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Kimbo Slice: Where Rage Meets Honor

YouTube helped fighter Kevin Ferguson pull himself up from homeless to famous

By Katherine Thompson,  Newser Staff

Posted May 27, 2008 11:44 AM CDT

(Newser) – ESPN takes the measure of Kimbo Slice, streetfighting YouTube star and soon-to-be network TV darling, when mixed martial arts makes its broadcast TV debut Friday."Kimbo combines Mike Tyson's mystique and Mr. T's personality," Dan le Batard writes of the man who hit it big when a video of one of his street brawls racked up 2 million hits on a porn site. He loves to kick ass, but has never been a bully.

"Kimbo may have street cred that makes Allen Iverson look like a Tibetan monk, but it was built upon principles," writes le Batard. "I consider myself an up-and-coming, intelligent black businessman," Kimbo himself says. But before all that he was homeless, living out of a beat-up truck and washing cars for cash. And before that he was a promising high school linebacker whose chances of a college scholarship were washed out by Hurricane Andrew.

Kimbo Slice attends CBS's 'Elite XC Saturday Night Fights' Press Conference at CBS Radford Studios on May 19, 2008 in Studio City, California.
Kimbo Slice attends CBS's 'Elite XC Saturday Night Fights' Press Conference at CBS Radford Studios on May 19, 2008 in Studio City, California.   (Getty Images)
MMA fighter Kimbo Slice (R) demonstrates MMA fighter techniques at CBS's 'Elite XC Saturday Night Fights' Press Conference at CBS Radford Studios on May 19, 2008 in Studio City, California.
MMA fighter Kimbo Slice (R) demonstrates MMA fighter techniques at CBS's 'Elite XC Saturday Night Fights' Press Conference at CBS Radford Studios on May 19, 2008 in Studio City, California.   (Getty Images)
MMA fighter Kimbo Slice attends CBS's 'Elite XC Saturday Night Fights' Press Conference at CBS Radford Studios on May 19, 2008 in Studio City, California.
MMA fighter Kimbo Slice attends CBS's 'Elite XC Saturday Night Fights' Press Conference at CBS Radford Studios on May 19, 2008 in Studio City, California.   (Getty Images)
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Kimbo Slice wins a street fight.   (jsco91)

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