One of the meanest, roughest, toughest, baddest street-fighting brawlers has quickly risen from a YouTube legend to a prime-time television attraction.
Until a year ago, Kimbo Slice, the Bahamian-born hulkster, was bare-knuckle fighting in dark alleys, backyards and parking lots in Miami, where he lives with his six kids and fiancee.
On Saturday night, he will be a part of history when CBS televises the first mixed martial arts card on network television beginning at 9 p.m.
In a sign of the times, perhaps, the popular Slice could be the first fighter to get his start in a pro sport after making it big on the Internet. As a street fighter, he has had more than 200 fights and appeared in more than 100 clips on YouTube. Nineteen of his underground fights have garnered more than 5 million hits total.
His quick rise from the small screen of a computer to the big screen of television has led to an impassioned debate as to his legitimacy after only three fights, including one exhibition.
"I know what's at stake and what it means to me," Slice said by phone last week from Thousand Oaks, Calif., where he trains.
"I know all eyes are on me. This does mean something to me. I am not a freak show. I know I have a lot to learn and will always feel like a baby in the sport. I've got a long way to go ... a lot of big names to fight."
Slice, who grew up in the Cutler Ridge area of Miami-Dade, was 13 when he won his first brawl protecting a childhood friend from a bully. It took only one left hook. The one-punch knockout became his signature.
"I am fighting for a reason," said Slice, the oldest of 11 children. "I am fighting for my family. I am fighting for myself. I am fighting never to go back to the gutter again. I am fighting to raise my kids up to be in a different environment. There's a lot I am fighting for.
"I have been fighting since I was 13. I have been having my fights recorded for about five years now, and look where it took me."
Slice certainly looks the part of a punishing MMA star: menacing stare, gold teeth, bushy, steel-wool beard, muscular frame with spider web and scorpion tattoos and solid gold boxing-glove chain the size of a large lemon dangling from his neck.
It was his charismatic charm that caught the eye of marketing genius and longtime boxing promoter Gary Shaw.
The EliteXC Live Events president signed him to a multiyear contract for an undisclosed amount in October 2007. For his knockout of Tank Abbott in February at the University of Miami's Convocation Center, Slice earned $175,000 for 43 seconds of work.
Initially, Shaw's son Jared made him watch YouTube downloads of Kimbo street fighting.
"That's how I got interested.... I didn't know Kimbo Slice existed," said Shaw, a University of Miami alumnus. "The very first thought in my mind was he is a purebred heavyweight ... fighter. He reminded me of Mike Tyson. I didn't think of him as a backyard or street fighter.
"Then Jared told me he was training in MMA with Bas Rutten. That's all I needed to know. I put two guys on a plane. There's no more to the story. I sent them to Florida and told them, 'Don't come back until we had Kimbo Slice's signature not only on a piece of paper but every page of the contract.' We struck when the time was right."
Shaw says Slice has an on-off switch "much like Tyson."
"I didn't look at him as a character or anything else," Shaw said. "I looked at him as this big, mean fighting machine with a take-no-prisoners approach that I thought I could turn into a superstar. He can baby-sit your kids and be sweet. He is a real mean fighting machine you don't want to meet in a backyard or alley or anywhere else. Then there's the very complex individual and family man."
It was his family who provided the impetus for Slice to take a closer look at mixed martial arts a year ago. His first stop was American Top Team in Coconut Creek.
"When he was looking to get into it, he came out and sparred with our professional fighters," said ATT general manager Richie Guerriero. "He was a nice guy, easy to like and humble. He was very respectful of our fighters. He knew he wasn't at this level yet. He knew he needed to go to a place that could bring him to this level and would be all about him.
"Do I have respect for him doing this? Yes. Do I think he is worth everything he is getting? No. That is the magic of the Internet. He has become an overnight superstar. Gary Shaw is going to be like P.T. Barnum with Kimbo. He is going to ride that pony and try and get some big ratings on CBS."
The mass appeal is easy to figure out, said Guerriero, whose mixed martial arts academy has some of the best MMA fighters in the world.
"[He's] beating people up in his backyard ... a true street fighter and badass, and he got MMA on national TV," Guerriero said. "They are going to pump him up to be the greatest fighter because that's what promotion companies do. But once you start to follow the sport, you will realize where Kimbo is in the pecking order."
After his visits to ATT and MMA legend Randy Couture's Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, Slice met with Rutten, a retired, undefeated UFC heavyweight champion from the Netherlands, at his mixed martial arts studio in Thousand Oaks, Calif. The two hit it off.
"I liked his heart and determination and fact he doesn't like to lose.... You can't coach that," Rutten said. "He came out for six weeks for his Ray Mercer exhibition, and I put him in contact with [International Fight League coach] Shawn Tompkins because I was traveling. Then I got back and worked out with him and said, 'What do we have here?' He is an athlete and he listens to what you tell him to do. A lot of students don't really listen. How smart is that?"
Slice's legend grew after his first victory in a June 2007 MMA exhibition against 1988 Olympic gold medalist "Merciless" Ray Mercer, a veteran boxer. He has had two more wins since then, neither going past the first round.
His hand-picked opponents both have losing career records (Bo Cantrell, 10-11; Tank Abbott, 9-14), which has led to some spirited debates in the MMA community. Thompson is 14-8 but has lost six of his past eight. The Slice-Thompson main event is three five-minute rounds.
"Kimbo Slice is a tomato can to me, and he will always be a tomato can to me," said MMA veteran Ricco Rodriguez. "What has he done to prove himself? He hasn't fought anybody."
"Who gives a crap about Kimbo Slice?" said UFC President Dana White. "You know what would happen if he fought in the UFC? I'd put him against [lightweight champion] BJ Penn and he would get annihilated. The guy he is fighting might get knocked out before he gets into the cage."
Penn, who recently defended his title against Sean Sherk in UFC 84, identifies with Slice.
"I am a street fighter, and I love street fighters," Penn said. "There's thousands of fighters out there, and they need a chance to make a living. Me, I'm a Kimbo Slice fan."
Five-time UFC champion Frank Shamrock will serve as analyst and color commentator for CBS' inaugural MMA show. He is widely recognized as the father of modern-day MMA.
"Kimbo Slice is a character in a world of energy when it comes to the art of fighting," Shamrock said. "The YouTube generation is supporting and following him. It's all about timing, and Kimbo is the guy."
Dana White - Kimbo Slice would get ate up by BJ Penn
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Philaflava
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I'm a fan of Kimbo, but fact is that Dana is right about the BJ Penn comment. Kimbo would be at a loss as soon as the jits came into play.
I think everyone- including Kimbo- understands that he's absolutely outclassed compared to even the low-level UFC heavyweights. The thing is, marketing-wise, they need to strike while the iron's hot. He's still trying to build his skills and become legit, but for now, he needs to get his bread.
I think everyone- including Kimbo- understands that he's absolutely outclassed compared to even the low-level UFC heavyweights. The thing is, marketing-wise, they need to strike while the iron's hot. He's still trying to build his skills and become legit, but for now, he needs to get his bread.
I have little doubt that Lesnar would take it from Kimbo no problem. Kimbo has a great punch and he has great power, but Brock matches him on power and has incredible wrestling skills. I, for some reason, don't believe that Kimbo would be able to stuff a Lesnar takedown, nor do I believe that he'd be able to fight Brock from his back.
You have to remember Brock's NCAA credentials, and think about how good he looked against Mir before getting tapped. Having that loss under his belt, I'd imagine he's the type that would chalk that up to experience.
Lesnar's background better lends him to the sport of MMA, especially in a fight with a striker.
You have to remember Brock's NCAA credentials, and think about how good he looked against Mir before getting tapped. Having that loss under his belt, I'd imagine he's the type that would chalk that up to experience.
Lesnar's background better lends him to the sport of MMA, especially in a fight with a striker.
Eh, Lesnar has great wrestling credentials but fighters aren't always able to make those skills functional in an mma bout.
Credentials in various aspects of the game don't mean much to me. GSP has no wrestling credentials and yet has some of the best wrestling in mma.
Countless jiu-jitsu specialists get their ass handed to them because they can't adapt their skills to mixed martial arts.
And who's to say Kimbo doesn't have a sprawl? I'd like to think he'd catch an overzealous Lesnar in a textbook arm-bar =)
But yeah, that would be fun to watch.
Credentials in various aspects of the game don't mean much to me. GSP has no wrestling credentials and yet has some of the best wrestling in mma.
Countless jiu-jitsu specialists get their ass handed to them because they can't adapt their skills to mixed martial arts.
And who's to say Kimbo doesn't have a sprawl? I'd like to think he'd catch an overzealous Lesnar in a textbook arm-bar =)
But yeah, that would be fun to watch.
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Liger Woods
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on top of that he was the youngest wwe champion.BigCat8 wrote:I have little doubt that Lesnar would take it from Kimbo no problem. Kimbo has a great punch and he has great power, but Brock matches him on power and has incredible wrestling skills. I, for some reason, don't believe that Kimbo would be able to stuff a Lesnar takedown, nor do I believe that he'd be able to fight Brock from his back.
You have to remember Brock's NCAA credentials, and think about how good he looked against Mir before getting tapped. Having that loss under his belt, I'd imagine he's the type that would chalk that up to experience.
Lesnar's background better lends him to the sport of MMA, especially in a fight with a striker.
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Philaflava
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Gregg Popabitch1
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Nicely done.Liger Woods wrote:on top of that he was the youngest wwe champion.BigCat8 wrote:I have little doubt that Lesnar would take it from Kimbo no problem. Kimbo has a great punch and he has great power, but Brock matches him on power and has incredible wrestling skills. I, for some reason, don't believe that Kimbo would be able to stuff a Lesnar takedown, nor do I believe that he'd be able to fight Brock from his back.
You have to remember Brock's NCAA credentials, and think about how good he looked against Mir before getting tapped. Having that loss under his belt, I'd imagine he's the type that would chalk that up to experience.
Lesnar's background better lends him to the sport of MMA, especially in a fight with a striker.
By the way, "Correct but jealous" is spot on when assessing what Dana said.
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