Schaub: "TUF 10 producers f***ed Kimbo over"

[Sensee]

How Dana and the UFC treated Kimbo, who at least had fighting and MMA experience is such a stark contrast to this:

You seem a bit biased against a proven superior athlete like Chick Magnet Punk and how he earned his way into the UFC after his amazing performance against Cena. I thought he should have been given a title shot right out the gates.

 

[dragonsfly]

I am not saying Roy Nelson is a bad fighter and in fact he was fucking dengerous with one punch KO. He was a good fighter not the absolute elite but nonetheless middling good fighter. Alot of people were on the Kimbo wave and they may have geninuely thought that he was able to atleast put away Roy Nelson which was a bad calculation on their behalf because Roy Nelson despite being a middling fighter he was leagues above Kimbo since Roy was more well rounded and more of a legit fighter aka professional fighter where as Kimbo was fighting below cans on the streets and they were not trained fighters just tough guys who wanted to fight him who didn't train cardio, conditioning, drills or nothing.

Knowledge of MMA was not very developed at that time and they made a major miscalculation and they were not the only once who did this but pretty much everyone because nobody knew alot about the pragmatic side of MMA or dynamics of the fight game itself that much and it is only just recently that we can with confidence tell whos good and whos bad and judge their fundations and skillsets pretty accurate because we now have alot of data.

It was a period of MMA ignorance and such large hype trains like Kimbo will never repeat again and it was a one-time fluke because the general public census was ignorant about MMA or fighting in general. Knowledge is everything and now it seems like even casuals know what happens on the ground and the different submission positions etc etc. There were even times people believed in ppl like Van damm, Jet Li, Arnold etc etc being truly bad-ass fighters but the fighting genre as awhole evolved alot in the last decade specifically amongst the public census and the casuals

 

[Staph infection]

Wasn’t Schaub the one who said fuck kimbo and treated him like dirt at the start of the show? I guess Schaub will just say whatever now in an attempt to stay relevant.

 

[thobra]

Kimbo lost his own fights. He was already a professional fighter. He also lost to Matt Mitrione who came to the show with zero professional fights. It's not the UFC's fault Kimbo just wasn't good.

Of course it is not their fault, but I still think it is strange that they didn’t make the most of it. It was a great opportunity to make a lot of money and make the company popular.

 

[thobra]

there was very little chance he could win the show imo.

doesn't mean he sucked, but he wasn't as good as at least a few of the other guys there.

True.. maybe he was just too far away from it.. i still think they could have found several guys that he could beat. Build the season around him in a way. It was a pretty big opportunity for the UFC to get a guy like that, and he was even a very good, loveable guy with a great personality that everyone was rooting for.

 

[kflo]

True.. maybe he was just too far away from it.. i still think they could have found several guys that he could beat. Build the season around him in a way. It was a pretty big opportunity for the UFC to get a guy like that, and he was even a very good, loveable guy with a great personality that everyone was rooting for.

My recollection was that they did promote a lot of the show around him. They knew he was the attraction. Could they have done more? I don’t remember enough about it, and his upside was going to be limited by his ability to win fights.

And yeah, he was likable and had some skills. Just not enough, and not at hw.

 

[king of theRing]

My coach was on Tuf 10 so need to ask who was the racist guy. He was actually supposed to fight Kimbo, but Kimbo didn't take it

 

[king of theRing]

Yeah that’s a load of bull. The coaches pick the fights and they did what in coach would do; put their strongest against the other teams weakest in the first round. Kimbo was not on anyone’s level really in that tournament. They still promoted the hell out of him and gave him fights after the show

Dana and producers also get a say and tell them what would be best. They did it on tuf 8 with Shane Nelson and junie

 

[king of theRing]

His first fight was roy, they should have given him shaub or something

Thing is, everyone wanted Kimbo due to it could be the easiest fight with the biggest reward publicity wise.

 

[OrigFan255]

Hairline waaay to bad for modern mma.

You are a Vidal Sasoon rep, I can a feel it!

 

[dracul]

how was it the producers?
schaub just chatting shit for views
kinda hope he was knocked out more so his mouth stayed shut and i say that as a fan

 

[king of theRing]

how was it the producers?
schaub just chatting shit for views
kinda hope he was knocked out more so his mouth stayed shut and i say that as a fan

Producers and Dana have a say in things to. They know what makes good tv

 

[Edmond's Accountant]

Considering how TUF showed all of Rhonda's most shameful tuf moments, it doesn't surprise me they'd screw over Dana and Kimbo

1- Ronda had never reached superstar status yet, so there was a lot more flexibility in showing her in a negative light. Plus it sets up a face/heel dynamic for Ronda vs Miesha II to see if Ronda gets her comeuppance.
2- Conflict is a big element of Reality TV, so the negative traits which get people talking are gonna be exaggerated. I spoke to Davey Grant about TUF, and he said the Ronda vs Meisha stuff was A) a lot more 50-50 then the show made out to be and B) he got the impression the girls hammed it up for the show. That being said Davey was on Ronda's team that year so he might be biased.

 

[Adamant]

Kimbo definitely could have been huge for UFC if they didn't torpedo him from Day 1. Schaub's right for once. They could have built his career so much differently and made so much more money together. Fools.

 

[SideKickPro24]

Man is it newbs? Or is everyone just not remembering how that season went down. The UFC didn’t do anything, Rampage got first pick, and being the terrible coach he is, he picked Kimbo first. Rashad, picked Nelson, knowing that Nelson had a ton of experience against high caliber fighters. Because he didn’t pick rust, Rashad got to choose e first fight. And he chose to fight his best against page’s heart which was Kimbo. Talk about taking a guys soul. That was the beginning of all the psych warfare between those two.

The ufc hyped the hell out of Kimbo that season. Basically the whole season was geared around him. Every week they gave him so much air time, Coupled with the fact they didn’t even have a tryout/ fight to get in episode!!! They did everything they could for Kimbo.

 

[BEER]

yes it does, getting the number 1 seed with minimal experience isnt by accident. dana was also very vocal about saying kimbo couldnt make it in the ufc and if he did hed have to go through tuf. a reporter even asked about giving him a ufc chance even though he lost and dana said "well, he went into tuf"

so they got him smoked, seen his numbers and that seasons ratings, and brought him in. im not saying he wouldnt have gotten smoked eventually by someone else but getting roy was a message to street fighters who think they are actually tough. schaub after the show said "why was roy even in there" so the fighters knew roy was the guy, you think the producer/talent scouts didnt?

Everyone knew Roy was the guy. Dude was one of the best heavyweights in the world even before signing with the UFC. I think Dana hated him for being fat and hoped some up and comer would luck out with a win.

 

[Ghostoftheville]

He was never a top prospect, but he was a fighter that could win against the right guys.. With the right opponents he probably could have won TUF, or at least looked decent, so they could build him up to a great ppv headline.

So just waste a season to make one guy look good who already had a small window due to old age and past injuries.

 

[CRuck1980]

Sure, he was never good enough to be a real top fighter, but they could have made the most out of his potential, and earned a lot of money. He was able to win several fights if matched up right.

The problem is, the level of competition needed to make him look good requires a lot of barrel scraping. He struggled against James thompson and got destroyed by Seth Petruzelli. The Dada fight was a disgrace. He was not a guy with star potential outside of the freak show

 

[thobra]

So just waste a season to make one guy look good who already had a small window due to old age and past injuries.

Yes, exactly. And it didn’t mean wasting the season. Just building a star, and getting more viewers/ interest in the company.
If What Schaub says is true, it is a strange strategy.

 

[wwkirk]

Kimbo was a guy whose intimidating look and reputation were out of proportion to his actual fighting ability. Even if he had faced someone other Roy in the first round, he would have been eliminated prior to the final anyway.