Here are 10 facts and 5 videos about DaDa 5000, that you probably didn’t know.
Dhafir Harris, better known as DaDa 5000, is a heavyweight fighter with a street-fighting background. He is set to meet Kimbo Slice at Bellator 149, and here are some things you may not know about him.
Fact #1 The Perrine neighborhood in Miami, Florida was a tough place to grow for a young Dhafir Harris, where his family settled when he was 12. “I would say my street stats are about 47-0,” says DaDa.
Fact #2 According to the official bio, DaDa has a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education, granted by Barry University with specialty in early childhood. He also got an associate degree in education and a second associate degree in business administration by Miami Dade College – a school, attended by Sylvester Stallone back in the day.
Fact #3 Dhafir Harris began to work as correctional officer when he was 20. At the age of 23, he joined the Department of Children and Families where he stayed until 2004. That was a year of a big change for the 27-year-old.
Fact #4 In 2004, DaDa founded a local street fighting league, based at the backyard of his mom’s house in West Perrine, Miami. Many were surprised that a mother could allow her son to hold street fights at home, but Eleanor Stewart didn’t have any problems with it. The event became famous and got the attention of ESPN, and it was featured in E:60. Film director Billy Corben was hugely inspired by the DaDa’s initiative. He created a documentary that was released on Netflix under the name of “Dawg Fight”.
Fact #5 One of the recognizable fighters participating in the Dawg Fighting events was Alex Careers, who is now a UFC bantamweight with a record of 11-8-1 in Mixed Martial Arts (and 6-6-1 NC in UFC).
Fact #6 In his backyard fight league, DaDa was the only manager, promoter, referee and the judge. Despite making bare-knuckle no-holds-barred fights, DaDa never allowed the unnecessary violence to happen. When a fighter was knocked out, tapped out or just hurt too bad to continue the fight, he interrupted the action. DaDa was called a “Don King” of underground fighting in South Miami.
Fact #7 When his backyard promotion was eventually shut down by the authorities in 2007, Dhafir decided to turn his league into something bigger and more legitimate. That’s how Backyard Brawls Extreme Fighting Series was created, a promotion that holds bare-knuckle fighting events in the cage. As the main promoter of the league, DaDa is optimistic to put his show on PPV one day.
“I really feel like Backyard Street Fighting Series is going to eclipse MMA and boxing,” says DaDa. “When you look at the state of those leagues, you see guys training super duper hard. They’re waiting for a call from Dana White or one of those boxing promoters, but they’re not going to get one. We are the middle area between MMA and boxing. On this card, everybody is getting knocked out.”
Fact #8 In 2010 to 2011, DaDa competed at regulated MMA events in Miami as a heavyweight fighter. Harris won his MMA debut, defeating Cedric James (apparently known as “Killa-Gorilla”) via knockout after extremely controversial actions taken by the referee.
Fact #9 DaDa’s 2nd MMA appearance went smooth as he knocked out Timothy Papp, crushing his opponent with haymakers. You can watch this video on the top of this article.
Fact #10 Both his opponents have a combined record of 1-16 in MMA.