LZ Granderson
Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson
Here's an excerpt from LZ Granderson's recent ESPN column:
Kimbo Slice gets his stupid ass kicked.
That's the title of a YouTube clip that captures Slice, an MMA sensation, getting beaten down.
Kimbo Slice has the right to clown for dollars, but he could do the African-American community a service by holding himself to a higher standard.
I don't know if he's necessarily stupid, because I've never met the man, but he certainly seems to be misguided. Why else would Slice disregard all sense of honor, pride and history to project an image that can best be described as a cross between Lil' Wayne and Kunta Kinte -- a runaway slave with a mouth full of gold teeth playing up every single stereotype of an African-American male in exchange for short-lived adoration from a soulless media with ADD.
Read the rest of the story after the jump.
Ted's Take: Granderson critcizes "blaxploitation 2008" later in his column, but he's perpetuating it by calling Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson a "runaway slave" and saying he had "coonish facial expressions" during a recent ESPN photo shoot.
I guess in Granderson's mind, he's allowed to say those things because he too is black, or maybe it's because he believes he's the paragon of virtue in the black community. The end doesn't justify the means, my friend.
Ferguson rose to popularity through backyard bare-knuckle fights broadcast on Youtube. The Floridian brawler - always accompanied by a huge posse, some of them in the porn business - dominated bouncers and cab drivers until he faced Sean "The Cannon" Gannon, a Boston cop with Mixed Martial Arts training.
Maybe that loss was what drove Ferguson to pursue MMA and one of the sport's most knowledgeable trainers, Bas Rutten.
Whatever the reason, Ferguson began training and had one amateur fight against former boxer Ray Mercer, in which he quickly submitted him with a guillotine choke.
The fanboy Internet ire that followed Ferguson's pro debut, some say, is largely based not on the color of his skin, but on his meteoric, and undeserved, rise to the top of the MMA heavyweight heap.
Ferguson's first professional MMA fight is considered by many to be a "work," where Bo Cantrell was barely hit by Ferguson's fists, yet hit the deck like a sack of bowling balls.
His second fight was against a way-past-his-prime, out-of-shape - not to say he was ever in shape - Tank Abbott.
Two fights, and he's headlining the first nationally-televised MMA show ever, and the second MMA fighter to be on the cover of ESPN the Magazine.
Gary Shaw, head of MMA organization EliteXC - who has a long-term contract with Ferguson - has really hyped up the 2-0 fighter. And why wouldn't he? That's his job as a promoter. You promote your fights. Sure, he'll have egg on his face if Ferguson gets destroyed by the first well-rounded fighter he faces, but that's a chance he's willing to take.
So, are you going to blame Ferguson? He saw an opportunity to go from street fighting to legitimate Mixed Martial Arts. He's certainly not going to balk at Shaw's platitudes; he's an athlete, so you know he's got a lot of confidence in himself. He probably does think he's the best - although I'm sure guys by the last names of Emelianenko, Sylvia, Nogueira, and Mir might have something to say about that.
I'll be honest, I haven't seen the ESPN photo shoot, but I've seen plenty of pictures and videos of Ferguson and he seems to be the genuine article, not a poseur trying to act tough. It's an image he's had thoughout his career, he'd be a fool to change it now.
In closing, Ferguson's ride on the MMA express sounds like the normal course of business: develop a prospect, sign a contract, begin promoting, reap the profits. Everyone is a willing participant, everyone benefits.
The only member of the so-called "lynch mob" I see is Granderson.
