Kimbo Slice in MMA
Is Kimbo Slice Good for the Sport?
by Eric Davidson
As most of you are aware (unless you’ve been watching scrambled clips of MMA bouts from a cave) one of the newest faces to hit the sports arena is the infamous Kimbo Slice, who will take on James Thompson in CBS EliteXC Saturday Night Fights on May 31st on CBS free television.
The famously brutal street fighter made a name for himself in the underground world fighting consensual conflicts in urban environments which were later posted online. Perhaps one of the more famous engagements ended with him knocking a man’s eye out of his socket; which still didn’t end the fight for unknown reasons. His recent entry into the mixed martial arts territory caused mixed emotions from die-hard fans. Many were thrilled to see Kimbo enter a more professional fighting arena, whether to say “I’ve been following this guy since he was a street fighter,” with some added pride, or just to watch him pummel “professional” fighters who’ve been training for years.
Others saw it as a gimmick, a publicity stunt by the EliteXC to bring a virally famous face into their MMA atmosphere. Especially when he began by fighting former champions a little past their prime, (i.e. a visibly older Tank Abbott) perhaps just to fatten his fighting record before throwing him up against some more notable competitors. Some have already showed some disdain for EliteXC’s flashy entrances with dancing girls, hinting that instead of being viewed as a sport it is considered as just another form of mindless entertainment. Even MMA legend Chuck Liddell has taken a stand against the Kimbo Slice craze, suggesting that Kimbo isn’t nearly as good as he’s being hyped up to be. Liddell even states:
“All I said is fight to someone real. The only guy he lost to in his street-fight things came into the UFC and lost. Fight a guy that is real and fight a guy… who has a few wins in MMA, and then talk about it.”
Regardless of the hype or anti-hype, you can’t deny his strength. Watching him pound into Tank Abbott and Bo Cantrell makes any viewer realize the authority behind his fists.
Born Kevin Ferguson in Miami, Florida, Kimbo was a star defensive football player before ending a year and a half stint at the University of Miami (where he surprisingly didn’t play football). Afterwards he worked as a body-guard for RK Netmedia, a Miami-based pornography company who even feature’s Kimbo as an escort in a select group of videos (or so I’m told). It wasn’t until a match between former Boston Police Officer Sean Gannon that they were both propelled into the MMA arena. Gannon, as stated by Liddell, lost to Brandon Lee Hinkle in a brutally bloody match fromwhich Gannon has yet to return.
For the MMA purists watching an internet famous street brawler may not be what you’re looking for in a sport that is constantly gaining a respectable reputation; especially with such sportsman-like displays from people such as Matt Serra, George St. Pierre, and even Gina Carano, who had a quick “no” response to a question involving her posing in Playboy. No matter what the sport, its degree of class is always defined by its participants, so the question is:
Is Kimbo Slice, the self-made street fighter/pornography body-guard/father of six from Miami going to be good for a sport that is still struggling to keep a reputable image?
