December - 2015
SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
8
sasters of epic proportions.
Ken Shamrock looked shaky
in his loss to Kimbo Slice this
past Summer even though he
did come close to choking the
street fighter out, and Slice,
for his part, came off looking
like he hadn’t learned a thing
about MMA since he debuted,
still awkward as ever off his
back.
Yet the second appearance
for each in Bellator feels even
stranger than the first, and this
particular freakshow is getting
just a little too freaky.
The problem here is one of
timing. Five years ago, a third
bout between Shamrock and
Gracie, both already well past
their prime, might have been a
welcome nostalgia trip. Now,
it simply feels like two fighters
going through the motions in
their old age, hopping on the
Bellator money train. Each man
is welcome to make a living as
they see fit, but in a dangerous
sport, you’ve got to question
the logic.
For his part, Gracie would no
doubt like to go out on a fight
other than one that came with
a drug test failure attached to
it. For Shamrock, well, after
coming close in the Slice fight
initially, maybe he feels this is a
second chance. Both men will
likely pick up a king’s ransom
for their work — but it’s a fight
that simply doesn’t need to
happen. For fighter health and
safety, and for the sanity of the
fans, this one doesn’t need to
take place.
The worse offender, however,
is the co-main event — which,
we should point out, BJPenn.
com speculated on months
ago. With such a small number
of notable heavyweights, it’s
shocking to see Bellator waste
one of their biggest names (and
even then, a name of question-
able relevance) against a virtual
unknown, even if it is a grudge
match. Dada 5000, a.k.a.
Dhafir Harris, is a former body-
guard of Kimbo Slice who Slice
feels disrespected him and tried
to cash in on his name. Dada
(or is it 5000?) feels otherwise,
and had a documentary of his
own street fighting exploits re-
leased this year. They’ll settle
things in the Bellator cage, but
it feels like a step backwards.
Dada 5000 is 2-0 in pro MMA
fights, and hasn’t had one in
years. Last time he was in the
cage, even in a win, he looked
far from a polished mixed mar-
tial artist, even in comparison
to the relatively one-dimen-
sional Slice.
Slice would have been an in-
teresting bout for a fighter like
Bobby Lashley, who just took
out James Thompson and was
a huge ratings factor for Bella-
tor 145; he’s arguably the big-
gest star of the heavyweight
division in Bellator aside from
Cheick Kongo. With champion
Vitaly Minakov busy in Europe
and a year and a half removed
from defending his Bellator
crown, it seems unthinkable
that Slice, who still has a name
in the sport and is at least a
danger on the feet, is given
what looks like a throwaway
fight.
Freakshow fights can be a lot
of fun (The MMA Corner has
a weekly feature dedicated
to them, after all), but there’s
a limit. Bellator 149 seems
to be leaving that limit in the
dust. Yes, we’ll be watching,
but how much longer Bellator
is able to hold viewer interest
with these freakshow fights
remains to be seen. Bellator’s
Dynamite card (featuring a
one-night light heavyweight
tournament and Tito Ortiz vs.
Liam McGeary) didn’t pan out
the way they’d hoped, and
Gracie vs. Shamrock 3 has an
eerie feeling of deja vu about
it. Things are simply getting a
little too freaky.
