• View topic - Despite antics, cage clown Wes Sims came to win

Quote:

At this past Friday's weigh-ins, Wes Sims was holding court and proudly showing off a T-shirt with a supposed strip club of a sponsor.

At Saturday's "Strikeforce: Miami" event, Sims kicked off his bout against Bobby Lashley with some pro-wrestling-inspired taunting. And even after his lopsided TKO loss, Sims joked with his opponent and the media in a post-fight press conference.

And while it may be easy to write off the veteran fighter as MMA's resident goofball, a representative for Sims said the fighter came to win and had far more riding on the line than most fans realize.

Sims (22-13-1 MMA, 0-1 SF), a former UFC fighter who recently appeared on "The Ultimate Fighter 10," was a late addition to Saturday's "Strikeforce: Mimi" card at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla. The Florida State Boxing Commission wouldn't approve Lashley's initial opponent, Yohan Banks, for the fight, and Strikeforce officials ultimately ditched plans for a bout with journeyman Jimmy Ambriz.

With just 10 days before the show, the promotion settled on 6-foot-10 Sims, who provided another big man in the Goliath vs. Goliath matchup. Agent Ken Pavia then presented the fight to Sims.

"He came to me and said, 'Lashley is a tough guy, and I can beat him, but I'm not fighting him for than less than this,'" Pavia told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "He gave me the number, I went to Strikeforce, and they said, 'OK.'"

via mmacrypt.com

Posted via web from MMACrypt.com