Issue 141

May 2016

Kimbo Slice recalls the fights that shaped his life – from backyard brawls in the 305 to sold-out arenas

1. Miami hustle – ‘Big D’, Florida backyard (2003)

For the first fight in his list, Kimbo Slice, aka Kevin Ferguson, remembers the street fight that earned him his moniker: “That one was very personal. It was a street fight. We were hood part of the city. It could have gone either way. That’s why we had our guns. Everybody had their guns. I won the fight. We were coming out of there with that money. Everybody had their money. Everybody put their money out on the table. If that fight would have went the other way, f**k it, they were robbing everybody. I took his eye out in that fight. That fight was personal. That was a moment. That fight was a movement.”

2. Cop contest – Sean Gannon, Secret location (2004)

“The Sean Gannon fight was f**king controversial. We had agreed going into the fight on the rules. Then we get into the fight and the f**king guy has me in a guillotine for a minute and a half with no ref or anyone there to break it up. That was the situation. Then he started throwing elbows because he couldn’t throw punches anymore. I jammed my hand into his knuckles to break his hand. He couldn’t throw punches any more so he started throwing elbows. Then the f**king guy started throwing knees. It was a controversial fight. That probably went on for about 15 minutes. Gannon was really f**ked up from that fight. He ended up with a concussion and in the hospital.”

3. No mercy – Ray Mercer, Cage Fury Fighting Championship V (06/10/2009)

“That was my first MMA fight. He was a world boxing champion. Knowing that he had f**king ended Tommy Morrison’s career. He put him to sleep in a hellafide way. I was like, ‘Goddamn. OK, I have to take him down.’ There I am thinking like an MMA fighter. We won that fight in a minute and 12 seconds. It was an amazing victory. To beat a former heavyweight champion of the world in my first MMA fight was an amazing moment for me. That was a great win in my career.”

4. Back in the 305 – ‘Tank’ Abbott, EliteXC: Street Certified (02/16/2008)

“I remember watching him fight when I was a teenager and he was just f**king leveling people. I knew even back then I wanted to fight him and I eventually did. In this fight we were not going to wrestle. It was not going to the ground. We were going to bang it out. Tank was on the internet bench pressing 600lb at the time. The power was definitely there and I knew that. I was aware of that power. I was not going to run. I was going to stand in the middle of that ring. If you notice, I was always standing in the middle of the cage. I wanted to bang and go at it. Either I was going to knock him the f**k out or he was going to knock me out. That was the mentality. Somebody was getting knocked the f**k out. A lot of my wins were like winning a title. To me, I’m fighting a champion. I’m not in there fighting an average Joe. In my mind, I’ve won titles. All of my fights can be seen as life-changing events and I embrace them all. I respect all of my opponents. These guys I fought, they aren’t just tomato cans. They have titles, had titles and are to be respected.”

5. Unfinished business – Ken Shamrock, Bellator 138 (06/19/2015)

“It was long overdue. When the first fight didn’t go down, that was the reason I had my first loss. I wanted that fight more than anything and to be able to have it and win it was greatly appreciated. I thank Bellator for that opportunity to finish and close that chapter in my life. For that, I am greatly indebted to Bellator. And to fight on Spike TV in front of millions of fans was an amazing opportunity. For the fans from early on to share that with me was amazing. Now it’s like people want to continue to follow me to see what the f**k I have going on. These are my people, these are my fans, I bus with them and they bus with me. I keep it 100. I give them what they want. I give them that excitement. I give them that joy.”

Eyes on me – Ratings gold

Kimbo is responsible for some of the sport’s highest ratings. His fight with James Thompson on CBS set a then-MMA record by attracting more than 6.5 million pairs of eyeballs. The 5.3 million people who watched his TUF fight with Roy Nelson is still a high for the show, while the peak viewership of 2.5 million for his Bellator 149 fight with Dada 5000 was a record for Bellator on Spike.