Kimbo Slice: The Benevolent Bruiser
One look at Kevin
Ferguson (Pictures) and you would not want on his bad
side.
Known as Kimbo Slice, he looks like one of the monsters who fiercely guard the door to the hottest club in town -- the kind of doorman that if angered will more than likely toss you into oncoming traffic.
To say Ferguson is menacing based solely on appearance would be an
understatement. He's bulky, walking around heavier than 250 pounds,
and has a bushy Appalachian-esque beard, but he is also a legendary
street fighter.
Ferguson made a name for himself by tearing people apart on film in non-sanctioned brawls and seemingly took great pleasure in doing so. Now he has the itch to fight legally in professional mixed martial arts. So far the frightening Ferguson is unbeaten after one exhibition bout.
As the old adage goes, don't judge a book by its cover.
"He's laid back and he's funny," Rutten told Sherdog.com. "You can make comments -- and you know my kind of humor -- but you can make funny comments, and he's the kind of guy who will laugh for five minutes straight. I was actually shocked when I met him for the first time after hearing and seeing how people have portrayed him on the Internet."
Rutten found Ferguson to be anything but a thug: "He trains very hard, and for him to leave his family, who he loves very much and talks about nonstop, for six weeks to come out here to California and train with us, that says a lot for his character. It says something about his motivation also."
Ferguson has been preparing with Rutten for his pro debut tonight against Bo Cantrell (Pictures) on Showtime.
"Every aspect of my training has improved," Ferguson said in a recent conference call. "My whole life has improved. I don't even smoke anymore. I haven't had sex in four months. I haven't had a cocktail in five, six months. So I'm pretty pure and I'm backed up and I'm ready to fight, you know what I'm saying? My focus is on point. Working with Bas, that's like, man, he's like the Jimmy Johnson, the John Madden of NFL. He's the best of the best. And Bas, he's not light. When he trains, he trains hard. In order for me to even be on that level with him, it speaks a lot for my training and my characteristics because Bas would not waste his time if he felt like I was just trying to become a fighter."
Ferguson is the kind of person everyone seems to gravitate toward, explained Rutten. "El Guapo" chuckled at how everyone in his gym goes out of the way to help Ferguson with his training.
"He's a good guy, man, a family guy," Rutten said. "The example that I use all the time in trying to explain him is that I have two little daughters who are 6 and 11 years old. They don't talk to or walk up to anybody. But when they saw Kimbo, they walked right up to him and gave him a high five. And it's not like he's not a scary mofo. For my daughters to do that, it says a lot about his good aura."
Somewhat taken back, irritated possibly, with his stigma of being a back-alley bad guy, Ferguson is adamant that he is not who many believe him to be.
"I've never considered myself to be what [people] said, but I've always been humble," he explained. "I'm humble with my kids and my girl, and I'm humble with my friends. I have a humble spirit by nature. Fighting just allows me to really be the way I probably would normally feel on the regular, if you know what I mean."
Aside from being a friendly and open human being, Ferguson does possess that mean streak that has allowed the Florida native to forge his name in the annals of underground combat. But one thing that Slice isn't known for is that he is a fair man to deal with. Rutten laughed when reflecting on one of Ferguson's fights that he had seen.
"I asked him a question one time about this street [fight] he had and I saw it on the Internet," Rutten said. "He knocked the guy out for like two minutes and let him get back up to give him another shot. When I asked him why he'd do something like that, he told me the fight was for $10,000 and he knew that was a lot of money. He wanted to let the guy have another chance at getting the money and wanted to be fair. He didn't let him back up because he wanted to beat him up again; he did it because he wanted to allow the guy to have another shot at the money. He did that because everybody knows how good it is to have $10,000. He really means that, and that's just the kind of guy he is."
That sort of generosity and easygoing attitude is a godsend for someone who has opted to partake in such a profession. Often some of the fiercest fighters on the planet, whether it be MMA, boxing or kickboxing, are the shyest and most reserved people around. Many prizefighters donate large sums of money to charities and have never broken the law; yet they'll never think twice about dishing out enough punishment to level an army.
"Fighting is a man's game, and when you walk into the ring, you have to have the ability to just turn it up," Rutten said. "If you walk around in the streets with that same attitude that you have inside the ring, you'll burn out quickly from that sort of aggression. I think every athlete, especially fighters, has two personalities: one inside the ring and the other guy outside of it. When that bell rings, you become a different person, and it's strange. I don't know what it is, but you turn into somebody else. Kimbo is that guy perfectly. Inside the ring he'll beat you up, but outside of it he is like a kitten, which still shocks some people because of this reputation he has."
Ferguson's popularity is incredible. He even overshadows Rutten when they are out together. It seems that wherever he goes, there is a crowd of some sort begging for autographs, pictures and time. It's as if he can do no wrong -- even when he causes several thousands of dollars of damage.
"Everywhere we go people know him and recognize him -- it's insane," Rutten said. "Well, one day he drove his car into a parked car and totaled his car, and this was in front of a church. When the people came out of the church, he thought they were going to be angry, but they were like, ‘Oh my God, it's Kimbo Slice! We were just watching your fights on YouTube before we came to church!'"
Rutten also proudly explained how he and Ferguson worked together with Blackmat.org, a non-profit organization that helps kids from broken homes and teaches them the skills of MMA. Ferguson's generosity, said Rutten, leads back to one thing: his family.
Ferguson is a devoted father of six. It was a humungous sacrifice to leave his sons and daughters to train for tonight's bout in EliteXC, but he realizes that everything is done for a reason.
Still, Ferguson knows where he came from. He realizes that he can capitalize on his personality, ability and reputation regardless of whether it's exaggerated or not.
"I hope I don't sound too ghetto, but you've got to remember, you have to bear with me -- I just came off the streets yesterday," Ferguson said. "So I'm on a paper chase; I'm after the dollar signs. So I'll fight anybody. I'm in a contract right now, so whoever is coming my way, man, I'm ready to fight. I'm a professional now in my life and I'm taking this thing serious, man. I want to prove something. Sometimes I just get tears in my eyes when [it] doesn't work out, when I can't get a fight. But I want that belt around my waist like everybody else. In a backyard fight, I used to enter those things high. I was smoking before I went out to fight. It's not the same [now]. I'm focused. I know these guys that are fighting me, they professionals."
Rutten didn't want to predict how far Ferguson could go until he sees more of him and how he reacts to trouble inside the cage. But the former King of Pancrase and UFC champion knows that he has a gifted fighter on his hands who soaks up everything he teaches him, who is one of the hardest workers Rutten's encountered and who is a caring, friendly man behind his brutish exterior.
Ferguson would do anything for anyone, said Rutten, as long as you're not the guy standing across from him once the bell rings.
Known as Kimbo Slice, he looks like one of the monsters who fiercely guard the door to the hottest club in town -- the kind of doorman that if angered will more than likely toss you into oncoming traffic.
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Ferguson made a name for himself by tearing people apart on film in non-sanctioned brawls and seemingly took great pleasure in doing so. Now he has the itch to fight legally in professional mixed martial arts. So far the frightening Ferguson is unbeaten after one exhibition bout.
Critics argue that he is just a circus act trying to cash in on the
trendy North American mixed martial arts scene anchored by the
mighty Ultimate Fighting Championship. Bas Rutten (Pictures), his head trainer, strongly
disagrees.
As the old adage goes, don't judge a book by its cover.
"He's laid back and he's funny," Rutten told Sherdog.com. "You can make comments -- and you know my kind of humor -- but you can make funny comments, and he's the kind of guy who will laugh for five minutes straight. I was actually shocked when I met him for the first time after hearing and seeing how people have portrayed him on the Internet."
Rutten found Ferguson to be anything but a thug: "He trains very hard, and for him to leave his family, who he loves very much and talks about nonstop, for six weeks to come out here to California and train with us, that says a lot for his character. It says something about his motivation also."
Ferguson has been preparing with Rutten for his pro debut tonight against Bo Cantrell (Pictures) on Showtime.
"Every aspect of my training has improved," Ferguson said in a recent conference call. "My whole life has improved. I don't even smoke anymore. I haven't had sex in four months. I haven't had a cocktail in five, six months. So I'm pretty pure and I'm backed up and I'm ready to fight, you know what I'm saying? My focus is on point. Working with Bas, that's like, man, he's like the Jimmy Johnson, the John Madden of NFL. He's the best of the best. And Bas, he's not light. When he trains, he trains hard. In order for me to even be on that level with him, it speaks a lot for my training and my characteristics because Bas would not waste his time if he felt like I was just trying to become a fighter."
Ferguson is the kind of person everyone seems to gravitate toward, explained Rutten. "El Guapo" chuckled at how everyone in his gym goes out of the way to help Ferguson with his training.
"He's a good guy, man, a family guy," Rutten said. "The example that I use all the time in trying to explain him is that I have two little daughters who are 6 and 11 years old. They don't talk to or walk up to anybody. But when they saw Kimbo, they walked right up to him and gave him a high five. And it's not like he's not a scary mofo. For my daughters to do that, it says a lot about his good aura."
Somewhat taken back, irritated possibly, with his stigma of being a back-alley bad guy, Ferguson is adamant that he is not who many believe him to be.
"I've never considered myself to be what [people] said, but I've always been humble," he explained. "I'm humble with my kids and my girl, and I'm humble with my friends. I have a humble spirit by nature. Fighting just allows me to really be the way I probably would normally feel on the regular, if you know what I mean."
Aside from being a friendly and open human being, Ferguson does possess that mean streak that has allowed the Florida native to forge his name in the annals of underground combat. But one thing that Slice isn't known for is that he is a fair man to deal with. Rutten laughed when reflecting on one of Ferguson's fights that he had seen.
"I asked him a question one time about this street [fight] he had and I saw it on the Internet," Rutten said. "He knocked the guy out for like two minutes and let him get back up to give him another shot. When I asked him why he'd do something like that, he told me the fight was for $10,000 and he knew that was a lot of money. He wanted to let the guy have another chance at getting the money and wanted to be fair. He didn't let him back up because he wanted to beat him up again; he did it because he wanted to allow the guy to have another shot at the money. He did that because everybody knows how good it is to have $10,000. He really means that, and that's just the kind of guy he is."
That sort of generosity and easygoing attitude is a godsend for someone who has opted to partake in such a profession. Often some of the fiercest fighters on the planet, whether it be MMA, boxing or kickboxing, are the shyest and most reserved people around. Many prizefighters donate large sums of money to charities and have never broken the law; yet they'll never think twice about dishing out enough punishment to level an army.
"Fighting is a man's game, and when you walk into the ring, you have to have the ability to just turn it up," Rutten said. "If you walk around in the streets with that same attitude that you have inside the ring, you'll burn out quickly from that sort of aggression. I think every athlete, especially fighters, has two personalities: one inside the ring and the other guy outside of it. When that bell rings, you become a different person, and it's strange. I don't know what it is, but you turn into somebody else. Kimbo is that guy perfectly. Inside the ring he'll beat you up, but outside of it he is like a kitten, which still shocks some people because of this reputation he has."
Ferguson's popularity is incredible. He even overshadows Rutten when they are out together. It seems that wherever he goes, there is a crowd of some sort begging for autographs, pictures and time. It's as if he can do no wrong -- even when he causes several thousands of dollars of damage.
"Everywhere we go people know him and recognize him -- it's insane," Rutten said. "Well, one day he drove his car into a parked car and totaled his car, and this was in front of a church. When the people came out of the church, he thought they were going to be angry, but they were like, ‘Oh my God, it's Kimbo Slice! We were just watching your fights on YouTube before we came to church!'"
Rutten also proudly explained how he and Ferguson worked together with Blackmat.org, a non-profit organization that helps kids from broken homes and teaches them the skills of MMA. Ferguson's generosity, said Rutten, leads back to one thing: his family.
Ferguson is a devoted father of six. It was a humungous sacrifice to leave his sons and daughters to train for tonight's bout in EliteXC, but he realizes that everything is done for a reason.
Still, Ferguson knows where he came from. He realizes that he can capitalize on his personality, ability and reputation regardless of whether it's exaggerated or not.
"I hope I don't sound too ghetto, but you've got to remember, you have to bear with me -- I just came off the streets yesterday," Ferguson said. "So I'm on a paper chase; I'm after the dollar signs. So I'll fight anybody. I'm in a contract right now, so whoever is coming my way, man, I'm ready to fight. I'm a professional now in my life and I'm taking this thing serious, man. I want to prove something. Sometimes I just get tears in my eyes when [it] doesn't work out, when I can't get a fight. But I want that belt around my waist like everybody else. In a backyard fight, I used to enter those things high. I was smoking before I went out to fight. It's not the same [now]. I'm focused. I know these guys that are fighting me, they professionals."
Rutten didn't want to predict how far Ferguson could go until he sees more of him and how he reacts to trouble inside the cage. But the former King of Pancrase and UFC champion knows that he has a gifted fighter on his hands who soaks up everything he teaches him, who is one of the hardest workers Rutten's encountered and who is a caring, friendly man behind his brutish exterior.
Ferguson would do anything for anyone, said Rutten, as long as you're not the guy standing across from him once the bell rings.
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