By Todd Martin

Saturday night, Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson makes his EliteXC debut. Slice signed a multiyear contract with EXC in the past month and since then has been heavily promoted by the organization.

Why is Slice the most heavily promoted fighter on EXC's upcoming card? He doesn't have an amateur wrestling pedigree. He isn't an accomplished jiu jitsu practitioner. He isn't a Muay Thai standout. In fact, he has only one sanctioned fight, and that was an exhibition against 46-year-old boxer Ray Mercer. Slice isn't being promoted for any of those reasons. Rather, EXC is hoping to capitalize on his fame as an underground street fighter. This is a mistake.

EXC's promotional philosophy is a sound one. It realizes better than most of UFC's competitors that MMA is built around star power. There are plenty of talented MMA fighters, but not all have the charisma, personality, fighting style or life story that can bring in the masses. Stars are needed to attract new fans and garner significant interest. Thus, the company has focused on signing potentially marketable fighters like Frank Shamrock, Nick Diaz, Robbie Lawler and Gina Carano.

This philosophy led the company to Slice. Slice's unique look and background make him a novelty. He will never be just another MMA fighter. But the positives are greatly outweighed by the many negatives that come with getting behind Slice.

To begin with, his fame is not as great as many seem to believe. He made his name in Internet message board forums based on online fights, but that community has never been large enough to make a major show profitable. The internet MMA community is small relative to the audience that watches EXC on Showtime, and miniscule relative to the broader UFC audience that EXC hopes to tap into. Slice's fight with Mercer ran on pay-per-view and generated very little interest even with the novelty of Slice's first sanctioned fight. Slice won't bring in a broad audience.

(Continue Reading)