Fuck Cheick Kongo

Seriously fuck Cheick Kongo. When this guy was signed to the UFC's heavyweight division, there was a real lack of depth. At the top of the division were Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia, Jeff Monson earned a title shot against Sylvia with a three fight win streak over world beaters such as Brandon Lee Hinkle, Pe De Pano, and Anthony Perosh. Let that sink in for a second. Beating those three fighters earned Jeff Monson a title shot. Brandon Vera was also seen as the future of the division combining slick Muay Thai, Greco, and an aggressive submission game. He was young and had a natural charisma that had Zuffa management salivating. Gabriel Gonzaga was still a prospect and the old Frank Mir wasn't yet "back". That sums up the depth of the division at the time of his signing.

The UFC had huge plans for Cheick Kongo too. He had a look and fight style to excite fans. He was vicious in causing a doctors stoppage against the late Gilbert Aldana and then followed that win up with a brutal knockout of Christian Wellisch. He was on the fast track and if he could get by Carmelo Marrero, Kongo would have been vaulted into the UFC title picture. As it turns out, Kongo who was billed as a Greco-Roman guy, was consistently put and kept on his back in his first loss in the UFC.

Zuffa didn't give up on the guy though. His return fight was against outmatched Assuerio Silva, who he defeated by majority decision. Kongo was back on track and was set to face Mirko Filipovic. This was the the first time the MMA world got to see Cheick Kongo as a dirty fighter. Over the course of 15 minutes, he kneed CroCop in the groin three times. He wasn't penalized for any of the illegal strikes and beat the Croatian 29-28 on all three scorecards. Again, he was on the fast track to a title shot. He would take on Heath Herring and instead of having the game plan most expected and fighting on the feet; Kongo decided to opt for a wrestling based attack. He was riding a two fight win streak and a win over Herring would definitely propel him into the title picture. What does Kongo do? He shits the bed again and loses a split decision.

At 4-2 in the UFC and unable to get the big win he needs to make an argument for a title shot, Zuffa again builds him back up. First he gets to beat up on Dan Evensen at UFC 87 then mangles Mustafah Al-Turk. Great news for Zuffa, they finally can start selling him again as a world beater. A win over Antoni Hardonk again set Kongo up for a title contender fight. He took a fight with Cain Velasquez on short notice. A win would have earned Cheick a title fight against the winner of Mir/Lesnar II. Again, he loses to a better wrestler. So at this point the UFC is done with trying to baby the guy into contender status. He's given a fight against Frank Mir and gets knocked down then choked out in 72seconds. At this point he's 7-4 in the UFC and always loses when given a chance against top competition. Zuffa has invested a ton of time trying to build him up and does so again with a fight against Paul Buentello. Paul taps to strikes in the third round an Kongo gets a much needed win, a third loss in a row would definitely have been the end of his UFC tenure.

This past Saturday, Kongo was given a fight against 6'7" Travis Browne, a fighter best known for beating up James McSweeny at the TUF 11 finale. Browne has Kongo hurt in the first round and clearly is up 10-9 going into the second. Kongo starts to find his range and then lands the knee to the groin. Since he essentially does this in every fight, Joe Rogan jokes that it is HIS best technique. Browne is given time to recover and Kongo grabs his shorts whenever they clinch against the cage. Kongo takes the second and going into the third it's 19-19 across all cards. Now, the third round is perhaps one of the worst rounds in UFC history. It's a perfect example of Wall n Stall. Kongo is warned and then deducted a point for constant grabbing of the shorts. Most fighters would consider the fact that a point was deducted and may change up their game plan. Not Cheick Kongo. He's a born cheater. Dude goes right back to grabbing the shorts, this time hiding his hand from the ref. The fight ends in a draw and it's back to the drawing board with what to do with Kongo.

Now that I've gotten the Kongo History overwith lets talk how shitty of a dude he is. He's constantly attack his opponents groin with knees from the clinch. If it happens once, okay fine, errant knee. He literally does it all the time. A high level Muay Thai fighter will rarely land knees to the groin. They know how to land those legally. The fact that he kneed CroCop in the groin three times is very telling. When Joe Rogan jokes that a groin strike is your best technique, maybe it's true. And the constant shorts grabbing shows me he's a cheater even with the most minor of offenses.

So fuck you Cheick Kongo, you dirty fucking cheater. Karma is hilarious sometimes and even the best laid plans to get you a title fight end in disappointment.