Kimbo Slice
Kevin Ferguson, better known as Kimbo Slice, was a Bahamian-American mixed martial artist, professional boxer, and actor. Originally a bare-knuckle boxer, he became noted for his role in mutual combat street fight videos in the 2000s which were spread online, leading Rolling Stone to call him "The King of the Web Brawlers".
Turning to mixed martial arts in 2005, Slice left the underground fighting scene and signed a professional contract with EliteXC after making his MMA debut with Cage Fury Fighting Championships in 2007, scoring a win over MMA pioneer and former UFC heavyweight contender Tank Abbott in 2008. In 2009, he joined the UFC by competing in The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights, where he lost in his first fight to eventual series winner Roy Nelson. In his official UFC debut, Slice defeated Houston Alexander at the TUF 10 Finale, before suffering a loss to Matt Mitrione at UFC 113 in 2010.
After becoming a free agent via his dismissal from the UFC, Slice ventured into the professional boxing circuit, competing as a pro fighter from 2011 to 2013. In January 2015, he signed a contract with Bellator MMA going on to defeat MMA icon and long time veteran Ken Shamrock. He died of heart failure in 2016.
Early life and education
Slice was born Kevin Ferguson in Nassau, The Bahamas, on February 8, 1974. He moved to the U.S. as a child and grew up in Cutler Ridge, Florida. He was raised with his brother Devon and sister Renea by his mother Rosemary Clarke. He went to Bel-Air Elementary School, where he was reportedly involved in his first fight with fellow student Dominic Sauer at the age of 13 as he tried to defend a friend. Ferguson continued his studies at Cutler Ridge Middle School and later attended Richmond Heights Middle School. He attended Miami Palmetto High School, where he was the star middle linebacker. In 1992, his house in Perrine, Florida was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew, forcing him to live in his 1987 Nissan Pathfinder for a month.Ferguson attended both Bethune–Cookman University and the University of Miami, where he was awarded an athletic scholarship and studied criminal justice but dropped out after a year and a half.
Career
In 1997, he had a tryout with the Miami Dolphins and was part of the pre-season squad but was unable to secure a spot on the first team. Slice's cousin is United States judoka Rhadi Ferguson.Ferguson started working as a bouncer for a strip club until high school friend and career-long manager, Mike Imber, offered him a job as a limousine driver and bodyguard for RK Netmedia, better known as Reality Kings, a Miami-based pornography production/promotion company responsible for a number of popular adult subscription websites. Ferguson maintained close ties with Reality Kings throughout the rest of his life; company representatives accompanied him, as his fight entourage, under the name Team Kimbo.
In 2002, he was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and in 2003, he began his career in unsanctioned mutual combat street fights. They were distributed through the Internet, mainly through the adult website SublimeDirectory and various other video platforms. In his first taped fight against a man named Big D, Ferguson left a large cut on his opponent's right eye which led Internet fans to call him Slice, becoming the last name to his already popular childhood nickname, Kimbo. His only ever loss in a street fight was to Sean Gannon, a Boston police officer and fellow mixed martial artist, in 2004.
Mixed martial arts career
Early career (2005–2007)
In 2005, Slice started training in martial arts at the Freestyle Fighting Academy under Marcos Avellan and David Avellan. At first, Slice was training exclusively for illegal street boxing, focusing on bare-knuckle techniques, dirty boxing from the clinch, and elbows—but then he began to develop an interest for MMA.As an amateur, Slice lost his first and only bout to Jay Ellis by KO in the first round on October 8, 2005, at the 2nd event of the Xtreme Fighting Organization trials.
In 2006, Slice signed to fight against former WBO Heavyweight champion and Olympic gold-medalist boxer Ray Mercer in a CFFC event in 2007. Slice was 33 years old facing Mercer, who would be 46 years old at the time. The match was scheduled as a three-round exhibition utilizing all professional rules of MMA combat, but did not count towards a professional record..
A month prior to the fight, Slice switched camps and was trained by retired MMA fighter Bas Rutten and boxing instructor Randy Khatami at Rutten's school, EliteMMA, in Thousand Oaks, California.
Slice and Mercer fought at Cage Fury Fighting Championships 5, in Atlantic City on June 23, 2007. Slice defeated Mercer with a guillotine choke at 1:12 into the first round. CFFC V sold 20,000 ppv buys. In a post-fight interview, Slice stated that he would like to fight David "Tank" Abbott. Abbott, who was a spectator, stood up from his seat and accepted the call out. One of the matchmakers for CFFC asked Slice for his assurance so that an October 12 bout at Cage Fury Fighting Championships 6 between Slice and "Tank" Abbott could be organized. This event was later canceled due to a promotion dispute. On October 11, 2007, ProElite announced that they had signed Slice to a deal and that he would make his professional debut on the November 10, 2007 EliteXC.
Elite XC (2007–2008)
Turning professional and MMA icon
Slice fought Bo Cantrell, 10–9, at EliteXC: Renegade. He was originally set to make his professional MMA debut against Mike Bourke, a reformed street fighter, but a shoulder injury from Bourke led him to face Bo Cantrell. Slice defeated Cantrell 19 seconds into the first round by submission due to strikes, landing a variety of elbows and body punches, after Cantrell failed to land a spinning back fist.On February 16, 2008, Slice fought Tank Abbott in the main event at EliteXC: Street Certified. He won by KO 43 seconds into the first round due to strikes, taking his pro record to 2–0. At the fight, his weight was announced at an all-time low of, a far cry from his street fighting days of. During his ensuing three fights, Slice did not utilize full skills in MMA and relied heavily on striking, punches and elbows, and modified Muay Thai.
On May 31, 2008, Slice fought in the main event of the first ever mixed martial arts event shown on prime time network television, EliteXC: Primetime. Though one of the judges had each fighter winning one of the first two rounds, Slice's opponent James Thompson won both on total points by repeatedly taking down Slice and grounding and pounding. In the opening seconds of the third round, however, Slice threw a haymaker to Thompson's left ear, which ruptured Thompson's cauliflower. This was soon followed by three unanswered punches to a standing Thompson, which led to a referee stoppage and the controversial win for Slice. Fellow EliteXC competitor Brett Rogers, who himself had previously defeated Thompson in a previous Elite XC event, was particularly critical of Slice's victory, calling Slice's performance "garbage" in a post fight interview. Frank Mir was also a critic of Slice, stating in an interview that "every time Kimbo Slice fights, it sets back".
Fight with Petruzelli
On October 4, 2008, a Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock fight was supposed to take place at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida as part of CBS' Saturday Night Fights. However, Shamrock received a cut to the left eye during a warm-up only hours before the fight was to take place. This left the head of fight operations, Jeremy Lappen, to choose a replacement for the fight. Options were Seth Petruzelli, Aaron Rosa and Frank Shamrock. Slice's team stated they did not want him fighting Frank no matter how much money was offered to them, so Lappen decided that Petruzelli was the best option for the main event. Slice agreed to take the fight after receiving a raise in pay, and took in $500,000. Petruzelli defeated Slice by TKO 14 seconds into the first round of the bout.Interviewed on Orlando radio show The Monsters in the Morning two days after the fight, Seth Petruzelli said that when they offered him a spot in the main event, EliteXC promoters added monetary incentives to dissuade him from using certain fighting techniques against Slice, in an attempt to protect their relatively unproven Internet star.
This added to the controversy surrounding the representation of Slice as a top flight martial artist by CBS and EliteXC. The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation started a preliminary investigation on the events surrounding the fight and its outcome.
However, Petruzelli retracted this statement a few hours later, claiming in a follow-up interview with MMA website FiveOuncesofPain.com that his previous comments on The Monsters had been misinterpreted.
On October 23, 2008, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation concluded its investigation of the bout and found no wrongdoing. By the end of October 2008, EliteXC was forced to file for bankruptcy. Many in the mixed martial arts community, including Jay Thompson, executive consultant to the company, attributed EliteXC and ProElite's failure due to Slice's loss to Seth Petruzelli.
The Ultimate Fighter (2009)
After Elite Xtreme Combat ceased operations, Dana White stated that if Slice wanted to compete in the Ultimate Fighting Championship he would have to win his way in by competing on The Ultimate Fighter TV show. White went on to say that he might create a show with heavyweights just for Kimbo Slice if he wanted in. That statement became reality on June 1, when Kevin Iole of Yahoo.com stated Slice would participate in The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights.The coaches for the show were Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans, both former UFC Light Heavyweight Champions. Slice was the number one pick for coach Rampage and the second pick overall. In his first fight of the show, Slice was defeated by Roy Nelson via TKO stoppage in the second round after repeated punches to the head in the crucifix position. The broadcast was the highest rated MMA show in U.S. history with a 3.7 rating. The fight itself had 6 million viewers.
Following defeat in the preliminary round, Slice did not leave the show like some contestants after elimination, continuing to train with the remaining participants, befriending some of them and sharpening his own combat skills, particularly ground fighting and defense. Slice later turned down the opportunity to take Matt Mitrione's place in the quarter-finals after it was revealed that he had arthritis in his knee. Slice brought record breaking views during his time on The Ultimate Fighter, and given his humbleness and apparent potential as he fought and honed his skills, it was decided he would be offered a contract by the UFC promotion regardless of his elimination at the hands of Nelson, albeit a lesser valued one than the coveted six figure deal the winner would receive.