What Happened to Kimbo Slice? The Full Story
Kevin Ferguson, known to the world as Kimbo Slice, was the man who proved that a camera, an internet connection, and two willing fists could create a global phenomenon. He went from filming backyard brawls in the streets of Miami to headlining a primetime CBS broadcast to competing in the UFC -- all within a span of five years. And then, at 42 years old, he was gone.
This is the complete story of what happened to Kimbo Slice: how he rose, what he achieved, and the circumstances surrounding his death on June 6, 2016.
The Early Years: Nassau to Miami
Kevin Ferguson was born on February 8, 1974, in Nassau, the Bahamas. His family moved to Cutler Ridge in southern Miami-Dade County, Florida, when he was a child. He grew up in one of the rougher neighborhoods in the Miami area, the same streets that would later produce Dada 5000 and the backyard fighting culture documented in the Dawg Fight documentary.
Ferguson was a talented athlete. He played linebacker at Palmetto High School and had multiple scholarship offers from universities. Then Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992, a Category 5 storm that devastated his community and destroyed the school. The scholarship offers dried up. Ferguson became a father as a teenager, and the path he had imagined through college football closed permanently.
He worked as a bodyguard for a pornography company and bounced between various security jobs. He was tough, imposing at 6'2" and around 230 pounds, and he had a reputation in his neighborhood for being someone you did not want to fight.
The Backyard Fights That Changed Everything
In 2003, Ferguson's life changed direction permanently. A friend filmed him in a bareknuckle backyard fight against a man known as Big D. Ferguson left a deep cut over Big D's eye, and the footage was raw, unfiltered, and electrifying. He earned $3,000 for the fight and a nickname: the cut he left earned him the last name "Slice," which was added to his childhood nickname "Kimbo."
The footage circulated through early 2000s internet forums and file-sharing sites before eventually landing on YouTube. At a time when online video was still a novelty, Kimbo's fights went viral in a way that no combat sports content had before. Rolling Stone called him "The King of the Web Brawlers." By 2006, he was arguably the most famous street fighter on the planet, a folkloric figure whose brutal knockouts had been seen by millions.
The fights were ugly. They were unsanctioned, unregulated, and held in backyards, parking lots, and side streets around Miami. Kimbo fought with bare knuckles and minimal rules. His opponents ranged from local tough guys to men with some fighting experience, but none of them had an answer for his raw power. The videos were not polished productions. They were shaky cell phone recordings with crowd noise drowning out everything else. That rawness was exactly what made them compelling.
The Transition to Professional Fighting
In 2005, Kimbo started training in mixed martial arts at the Freestyle Fighting Academy in Miami under coaches Marcos and David Avellan. He had initially come in to sharpen his skills for more street fights, but he quickly developed a genuine interest in the sport.
His professional MMA debut came in 2007 under the Cage Fury Fighting Championships banner. He won, and the victory attracted the attention of EliteXC, a promotion that was trying to compete with the UFC for mainstream attention. EliteXC saw exactly what Kimbo was: a crossover star with a built-in internet audience and a highlight reel that could sell pay-per-views.
EliteXC and the CBS Breakthrough
Kimbo signed with EliteXC and immediately became its biggest draw. He finished Bo Cantrell in just 19 seconds in his EliteXC debut. His third EliteXC fight, against James Thompson in June 2008, was the headliner of the first MMA event broadcast in primetime on a major American television network. CBS drew over 6 million viewers for the fight, a staggering number that demonstrated the mainstream appetite for MMA and for Kimbo specifically.
Thompson rocked Kimbo early, but Kimbo rallied and won by TKO in the third round after opening a massive cut on Thompson's ear. It was a grueling, bloody fight that showcased both Kimbo's toughness and his limitations as a technical fighter.
The Seth Petruzelli Disaster
Kimbo's next CBS appearance, in October 2008, was supposed to be against Ken Shamrock. When Shamrock pulled out with an injury, replacement Seth Petruzelli stepped in. Petruzelli knocked Kimbo out in just 14 seconds with a jab. The loss was humiliating and exposed the question that had always lingered around Kimbo: could he actually fight, or was he just a street brawler in over his head?
The fallout was swift. EliteXC went bankrupt by the end of October 2008. The promotion had been heavily dependent on Kimbo as its main attraction, and when the attraction lost in the most devastating fashion possible, the foundation collapsed.
The UFC Chapter
In 2009, Kimbo joined the cast of The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights, the reality show that serves as a feeder system for the UFC. He lost in his first fight on the show to Roy Nelson, who went on to win the entire series.
Despite the loss, Kimbo earned a spot in the UFC. His official Octagon debut came at the TUF 10 Finale, where he defeated Houston Alexander by decision. It was a workmanlike win, not the spectacular knockout the crowd wanted, but it proved that Kimbo could compete at the UFC level.
That progress was short-lived. At UFC 113 in May 2010, Matt Mitrione knocked Kimbo out in the second round. Kimbo was released from his UFC contract the following day. His UFC record stood at 1-1.
Bellator and the Final Years
After his release from the UFC, Kimbo spent several years away from professional MMA. He competed in professional boxing, compiling a 7-0 record with 6 knockouts against limited opposition. The boxing bouts were spectacles more than serious competitions, but they kept Kimbo in the public eye and provided income.
In 2015, Kimbo signed with Bellator MMA and returned to the cage. His comeback fight was against Ken Shamrock at Bellator 138. Kimbo won by first-round TKO, though the fight was marred by accusations from Shamrock that the result was predetermined.
His next fight, at Bellator 149 in February 2016, pitted him against his old rival Dada 5000 -- the same man who had grown up blocks away from him in Perrine and who had once served as his bodyguard. The fight was widely regarded as one of the worst in MMA history. Both men gassed out almost immediately, and Kimbo won by third-round TKO when Dada collapsed. Dada 5000 suffered kidney failure and a heart attack after the fight and had to be hospitalized.
The win was later overturned to a no-contest after Kimbo tested positive for nandrolone, an anabolic steroid.
The Death of Kimbo Slice
On June 3, 2016, Kevin Ferguson was admitted to Northwest Medical Center in Margate, Florida. He was complaining of severe abdominal pain, shortness of breath, and nausea. Medical examinations revealed congestive heart failure and a liver mass. He was placed on a ventilator and moved to intensive care.
Doctors were in the process of arranging a transfer to the Cleveland Clinic, where Ferguson would have been placed on the waiting list for a heart transplant. He never made it. On June 6, 2016, Kimbo Slice died of heart failure at the age of 42.
What Caused His Heart Failure?
Ferguson had suffered from high blood pressure for years and had been on medication for the condition. The presence of anabolic steroids in his system, confirmed by the positive test following his last fight, raised serious questions about the role that steroid use may have played in his cardiac decline. Anabolic steroid abuse has been linked to cardiomyopathy, a weakening of the heart muscle that can lead to heart failure.
His death was classified as being caused by congestive heart failure. Whether that failure was the result of steroid use, long-term high blood pressure, the accumulated damage of years of fighting, or some combination of all three has never been definitively established.
The Legacy of Kimbo Slice
Kimbo Slice was not a great fighter by traditional metrics. His MMA record was 5-2 with one no-contest. His UFC run lasted two fights. He never won a major championship in any combat sport.
But none of that matters when you measure his actual impact. Kimbo Slice did something that no fighter before him had done: he proved that the internet could create a combat sports star from scratch. Before Kimbo, the path to fighting fame ran through gymnasiums, amateur tournaments, and promoters. After Kimbo, it could start with a camera phone and a backyard.
Every backyard fighting organization that exists today, every underground fight channel on YouTube, every bare knuckle promotion that appeals to the raw, unpolished side of combat sports owes a debt to what Kimbo built. Streetbeefs, Top Dog, and even BKFC operate in a space that Kimbo helped create.
His son, Kevin Ferguson Jr., known as Kimbo Slice Jr., has continued the family name in combat sports. He has competed in BKFC, carrying his father's legacy into the very sport his father helped popularize.
Kimbo Slice was born in the Bahamas, raised in Miami's toughest neighborhood, and became one of the most recognized fighters in the world through sheer force of will and a willingness to fight anyone, anywhere, for any camera that was pointed at him. He died too young, but the world he helped build is still going.