 Kimbo Slice standing over Houston Alexander during their match in Las Vegas on Saturday (Dec. 5) for 'The Ultimate Finale' (Photo: Las Vegas Sun) MMA fighter Kimbo Slice pulled off his first official win in the UFC on Saturday night (December 5). However, it wasn't a the most spectacular performance we've ever seen from him.
The former backyard brawler took the win over Houston Alexander during the season finale of "The Ultimate Fighter 10" seriesy at the Palms in Las Vegas, with a unanimous decision victory from the judges who scored the match 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 in favor Slice.
The Slice-Alexander match was a very slow, and sometimes amateurish looking affair. For much of the beginning, Slice calmly stalked his opponent around the cage, as he danced in circles for several minutes without much action.fight'. The lack of action earned boos from the arena's crowd.
Both fighters finally opened up a bit in the second round, as Kimbo finally landed some glancing punches before he slammed Alexander to the ground. When Alexander finally returned to his feet, he was slammed by Kimbo once again. Twice, Kimbo achieved full mount, but failed to drop any real blows before his foe escaped back to his feet.
Much of the third was the same. But there were couple of exchanges where both fighters let off a few flurries. At one point in the third round, Alexander did land a devastating right leg kick that temporarily swept Slice off his feet (if you watched "The Ultimate Fighter 10", you probably know Slice suffered a knee injury, which still seems to be lingering).
By the end, both fighters were noticablly fatigued, and coasted through the closing minute. While Slice did seem to get the best of Alexander to earn the win, it wasn't by a very wide margin.
After recording his first win, he explained his mentality during the fight and the lack of aggression fans loved in his first few MMA fights with EliteXC.
"I was thinking street for a minute," Slice explained. "I had to bite down. Someone told me once to bite down hard and fight smart, and that’s what I had to do. ... It was hard because I used to be a street fighter. There was no training in my style of fighting. It was based on instincts. At this level of the game, you have to fight smart."
He also addressed the fans' boos, acknowleding that things did start slow, and if had been a fan watching, he would've booed too.
"I would have booed, too. He rode the ring a lot," Slice said. "Maybe that was part of his strategy, I don't know. But the crowd is there to be entertained, and we were the entertainers. They booed because they weren’t happy."
 Roy Nelson raises his hand in victory after knocking out Brendan Schaub to become the 'Ultimate Fighter' (Photo: Las Vegas Sun) "I was like, 'Come on man, let's do this,' " Kimbo added. "I had to call him out in the ring, so I reverted back to the streets in that respect. But he stuck to his game and I was like, 'I'm not going to be foolish and run up on him.' "
Even with the win in the record books, Kimbo Slice as a lot of work to do, which he admits. But he's now got his foot in the door at the UFC, so his future does seem a little brighter.
The main event of Saturday's "Ultimate Finale" was the showdown of the season's last two heavyweights standing -- Roy Nelson versus former NFL pro football player Brendan Schaub.
This match ended quickly, with Nelson winning as most predicted.
While Schaub began the fight agressively at the ring of the bell, landing several blows to Nelson, he was able to weather the storm.
Nelson fired back shortly after, coming in with two left jabs, followed by a fight-ending straight right to Schaub's left ear, knocking him out cold at 3 minutes, 45 seconds in the first.
It was Schaub's first professional loss. Nelson, on the other hand, got the win, making him the "Ultimate Fighter" of this season's reality series and winner of the six-figure UFC contract.
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