Kimbo Slice Took A Big Chance Appearing on The Ultimate Fighter

Kevin Ferguson, better known as Kimbo Slice, knew what was at stake as a result of his participation in the tenth season of the UFC’s reality series, The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV. The show recently finished filming.

Slice’s appearance meant a significant reduction in pay for a fighter on the brink of stardom in 2008.

“I’m the only guy going in the house with a bull’s-eye on my back,” Slice said. “That’s cool. I’m always going to be the underdog, no matter who I fight. These guys have been doing it over 10 years, some of them all their lives. And in me, you got a guy coming right off the streets.”

UFC president Dana White trash-talked Slice last year as the fighter headlined two of the three Elite XC promotions broadcast on CBS. Those fights drew huge numbers and paid Slice like he was an elite performer.

Listening to White’s constant stream of critical abuse couldn’t have been easy to take.

“You had a guy from right off the streets and, yeah, it fucked with me a little bit, I ain’t going to lie,” Slice said. “It fucked with my head a little bit. But I’m here to prove myself, make him swallow those words.”

EliteXC, lacking headline-quality MMA talent, pushed Ferguson into fights over his head, and he paid a major price for that miscalculation in his public persona.

Ferguson admits to being thrown off by the last minute change in opponents for his last EliteXC fight – from Ken Shamrock to Seth Petruzelli – but he’s says he’s already moved on from the debacle that resulted.

Petruzelli, an alumnus of The Ultimate Fighter, is a solid, experienced fighter, and he quickly schooled the unpolished Ferguson on the largest stage.

“I have no idea what happened, but that definitely fucked with me a little bit,” Slice said. “I kind of mentally beat myself, because I had just, well, let’s just say that shit wasn’t right with me mentally. It was like being in a house with green and blue rooms and brown ceilings skeletons all over the walls. It’s a mind thing. You have to be pretty much one hundred percent mental and 70 to 80 percent physical to fight, and I wasn’t.”

If his mojo was correct on The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights, his star will be on the rise again. If not, he has certainly earned the respect of the MMA community for taking a no-win proposition and trying to make the best of a tough situation.

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