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The Hyping of Kimbo Slice

Kevin Iole does a masterful job of telling the tale of Kimbo on The Ultimate Fighter: The Heavyweights:

Kimbo Slice, the man Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White mocked mercilessly for more than year, brought the viewers out in massive numbers.

They didn't seem to care that he was coming off a 14-second, first-round knockout loss to a light heavyweight. They didn't seem to care that he landed precious few punches when he was stopped by Roy Nelson in the second round of a one-sided fight in Week 3.

Without Slice, televisions would have been changing from Spike after the second week and wouldn't have been switched back. The one-time street fighter attracted nearly 7 million viewers to Spike to watch his match with Nelson.

Slice was so critical to the season's success that White and the show's producers worked to death the angle of his possible return to competition after his loss. Despite the slew of hints, Slice never did fight again and won't until Saturday, when he meets power-punching Houston Alexander in The Pearl at the Palms Hotel & Casino as part of "The Ultimate Fighter Finale" card.

Yet, ratings were consistently large and were around or even above 3 million viewers on a weekly basis.

Slice, whose real name is Kevin Ferguson, showed himself to be a charismatic, captivating personality. He made you laugh. He made you think.

More than anything, he made you want to watch.

The phenomenon that is Kimbo Slice's impact in pop culture can't be attributed to the UFC. Sure, they and SPIKE TV have capitalized on Kimbo's fame/infamy better than any previous promoter, but the phenomenon happened on YouTube and was manipulated by RealityKings, some of the savviest internet promoters of all time.

Here's Wikipedia's summary of how Kimbo happened:

Ferguson started working as bouncer for a strip club until high school friend and current manager, Mike Ember, offered him a job as limousine driver and bodyguard for RK Netmedia, better known as RealityKings, a Miami-based pornography production/promotion company responsible for a number of popular adult subscription websites. Kimbo still maintains close ties with RealityKings who now accompany him, as his fight entourage, under the name Team Kimbo.

In 2002, he was charged for carrying a concealed weapon and in 2003, he began his career in unsanctioned street fights. They were distributed through the Internet, mainly through the adult website SublimeDirectory and YouTube. In his first taped fight against a man named Big D, Ferguson left a large cut on his opponent's right eye which led Internet fans to call him Slice, becoming the last name to his already popular childhood nickname, Kimbo.

Kimbo was a one-time phenomenon of a new medium -- online video. He personified the frisson of the forbidden, the illicit, the slightly ridiculous, the serendipity of early YouTube. When you felt like the internet was bringing a shady but exciting slice of life from the streets into your home and you could turn it off and keep it under control.

There won't likely be anymore Kimbo's coming out of YouTube. The rise of the UFC has provided a more socially acceptable channel for creating fighting stars, but it's also much much harder to create a legend in the killing ground that is the Octagon than it is to create a myth built around a reasonably tough guy fighting in parking lots and back yards.

Tuf_10_finale_medium

0 recs  |  Comment 18 comments |

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Oddly, Kimbo was my least favourite part of the season.

I like using semi-colons; they make me feel smart.

by Llewdor on Dec 4, 2009 6:33 PM EST reply actions  

Still enought Kimbo hype residue to make him only a slight underdog against Alexander.

Keep firing Assholes!

More pale flesh hit the ice than that time they gutted a seal on APTN.

by Ubernoober on Dec 4, 2009 6:33 PM EST reply actions  

I hope a lot of people make a lot of money off that.

"Why am I here? Why does my mind have wings? Why do blue midgets hit me with fish?!" - The Tick

by mythbuster on Dec 4, 2009 6:49 PM EST up reply actions  

WAR KIMBO!

I’ll be rooting for you!

cagar é uma filosofia profunda...
a merda bate na água e a água bate na bunda.

by orcus on Dec 4, 2009 6:40 PM EST reply actions  

Here's hoping for a double ko and then both men cut

Either man who actually wins is gonna act like beating the other is a huge deal and its really not. The UFC is most likely hoping that Kimbo wins so they can continue to ride that train.

by bigdmmafan on Dec 4, 2009 6:45 PM EST reply actions  

I don't give a damn.

I’ll be rooting for Kimbo. If anything, I like the rags to riches story he brings. The fact that he was just some big dude smashing guys on the internet, and is now pulling in so many viewers for MMA is a little surreal to me. Do I think Kimbo is even a sub-par fighter? No. He’s Kimbo calibur. Possibly the least skilled man to step into the octagon since the dark ages, but thats what makes it so interesting, to me at least. I’m not a “purist” MMA fan, at all, and I get a kick watching those guys get their panties in a wad.

Keep on keepin’ on Kimbo.

"You guys are jerking eachother off with some pseudo deep bullshit." - Kid Nate

by Kaleb Kelchner on Dec 4, 2009 6:48 PM EST reply actions  

Kimbo is the Hulk Hogan of MMA

Not a lot of talent, but he brings eyeballs. Legitimate talent gets to sit while he entertains the masses.

"Why am I here? Why does my mind have wings? Why do blue midgets hit me with fish?!" - The Tick

by mythbuster on Dec 4, 2009 6:50 PM EST reply actions  

I’ll root for Kimbo in this one, while wondering if the UFC can squeeze any more press out of him after Houston easily destroys him. I think Kimbo should quit after this and find himself a cushy reality t.v. show or something. The discipline of an athlete or martial artist is pretty much impossible to develop when you start in your mid-thirties. I don’t think Kimbo really wants to put in the time, and he should probably try to cash in anyway he can. How much bread is he going to be able to pull after we’ve watched him get scraped off the canvas a couple of times?

by Kwisatz Haderach on Dec 4, 2009 6:51 PM EST reply actions  

I hope Kimbo misses weight so Houston gets a % of that “bread.”

Weigh ins starting in 10 minutes or so.

by DirtyML on Dec 4, 2009 6:56 PM EST reply actions  

Since he apparently has no one helping him cut weight, and knows zero about it, I’d say he’s 50/50 to be over. Houston’s gotta be hungry as hell for this. Kimbo’s gonna make Houston famous tomorrow night.

by Kwisatz Haderach on Dec 4, 2009 7:06 PM EST up reply actions  

If we see the Kimbo “Beard-Lock”, and the Big Country “Sweaty Belly Choke” on the same card, the world will end. They say the belly is pale and wet, and you smell the sickly sweet aroma of poppies right before you go out…

by Kwisatz Haderach on Dec 4, 2009 7:52 PM EST up reply actions  

Is Iole bashing alllowed here?

I really don’t like that guy. He’s a terrible shill who would be better served working for the WWE.

by JAYGK95 on Dec 5, 2009 12:11 AM EST reply actions  

Haha

Everytime I see that picture of Kimbo it looks like he’s sculpted his chest hair to resemble Brock’s sword

by RicketyCricket on Dec 5, 2009 1:27 AM EST reply actions  

Nebraska, bitch

I gotta root for Houston for at least 2 reasons: A) He’s from Omaha, and I have Nebraska roots and 2) Kimbo’s a joke and if he wins we’ll hear and see him even more than we do now, and it’s already ad nauseum

Hadoken!!

by Brizzle T on Dec 5, 2009 5:48 AM EST reply actions   1 recs

And people will still tune in to watch him, Brizzle...

For every person like you that can’t stand Kimbo, there are 10 others(out of a million-plus) that love Kimbo.

I hope he knocks Houston into Dallas, if you get my meaning…..

by BNTHIS on Dec 5, 2009 4:27 PM EST up reply actions  

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