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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief On Wednesday night on Spike TV, the crazy ride that has been the fighting career of Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson reaches it's next improbable peak, as his fight with "Big Country" Roy Nelson airs on the third episode of The Ultimate Fighter's tenth season.
It's been a highly eventful journey to this reality show for Ferguson, filled with overhyped expectations, a shocking loss on national television and endless amounts of venom spewed in his direction by his new employer. But now, it will be a fight against his most accomplished competitor, in a Las Vegas gym that took place three months ago, that will define where he stands in the UFC and as a fighter.
His early exploits in bare knuckle fighting are well documented. Kimbo's first video taped street fight came in 2003, where picked up $3000 for knocking out his opponent. After it was posted on a porn site and promptly circulated to YouTube, Kimbo was given the second part of nickname by fans on the internet, Slice, and it stuck. For over 20 videotaped fights in the streets and backyards of Miami, Florida, Slice built up a reputation as a "street certified" badass, losing only once to Boston police officer Sean Gannon (who received a shot in the UFC off of the buzz, losing to Brandon Lee Hinkle in 2005).
From there he made the transition to MMA, where he trained with Bas Rutten in California. He took on former boxing World Champion Ray Mercer, the same man who earlier this year knocked out former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia, in his first amateur bout. In under a minute and a half he choked out the hardest of hard punching Mercer.
After that amateur bout Slice was signed by ProElite, and he made his professional MMA debut against Bo Cantrell in November of 2007. Kimbo's name continued to rise in the ranks of ProElite officials after Kimbo forced Cantrell to submit to strikes in 19 seconds. Next up was the infamous Tank Abbott in February of 2008 for EliteXC on Showtime, and this time it was just under a minute until another fighter was on the ground due to the hands of Slice.
It was the next move by ProElite that drew the ire of UFC President Dana White and MMA fans everywhere. EliteXC was going to bring mixed martial arts to primetime television for the first time in May of 2008 when they brought an event live to CBS. Kimbo was pushed as the new face of the sport after having only defeated two fighters. Not only that, but it was two fighters who looked like jokes in the cage by this point in 2008.
Dana White called him a joke, MMA fans called him a sideshow act, and even fighters under ProElite contract weren't all on board with him.
After he defeated James Thompson in the main event of that first primetime fight card, due to a stoppage that many questioned in the third round of a fight Slice was struggling in, fellow EliteXC heavyweight Brett Rogers called him out. He did it at cageside and he did it again at the press conference, talking about how he had smashed Thompson when the two had faced and that he would destroy Kimbo.
When ProElite set up a bout with Slice and MMA stalwart Ken Shamrock for their third event on CBS, everyone was looking for ratings and dollar signs for the struggling company. What they got was an end of the road.
When Ken Shamrock was forced to pull out of the fight due to a cut suffered "rolling" hours before the fight, another fighter on the card was tagged to step in on extremely short notice. That was, of course, Seth Petruzelli, a light heavyweight and former cast member of the show which Slice now can call his own, The Ultimate Fighter. Petruzelli shocked everyone with a 14 second TKO over Slice after tagging the much bigger fighter with a jab as he backed away to the cage.
The subsequent controversy after the fight, wherein Petruzelli made a statement on a radio program construed as being paid to keep the fight standing, was the final shovel of dirt over a grave dug by over $50 million in debt by ProElite.
That brings us to 2009. Dana White said on many occasions that the only way Kimbo Slice would ever fight in the UFC was if he went through The Ultimate Fighter. Slice, looking to get better in the sport, as well as get paid, decided that it was precisely the move that made the most sense for him.
Almost immediately, the fan perception in the MMA community for Slice took a complete 180. Instead of being presented as the "face" of the sport to a network audience comprised of people who hadn't perhaps gotten a true look at the sport before, he was now simply a guy that's been misunderstood trying to do what he can to gain the respect of fans and fighters everywhere.
The intrigue for Slice on this season led to a massive rating for the debut episode that nearly doubled the series' previous high. People still want to see what Kimbo Slice can do, and on Wednesday they'll get that chance.
In the third elimination fight on the program, Rashad Evans' team decided to pit Kimbo against the most accomplished name in the house in "Big Country" Roy Nelson. The former IFL Heavyweight Champion himself was looking for a way to get into the UFC as well as raise his profile, and this show was that way for him, much as it was for Slice.
The two of them squaring off gives Kimbo a chance to prove his worth as not just a brawler, but as a budding MMA fighter as well. Should Kimbo actually defeat a fighter the caliber of Nelson, in front of what will likely be the biggest audience ever for this program on Spike TV, he will have undone all the damage caused by his time in EliteXC. If he's even serviceable in this fight and doesn't look like he's lost and out of his element, he'll have done enough to justify giving him a shot on the show. Finally, if he gets destroyed, it proves right the thoughts of hardcore fans and Dana White, who all believed he was unjustly given his spot as the "face" of the sport on CBS.
What happens next remains to be seen, but the long ride that's taken Kevin Ferguson this far will take it's next turn Wednesday night. Tune in to Spike to find out if Kimbo can take a slice out of the "Big Country."
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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