“Whatever anybody wants to do, I’m down to do. You want to take it to the ground, let’s take it to the ground. You want to stand up, let’s stand up. I’m down for that. That’s my thing, that’s what I’m about. That’s how I live. That’s my life. I don’t even see Tank. I’m seeing through him.”

Maybe the confidence came from the fact that Slice knocked out Bo Cantrell in devastating fashion before he took Abbott on. Perhaps it’s because he was rumored to be 7-1 in bare knuckle fighting contests, most of which were shown on YouTube and the internet, before he finally ventured into an MMA exhibition bout against former WBO Heavyweight Champion boxer Ray Mercer. Or maybe it has something to do with his knockout power and the amount of fights he’s won when the cameras were off.

It’s anybody’s guess on that one.

Regardless, we do know this: Kimbo Slice, AKA Kevin Ferguson, is about to headline EliteXC and MMA’s first true foray onto national network television when the organization goes live on CBS on May 31, 2008.

And guess is he’ll be confident for that one as well. But that’s enough with the present day. Let’s go back for a moment to Kimbo Slice’s past. . . Or should we say Kevin Ferguson?

Kimbo Slice before fighting in the public eye

Kevin Ferguson, AKA Kimbo Slice, was born on February 8, 1974 in the Bahamas ( Nassau ). Though he was always a tough kid, the first contact sport that seemed to catch his eye was something with a few less knockouts.

Said another way, Ferguson eventually became an outstanding football player for Miami Palmetto High School. Though he certainly had the athleticism to play on the college gridiron as well, he didn’t.

Rather, he enrolled at the University of Miami on an academic scholarship, but chose to leave before making it through his second year of school.

Other things were calling to him. Along with this, Ferguson eventually began working for RK Netmedia, a Miami based pornography production and promotion organization responsible for some well known internet pornography subscription websites. Guess is, he was probably a pretty good bodyguard, no?

By the way, during his time with RK Netmedia, Ferguson took on the name of Kimbo Slice. And somewhere in there he began fighting on the internet.

Kimbo Slice : The internet brawler

The whole internet fighting thing apparently started with a “personal beef” between him and another guy. As Slice said in an interview at TouchGloves.com, “the backyard was just a location that was picked,” in reference to the spot where these internet fights took place. He also noted that the first fight “started the whole backyard theme.”

Kimbo Slice was successful as an internet fighter to the point that Rolling Stone Magazine called him The King of the Web Brawlers. However, he did not go undefeated, leading to the next section of this Kimbo Slice biography.

Kimbo Slice vs. Sean Gannon : An internet superfight

Kimbo Slice had been highly successful as an internet fighter. That said, even he apparently knew that Sean Gannon represented a step up in YouTube competition. Along with this, he sought out Bas Rutten, a retired MMA fighter with a great reputation as a trainer, to help him get ready for the fight.

In the end, it wasn’t enough. Slice lost his fight against Sean Gannon. However, the loss was not without some controversy as kneeing and choking were used by Gannon despite a reported agreement that they would not be prior to the match. Regardless, the popularity of the fight video and Gannon’s stellar showing prompted Dana White to give Gannon, a former Boston police officer, a shot in the UFC. Unfortunately for him, the former lawman lost his only showing in the organization to Brandon Lee Hinkle at UFC 55 via TKO.

Kimbo Slice, on the other hand, was just getting started.

Kimbo Slice vs. Ray Mercer in an exhibition fight at Cage Fury Fighting Championships 5 on June 23, 2007

It seems that uneducated fight watchers continually bring up those boxer versus MMA arguments despite what has already been shown through the years in mixed martial arts. In other words, a boxer is simply not equipped to defeat a true MMA fighter in an MMA match.

Well, how about a man that by his own account had no training in mixed martial arts or boxing prior to coming under Bas Rutten’s tutelage against a former professional boxing champion? Wonder what the masses might think of that one.

In other words, when Slice signed to take on Mercer, it was really a match between an internet fighter and boxing champion.

Well, an internet fighter that was learning MMA under Bas Rutten, whom Kimbo Slice continues to work with until this day.

Coming into his exhibition bout against Mercer, Slice said, “I’m gonna bang it out. He wants to bang; we’re gonna bang.” However, the fight ended in the first round via guillotine choke for Slice, not the knockout that he had in essence predicted.

Still, it did end. And it ended in Slice’s favor.

Kimbo Slice vs. Bo Cantrell : The MMA debut

Okay, don’t blink. Kimbo Slice walked in against Bo Cantrell, a journeyman kind of MMA fighter with a 10-10 record at the time, and knocked him out cold in 19 seconds. Not a lot to say there other than Slice proved one thing.

His kind of power works both in backyards and cages. Unfortunately for Cantrell, he was the man that Kimbo used to make that point.

Kimbo Slice vs. Tank Abbott at EliteXC : Street Certified

Tank Abbott was a guy known for street fighting. The reality was that when Tank first started fighting in MMA competition it was without much in the line of real martial arts training. Thus, a match between Abbott ( old school street fighting and MMA ) versus Slice ( new school street fighting of the YouTube generation ) seemed like a perfect fit.

And it was. . . For Slice, anyway. As in front of his hometown Miami crowd on February 16, 2008 he knocked out Abbott after only 43 seconds for his second MMA win in as many fights.

Love him or hate him, Slice was clearly here to stay. In other words, he was serious about this MMA thing. Kimbo Slice and EliteXC on CBS

As was indicated earlier, it has been announced by EliteXC that Kimbo Slice will headline their first show on CBS on May 31, 2008 against an opponent yet to be determined.

It’s not every day that a guy with only two MMA fights under their belt gets a chance like that. Then again, not every guy has a past like Kevin Ferguson.

Or should we say, Kimbo Slice?

Fighter Biographies

Royce Gracie Biography and Fighting Information

Dan Henderson Biography and Fighting Information

Chuck Liddell Biography and Fighting Information

Lyoto Machida Biography and Fighting Information

References

Cage Today

MMAFighting.com

TouchGloves.com

Wikipedia