That bout remains the second-most-watched MMA fight in North America, behind Junior dos Santos’ KO win over Cain Velasquez on FOX in Nov. He headlined the first live network television MMA event with a memorable victory over James Thompson in Newark in 2008. Within a year of the Mercer fight, Slice exploded into the mainstream. He was never a part of our inner circle.” “This was brought in, he was someone from the neighborhood who we sort of had come in as a bodyguard for my fight with Ray Mercer, and that was it.

“This was with us for a minute,” Slice said. To hear Kimbo tell it, DaDa 5000 was someone who was briefly brought into his entourage, didn’t last long, and has been milking his brief association with Slice ever since. “I’m going to knock his ass out and he's going to wake up and not know what hit him.” “True fight fans appreciate a real fight, and this is two from the same neighborhood who have a beef to settle,” Slice told Yahoo Sports. While this fight will be contested under MMA rules, Slice wants it to represent a return to his roots, and in the process he wants to put someone he regards as a poser and a hanger-on in his place.

He went out of his way to prove himself as a true MMA fighter – as was chronicled during his stint on “The Ultimate Fighter” and through his time spent at the elite American Top Team gym.īut this isn’t about that. Over the course of his career, Slice’s story evolved. Slice will face off with 'DaDa 5000' in the co-feature bout at Bellator 149 at Houston’s Toyota Center on February 19, a fight Slice considers the most intensely personal of his career.

Kimbo slice back