Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
Fresh off the biggest win of his career, Seth Petruzelli's comments made headlines.
Quoteworthy
"The promoters kind of hinted to me, and they gave me the money, to stand and trade with him. They didn't want me to take him down, let's just put it that way. It was worth my while to try to stand up and punch with him." -- Seth Petruzelli to Real Radio 104.1 in Orlando on Monday.
"Obviously we didn't pay [Petruzelli] to stand. Kimbo had trained for months to fight a guy who's fighting on the ground. We don't care if people stand or take people down or what. It doesn't matter to us. All we want is an exciting fight." -- EliteXC Head of Fight Operations Jeremy Lappen to Sherdog on Monday.
"It was my own wanting to get the knockout bonus. It wasn't them saying, 'I don't want you to take him down, I want you to stand with him and I'm going to give you so much money just to stand.' It was, 'We have a knockout bonus. There it is. If you want it, take it' … The plan from the beginning was to stand up and just play it by ear, see how I feel. If I was getting caught, then I was going to shoot in.'' -- Petruzelli to Sherdog on Tuesday.
"You're not asking him to throw a fight. You're talking about a fan-friendly fight, not about protecting Kimbo. Do I think that's unethical? No. Because in MMA, you get bonus money for a knockout. I don't see it as unethical . . . asking him to be TV and fan friendly." -- former EliteXC head Gary Shaw to The Los Angeles Times.
"It put a nail in my coffin, too. When dirty people go out and do stuff like that, it hurts. Promoters have a bad rap as it is because of the last 100 years of boxing. We actually started to turn that around and were doing the right things and then you have these guys coming out and doing (expletive) like that. It hurts us." -- UFC President Dana White on Petruzelli to The Boston Herald.
"I don't feel too too bad about it …Man knocked me out in front of my family. That's f----d up, man. It's all good." -- Slice in good-natured, but brief, post-fight remarks.
"This wasn't Buster Douglas stunning Tyson; it was Dorothy pulling back the Wizard's curtain." -- SI.com's Jon Wertheim on Slice's loss.
Esther Lin/Sherdog.com
"The worst thing that could happen to Kimbo happened to Kimbo," said Frank Shamrock.
"Of course, there's a downside to the promotional philosophy that emphasizes characters instead of the best fighters: These characters are eventually going to be exposed for what they are. The fantasy of the unbeatable street fighter is just that … This myth can be built up, and for a while it will pay dividends. But ultimately there is only so much a promotion can do to protect a fighter who simply isn't very good. When fans figure it out, there is little left in the fighter you spent so much time promoting." -- Todd Martin of CBS Sportsline on Kimbo Slice.
"EliteXC is bigger than Kimbo Slice. We've always anticipated that Kimbo Slice could take a loss someday. All MMA fighters do." -- CBS vice president Kelly Kahl to MMAWeekly about EliteXC's sustainability despite Slice's loss.
"The worst thing that could happen to Kimbo happened to Kimbo." -- Frank Shamrock to Sherdog.
"You want to be victim number two? Hold on a second." -- a pumped-up Duane Ludwig to HD-Net interviewer Ron Kruck, who was trying to steer Ludwig into a different discussion post-fight.
"The only thing I can say about this episode is Junie was a mess. I didn't know if he was putting on an act or if he's that messed up. I think it's a little of both." -- Krzysztof Soszynski in his TUF 8 Sherdog blog about Junie Browning's outbursts.
"I don't know why I'm doing it, but I am. Don't make a fool out of me." -- Dana White after scolding Browning, but allowing him to stay in the house, on “The Ultimate Fighter” this week.
"I think Patrick Cote is right: I am beatable." -- Anderson Silva to UFC.com.
The Week Ahead
A heavyweight bout between Dave Herman and Kerry Schall headlines the latest ShoXC “Elite Challenger Series" from Hammond, Ind., on Showtime; Kim Couture and Skip Kelp present "Night of Combat II" at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas; and the UFC drives home its promotion for UFC 89 and UFC 90, which take place on back-to-back weekends.
