MMA Legacy 11.30.09: Kimbo Slice
Posted by Bill Wannop on 11.30.2009
MMA Legacy is back with a bang to examine the career of Kimbo Slice! Learn about his early life playing football to his street fighting days all the way up to his current stint on the Ultimate Fighter! Plus I discuss why I think Tito Ortiz may have thrown his fight with Forrest Griffin!
Each and every week MMA Legacy shines the spotlight on a MMA legend. The legends may be retired or may be still actively competing. The column will begin with a bio on the selected legend following his career throughout its highs and lows. This week we decided to focus one of the most popular fighters in the world today, Kimbo Slice! From his early days playing football to him becoming an Internet sensation with his Street Fighting, to putting it all on the line by going on the Ultimate Fighter reality series, join us as we relive the short but memorable career of Kimbo Slice!
Early Life
Kimbo Slice was born February 8, 1974 (making him 35 years old today) in Nassau Bahamas. When he was young he moved from the Bahamas to Cutler Ridge Florida. He was raised by a single mother and has two younger brothers. He went to Bel-Air Elementary school and was involved in his first fight at the age of 13 while he was trying to defend his friend. He later went to Cutler Ridge Middle School and later Richmond Heights Middle School. In high school he was a star football player as a middle linebacker at Miami Palmetto High School. During this time was when his first hardships struck as Kimbo's house was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew and he was forced to live in his 1987 Nissan Pathfinder for a month.
Kimbo went to college and attended Bethune-Cookman University and the University of Miami where he held an athletic scholarship and studied criminal justice. He only attended the schools for a year and half and in 1997 he had a tryout with the Miami Dolphins, earning a spot on the practice squad, before he was eventually cut.
Fighting
Kimbo started working as a bouncer for a strip club as a way to pay bills, and high school friend Mike Ember offered him an opportunity to earn more money by becoming a limo driver and bodyguard for the Reality Kings adult website. Kimbo then suffered his second setback, being charged with carrying a concealed weapon in 2002, and in 2003 he started what would make him a household name, street fighting. The premise was that both men would put up $10,000 with the winner of the fight taking all. The fights were aired on the internet and in his first fight with Big D, Kimbo gave D a large slice on his eye which people then attributed to Kimbo creating his nickname of Kimbo Slice.
His only loss during his street fighting days came against Sean Gannon, a former police officer and MMA fighter. There is some controversy in the fight however, as the rules were supposedly no kicks and no grappling, but Gannon utilized a standing guillotine and knees to weaken Kimbo leaving him exhausted and eventually defeated. After this fight, Kimbo saw the popularity he was receiving and saw a potential future in professional MMA.
MMA
To prepare for his MMA debut Slice started training with MMA great Bas Rutten. Rutten was amazed at Slices athletic ability and ability to learn techniques very quickly. Kimbo made his unofficial debut in an exhibition contest against former WBO heavyweight champion Ray Mercer at Cage Fury Fighting Championship 5. In the fight Kimbo was able to get a guillotine choke and tap Mercer out in 1:12 of the first round. Kimbo then called out Tank Abbott for a future bout however the fight would not materialize right away.
Kimbo then signed with Elite XC and first fought Bo Cantrell at Elite XC: Renegade by TKO due to strikes in 19 seconds. His next fight was at Elite XC: Street Certified on February 16, 2008, against Tank Abbott. Kimbo again dominated the fight finishing off Tank with strikes in 0:43 of the first round.
His next fight for Elite XC, would be broadcast on network television and would be against James Thompson at Elite XC: Primetime. In the fight Kimbo's limited ground game was somewhat exposed as Thompson took Kimbo to the ground and utilized his ground and pound to win the first two rounds of the fight. Many people were very critical of the officiating as the referee, Dan Mirgliatta, stood the fighters up on multiple occasions when Thompson had Kimbo in a dominant position on the ground. At the start of the third round Kimbo connected with a punch to the ear of Thompon causing it to explode, and allowing Kimbo to lay in 3 unanswered shots to the standing Thompson at which point the official called the fight stating that Thompson was out on his feet.
Kimbo's last fight for Elite XC took place on October 4, 2008 at Elite XC: Heat. Kimbo was in the main event and was scheduled to face Ken Shamrock, however Shamrock suffered a cut on his head while warming up that required stitches and was not medically cleared to fight. Elite XC scrambled to find a replacement and had the option of Frank Shamrock, Aaron Rosa or Seth Petruzelli. The executives went with Petruzelli and Kimbo agreed to the fight after accepting a large raise in pay. In the fight Petruzelli connected with a jab to Slice stunning him then pounded him out in 14 seconds of the first round, shocking the world.
Shortly after the loss Elite XC went bankrupt with most people attributing their failure to the loss suffered by Slice. Kimbo took some time off and decided that he really wanted to pursue MMA, so he decided to prove himself to everyone by going on the Ultimate Fighter reality show to earn his way into the UFC. On the show Kimbo has really impressed everyone with his extreme willingness to learn coupled with his nice personality. In week three of the show Kimbo faced off against Roy Nelson , the favorite to win the whole show, and was defeated again by getting taken down and stuck in the crucifix position. While Nelson did minimal damage, he was landing continuous unanswered blows forcing the referee to stop the fight.
Future Outlook
Kimbo Slice has built himself quite a legacy. He earned initial fame through his street fights on YouTube, but has since legitimized himself to MMA purists by going on the Ultimate Fighter reality show and displaying his incredible work ethic. He has proven that people want to watch him, and he has continued his MMA training at American Top Team in Florida. With his strong stand up skills coupled with his athleticism and willingness to learn some may be surprised with how far Kimbo can go in the UFC. The only thing that is working against him may be his age.
His next fight in rumored to be at the Ultimate Finale on December 5, taking on Houston Alexander. This fight should be a stand up war and is a tough contest for Slice. While the danger of being taken to the ground does not really exist due to Alexander's own weak ground game, Houston is probably the more complete fighter with strong kicks and clinch work. It should be an exciting battle that will show us how good Kimbo's stand up really is.
Various News
Micheal Bisping vs. Wanderlei Silva at UFC
Well it looks as though Bisping is going to get his wish and will face off with Wanderlei Silva at UFC 110. This may be the last time we see Bisping as Silva will most likely knock his head off similar to how Dan Henderson did. I still have this huge hatred for Bisping and I still don't think he has the skills to back up his ego. He doesn't have real knockout power standing, and on the ground while it has been effective against some fighters, he seems to have limited control and is somewhat wild. He also has a tendency to jab his way to victory against the upper level fighters. I see Silva completely destroying him, and it will surely make me happy.
My opinion on why I think Tito Ortiz threw his fight with Forrest Griffin
I have to say the more I think about what transpired the more I feel this is correct. Tito won the first round against Forrest, the second round was close, and then completely did nothing the third round. By nothing I mean he threw like 10 punches. Ortiz is always the self-promoter and I feel that he saw a great opportunity to make some huge money. He knows that a third tie breaking fight would garner lots of interest and I believe in Ortiz's contract he gets a percentage of the PPV buys. With that he even thought of another way to further line his pockets and promote his fight pretty much right after his battle with Griffin, he was saying how he and Forrest should coach the next season of the Ultimate Fighter to set up for their third encounter.
I think that Tito Ortiz came into the fight with two possible outcomes. Either he goes in there and destroys Forrest in the first round showing everyone he is back and better then ever, or if the fight was going to be close he could sandbag it in the third, give Forrest a decision victory and set up a third and final fight between the two. I also believe that Ortiz gets paid a flat rate with no win bonus, putting more weight on the fact that he doesn't care much about winning but rather on making money.
My personal feeling on Ortiz is that he is a huge self-promoter who has actually realized that he will never dominate the way he used to. Looking at his previous fights, I don't think that he will win many fights against the top fighters, so really all Ortiz has left is self promotion.
That does it for another week of MMA Legacy. Enjoy the Ultimate Fighter finale!
so i am stating this on pure thought not having researched, yes somewhere out there there are people who would care about these two fighters but it would not make a diffrence to titos pockets unless how his contract is, most fighters have a multiple fight contract stating that they owe ufc a number of fights now not being sure if tito has that or if it was a one fight contract and i dont care at the moment to look it up, it would not make a diffrence, plus tito is way to cocky to do that, but hey who knows
Posted By: Guest#6758 (Guest) on November 30, 2009 at 12:10 AM
This was a good article until the whole Ortiz thing, seriously dude.....seriously .......
Posted By: Observer (Guest) on November 30, 2009 at 12:25 AM
thats should of been titos escuse at the end not that he had a cracked skull..dude you could be his manager if you can keep coming up with that bullshit...hahaha
Posted By: dustin (Guest) on November 30, 2009 at 08:52 AM
Sorry I'm with him on the Tito thing. I don't think he threw 10 punches. He may have been gassed but not THAT gassed. Imo, Ortiz was very much thinking ahead.
Posted By: jp (Guest) on November 30, 2009 at 12:06 PM
you're an idiot. What makes you think Wandi is gonna KO Bisping? I think you're hatred of Bisping is seriously clouding your judgement. Bisping lacks power in the stand up. That is his biggest weakness. But hate all you want he is still a good fighter who is probably going to beat Wandi. Especially since this will be Wandi's first cut to 185. He gassed out cutting to 195 against Franklin, what do you think is gonna happen cutting 10 MORE POUNDS. Wandi is DONE! Let me reiderate. You're an idiot.
Posted By: Guest#1679 (Guest) on December 01, 2009 at 12:20 PM
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Each and every week MMA Legacy shines the spotlight on a MMA legend. The legends may be retired or may be still actively competing. The column will begin with a bio on the selected legend following his career throughout its highs and lows. This week we decided to focus one of the most popular fighters in the world today, Kimbo Slice! From his early days playing football to him becoming an Internet sensation with his Street Fighting, to putting it all on the line by going on the Ultimate Fighter reality series, join us as we relive the short but memorable career of Kimbo Slice!
