As comeback fight nears, Seth Petruzelli determined to shed "Kimboslayer" label

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by Jon Lane on Aug 17, 2009 at 2:00 pm ET
Mention the greatest night of his professional life, and Seth Petruzelli won't give you that here-we-go-again stare, even though he's heard it all before, at least 1,001 times.

As you know – and he knows well – Petruzelli was a UFC failure 10 months ago, buried on the preliminary card of "EliteXC: Heat" and set to face Aaron Rosa before Ken Shamrock suffered a cut over his eye and was forced to back out of the main event against Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson.

Scrambling in a panic, EliteXC executives turned to Petruzelli, allegedly telling him to keep it standing up. It took 14 seconds for "The Silverback" to be splashed on the front of every major MMA Web site (not to mention a slew of mainstream publications, including TIME Magazine). In some ways it's a curse – Petruzelli turns every which way and hears about it. And he will live with it until he starts rewriting the story.

But part of it's also a blessing – to an extent.

"If they're going to market it like that, they're going to pay me better because of it," Petruzelli told MMAjunkie.com (http://www.mmajunkie.com). "I don't want to say it's a bad thing to talk about because it's a great thing that happened to me. But it's just getting old, and I'd like to put it past me and get some more wins."

Fighting for the first time since conquering Ferguson, Petruzelli (10-4) will co-headline Art of Fighting's Aug. 22 event in Tampa, Fla., against local police officer and one-time IFL fighter Chris Baten (5-4). Little else is known about the Baten beyond the IFL, a 2007 win over former NFL player Herbert "Whisper" Goodman and his IFL loss to Jamal Patterson. When asked for a scouting report, all Petruzelli could do was shrug.

"He's a big scary black guy," he said.

Like that's stopped him in the past. Similar to the night he became the "Kimboslayer," Petruzelli will look to take out a bigger opponent early by relying on superior stand-up technique. "It all stops there," Petruzelli said. "I don't think that his skill level is anywhere near mine, and I'll definitely take it to him."

He has no choice – and he really doesn't. He was sick of waiting 10 months to fight again; he was booked for a March bout with former WEC champion Doug Marshall at a hybrid boxing/MMA event promoted by boxer Roy Jones Jr. but tore his MCL and was forced off the card. During that time, while foregoing surgery in favor of rehab, he thought about both whom and what he's fighting against.

A lackluster victory will convince few he's ready for anything bigger. Petruzelli was in talks with Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker when Art of Fighting made a lucrative offer to compete in an event 90 minutes from his Orlando home. Additionally, the UFC has remained open to giving Petruzelli a second chance. A loss to Baten, though, and the "Kimbo Killer" will be considered a fraud and those opportunities will vanish, possibly forever.

"It's a lot of pressure on my shoulders not only to win, but win big and win pretty," Petruzelli said. "It's a heavy weight, but I plan on doing it. If I stuck to my game plan, my skill level will prevail over him, and it'll be shown as that.

"I had other wins before Kimbo that were big. It shouldn't matter, but I know it will matter."

The names are unknown, but Petruzelli compiled six consecutive wins (five in the first round) capped by a unanimous decision victory over MMA legend Dan Severn in 2004. That's when he hooked up with the UFC through the second season of "The Ultimate Fighter" reality show. Two UFC losses to Matt Hamill and Wilson Gouveia led to his release from the organization, though. But one shocking knockout a year later, and he became the "Kimboslayer."

That's great, but there's a bigger picture. At UFC 100, training partner Tom Lawlor led Petruzelli to the octagon in a dog collar and chain, bone in mouth, for the latter's bout against C.B. Dollaway, a message to "The Doberman" that he was about to be captured. Somehow, Petruzelli was convinced to play the part.

"You have to have a good time doing it," Petruzelli said, "or what the hell is the point?"

His point now is to win, to begin changing the perception and rewriting his story.