Dada 5000 recovering after Kimbo fight

Dada 5000 was hospitalized after his fight with Kimbo Slice at Bellator 149.  A statement from his representatives stated that the cause was due to the need to cut 40 pounds to make the 265 pound heavyweight limit.

The fight between Dada and Slice was the worst case scenario for Bellator as both fighters proved to be out of shape and tired early in the first round.   Most of the fight saw both men clinging on to each other to keep each other from falling.  John McCarthy broke up the two on multiple occasions for lack ofaction including Slice in the mount.

Dada was taken by stretcher from the cage and sent to the hospital where things were critical but it appears that he is recovering nicely.  According to a statement from the family, Dada had accumulated “extremely high levels of potassium in his blood which led to severe dehydration, fatigue and renal failure.  The high levels of potassium were caused by his weight cut according to the statement.

Payout Perspective:

There are a lot of questions that will likely go unanswered after this event.  The first question is how either fighter was allowed to fight.  Even if we were to look past the fact that it was clear that these two men should not be fighting, there are other problems with last night’s fight.  The weight-cutting is a reason why other commissions are looking at methods to curtail this extreme weight loss.  Even if Dada was in shape for this fight, the need to cut 40 pounds down to the heavyweight limit had to be a contributing factor to what we saw on Friday night.  This does not even mention the fact that he is 38 and Kimbo is 42 years of age.  And, both looked their age and maybe 10 years older.  While Bellator has succeeded with staging these events featuring past their prime fighters, Friday was an example of a worst case scenario when you promote older, past-prime fighters.