Kimbo Slice Needed Heart Transplant Before His Death

Bellator MMA heavyweight Kimbo Slice was admitted to Northwest Medical Center in Margate on June 3, complaining of severe abdominal pain, shortness of breath and nausea. According to the medical report, Slice was found to have a liver mass and congestive heart failure and was placed on a ventilator in intensive care. Doctors advised his family

The post Kimbo Slice Needed Heart Transplant Before His Death appeared first on LowKick MMA.

Bellator MMA heavyweight Kimbo Slice was admitted to Northwest Medical Center in Margate on June 3, complaining of severe abdominal pain, shortness of breath and nausea.

According to the medical report, Slice was found to have a liver mass and congestive heart failure and was placed on a ventilator in intensive care. Doctors advised his family that he would need a heart transplant. His family took the advice and on Monday, Doctors were preparing him for transfer to a facility in Cleveland, where he could be placed on an organ donor list. Unfortunately, Slice died at 7:30 pm that night.

Slice was supposed to fight James Thompson in the main event of Bellator 158, which takes place July 16 at London’s O2 Arena.

“This is like losing a brother,” ATT coach and co-founder Marcus “Conan,” Silveira told the Sun Sentinel.

“It was one of those oddities,” said ATT general manager Richie Guerrerio. “You see a guy doing these YouTube videos and you’re thinking, ‘Is he legit or not?’ People had their preconceived notions. He came in the gym with a humble attitude and was looking to learn. He wanted to become better and become a mixed martial artist. He was very much embraced. He was charismatic, and you were drawn to him.”

From all of us at Low Kick MMA, our thoughts and prayers are with the Slice family.

The post Kimbo Slice Needed Heart Transplant Before His Death appeared first on LowKick MMA.

Denied! Massachusetts Athletic Commission won’t overturn Matt Mitrione’s UFC loss to Travis Browne

Back in January of this year, Matt Mitrione suffered a third-round technical knockout loss to Travis Browne in Boston, Mass., at UFC Fight Night 81.
See it again here.
Though “Meathead” wouldn’t offer up any excuses, he was visually impaired…

Back in January of this year, Matt Mitrione suffered a third-round technical knockout loss to Travis Browne in Boston, Mass., at UFC Fight Night 81.

See it again here.

Though “Meathead” wouldn’t offer up any excuses, he was visually impaired throughout the fight thanks to a couple of inadvertent eye pokes from “Hapa.” The ringside doctors and referee, however, let the fight continue and Matt ultimately suffered a broken right orbital bone, the same eye that was the recipient of the eye pokes.

See the gruesome aftermath here and here.

Shortly thereafter, Mitrione filed an appeal with the Massachusetts Athletic Commission (MSAC) because the official on duty, Gary Foreman, did not penalize Browne and did not saving Matt from himself. An appeal that came after Mitrione found it odd that Foreman was tweeting Browne after the bout asking about his well-being.

Conflict of interest?

However, MMA Junkie has revealed (via Mitrione’s manager, John Foscoe) that MSAC unanimously voted to uphold Browne’s victory and also elected to not discipline Foreman.

Sorry, Matt.

Since that night, Mitrione went on to sign a lucrative contract with Bellator MMA, and is set to make his debut for the promotion on June 24, 2016 at Bellator 57 against Carl Seumanutafa.

As for Browne, he earned himself a high-profile fight against former UFC Heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, which is set to pop off at UFC 200 on July 9, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

For more on that monumental pay-per-view (PPV) event click here.

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson On Benefits Of Fighting In Bellator Instead Of UFC (Video)

https://youtu.be/hPeZ5a6VCIc

MMA legend Quinton “Rampage” Jackson recently spoke with members of the MMA media to promote his upcoming fight against Satoshi Ishii at Bellator 157: “Dynamite 2” later this month.

During the discussion, Rampage tou…

rampage-jackson-dynamite-2-

https://youtu.be/hPeZ5a6VCIc

MMA legend Quinton “Rampage” Jackson recently spoke with members of the MMA media to promote his upcoming fight against Satoshi Ishii at Bellator 157: “Dynamite 2” later this month.

During the discussion, Rampage touched on his UFC departure, the benefits of fighting in Bellator instead of the UFC, no longer being forced to deal with the mandatory Reebok sponsorship issues and more. Below are some of the highlights from the interview, which you can watch in full above.

On his UFC departure, ending up back in Bellator and the last year of his life:

“Yeah, you know, I’m not my own manager. I did my job, my job is to fight and entertain people. I’m not my own manager, so it’s kinda tough. Sometimes, when things don’t go according to what you’ve been told in the past… But, you know what? It looks like Bellator got rid of the bad apple; they got a new apple in there, so everything is all right. It’s all brand new to me.”

On the benefits of fighting in Bellator instead of UFC, including no longer having to deal with the Reebok sponsorship issues:

“The problem with MMA right now is that most people think that MMA is called UFC. I know when I’m on my social media and I’ll tag, like, “I’m fighting in Bellator,” people will be like, “Why you going to Bellator? Why you going to Bellator?” Nothing against UFC, because I’ve had my differences with UFC, they’re a great company. But, I would say some people’s dream is to go to the UFC, but it’s not everybody’s dream, you know what I’m sayin’?

“I like the UFC, I like Bellator… Bellator I don’t have to wear Reebok, you know what I’m sayin’? I’m happy that I’m not forced to wear a clothing brand that’s not really benefitting me. That’s one benefit to being in Bellator versus being in the UFC. But like I said, right now with all the new fighters, you can tell they’re just fans that’re coming in to fight. So, they don’t know any better. That’s their dream. The UFC’s been around longer than Bellator, so that’s probably their dream to go to the UFC. If that’s their dream to go to the UFC and wear Reebok to make the UFC more money, then go ahead. Whatever makes you happy.”

Bellator 157: “Dynamite 2” takes place on June 24, 2016 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

H/T to BloodyElbow.com for transcribing the above Quinton Jackson quotes.

Knocking out Rousimar Palhares got Emil Weber Meek a UFC fight in Germany

Emil Weber Meek caught the attention of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) matchmaker Joe Silva after knocking out Rousimar Palhares at Venator FC 3 on May 21, 2016, in a mere 45 seconds into the opening frame to capture the promotion’s Welterweight title.

See it again here.

In fact, Silva sent Meek a personal email congratulating him on his huge upset win. Several weeks later and the Norwegian striker now finds himself under contract with UFC, as he was recently booked to make his Octagon debut on Sept. 3, 2016, at the upcoming UFC Fight Night event in Hamburg, Germany.

The promotion announced the signing late last night (June 6, 2016).

He’s signed! @emilmeekmma gets a debut bout against @JessinAyari at #UFCHamburg https://t.co/6wSL6jDKUM pic.twitter.com/9ligaljszS

— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) June 7, 2016


Meek (8-2-1) will face fellow UFC newcomer Jessin Ayari (15-3) at the UFC Fight Pass event, which is set to be headlined by an intriguing Heavyweight showdown between two former champions in Andrei Arlovski and Josh Barnett (details here).

Also on the card, Ryan Bader will return to action to face Ilir Latifi in what is sure-to-be a heavy-hitting Light Heavyweight affair .

For more on that 205-pound showdown click here.

Emil Weber Meek caught the attention of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) matchmaker Joe Silva after knocking out Rousimar Palhares at Venator FC 3 on May 21, 2016, in a mere 45 seconds into the opening frame to capture the promotion’s Welterweight title.

See it again here.

In fact, Silva sent Meek a personal email congratulating him on his huge upset win. Several weeks later and the Norwegian striker now finds himself under contract with UFC, as he was recently booked to make his Octagon debut on Sept. 3, 2016, at the upcoming UFC Fight Night event in Hamburg, Germany.

The promotion announced the signing late last night (June 6, 2016).



Meek (8-2-1) will face fellow UFC newcomer Jessin Ayari (15-3) at the UFC Fight Pass event, which is set to be headlined by an intriguing Heavyweight showdown between two former champions in Andrei Arlovski and Josh Barnett (details here).

Also on the card, Ryan Bader will return to action to face Ilir Latifi in what is sure-to-be a heavy-hitting Light Heavyweight affair .

For more on that 205-pound showdown click here.

Brock Lesnar Discusses UFC Return With Paul Heyman

Former UFC heavyweight champion and current WWE superstar Brock Lesnar will surprisingly make his Octagon return at July 9’s UFC 200 event, and it will be far from a tune-up bout when he steps into the cage against No. 8-ranked Mark Hunt after nearly five years off. Lesnar (5-3) was last seen announcing his retirement

The post Brock Lesnar Discusses UFC Return With Paul Heyman appeared first on LowKick MMA.

Former UFC heavyweight champion and current WWE superstar Brock Lesnar will surprisingly make his Octagon return at July 9’s UFC 200 event, and it will be far from a tune-up bout when he steps into the cage against No. 8-ranked Mark Hunt after nearly five years off.

Lesnar (5-3) was last seen announcing his retirement from the sport after suffering a first round TKO loss at the hands of current title challenger Alistair Overeem at UFC 141 in December of 2011.

Now ‘The Beast’ is set to make his highly-anticipated return to MMA, and in a recent interview with his WWE mouthpiece Paul Heyman, Lesnar revealed the details leading up to his UFC return:

“Why? I guess because I want to, that’s why,” Lesnar said. “And that’s the only reason anybody should do anything, right? Because you want to.

“I’m a big believer in living out your dreams and facing your fears and just facing the reality of I don’t want to be sitting 20 years from now saying, ‘You know what son, you should have done that.’ On the biggest stage of all, I was on UFC 100, so why not be on UFC 200?”.

Lesnar feels like he has a statement to make and will put 1,000% into his MMA return, as well as revealing that it was not UFC President Dana White who made the call for him to return, but rather himself who initiated the negotiations for a return.

How do you feel Lesnar will do upon his Octagon return against the surging Australian knockout-artist Hunt? Will he be victorious, or will he suffer the same fate Frank Mir did in March?

You can watch Lesnar’s full interview with the always-entertaining Heyman right here:

The post Brock Lesnar Discusses UFC Return With Paul Heyman appeared first on LowKick MMA.

Was Tito Ortiz Approached About Replacing Kimbo Slice At Bellator 158?

[embed]https://twitter.com/titoortiz/status/740275439281676288[/embed]

It would seem that Bellator officials approached Tito Ortiz about the former UFC light heavyweight champion stepping in and replacing Kimbo Slice at Bellator 158 next month.

…

kimbo-slice-tito-ortiz

It would seem that Bellator officials approached Tito Ortiz about the former UFC light heavyweight champion stepping in and replacing Kimbo Slice at Bellator 158 next month.

Slice passed away Monday night, just about a month away from his planned bout with James Thompson in London, England. Previous reports have indicated that the event will remain on-schedule, airing live on Spike TV.

Ortiz last fought in September, losing to Bellator light heavyweight champion Liam McGeary. He has gone 2-1 overall with Bellator.