I really have no clue why this is bugging me as badly as it is, compared to the numerous amount of celebrities lost this year.
Kimbo had an aura around him. He was a spectacle. A man who literally built himself a life out of being the car wreck you slow down to witness. He seemed likable in an almost laughable way, and I feel bad typing that. This was a big scary dude who beat up a bunch of people in street fights, gained fame in the early years of YouTube, and got picked up by EliteXC as they desperately tried to be UFC competition.
Maybe that's it. Despite being known for fighting, going from brawls to bright light, stadium professional fights has to be a fish-out-of-water situation. Probably why EliteXC "helped" him along the way.
They brought in pure cans like Bo "Redrum" Cantrell who seemingly flopped at the first punch and tapped before additional punches could land. Cantrell never fought professionally again after their fight, wrapping his career up with a tidy 10-10 record. Did that matter? Nope. "Kimbo made a man quit from a single punch."The aura continued.
Next up? The man crushed a past his prime (if it ever existed) Tank Abbott. Now he had it on record of beating a UFC legend. The aura continued.
Listen to this fight. Listen to the commentary hype every single thing Kimbo does like he's prime Anderson Silva. Listen to the crowd lose their minds and literally,
an entire crowd AWWWW in disappointment that Kimbo Slice doesn't finish the most rookie of rookie level guillotine chokes. The aura that this dude from YouTube would learn a lifetime amount of jiu-jitsu in mere months. "He made a man's ear explode from a punch!"
Then Ken Shamrock had to pull out of a fight that he shouldn't have even been cleared for and Kimbo got beat by a replacement fighter in mere seconds, later slipping and admitting he was paid to keep the fight standing, causing EliteXC to go under from the waves of it.
Seriously. Kimbo lost a fight and an entire daggone company died.
But his aura lived.The man lost a fight to a paid off fighter, so what happens next? Obviously, the UFC.
Well...first he hyped "FaceBreaker." Then the UFC.
I'll repeat it. Kimbo Slice got to the UFC. They had him on The Ultimate Fighter because they knew he was the ratings for that season. Every single drop of footage of him was to show how untrained he was for professional fighting. They wanted to humanize him. Show his flaws. They wanted to let everyone know he was just some dude fighting cops at airports and not a truly dominating physical presence. The man lost to the perpetually chubby Roy Nelson in a fight that showed he had no daggone clue what 'ground game' meant beyond hopscotch.
But his aura lived on. People wanted to see him. They wanted to see Kimbo Slice in the daggone Octagon so the UFC threw up their hands and suddenly Kimbo Slice, professional YouTube Fighter guy, was in a legitimate professional fight in the most legitimate MMA company in the world against Houston Alexander, a man who was around long enough to be put in one of the UFC games despite having a 2-3 record with them. What happened? Alexander, a trained professional fighter in his fourteenth career fight, came in terrified, circling and circling and circling until he emptied his own tank. Who needs cardio? Houston was exhausted...as was Kimbo. The heck is cardio to a dude used to showing up, being handed a fist full of cash, and punching some dude dumb enough to think they could fight him?
AND KIMBO WON. It wasn't a good fight. Kimbo hit a backdrop driver at one point and there was more hype for his 'ground game,' but it was a fight that Kimbo managed to win in the most legitimate MMA company in the world.
It was obvious that wasn't supposed to happen. Alexander got fired. Kimbo got put in with Matt Mitrione, a wrestler with cardio who took Kimbo the ground and finished him in the second round of Kimbo's 2nd professional fight in the most legitimate professional wrestling company in the world. A 1-1 record.
Kimbo had lost, so they immediately purged him from the UFC. Seriously. They announced his release the next daggone day, probably with an exaggerated "Phew."
BUT THE AURA LIVED. He got into boxing and straight up destroyed cans in spectacular knock-out fashion. People who probably didn't deserve to be in the ring with anyone. They were trying to recreate that YouTube feel of him, releasing highlights. He went 7-0 with 6 KOs but never fought a fight with potential to go past 4 rounds.
I remember seeing those clips of Kimbo KOing poor souls and I'll honestly say I'm surprised they never got him for a Friday Night Fights opener. Maybe boxing was resisting the urge to gain from the aura...or his agent sucked. Whatever.
And then MMA was back, suddenly. Five years after his last fight in an Octagon, a new company wanted the aura of Kimbo Slice to draw in attention in a desperate attempt to compete with the UFC. Oh, Bellator. You TNA of MMA. They pulled whatever needed pulled to bring forth the fight, apparently, seven years in the making. Kimbo vs. Shamrock. The fight that literally killed a company when it didn't happen.
Kimbo spitting hype. Running interviews. It seemed extremely obvious the man just wanted to play a character but wasn't good at it. There was a charm to the tough talk for the camera. Some dude who used to beat up people for cash on the street trying to now be the cold-eyed professional MMA monster. I literally marked the date to see the fight. I talked about it with people. I WAS HYPED FOR A DAGGONE KIMBO SLICE FIGHT AGAINST KEN FREAKING SHAMROCK IN THE YEAR OF 2015. And I
knew it wouldn't be any good. I wanted to see the trainwreck.
Kimbo wins after pulling Shamrock's arm off his throat like it was a casino slot machine handle and punching the soft tissue that passes for Shamrock's face anymore. Kimbo avenges the Ghost of EliteXC Past. It came with the realization that there would be more Kimbo.
And then there's the Dada5000 thing.
I paid no attention to the story. Former bodyguard? Whatever. I was interested in the spectacle of Kimbo. Although, it was fantastic that his aura could lead to some random dude with a dumb name debuting and co-main eventing an MMA event. I figured sloppy punching and a quick finish. I think that was what the whole audience expected. Then...something else. It was the most amazing trainwreck I've ever daggone seen.
Nearly 15 minutes. Both exhausted within the first exchange. Stood up from full mount due to inactivity. Both men kind of staring at each other for offense. The rumbling, tumbling, fumbling fall of a TKO that was absolutely hilarious...until I found out Dada5000 died like three times at the hospital from exhaustion and was in the ICU for a week or so. Even then, dear goodness, the experience of seeing that fight live on TV while on Twitter.
And it didn't even count because they busted Kimbo with stuff in his system. Literally a gigantic waste of time for anyone who takes the sport seriously in any manner. With all that...the aura wasn't hurt. We were waiting for the next fight.
And now tragedy. Kimbo dies. 42-years old. Just sitting at home. A father whose own son is trying to enter the fighting business. Heart failure. I honestly don't know how my words will sound but I respected the path Kimbo literally sliced for himself. He reached heights that people who trained their entire lives never will. He became a star. He wasn't that great of a pro fighter but fought around his talent level and that was great and entertaining. Like an MMA Butterbean (Yes, I know Butterbean did MMA). Above all, he was a seemingly humble dude who still tried to turn on the 'Grr I'm still so street' hype for those Bellator fights. 42-years old. Man.
Rest in Peace, Kimbo. Kevin Ferguson had a heck of a life and it's a shame to see him go. But it is nice knowing that Youtube still exists and the aura lives on.
Edit: I just learned about Kimbo needing a heart transplant and it's made me infuriated at Bellator. What a horrible thing.