Kimbo Slice

Kimbo Slice did not disappoint the crowd in his hometown with a clear unanimous victory over Eric "Butterbean" Esche for the vacant Pure Combat bantamweight championship at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento, California.

It was Kimbo's night out from the start when he dropped Butterbean with a quick punch and then punished his opponent with a track down, the first of many on the night. Kimbo handed out the penalty from above until the first round bell rang in three minutes.

Butterbean landed in the half guard after a fever battle in the second set, but Kimbo went back and hit Butterbean against the tarp. With an active Kimbo looming over him, Butterbean could find no relief again as the rounds matched the appropriate five minutes.

The bantamweight faced each other in the third round, but Kimbo dived through safer ground as Butterbean injured him with a headband. A punished Butterbean came out under Kimbo for the first time all night only to be led to the mat seconds later where he stayed.

Kimbo Slice recovered with a series of punches in the third round to make opponent Butterbean nervous, but that wasn't enough to push the WEC veteran into the referee's card. Kimbo was awarded a split decision with a double value of 29-28 in a well-settled case, giving Butterbean his second ending in two outings.

As the match progressed in the fourth and fifth rounds, the well-conditioned Kimbo seemed unstoppable from a comfortable half-screen counting occasional beats and elbows in the abandoned Butterbean. Kimbo received legitimate scores of 50-45 in all areas