He began his fighting career as a novelty act and after trying mixed martial arts for three years, it looks like Kimbo Slice is returning to the novelty side of things. Plenty of MMA promoters have been asked about Kimbo as an MMA fighter, but no one has bitten. Now he's headed to the world of fake fighting. Kimbo has signed on for a pro wrestling event in Japan on Feb. 5.
Kimbo will be part of an eight-man pro wrestling tournament and will face Wakakirin Shinichi. He is the smaller of the two sumo wrestlers in the match below. Even in the fake stuff, Kimbo better keep his chin tucked and watch out for those vicious slaps. Wakakirin beat this guy silly with his slaps. The big guy could hardly stand at the end of the fight.
Wakakirin, 27, is a bit of a villain in Japan. He turned to pro wrestling after being banned from the world of sumo for marijuana possession. He pled guilty and received a suspended sentence of three years. Wakakirin also forfeited his pension of $5.3 million Yen per year. The Japanese take that ban very seriously. Wakakirin was scheduled to fight Bob Sapp at Dynamite!! 2010. The Japanese were not going to show the bout on free television.
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Wakakirin's entry into pro wrestling was marked by a little controversy as well. He faced former UFC and PRIDE fighter Mark Coleman at IGF 13 in December. He defeated the MMA fighter, but Coleman's camp accused Wakakirin of straying from the script.
Kimbo hasn't fought since his UFC loss to Matt Mitrione back in May. After building his name through street-fighting videos on YouTube, Kimbo made the transition to MMA in 2007. He posted a 4-2 record, but there were questions about his dedication to training. He was 1-1 with the UFC, but also failed badly on the promotion's reality show "The Ultimate Fighter."
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There were reports that the soon-to-be 37-year-old Kimbo was going into professional boxing, but he's yet to make his debut in the squared circle. Slice was going to work on the boxing side with the Shaws, Gary and son, Jared. That's been tabled for now.
"[Slice left the boxing training camp] due to some various injuries and to go film The Scorpion King. Upon his return, he didn’t show me any interest in boxing, so we just decided for right now to put it to the side," Slice’s former promoter Jared Shaw told FanHouse.
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