The TUF 10 mega-fight between Roy "Big Country" Nelson and Kimbo Slice took place last night, unfolding with a less than dramatic TKO win in the 2nd round for Nelson. The fight basically played out as one would expect when a highly experienced and much heavier Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt and ADCC veteran fights a smaller, less experienced striker.  Kimbo was much more fluid and threatening with his punches (we even saw Kimbo snap off a low kick), but he looked a bit uncertain with his footwork, stance, and levels when trying to balance the mechanics of unloading his shots and defending the Big Country takedown. Roy Nelson is the best TUF 10 fighter, one of the best HW grapplers in the game, and the worst possible match-up for Kimbo out of all the contestants.  Why?  Because no matter how hard you hit, no matter how much natural talent you have, no matter how hard you have been training for the last several years, there is no way to catch up quick enough to perform at the blackbelt level on the ground.  There has been some discussion about the referee's choice to intervene and call the contest a TKO victory for Nelson when he had attained the crucifix position and was landing unthreatening but uncontested blows, such as we saw in the Fabricio Werdum vs. Brandon Vera fight.  Situations like this are a tough call for the referee.  On one side of the coin, a fighter must "intelligently defend himself", and taking a dozen or so unanswered shots to the head with both of your arms trapped and no apparent escape plan could aptly fit that description.  On the flip side, Nelson's punches were far from fight-ending  blows, and one could argue that it is somewhat intelligent to absorb short and soft shots to the top of the head in such a compromised position where the slightest mistake leaves you open for a submission or more forceful blows.  Personally, I would like to see the fighters decide the outcome versus the referee.  I would prefer to have seen Kimbo tap out, Roy abandon the position for a submission or more effective striking, or the rest of the round playing out in that position.  No, the latter outcome would not have been exciting, but the referee is there to enforce the rules and the burden of excitement falls on the fighters. I'm not sure how much this really told us about Kimbo Slice and his potential in the UFC, that is, unless anyone was expecting him to be on par with the top echelon of heavyweight grappling in MMA.  It would be my guess that Nelson can and will put the same type of grappling clinic on each and every one of the barely-experienced fighters on the show, although he may have more trouble getting the fight to the ground with some of the bigger and stronger guys.  I'm not trying to favor Kimbo-- I'm just trying to give him a fair chance.  Roy Nelson is ranked the #33 heavyweight in the world on Fightmatrix, so I don't think we should close the chapter on Kimbo just yet.

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