Kimbo Denies His Beard’s Ability to Absorb Punches

The hard push for “The Ultimate Fighter” season 10 has begun, and for the first time in the series’ four-year history, it’s a contestant and not coaches getting the majority of early press.

Kimbo Slice -- vaunted street fighter and YouTube celebrity back when “YouTube celebrity” was an anomaly and not an insult -- has been visiting all corners of the media this week. He stopped by Thursday’s edition of “MMA Live” to chat with Jon Anik and appear very nervous around Kenny Florian, then took questions from ESPN.com readers during an interactive chat.

Is it fair to say Slice did not do his own typing? Choice excerpts:

12:34 PM: Moderator: “Kimbo's just finishing up his lunch and should be over in a few minutes.” (This creates anticipation, like waiting for the Beatles to assemble onstage.)

1:00 PM: “He's here! He's hitting the bathroom and we'll get started.” (Mmm.)

1:03 PM: Kimbo: “No, the beard doesn’t absorb punches.” This is the first and only question I would have had for him.

1:05 PM Question: “Being on the’ TUF 10’ show, did you learn new fighting techniques for example your stand up and emphasize more on your ground game?”

Kimbo: “Yes.”

1:18 PM Question: “Any chance of seeing you on "Dancing with the Stars" anytime soon?”

Kimbo: “No.”

The man is electric. It’s easy to see why his charisma has gotten him this far.

Questions left unasked: if and when Slice gets bumped from the program, will viewership drop off accordingly? The UFC was likely banking on the rivalry between Rashad Evans and Quinton Jackson to fuel later, potentially Kimbo-depleted episodes. Now that word has circulated that those two won’t fight until 2010, will audiences still care? And will a domesticated Slice, hanging around the fighter house after a (potential) loss, hold the same appeal?