Art Jimmerson v Lenny Lapaglia

MC Paul Barman

MC Paul Barman

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Art Jimmerson is a youtube subscriber. He posted some clips of his fight with Lenny Lapaglia on youtube.
Here's from the last two rounds:

Art v Lenny

Kind of a shame the lasting impression in most minds is Art v Royce. Art definitely showed some spirit in this fight.

That, and Art seems like one down to earth guy.
 
That down-to-Earth guy has also stated many times that he was paid to dive against Royce. If he were a higher-profile Fighter, I'd have a hard time believing it, but Art was mostly a reliable Prodessional Opponent, so it actually kind of makes sense given the GJJ infomercial the early UFC's were.
 
King Kabuki said:
That down-to-Earth guy has also stated many times that he was paid to dive against Royce. If he were a higher-profile Fighter, I'd have a hard time believing it, but Art was mostly a reliable Prodessional Opponent, so it actually kind of makes sense given the GJJ infomercial the early UFC's were.
Click to expand...

I've actually been talking with Jimmerson via youtube PM... and he didn't mention a thing about being paid to take a dive. He admitted he had no idea what to do in a clinch, and that he was upset by people on-line calling him a punk, ***, etc....because of this fight.
 
The fight with Royce has always been very sketchy to me.

I mean the guy is wearing 1 10oz boxing glove which pretty much eliminates any chance of grappling than he taps when Royce gets in the full mount.

I wouldnt be surprised if he took a dive because at the time UFC was trying to gain popularity and it pretty much needed any positive publicity it could get.
 
I'd be interested to see his fight with Don "The Dragon" Wilson.
 
Perhaps he was given intructions to tap out, or perhaps he (as a boxer) had no idea what he was doing, saw no prospect of success and gave up?

Who knows...
 
I've actually been talking with Jimmerson via youtube PM... and he didn't mention a thing about being paid to take a dive. He admitted he had no idea what to do in a clinch, and that he was upset by people on-line calling him a punk, ***, etc....because of this fight.
Click to expand...

It's been quoted in interviews before, but I can see why it'd be something he wouldn't outright mention in conversation.
 
uppercuts21 said:
The fight with Royce has always been very sketchy to me.

I mean the guy is wearing 1 10oz boxing glove which pretty much eliminates any chance of grappling than he taps when Royce gets in the full mount.

I wouldnt be surprised if he took a dive because at the time UFC was trying to gain popularity and it pretty much needed any positive publicity it could get.
Click to expand...


I read an article at one time with John McCarthy(sp) the ref. He said that he was speaking with Art at the hotel and showed him a couple of things that he could expect from Gracie. I think he stated that after showing Art some chokes he could be caught in that Art simply lost all confidence in fighting Gracie.
Does anyone else remember reading a similar article?
 
I don't think he took a dive against Gracie. I'd be interested to see an article of him admitting it.

It seemed to me that he just didn't have a clue and was like a fish out of water. As soon as Royce took him down and mounted him, he knew he was done and in for something terrible if he didn't tap. It was the same with a few of Gracie's opponents, as top level BJJ was a virtual unknown commodity back then.

As soon as the game evolved, Royce had a much tougher time winning.
 
Jason Barnett said:
I read an article at one time with John McCarthy(sp) the ref. He said that he was speaking with Art at the hotel and showed him a couple of things that he could expect from Gracie. I think he stated that after showing Art some chokes he could be caught in that Art simply lost all confidence in fighting Gracie.
Does anyone else remember reading a similar article?
Click to expand...

Yes, although I don't remember what magazine it was from.
 
Jason Barnett said:
I read an article at one time with John McCarthy(sp) the ref. He said that he was speaking with Art at the hotel and showed him a couple of things that he could expect from Gracie. I think he stated that after showing Art some chokes he could be caught in that Art simply lost all confidence in fighting Gracie.
Does anyone else remember reading a similar article?
Click to expand...


In his interview on youtube with something called FightRound or something...
Art mentioned how he was nervous before the fight because he was told about how high of a pain tolerance the Gracies had. He says something like, "I was told that if you break their arm they'll just keep on fighting".

I also remember one of the karate magazines before the 1st UFC was breaking the fighting category (for the UFC competitors) down to strikers as one category and grabbers/throwers as another category. I remember thinking before the 1st UFC that the grabbers/throwers (which I just assumed meant any type of wrestler/grappler) were going to get annihilated. Because all they really had to rely on was grabbing an opponent and throwing them around.... while getting punched and kicked the whole while.
When I actually saw my first UFC I was completely surprised at what the grappling elements all included. I had wrestled in grade school, middle school and high school.... (I was a sophmore in high school when the 1st UFC took place) and I remember thinking that all grappling was like high school wrestling. And therefore these grabbers/throwers in the UFC were done for. Aside from taking a person down and laying on top of them I could imagine what else the wrestlers could do.
 
He didn't know what to expect but being a boxer who didn't want to mess up his boxing opportunities, he wore a glove to protect his hand ... which he assumed like many did back then he would land once or twice, whenever he felt like it and collect his check.
 
None of u seem to have read Clyde Gentry's book. Jimmerson was already training for a boxing fight when Art Davie called him. Basically Davie offered Jimmerson stupid money ie $20,000 just to turn up as Davie had failed to get a high profile boxer (he tried with bonecrusher Smith) to take part.
Jimmerson and his manager had no real intention of fighting . In fact Jimmerson didnt even bring any gloves to the arena. In the arena Rorian Gracie insisted that Jimmerson wear gloves v Royce. Jimmerson couldnt find any gloves nearby to buy. Someone found 1 and gave it to him. Jimmerson apparently had seen the violence of the first few matches and it freaked him out. Plus people told him dont upset Royce or he will break your arm. Jimmerson decided to move around and tap as soon as it went to the floor. In fact watch teh fight closesly and u will see that as soon as Royce takes him down the corner throw in a towel but the referee ignores it.
Either way it was pathetic of Jimmerson and he deserves all the abuse he gets now as a) he practically threw the fight. b) he accepted $20,000 just to turn up and is a traitor to boxing for not putting an effort.
I wonder why Art Davie didnt approach someone like James Warring who would have fought for much less and put forward a good effort (see world combat championships).
 
Reza Nasri said:
In the arena Rorian Gracie insisted that Jimmerson wear gloves v Royce.
Click to expand...

Whoa...thats pretty bad. I know the first UFCs were Gracie infomercials, but damn thats bad.

Agree about James Warring though - didn't he fight Eric Paulson and grab him by the ponytail for most of it? Haven't seen that WCC event for a looong time. I just remember Renzo stomping on the judo guy after his win and Bart Vale grinding down some little guy and then vanishing from the event.
 
Either way it was pathetic of Jimmerson and he deserves all the abuse he gets now
Click to expand...

Completely disagree.
He admitted that he wasn't entirely certain with what he was getting involved with.
You even mentioned that he was training for another boxing match - his main source of income.
At the event he hears that this Gracie kid might even go as far as breaking a person's arm. Depending on the severity of the break that's something that could potentially end a boxing career.
It's not as if Jimmerson gave up immediately upon hitting the floor. He tried for a moment to get up, he saw it wasn't working, then he tapped.
Now I'm not saying it was a brave thing to do... but the situtation was very foreign for him. Being on the ground, unfamiliar with what this style of fighting completely entails, and the possibility that his main source of income could be jeapordized by getting his arm broke.

No, he doesn't deserve all of the abuse he gets now.
I'd like to see you held to that standard. Make some bad decision as a young guy and still be hounded today because of it. Then have some e-punk ride you down because of it.
You talk like he raped someone or beat some child blind and deaf.... it was a friggin' novelty side-show event.
So again, no, Art doesn't deserve being berated by e-pricks.
 
Whoah hold your horses Berman. Start taking a deep breath and some chill pills.

and dont call me a e prick. cos ill call u a **** to your face.

Jimmerson was hardly a kid he was 30 years old and had been a pro for 8 years plus. Again Id tell u to read Gentry's book. Jimmerson saw it as a way of making a quick buck and sure he probably thought this is some new fad and it dont mean anything. either way he didnt do himself justice.

Certain others like Gracie had been training their whole life for this.

when i said he deserves all the abuse he gets I was referring to the occasional thread like this or the jibe in boxing circles that he wasnt a true representative of boxing.

Yet all of a sudden your telling me I have put him on a pedestal next to rapists and child abusers. You need to start using your brain pal.

My father also fought in MMA and he lost a fight even tho he was very good in his own discipline. People taunted him and mocked him for that. But these were the sort of cowardly ****s who couldnt say it to his face.So what life goes on.

All im talking about is Jimmerson took $20,000 and didnt do anything. he didnt even throw a punch when he was in range. And yeah Ive had people mock me too but I dont throw a hissyfit like u just did.

I respect Art Jimmerson as a boxer and fighter. all I said was he deserves all the abuse he gets in regards to it being said he threw a fight. I wasnt aware of child abuse or rape or what other idiots elsewhere are saying maybe on youtube.


As far as I was aware Jimmerson took some heat for not putting forward a honest effort.
Im not aware of taking about him as if he was a child abuser and some of the other over the top statements u just made.
 
As aforementioned, Art was at-best a sturdy Journeyman in Boxing. Taking fights he wasn't supposed to win wasn't something he was not used to.
 
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