Kevin Ferguson was born in Nassau, Bahamas in 1974. Most of you would know this man as Kimbo Slice, he started his career as a bouncer who would fight men on the side. I remember back in 2007-2008 people would constantly be talking about this man who was knocking dudes out on the regular. I was amazed at what I saw, Kimbo was really hurting guys and more guys just kept stepping up to the plate only to get knocked out. Like this guy:
Kimbo was known for having a lot of power in his hands, he once told Michael Jai White, "His left hook was his fastest punch." He love to throw punches with everyone, it did not matter who it was: bigger, faster, more experienced, Kimbo was willing to get into battles with everyone.
The one thing I think I will always remember about Kimbo was he was the first person I watched on one of the three big networks in the main event. It was 2008 and Elite XC had reserved a spot on CBS, the main event fight was between Kimbo Slice and Tank Abbott (Remember Tank???). Tank was known as a man who would drink a beer right before his fights in the UFC, while his opponent would be warming up. It was crazy to see, at that time Kimbo was willing to get into a ring with someone so dangerous (Tank was required to wear gloves in the UFC, when it use to be bareknuckles). Kimbo did not care he fought against an older Tank Abbott, but as MMA and Boxing had shown us, anyone who can throw a punch will always have a shot to win the fight. Kimbo did win that fight, it sort of look like this:
Now Kimbo would go on and fight three more fights for Elite XC on CBS.
His last fight with Elite XC, he was knocked out by Seth Petruzelli. After that Elite XC folded and Kimbo found himself on the outside once again.
Kimbo was a fighter, he refused to let life beat him down, Dana White used to talk about him all the time. Things like "he wasn't ready for the UFC", "If Kimbo wants to fight in the UFC, he has to go through the Ultimate Fighter", etc. When Kimbo heard that Dana would let him fight in the Ultimate Fighter, Kimbo took Dana White up on his offer and showed up. Dana was surprised that Kimbo had shown up and was willing to handle the business. This is where a lot of Kimbo's fight game was exposed. He was fighting former IFL Champ, Roy Nelson. Roy and Kimbo threw punches back and forth and Kimbo connected but, Nelson withstood the storm and took Kimbo to the ground and earned the TKO.
Kimbo had said he learned a lot from his time in the Ultimate Fighter and had a lot of respect for the guys on the show. On December 5th of 2008 Kimbo was on the fight card for Ultimate Fighter Finale against Houston Alexander (also known for having heavy hands). Kimbo did not have a ground game, he was not someone who learned Brazilian Jui-Jitsu, he did not even have a wrestling background. He was a man who just wanted to punch people repeatedly and win fights. But with one slam Kimbo showed that he was willing to learn and take on and evolution status to win fights:
Kimbo would beat Houston on that night in a decision but people could see that Kimbo had little endurance, and anyone who took him to the deep waters, he would not make it. Matt Mitrione did just that, he burned Kimbo out in the first round and continued to use his game to wear out Kimbo for the victory. Kimbo was cut by the UFC after that loss, he had not "evolved" enough according to Dana White. Kimbo refused to let that cut keep him down, he then took his talents to another form of fighting.
On August 11th, 2010 Kimbo stepped into the boxing ring looking to earn his first victory. He would go on to earn a record of 7-0 in the boxing ring, it is to be noted that no fight went past the 4th round (also all boxing fights only went to the fourth round). Kimbo would KO 6 of the 7 people he fought against. Some people would say that the other boxers were paid to throw fights, but I remember Tay Bledsoe from Grand Island, NE talking about the power Kimbo had, and how he had never be hit like that before.
Bellator wanted to bring Kimbo back to the Octagon and they found his opponent in Ken Shamrock. Ken had been banned from the ring for HGH and using steroids but, upon coming back to the ring he had a steep hill against Kimbo. Now I am not saying the fight was the most elegant fight in history, but Kimbo did win the fight even though I thought he may lose the fight because Kimbo's ground game was still suspect. Ken exploited that weakness to the best of his ability:
But Kimbo being the fighter that he was refused to give up, he stood up and fought Ken Shamrock toe to toe. Then this happened:
Kimbo would go on to to fight one more fight against Dada 5000, a fight many people (myself included) considered to be the worst fight in MMA history. Dada was not in fighting shape, and Kimbo still had endurance issues. The fight would end in a KO against Dada 5000 (a fight where Dada claimed that his heart had stopped twice, after the fight):
The fight would later be changed to No Contest after Kimbo tested positive for elevated Testosterone.
Kimbo was suppose to headline another fight card at the O2 Arena in July.
He was a man who refused to let the world get him down, and continued to fight his way out being homeless and living in his car. He had a successful career in combative sports and was a modern rags to riches dude. A guy we can admire, yes he was a fighter, yes he did security in strip clubs and porn star movies. But he was a dude who just battled and battled, I am not sure that he even knew how far the road was he was on in the Combative Sports world.
Share your favorite story with me about Kimbo Slice. Whether that is a fight or a single moment I am curious to see what you guys thought of Kimbo Slice.
RIP Kimbo Slice: 2/8/74-6/6/16
*All images and gifs can be found on google.com, bellator.com, ufc.com
Also if you are wondering about Michael Jai White and Kimbo Slice's interaction here is the link for that video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdPP0TmqKiU
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