Notes: Kimbo-Nelson hype builds

The latest chapter in the story of Kimbo Slice, who parlayed a fearsome look and YouTube videos of backyard brawls into his status as one of the most talked about mixed martial arts fighters in history, airs Wednesday night.

This time, what will undoubtedly be the single most watched fight in the 10-season history of The Ultimate Fighter reality show on Spike TV will feature a match that actually took place in June, in which Slice faces the best on-paper fighter in the house, former International Fight League heavyweight champion Roy "Big Country" Nelson.

While rumors abound regarding what happened in the match, not much is known for sure. Win or lose, Slice will remain a focal point of the show, and he ends up being Nelson’s roommate after the fight.

"This fight is very exciting," Slice said on a Monday press call promoting the show. "This fight is probably pound-for-pound one of my best fights."

All that is known for sure about Slice's fighting future is that he is currently training with a major camp for the first time, the Coconut Creek, Fla.-based American Top Team (home of WEC featherweight champ Mike Brown and UFC welterweight standout Thiago Alves), and that his next live fight will take place in December.

Kimbo Slice

It will most likely be on the Dec. 5 Ultimate Fighter finals from Las Vegas, whether or not he’s in the tournament championship match that takes place on that card. It is also possible his next fight could take place a week later at a pay-per-view event in Memphis.

Any questions about the legitimacy of his handling on the show were answered last week. When rival team coach Rashad Evans announced the third fight of the season at the end of last week’s episode, he picked Nelson to face Slice.

If the show was being set up to protect Slice, since he’s the reason for this season's record-setting ratings, you would probably avoid having him fight as long as possible. And the last guy you’d want him against until the finals, for a number of reasons, would be Nelson.

Largely due to Slice's presence, the first two episodes of the season were the two highest rated episodes in the history of the show. While it’s not a lock episode three will be a record-setter just because the first week’s 4.1 million viewers for the first-run episode blew away even the most optimistic of predictions, it should at worst be in the same ballpark. The hype pushing Slice vs. Nelson as the most anticipated fight in the history of the show is not overblown.

In Slice’s four pro fights, three broke records. He set the all-time Showtime MMA ratings record (since broken by the Gina Carano vs. Cris Santos fight) for a fight with Tank Abbott. His two matches on CBS, against James Thompson and Seth Petruzelli, are two of the three most-watched television matches in U.S. MMA history.

Slice was largely relaxed during Monday's press conference, only getting hot when it was suggested that Petruzelli, who beat Slice in his previous fight on Oct. 4, had said Slice had three times turned down rematches with him.

"Seth needs to be careful because we live in the same backyard and I know that sissy ice cream shop (a smoothie shop Petruzelli owns in South Florida)," said Slice. "No one ever approached me with any rematch with Seth and I never turned that down. That’s [expletive]. That didn’t happen. If Seth signed with UFC and Dana (White) wanted to match us up, I’d do that. I don’t like lying. I’d never turn down a rematch with anybody. It ain’t personal, but it’s [expletive]. I never said 'No,' to nothing to him. I’ve been hearing that dude talking [expletive]."

As for Wednesday night's match, Nelson (17-4) doesn’t look menacing, with a huge belly, big enough that it kept him out of UFC at first even though his ability should have given him the opportunity to fight. If you didn’t know any better, you’d look at Nelson and think he’s not even an athlete and that a match between Nelson and the sculpted Slice would be a horrible mismatch.

But Nelson, 33, is a top-level grappler, a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Renzo Gracie, has a strong wrestling background and has solid stand-up.

Slice was well aware of who he was. "Yeah, I knew a little bit about Roy from the IFL," said Slice. "I saw him when he fought Big Ben Rothwell (one of the company’s best heavyweight bouts, which Rothwell won a disputed split decision in 2007). Roy has game and I knew he was a fighter."

And he said when the match was announced, he welcomed it.

"Yeah, I wouldn’t want it any other way," he said. "If I was going to lose a fight, I’d rather lose to a guy like that with a big name. It just makes sense to have two big names go at it. One’s got to win and one’s got to lose. It’s cool that it’s happening right now and it gets it out of the way."

Slice, who has done a number of straight-to-video movies, and in fact, is breaking from training for a few days to film one in the upcoming weeks, said that even though he’d have loved to have gotten the role of B.A. Baracus, since he’s been dubbed often as this generation’s Mr. T, he’s happy his coach on the show, Quinton Jackson, got it.

"I ain't’ no hater," he said. "He and I are like the real Mr. T."

Strikeforce fighters shine over weekend

Strikeforce heavyweights fared well over the weekend in major championships in other fighting disciples.

Fabricio Werdum captured the heavyweight division at the Abu Dhabi world submission fighting championships held in Barcelona, Spain. The submission fighting tournament is a grappling battle for submissions as the absolute finish, and a point system based on takedowns and ground positioning. Strikeforce’s women’s champion, Cris "Cyborg" Santos, placed third in the women’s unlimited weight class.

Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, who won the title nearly two years ago and has yet to defend it, defeated 38-year-old kickboxing legend Peter Aerts on Saturday in Seoul, South Korea, in the first round of K-1's 16-man tournament. Overeem will go into a one-night eight-man tournament in what is the premiere kickboxing event in the world, on Dec. 5 in Yokohama, Japan, facing Ewerton Teixeira as his first opponent. Overeem started his fighting career as a kickboxer before moving to MMA.