MMA Week In Review: Kimbo Slice's Next Fight, MMA in Boston, Another Great TUF

In no particular order, here are five stories that caught my attention in MMA this week:

1 - Kimbo Slice to face Houston Alexander in catch-weight bout at the TUF 10 finale

When I first read about this rumor, it just made a lot of sense. Since getting on a hot streak with a couple convincing KOs in 2007, Alexander had lost three straight in the Octagon and got permission to fight outside the UFC, a first round TKO at a regional card last month. One more UFC loss and he's done.

Then, there's Kimbo—an equally jacked and potentially potent KO machine.

He's got no ground game, which everyone knows. He's a ratings draw, even though he hasn't strung together any great fights to warrant the attention. But people are drawn to him and the UFC is smart to put him against another banger who also has nothing to lose. There won't need to be any concern about a ground game other than a guy hitting the ground after being KO'd.

It will be two big scary men swinging lethal fists at each other with a lot more than a 'W' on the line. It's a catch-weight bout (215) and has finally been made official. I can't remember a similar time I've been this excited about seeing two guys on losing streaks.

2 - MMA is one step closer to reality in Boston

The Massachusetts House of Representative voted 114-10 to pass a bill that would sanction mixed martial arts in the state , leaving just the Senate to vote on the bill and a Gov. Deval Patrick signature to put it into law. The Senate previously approved the bill in July, but there were some adjustments, so they now need to re-vote.

Due to the legislative calendar, it is doubtful this will happen before the end of the year. However, once it happens, the UFC will move quickly to bring a major event to the Northeast—FINALLY.

The state would get four percent of ticket sales revenue for all events and up to $75,000 for a televised show.

As someone based 45 minutes outside of Boston, I cannot wait. Massachusetts will be the 41st state to legislate.

3 - Lesnar out, Machida out, great fights out

By now, you've read about Brock Lesnar's illness that has put him out of his first UFC Heavyweight title defense against Shane Carwin at UFC 106.

Now, Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida has been put on the shelf until mid-January following surgery on his left hand, meaning his rematch against Shogun Rua has been postponed indefinitely.

Some other injuries this week: Thiago Alves is already out of his match with Jon Fitch at UFC 107 after being named a replacement for the injured Ricardo Almeida and Kurt Pellegrino pulled out of the TUF 10 finale against Frankie Edgar due to a back injury. Fitch will now face Mike Pierce—until something happens to him.

Another big one: Anderson Silva will not defend his Middleweight title against Vitor Belfort at January's UFC 108 due to on-going recovery from elbow surgery.

Ugh. Is there any top talent in the UFC that isn't injured right now?

On the flip side for UFC 106, Josh Koscheck vs. Anthony Johnson has been inked for UFC 106 and Phil Baroni vs. Amir Sadollah has been moved up to the main card—now headlined by Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin. 

In case you missed it, here's my column from earlier this week on why there are too many UFC events and the ramifications of them all. 


4 - If you like not paying for MMA, the next two weeks are for you

It hit me last night that fans' wallets get a nice break over the next two weeks with high-profile events featuring some of the game's most recognizable faces.

Next Saturday, CBS airs the much-anticipated Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers bout as Strikeforce returns to network TV for the first time since last October's disastrous EliteXC event.

This is arguably the most important event in the company's history and quite the experiment to see if Fedor can draw ratings.

This is a huge step up in competition for Rogers in his quest for respect. Strikeforce can only hope for a great fight that leads to a must-see rematch, not a quick-hit, ten-second fluke knockout.

By the way, Jake Shields vs. Jason "Mayhem" Miller is getting no love, as is the return of Gegard Mousasi.

It just shows how important regular TV is to help hype and shape events. This will be another fun card, hurt by a regular televised marketing vehicle to help drive it.

In two weeks, we get UFC 105 headlined by Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera, supported by Mike Swick vs. Dan Hardy and Michael Bisping vs. Denis Kang. More on this as we get closer to the event, but in my opinion, there is one more fight for Couture that matters—and it ain't against Brandon Vera.

5 - TUF was awesome again this week, except if you like doors

This show just continues to be awe-inspiring. While the qualities of the fights aren't great, it's the personalities that are selling them as must-see.

Matt Mitrione? Are you kidding me? A guy with voices in his head who everyone hates comes close to KO-ing a guy that has been in the UFC, only to essentially gas out and asked to be knocked out—only to actually pull off a decision win and put Rashad's team to 7-0?

Did you understand any of that sentence? Wow! I love this show.

I don't think any of these guys are going to make a real impact in the UFC, but take the show for what it is: must-see entertainment.

And Rampage demolishing that door at the end of the show is something we'll see replayed for years to come. I think it's safe to say that door tapped out.

Josh Nason has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. He is a contributor to Fight Magazine and Bleacher Report and appears regularly on Fight Network Radio. Follow him on Twitter.