Rutten: Kimbo Shouldn’t Cut Weight

Kimbo Slice’s one-time trainer Bas Rutten had a single critique after watching the fighter’s Dec. 5 victory against Houston Alexander: stay at heavyweight.

Slice, whose real name is Kevin Ferguson, dipped below his usual 230-pound-plus frame to make a 215-pound catch-weight against Alexander at “The Ultimate Fighter 10” finale in Las Vegas. Slice won the bout by unanimous decision.

“I think the biggest problem for him, and I called Mike, his manager, and I said don’t let him fight anymore under his normal weight, like 218, or whatever he was,” Rutten told host Bruce Buffer on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “It’s Time” show on Tuesday. “That’s not him. You’ll take too much power away from him. Let him fight at the weight that he walks around with. That’s the happy weight because you feel the best.”

Slice, who voiced his disdain for the cut in the days leading up to the bout, said he’d be willing to compete again at 215 pounds and above in a recent exclusive video interview with Sherdog.com.

“I’ll bang with anybody that wants to bang at 215, that wants to see me in that division,” said Slice. “205, I won’t get, but you come in at 215, man, and we can do this, you know what I’m saying? We can talk.”

Rutten also dismissed past reports that he’d spoken ill of his former student’s work ethic after the coach and fighter parted ways late last year. Slice trained at Rutten’s California gym for his EliteXC bouts against James Thompson and Seth Petruzelli. The 35-year-old fighter began training again in September at American Top Team, not far from Slice’s Miami-based home.

“No, I didn’t say that, but that’s something (some of the media) came up with,” said Rutten. “I want to see that interview. If they say, ‘Oh, Bas said that,’ OK, well, then show me that interview, you know? But nobody can come up with that interview.”