When Kevin Ferguson died on June 6, 2016, people called him “Kimbo Slice.” He was a mixed martial artist, boxer, bare-knuckle boxer, professional wrestler, and sometimes actor, as well. He became famous for fights that were shared on the Internet. Rolling Stone called him “The King of the Web Brawlers.”
Slice left the underground fight scene in 2007 and signed a professional deal with EliteXC. Slice competed in The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights. In his first fight, he lost to the winner of the show, Roy Nelson, who beat him. In his first UFC fight, Slice beat Houston Alexander in the final of The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights. As of January 2015, Slice worked for Bellator MMA. He died in June of that year.
Early Life
A man named Kimbo Slice was born on February 8, 1974. He was named Kevin Ferguson. A child, he moved to the US and lived in Cutler Ridge, FL. His mother, Rosemary Clarke, took care of him and his siblings when they were young. Kimbo is said to have gotten into his first fight at school when he was 13.
He was trying to protect a friend from someone else. To get into high school, he went to Miami Palmetto High School. He was a star football player and was in charge of defence in the middle. He went to Bethune-Cookman University and the University of Miami on an athletic scholarship, where he majored in criminal justice and went to school there.
Career
Mike Imber, who was his high school friend and manager, hired him as a limo driver and bodyguard for RK Netmedia. He used to work as a bouncer at a strip club. There was a Miami-based company called Reality Kings that made and promoted adult movies.
RK Netmedia was also called Reality Kings. Ferguson was charged with concealing a weapon in 2002, but it was a bad thing. In 2003, he started his career in street fighting with other people, which he did for a long time. Videos of the fights were mostly shared on the adult website Sublime Directory.
Ferguson left a big cut on his opponent’s right eye in his first taped fight with a man called “Big D.” This led people to call him “Slice.” A lot of people liked the name, so Kimbo Slice was born. Sean Gannon, a former Boston police officer who was also trained in MMA, was the only person he lost to in a street fight that was caught on video. The fight was a big hit, which made both men famous in the MMA world.
Cage Fury Fighting Championships 5 took place on June 23, 2007, in Atlantic City. Slice made his official MMA debut against Ray Mercer, a former WBO Heavyweight Champion, at the event. The match was supposed to be a three-round show with all the rules of MMA fighting.
Slice won the first round with a guillotine choke at 1:12 into the first round. On October 11, 2007, Proelite.com said that Slice had agreed to a deal. There were a lot of punches, and Kimbo was able to get Cantrell to the ground 19 seconds into the first round. Icey Mike Imber is not only one of Kimbo’s best friends, but he has also been in charge of Kimbo’s career since the very beginning of it.
EliteXC: Primetime aired the first MMA event on a primetime TV network in May 2008. Slice was the main event, and it was the first MMA fight to be shown on the network. EliteXC had to file for bankruptcy in October of that same year because it couldn’t make money.
Afterward, Dana White, President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, told Slice that to compete for the UFC, he first had to compete on the TV show “The Ultimate Fighter.” During the fight on December 5, 2009, Slice came on the show and beat Houston Alexander.
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It was on May 8, 2010, that Slice paid his first UFC pay-per-view and heavyweight debt on May 8. Matt Mitrione beat him, and White kicked him out of UFC because he didn’t fight well. As soon as his time with the UFC came to an end, Slice announced in August 2010 that he planned to become a professional boxer. Pro boxing began for him on August 13, 2011 in Miami.
He beat James Wade in the first round by knocking him out in just 10 seconds. When he was supposed to make his professional wrestling debut against sumo wrestler Shinichi Suzukawa, he pulled out of the match because he hurt his arm. When Slice came back to the ring a few months later, he beat Tay Bledsoe in the first round. For his next fight, in January 2013, he beat Shane Tilyard.
When Slice’s last MMA fight was five years ago, Bellator MMA said that Slice had signed a multi-fight deal in January 2015. In his first fight at Bellator 138 on June 19, 2015, he beat Ken Shamrock by TKO. In his next match, Slice faced Dada 5000. It was at Bellator 149 on February 19, 2016.
He went on to win by TKO when Dada got tired in the third round. Afterward, people said that Slice had taken steroids before the fight. Texas Athletic Commission fined him $2,500 and took away his fighting license, so the match was changed to a “No Contest” instead of a victory or defeat.
It was announced in April 2016 that Slice would fight James Thompson again on July 15, 2016, at London’s O2 Arena. Unfortunately, Slice died before the fight could take place.
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Kimbo Slice Net Worth
At the time of his death, Kimbo Slice was an American boxer and mixed martial artist from the Bahamas. He had a net worth of $500,000. His street fights were shown all over the internet, and he became well-known for them. Once, Rolling Stone called Slice “The King of the Web Brawlers.”
Personal Life
It was in May 1994 that Slice married L. Shontae Ferguson, and they had a daughter named Slice. They had three children, RaeChelle, Kevin II, and Kevin, and they named them after their three children. When Slice died, he also had three grandchildren and a granddaughter, too. His long-term love, Antionette Ray, was engaged to Kimbo at the time of his death.
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How Much Was Kimbo Slice Worth at the Time of His Death?
Most of the time, Kimbo Slice’s boxing career was more successful because he only fought people who were not very good. Slice had a record of 7-0 in boxing. Soon, he joined Bellator MMA for another chance at mixed martial arts fighting, and he did very well. Finally, Slice was able to fight Shamrock. He knocked him out, and he was very happy about it.
Slice’s last fight was against Dada 5000, and Slice lost (legal name Dhafir Harris). Many people think this was one of the worst fights of all time because both men were too tired to fight each other. He died of a heart attack at the age of 42 in 2016.
Celebrity Net Worth says that at the time of Kimbo Slice’s death, he was worth about $500,000. Slice’s legacy lives on through his son, Kevin Ferguson Jr. (also known as “Baby Slice”), who fights for Bellator.
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