Kimbo Slice:Everything Is Coming Up Roses

Ok all you fans of Kevin Ferguson, aka Kimbo Slice, start telling me and all the other doubters that you tried to tell us so way back when that he was a legitimate MMA force.

I will admit that all I saw when I looked at Kimbo on YouTube or Elite XC was a new fad. The man was not my idea of an MMA fighter at all. He appeared to me to be a money seeking thug just capitalizing on a new video camera trend of street fighting and juvenile beat downs.

Fight Club seemed to me to have spawned an evil pastime for violent youth and Kimbo Slice. There seemed to be no redeeming value in any of the hoopla, just attacks on the unwary and a new taste in violence in foolhardy teenagers due to all the Kimbo hype that was raging across the nation.

The lawlessness and pointlessness of what the teen wannabes were doing kept me from appreciating anything about Kimbo Slice as a fighter. It appeared that he was a hero of a new rage war which was anything but complimentary to the sport of MMA.

My argument was that Kimbo was a bad influence on his youthful fans and would never fit in a legitimate organization, like, lets say, the UFC. Any fears I had of Kimbo reaching UFC status were squelched by Dana White's many pointed tirades against the Elite XC which was propped up by Kimbo and Gina Carano's presence within their ranks.

Being a Gina Carano fan and seeing her on CBS due to her membership in the EXC ranks was sweet for me as an advocate of Women's MMA. When Gina mentioned what a genuinely nice man Kimbo was, I still was doubtful. "That must be the EXC party line," is what I thought was behind Gina's praise for him. I do not feel the same way now.

It tickles me that as much as Dana seemed set on barring Slice from the UFC, he has now apparently given him a contract whether he wins or loses TUF 10. Could it be that both of us were wrong? Will Kimbo be an even better UFC draw than golden boy Brock Lesnar? Wow, how things can change in a second in MMA!

Mr. Ferguson has become so popular that first Rampage, and now Rashad both wish to be mentors to him. Imagine my surprise when the news that Rashad Evans wants to have Kevin join Greg Jackson's elite gym. Now that is confidence on Sugar's part to bring Kimbo into the fold of warriors that so many fans adore.

Surely all these people from Gina on up to Dana White, cannot be wrong.

Kimbo does claim to be a family first kind of guy, which wins my heart every time. A man who suffers what I consider physical torture to feed, clothe, and educate his family has my old grandmother's heart tucked right in his pocket. Those are my values and the hopes I have for my own grandchildren. This I understand.

If Kimbo Slice can bring glory to the sport, the UFC, and promote sportsmanship to today's youth, then I am all for him. He may be an asset to all of us in the future.

So you Kimbo fans of old can say, "I told you so, Grandma Dee."

And I will say, "Kimbo, welcome home!"