Figuring out the man who is Kimbo Slice
But before being thrust into stardom, there was a much darker story behind Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson. Kimbo was always naturally a big man; he started out as a bodyguard for a pornography company. The legend of Kimbo started to grow as he was involved in filmed street fights, and then put online on sites such as YouTube. Kimbo was quite successful in his fights online, only losing one time and winning the rest in a knockout fashion. He was even named Rolling Stone's “King of the Web Brawlers.”
The money wasn't too great fighting on the street though, so as MMA continued its rise in popularity amongst the general public, Kimbo contacted MMA legend Bas Rutten to train him to fight in mixed martial arts, and the professional fighting career of Kimbo was born.
Today, Kimbo Slice sits with a professional MMA record of 3-0, all wins coming in EliteXC. With the aura surrounding Kimbo there is a lot of big fans, but there is just as many, if not more haters to the Kimbo Slice persona and what it brings and represents in the MMA community.
He's certainly one of the most interesting fighters out there, but it's for all the wrong reasons, and some of which aren't even his fault. Kimbo fights for the promotion of EliteXC, and in fact they are ruining what could be a potentially successful MMA fighter. MMA is billed as a sport of honour, pride and courage, which has taken years to build up a reputation of a fair and honest sport, which is not for street brawlers and thugs.
Most of the people who hate on Kimbo do it for two reasons, first off, he's got the worst persona in MMA and he brings a bad name to the sport.
Secondly, he has never faced strong competition in his three fights. EliteXC is billing him as a poster boy for their brand and the sport, in the meantime he's beaten Bo Cantrell, who's never fought or trained in MMA before.
Tank Abbott, a beer-bellied brawler, who much like Kimbo, knows nothing about the ground game of the sport and has a chin as strong as a wet piece of paper. James Thompson is the last person to battle it out with Kimbo, losing the fight in a controversial stoppage in the third round, when Thompson, (who has a history of being knocked out by everyone he fights) was ahead on the judges score card for beating Kimbo by points until the ref stepped in. The fight stoppage against Thompson was only more proof that the hype around Kimbo Slice was well, just hype and nothing else.
October 4 marks the date where Kimbo Slice will once again step into the cage and battle it out in his fourth career MMA fight. He'll take on over-the-hill MMA legend Ken Shamrock, who is well, well past his prime.
Absolutely not. If Kimbo wants to prove he's a good fighter and that he will take on anyone he needs to get out of EliteXC before it completely ruins him. He's 34 years old and not getting any younger or quicker. If he wants to shake the notion that he's nothing but a street fighter he better do it quick or he'll be going down as the most hated and biggest wannabe MMA fighter in history.
