(Petruzelli ends Kimbo’s night and ProElite’s future. Image courtesy of ProElite)
Two months ago, things looked to be going well for Seth ‘The Silverback’ Petruzelli (11-4), with a big money fight with MMA legend Ken Shamrock pencilled in for March. However, that has since fallen through and, as he told FIGHT! Magazine, he is sick of being overlooked at the top level.
“It fell through because people are stupid,” said Seth on the aforementioned Shamrock bout. “I’m so sick of people running their mouths with ‘I can do this’ and ‘I can do that,’ when in reality nothing is solid. I have a glimmer of hope that this fight will happen sometime, but maybe when I’m Shamrock’s age, and he is seventy-ish.”
When this bout was scrapped, a fight with recent UFC departee Houston Alexander was highly touted although it appears that that too has now bitten the dust. “They say it’s been moved to May but I’m not 100% sure,” revealed ‘The Silverback’. “I have the contract in my inbox, but that’s for the April date.”
So is Seth feeling increasingly irritated by the fact he is having to wait so long to fight? “Extremely,” he divulged. “I understand to a point, but come on – I am very marketable, have a great personality, am sexy and, oh yeah, I can fight!
“I don’t feel I’ve outgrown the smaller shows, but I do feel; strike that, I know I can compete with all the talent in the UFC right now,” asserted ‘The Silverback’. “I wasn’t in a good place four years ago when I lost my two fights there. Now I am a different person.”
Petruzelli, a participant on Season 2 of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ also has his own ideas on why the ‘big shows’ won’t give him a shot. “With Strikeforce, I think it’s maybe because of what I said after beating Kimbo,” reasoned Seth. “With the UFC, it’s because they are sucking all the dollars they can out of Kimbo and having me there is a threat to that. With Japan, I have no clue – that’s what is so frustrating!”
It was less than two years ago that Petruzelli (ironically a late replacement for Ken Shamrock) blasted Kimbo Slice in just fourteen seconds. How situations have changed though. ‘Street certified’ Kimbo is soon to be fighting on the main card of UFC 113, while Petruzelli is left in limbo. “I’m happy he is doing well – it looks better for me,” said Seth, not to be drawn into a feeling of jealousy over Slice’s position.
“Me beating him helped me a lot,” expanded the ‘Kimbo Killer’. “The comments I made [after the bout] didn’t help me at all. It was cleared though; no wrong doing on either side happened.”
To finish up, Seth put a few names out there of people he would like to fight. “I’d like a rematch with Matt Hamill, a rematch with Kimbo to shut up the haters, James Toney, Tito Ortiz, or anyone at 205lbs or heavyweight that would like to fight! Oh, and I’ll drop to 185 to fight Tom Lawlor,” he jokingly concluded.
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