Kimbo Slice is back. So is Ken Shamrock. And guess what? They are booked to face each other. Again.
On Thursday, ESPN’s Brett Okamoto broke the news that Kevin Ferguson — better known as Kimbo Slice — will make his Bellator debut against 51-year old Ken Shamrock this summer. Bellator officials confirmed with MMA Fighting that the bout is official. The fight will headline a show on June 20 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
If this fight feels familiar, it’s because it is. Back in 2008, the now defunct EliteXC promotion booked a fight between Shamrock and Slice as a headliner for a “Saturday Night Fights on CBS” show on Oct. 4, 2008. At the time, Kimbo Slice — who became a YouTube sensation for his back-alley brawls in Florida — was a ratings juggernaut. The day of the fight it was revealed that Shamrock had suffered an injury, and — after a mad scramble to find a replacement — journeyman Seth Petruzelli was pegged to stand-in against Kimbo at the eleventh hour.
Petruzelli ended up scoring a TKO victory over Slice, which in essence brought EliteXC down at the same time. It still lives on as one of the more bizarre episodes in MMA’s short history.
Shamrock (28-15-2) last competed in a professional MMA fight back in 2010, when he lost to Mike Bourke in King of the Cage. The MMA pioneer last competed in the UFC all the way back in 2006, when he lost the third fight in a bitter blood feud with Tito Ortiz.
Similarly, the 41-year old Slice (4-2) last competed in an MMA cage back in 2010, as well. That night he lost to Matt Mitrione at UFC 113 in Montreal, Quebec. Since then he has fought seven times officially in boxing matches, most recently in 2013. Slice was a cast member on The Ultimate Fighter 10, which drew some of the highest television ratings in franchise history.