Remembering Kimbo Slice

I rooted against Kimbo Slice.

It was 2008 and mixed martial arts was still shaky in gaining its footing in America as an acceptable mainstream sport. After failed negotiations with the UFC, CBS inked a deal to bring EliteXC to network television, the first promotion on one of the big four networks (the IFL premiered on MyNetworkTV, a lesser network, in 2007). EliteXC was a young promotion – the child of the publicly traded ProElite – whose television exposure had been limited to subscription channel Showtime. The UFC had a vice grip on the sport’s best-known stars, and EliteXC’s limited platform hindered them from quickly building their own. The only available fighter they could count on to draw an audience suitable for CBS was a street brawler from Florida that had traded backyard fences for matted cages as his fighting arena only a year earlier.

Kimbo the streetfighter was already a somewhat known personality before the launch of YouTube in 2005. As the video sharing site grew, so did Slice’s notoriety. Real name Kevin Ferguson, with a family to support, Kimbo entered MMA in 2007. Considering his skill set and experience, almost exclusively consisting of throwing hands, one would think boxing would have been a better avenue for Slice, but mixed martial arts was the hotter sport and apparently provided better opportunities for making money sooner.

He started with the New Jersey-based Cage Fury Fighting Championships, winning his first match, an exhibition, over former WBO heavyweight champion Ray Mercer via guillotine. The idea was to build toward a showdown between Slice and Tank Abbott, who in some ways was considered his predecessor in the sport, although in truth their only commonality is their reputations as brawlers. However, the heavy financial burden of running a pay-per-view event caved in CFFC’s roof before the match could form, and EliteXC signed away Slice without hesitation. Bo Cantrell, a journeyman prone to quick knockouts, fell first. Then EliteXC made the match with Abbott, and Slice ripped the torch from him in front of a record audience.

For a sporting career, Slice was in an odd position. He was navigating a foreign sport, but at 34, he was too old to be called a prospect. EliteXC counted on him as its top star as it buried itself in debt; they needed Slice’s arthritic knees to hold the promotion up long enough to climb out of its hole. As a result, they touted Kimbo as one of the best fighters in the world.

I foolishly considered EliteXC: Primetime, its CBS debut, a threat to the growth of the sport. After all, at its best, this was a second-rate product. At its worst, it was something less than that. Millions of people would tune to give a chance to a sport, see a joke, and run out of chances to give it, I feared. And so I rooted for James Thompson, fresh from two first-round knockout losses, to end the myth.

In time, I came to realize that the reality of this sport is that if a fighter is bringing a new audience to MMA, it’s a positive for the sport in 99.9% of cases. Heading into the Thompson fight, Kimbo was a tremendous ambassador for MMA. He attracted media that usually didn’t cover MMA, let alone MMA outside the UFC, including an ESPN The Magazine cover, and he came across as nothing but a good and genuine person. That didn’t make him a good fighter when he stepped in to the cage to fight Thompson, but it confirmed he was exactly the kind of person you want on that stage.

More than 7 million people watched Kimbo’s fist juice Thompson’s cauliflower ear for a third-round stoppage. Many said the stoppage was too quick; Thompson had only taken a few blows and was still standing. Thompson grounded Slice and won the first two rounds with ease. Early stoppage or not, Slice proved his gameness by returning from the disappointing and exhausting opening frames and punching with a purpose.
https://youtu.be/cshNYbyWEdM
Kimbo lost his next fight. As many, including myself, wished to happen on the first CBS fight, he was exposed. Light heavyweight Seth Petruzelli, on hours’ notice, knocked Slice down with a pawing right hand while on one foot with his back against the cage. As it turned out, the loss didn’t matter when it came to Kimbo’s drawing power. He had lost before, in the sweaty basement of a Rhode Island gym during his street fighting days, and he would lose again. Kimbo was a magnetic figure. He had eye-popping knockouts, quick losses, and unimpressive wins, and through it all people came back to see him fight. His allure was such that every promoter, even the holier-than-thou UFC, wanted him on its roster at one point or another.

Kimbo Slice passed away on June 6 from heart failure. In my time watching and covering this sport, his star was among the brightest that ever shone. He drew new audiences and carried promotions. He is the biggest television star in US MMA history. Perhaps he was not as skilled as other stars, but he was every bit the fighter. He will not be forgotten.

Dan Plunkett has covered MMA for 411Mania since 2008. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @Dan_Plunkett.