On August 1, the UFC will, for only the second time, broadcast live fights on the Versus network. Headlining this free fight card is Jon “Bones” Jones (10-1) against Vladimir Matyushenko (24-4).  Walk into any bar and ask which fighters name rings a louder bell. Chances are you will not find five people who have ever heard of Matyushenko. But ‘Bones Jones’ is a name the masses will easily recognize.  Why wouldn’t they? His name has been shoved in our face for over a year now. With his bone shattering decimation of Brandon Vera the last time UFC was on Versus, Dana White said Jones is a year away from a title shot. Writers and radio personalities alike have been drooling over the possibilities and potential that he has. The hype machine is in full force promoting Jon Jones as a future champ and possible Hall-of-Famer. However, if he isn’t careful, he could suffer the same fate as a one, Kimbo Slice.

His reputation preceded him. Defeated opponents lie behind him. And you could not talk about combat sports without the mention of his name: Kimbo Slice. CBS correspondent Gus Johnson even went as far as to say that Kimbo was America!   It was just two years ago that Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Fergusson was riding high atop a three fight win streak conquering the likes of Tank Abbott and James Thompson. He had fought his way from YouTube to national television. All implications suggested that Slice was on the fast track to have major success in Mixed Martial Arts. But that all changed in the blink of an eye, or here, a head butt.

In the fall of 2008, Kimbo was scheduled to fight the well known, highly respected, former UFC veteran Ken Shamrock. Ken was forced to pull out just hours before the event due to cut he received after being head butted during training. There he was, Mr. YouTube Sensation, Mr. Main Event without an opponent. EliteXC did, however, manage to find an eager, albeit relatively unknown, Seth Petruzelli. When alerted to the last minute replacement, casual fans simply wrote off the ‘pink haired guy’ as another KO win for Slice.  Much to the surprise of everyone watching on CBS that October night, Kevin Fergusson was dropped with a mighty right to the chin. “The Kimbo Killer” was born and Slice was exposed. Every media figure from Michael David Smith to Michael Wilbon said what we all know: Kimbo Slice’s 15 minutes of fame has run out. Since then Kimbo has not had much success despite being a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter: Season 11. Slice was cut after only 2 UFC bouts and is currently unemployed. Oh how the mighty have fallen. He went from being THE man to being a flicker of our memory. His unexpected loss to a virtually unknown fighter was the beginning of the end.

I do not believe that the wins and losses matter as much who they were against. Name recognition goes a long way; just ask James Toney, Herschel Walker, or Dave Batista. I’m not claiming that Seth Petruzelli or Vladimir Matyushenko are tomato cans, but c’mon, do you think the average Joe cares one iota about either of them? Absolutely not. They are tuning in to see the big names. Big names sell tickets. Had Kimbo lost to legend that is Shamrock, his star would not have lost as much luster. But when you lose to a guy that most people do not know, the utter shock of it all is enough to make the casual fan jump off the bandwagon. Similarly, on August 1st, Jon ‘Bones’ Jones will fight, and hopefully prevail against the less well known opponent.  Ask almost anyone and they will tell you it is a foregone conclusion that Jones leaves the San Diego Sports Arena with another ‘W’. If he does not live up to the hype it will only be a matter of time before Vladimir Matyushenko is labeled as the ‘Bone Crusher’ and Jones’ fate is sealed as just another Kimbo Slice.

Jon Jones, Kimbo Slice, UFC, Versus