Kimbo Slice

Ferguson was born in Nassau, Bahamas, but moved to the United States as a child, growing up in Cutler Ridge, Florida. Ferguson was raised with his brother Devon and sister Renea by his mother Rosemary Clarke. In May of 1994, Kimbo married L. Shontae Ferguson the mother of RaeChelle, Kevin II and Kevinah his children. From this union, Kimbo Slice and Shontae also have three grandsons Kevin III, Akieno and Kimbo-Legasy as well as one granddaughter Isis. He went to Bel-Air Elementary School, where Ferguson was reportedly involved in his first fight at 13 as he tried to defend a friend. Ferguson continued his studies at Cutler Ridge Middle School and later attended Richmond Heights Middle School. He attended Miami Palmetto High School, where he was the star middle linebacker. In 1992, his house in Perrine, Florida was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew, forcing him to live in his 1987 Nissan Pathfinder for a month.

For college, he attended both Bethune-Cookman University and the University of Miami, where he held an athletic scholarship and studied criminal justice. He was there for a year and a half. In 1997, he had a tryout with the Miami Dolphins and was part of the pre-season squad but was unable to secure a spot on the first team. Slice's cousin is United States judoka Rhadi Ferguson.

In 2002, he was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and in 2003, he began his career in unsanctioned mutual combat street fights. They were distributed through the Internet, mainly through the adult website SublimeDirectory and various other video platforms. In his first taped fight against a man named Big D, Ferguson left a large cut on his opponent's right eye which led Internet fans to call him Slice, becoming the last name to his already popular childhood nickname, Kimbo.

In 2005, Slice started training in martial arts at the Freestyle Fighting Academy under Marcos Avellan and David Avellan. At first, Slice was training exclusively for street boxing, focusing on bare-knuckle techniques, dirty boxing from the clinch, and elbows - but then he began to develop an interest for MMA. Slice signed to make his MMA debut against former WBO Heavyweight champion and Olympic gold-medalist boxer Ray Mercer at Cage Fury Fighting Championships 5, in Atlantic City on June 23, 2007. A month prior to the fight, Slice switched camps and was trained by retired MMA fighter Bas Rutten and boxing instructor Randy Khatami at Rutten's school, EliteMMA, in Thousand Oaks, California.

Slice made his MMA debut against Mercer at Cage Fury Fighting Championships 5, in Atlantic City on June 23, 2007. The match was scheduled as a three-round exhibition utilizing all professional rules of MMA combat. Slice defeated Mercer with a guillotine choke at 1:12 into the first round. CFFC V sold 20,000 ppv buys In a post-fight interview, Slice stated that he would like to fight David "Tank" Abbott. Abbott, who was a spectator, stood up from his seat and accepted the call out. One of the matchmakers for CFFC asked Slice for his assurance so that an October 12 bout at Cage Fury Fighting Championships 6 between Slice and "Tank" Abbott could be organized. This event was later canceled due to a promotion dispute. On October 11, 2007, ProElite announced that they had signed Slice to a deal and that he would make his debut on the November 10, 2007 EliteXC. He was originally set to make his professional MMA debut against Mike Bourke, a reformed street fighter, but a shoulder injury from Bourke led him to face Bo Cantrell. Slice defeated Cantrell 19 seconds into the first round by submission due to strikes.

On February 16, 2008, Slice fought Tank Abbott in the main event at EliteXC: Street Certified. He won by KO 43 seconds into the first round due to strikes. At the fight his weight was announced at an all-time low of 234 lb (106 kg), a far cry from his street fighting days of 280 lb (130 kg).

On May 31, 2008, Slice fought in the main event of the first ever mixed martial arts event shown on prime time network television, EliteXC: Primetime. Though one of the judges had each fighter winning one of the first two rounds, Slice's opponent James Thompson won both on total points by repeatedly taking down Slice and grounding and pounding. In the opening seconds of the third round, however, Slice threw a haymaker to Thompson's left ear, which ruptured Thompson's cauliflower. This was soon followed by three unanswered punches to a standing Thompson, which led to a referee stoppage and the controversial win for Slice. Fellow EliteXC competitor Brett Rogers was particularly critical of Slice's victory, calling Slice's performance "garbage" in a post fight interview. Frank Mir was also a critic of Slice, stating in an interview that "every time Kimbo Slice fights, it sets (mixed martial arts) back".

On October 4, 2008, a Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock fight was supposed to take place at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida as part of CBS' Saturday Night Fights. However, Shamrock received a cut to the left eye during a warm-up only hours before the fight was to take place. This left the head of fight operations, Jeremy Lappen, to choose a replacement for the fight. Options were Seth Petruzelli, Aaron Rosa and Frank Shamrock. Slice's team stated they did not want him fighting Frank no matter how much money was offered to them, so Lappen decided that Petruzelli was the best option for the main event. Slice agreed to take the fight after receiving a raise in pay, and took in $500,000. Petruzelli defeated Slice by TKO 14 seconds into the first round of the bout.

On October 23, 2008, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation concluded its investigation of the bout and found no wrongdoing. By the end of October 2008, EliteXC was forced to file for bankruptcy. Many in the mixed martial arts community, including Jay Thompson, executive consultant to the company, attributed EliteXC and ProElite's failure due to Slice's loss to Seth Petruzelli.

Slice was featured on The Iron Ring, a television series airing on BET that features MMA prospects. Slice was part of the selection process for the participants. He made his official acting debut when playing the character Bludge on Nickelodeon's 2008 holiday special, Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh. He also played an inmate named JC in 2009's fightning film Blood and Bone.

Slice fought Houston Alexander on December 5, 2009, at The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights Finale at a catchweight of 215 pounds. In a fight that many thought would not leave the first round, Alexander would instead spend most of the first and third rounds circling Slice tentatively with little engagement. In the second round, however, Slice landed a back suplex on Alexander, which very well may have tipped the judges' scorecards in his favor. Slice would win the bout by unanimous decision (29–28, 29–28, and 30–27) and Alexander would be cut from the promotion only days later.

A series called "Junk Yard Training" was released on yardbarker.com and youtube.com that featured LaDainian Tomlinson, running back for the San Diego Chargers, training in Kimbo's backyard. In 2009, Kimbo starred in an antivirus software advertisement called Caterpillar vs. Kimbo.

On May 8, 2010, Slice made his pay-per-view and official heavyweight debut at UFC 113 versus Matt Mitrione, losing in the second round via a TKO. Following the loss, Dana White stated that it was "probably Kimbo's last fight in the UFC". His release was confirmed the following day, alongside welterweight Paul Daley.

In August 2010, Slice announced his intention to become a professional boxer. He stated "I feel like a baby all over again. I'm thinking about this at night. I'm gonna be a problem in the heavyweight division. I'm going to be coming in with a bad demeanor. I want to see what it's like to break some ribs, break a jaw with one punch. This is a career move. I love fighting. I like to knock people the fuck out. I love engaging. Maybe some people think I'm crazy."

Slice made his pro boxing debut on August 13, 2011. Slice fought in a four-round headlining attraction against 39-year-old James Wade (0-1) at the Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma. He won the fight via KO at 0:10 in the first round.

Slice was to make his debut in professional wrestling on February 9, 2011, against former sumo wrestler Shinichi Suzukawa at the Inoki Genome Federation's "Genome 14" event in Fukuoka, Japan; he pulled out of the match due to getting injured during practice.

Slice's next fight was in Australia on the Anthony Mundine vs Daniel Geale undercard on January 30, 2013. He defeated Shane Tilyard (6-6) by TKO in the second round.

On January 16, 2015, nearly five years since his last MMA fight, Bellator MMA announced that Slice had signed a multi-fight deal. He defeated Ken Shamrock by first-round TKO in his June 19 debut at Bellator 138. Some observers noted the fight appeared to be fixed, like a professional wrestling match. Bellator commentator Jimmy Smith accredited the fight looking as it did to Shamrock's lack of technique and durability, and said if it was fixed, Bellator wasn't in on the deal.

On February 19, 2016, at Bellator 149, Slice faced Dada 5000. The duo had a big rivalry between them due to their old street fight legacies they had in Perrine, Florida. In the first round, both fighters gassed out almost immediately, and Slice went on to win an uneventful fight via TKO when Dada collapsed from apparent exhaustion in the third round. Following the bout it was reported that Slice had failed his pre-fight drug test. Lab results found traces of the anabolic steroid nandrolone. He was also found to have an elevated testosterone/epitestosterone (T/E) ratio of 6.4:1, which is above the maximum allowed limit of 4:1. On May 2, 2016, it was revealed that Slice had settled with the Texas Athletic Commission with a fine of $2,500 and a revoking of his license in the state of Texas. The result of the bout has also been changed to a no contest. Despite being widely panned by critics, the fight attracted approximately 2.5 million viewing households, breaking the Bellator record of 2.4 million, set by Kimbo vs Shamrock.

In April 2016, Bellator President Scott Coker announced on ESPN's SportsCenter that Slice would have a rematch against James Thompson in the main event of Bellator 158, which would take place on July 16, 2016 at London's O2 Arena. Slice died of heart failure before this fight could happen.

On June 5, 2016, Slice was admitted to a hospital near his home in Coral Springs, Florida. He died on June 6 (which was the first birthday of his second grandson Akieno) of heart failure a short time later. An autopsy also revealed a mass on his liver. Scott Coker, CEO of Bellator MMA, said: "We are all shocked and saddened by the devastating and untimely loss of Kimbo Slice, a beloved member of the Bellator family."

Kimbo Slice's Bellator 149 medicals released

On what would have been his 43rd birthday, Kimbo Slice's medical records from his last fight have been released.After several requests to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, Bloody Elbow managed to acquire and publish information from Slice's licensing application and examinations prior to his controversial bout with Dhafir "Dada 5000" Harris at Bellator 149 in Houston.Slice's health has been the subject of much discussion following that encounter, an exhausting battle that left Harris hospitalized for two weeks due to cardiac issues, severe dehydration, and renal failure.Four months after Bellator 149, Slice (born Kevin Ferguson) died of heart failure. An unnamed Bellator official denied that there was any connection between Slice's death and his final professional bout.According to Bloody Elbow's findings, Slice's heart rate and blood pressure were deemed "normal" (per benchmarks set by the Mayo Clinic), and a minor heart murmur was considered to be non-threatening.Slice also submitted the results of an electrocardiogram test that is standard for fighters over the age of 35, but the results were not made available. Also unclear is why Slice did not indicate what medications he was currently using, nor why his medical documents don't include the submission of blood tests or electroencephalography tests, which are necessary for a fighter to be licensed to fight in the state of Texas.Slice also incorrectly stated that he had only suffered one knockout loss in his career, when the reality is he had been finished with strikes three times.Several sections of the document were redacted by the State of Texas, citing privacy laws.