite XC show on CBS. Late Saturday afternoon, Shamrock was rolling, and a training partner butted his left eye, causing a cut that needed six stitches. Shamrock was scratched from the bout, and Elite XC scrambled to find Slice a foe, and save the show. Seth Petruzelli, who’d fought and lost twice in the UFC, was due to fight Aaron Rosa on the undercard, but instead was elevated to the top of the card, which unfolded the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida.

The Slice camp took a real risk in  okaying the switch, and it blew up in their face. The fill-in nailed Slice in the first, with a ultra-short right to the chin, pounded him into submission. The ref had to halt it, as Slice could not protect himself adequately.

The end—of Slice’s career?—came at 14 seconds of the first. “It was a crappy situation for both of us, it was unfortunate what happened to Ken, this was the man who stepped up to fight me last minute, and I stepped up to fight last minute, I imagine both out heads were messed up, he didn’t train for me, I didn’t train for him,” the winner Petruzelli said. Slice was gracious: “It's all good, it's all good. I want to thank this man for taking this fight at last notice. It was unexpected. We still gonna have the after party at Art Bar.”

The karate fighter Petruzelli (from Florida; age 28; 205 ½ pounds; 10-5) gave up four inches in reach to the 34-year-old Slice (234 ½; 4-0; from Florida).

In the first round, Petruzelli came out blasting, and Slice was stunned, from a right to the chin. He fell to his knees, and ate a couple shots. The ref halted it, as Slice grabbed him, thinking he was Petruzelli. The crowd booed when Seth celebrated.
Twenty-six-year-old Nevada resident Gina Carano (7-0), who will likely jump up to 145 pounds after another embarrassing battle with the scale at the weigh in, took on Minnesotan Kelly Kobold (16-3-1) . She needed three tries to hit 141 pounds, and did it buck naked on Friday, to the delight of many slobbering Gina fans. Gina kept Kobold from taking her down in the first smartly. In the second, Gina kept her distance, and pecked away with straight rights. Kobold, who had a cut on her right eye next to her nose, took her down with 15 seconds to go and went to the ground and pound. It got wild in the third, when Kobold went for broke. Gina slipped on a choke from the side, but couldn’t hold it. She had more in the tank, and landed two left leg kicks to the head in the waning seconds of the third. The judges’ verdict: Carano, by scores of 29-28, 30-27, 30-27.  After the bout, Carano said, “This was my toughest battle, for sure. I feel good man, I feel like I was just in a fight, it’s the best feeling!” She said she wanted to fight Cris Cyborg next.
Andrei Arlovski (age 29, 240 ¾; 14-5) took on IFL refugee Roy Nelson (32, 262 ¾; 13-3) in a heavyweight tangle. Nelson got atop Andrei, and had side control; he looked to execute an armlock. Leg kicks hurt Roy, and by the end of the first he looked a little gassed. Andrei couldn’t keep his feet moving enough to stay out of Roy’s grasp as much as he would’ve liked in the second. Then he got distance, and the tide turned, quick. Knees to the body, uppercuts, and then a right uppercut/overhand right to the temple sent Nelson down, and out. The ref waved it off, so Arlovski wouldn’t land a strike as Nelson was out of it. Nelson protested the stoppage, but the call was the right one. The official time was 3:14 of round two.

Elite welterweight champ Jake Shields (from California; age 29; 169 ¾; 22-4-1) took on Brit Paul Daley (age 25; 170; 18-7-2) in a scheduled five rounder. Shields passed the Daley guard, but Daley fended him off for a couple of minutes. He then reversed position, and rained down ‘bows. In the second, Shields looked to take the Brit down, but Daley’s sprawl is strong. He smiled up at Shields, who looked for submissions in between punches. The jiu jitsu worked, as Daley couldn’t power out of an armbar, and he had to tap. The time: 3:47 seconds of  the second.
Benji Radach (19-4) used his heavy right to knock Ninja Rua  (16-9-1) semi-conscious in the second round of their bout, the TV opener.