Kimbo Slice Biography Introduction:
There are a lot of people that dream of gaining riches beyond their current circumstances. In all probability, that's exactly how Kimbo Slice once felt. The good news? The now defunct MMA organization EliteXC gave Slice a lot of money to fight. The bad news? Though he was working hard at learning the sport at the time, he just wasn't experienced or good enough to get the kind of money and fights they were giving him. So when journeyman Seth Petruzelli knocked him out at EliteXC: Heat, both the organization and Slice's reputation fell hard.
EliteXC asked for it. But did Kimbo Slice really deserve what he got?
Date of Birth:
Kevin Ferguson, AKA Kimbo Slice, was born on February 8, 1974 in the Bahamas (Nassau).
Training Camp, Fighting Organization, and Nickname:
Slice trains out of Team Kimbo in Miami, Florida. Although he is in essence a free agent right now, he is competing on The Ultimate Fighter 10, a reality television show put on by the UFC. Kimbo Slice is actually his nickname, as his real name is Kevin Ferguson. He was often called Kimbo as a child and received the name Slice after leaving a big cut on the right eye of an internet opponent named Big D.
Early Years:
Slice spent his early years in Cutler Ridge, Florida. He lived with a single mother (Rosemary Clarke) and two brothers. Later, Slice starred at middle linebacker at Miami Palmetto High School before eventually taking up at Bethune-Cookman University and the University of Miami, where he was able to net an athletic scholarship. Slice left college after a year and half. Though he netted a tryout with the Miami Dolphins and made their pre-season squad, that was as far as his football career went.
Being athletic, perhaps it was only a matter of time before he began looking for another athletic outlet.
Kimbo Slice the Internet Street Fighter:
After college, Slice (then Ferguson) worked as a bouncer for a strip club before taking up with RK Netmedia, a Miami based pornography production and promotion organization as a bodyguard.
In 2003, Ferguson fought for the first time on tape. "The backyard was just a location that was picked," he told TouchGloves.com. Needless to say, Slice beat his opponent down and became popular for doing this kind of thing on a regular basis. In fact, his only recorded internet fighting loss came against Sean Gannon, a former Boston police officer.
MMA Beginnings:
Slice began training with MMA legend Bas Rutten prior to his taped match with Sean Gannon. Though that fight didn't work out for him, Slice continued to train with Rutten before taking on former boxing champion Ray Mercer in an exhibition match at Cage Fury Fighting Championships 5 on June 23, 2007. Slice won easily by first round guillotine choke. From there, he took up with EliteXC, an organization that used his internet fighting background to make him a superstar. His debut with the organization came on 11/10/07 at EliteXC: Renegade, where he took out Bo Cantrell (submission by way of punches) in only 19 seconds.
Kimbo Slice Helps End EliteXC:
The fact that the inexperienced Slice was fighting in main events and making a good deal more money than established MMA veterans was controversial to say the least. Still, he won fights in EliteXC against Tank Abbott (KO) and James Thompson (TKO). In his next fight, he took on Seth Petruzelli at EliteXC: Heat when his slated opponent, Ken Shamrock, got injured just before their scheduled fight. In a stunner, Petruzelli landed a right hand that floored Slice and followed things up with another on the canvas before the referee called things after only 14 seconds had gone by. This loss contributed to EliteXC's fall.
Fighting Style:
Slice is a fighter that likes to stand up and brawl with his opponents, much like he used to on the internet. He's an athletically gifted and powerful boxer/puncher that has KO power in both hands. That said, his ground skills are several steps behind his stand up and still a work in progress. Further, he's not a man that's known to throw a lot of kicks, despite his work with Bas Rutten.
In the end, Slice is a tough guy still working to prove that he has made the transition from street fighting to MMA.
