Dark Side of the Cage debuts with story of Kimbo Slice, including ‘tragic’ Dada 5000 fight

fKimbo Slice is the primary of 10 subjects that will likely be mentioned in-depth on Vice TV’s latest Darkish Facet collection.

Darkish Facet of the Cage debuts Wednesday evening at 10 p.m. ET on Vice TV, and it kicks off with Kimbo Slice: Rise of a Yard Brawler. The episode options Bas Rutten, Ken Shamrock, and extra to assist inform the story of Slice, whose actual title is Kevin Ferguson.

One of many present’s government producers Tim Healy says the concept for the present got here after his firm helped inform the story of the early days of the Final Preventing Championship.

“My manufacturing firm, Rail Splitter Photos, we produced Darkish Facet of the 90’s for Vice, and once we have been brainstorming episodes, we got here up with let’s inform the story of the UFC,” Healy instructed MMA Preventing. “The promotion has gotten so standard over the past decade that we figured numerous viewers don’t perceive the early days and what they confronted as an organization. So we did a two-parter, we did 2 hours on the darkish facet of the UFC and it did actually, very well. It was acquired very well and even past that, it was a blast to make.

“We had a lot enjoyable doing it and it rated actually, very well. So when these rankings got here in, we reached out to Vice instantly and we mentioned, ‘Look, there’s one thing right here. We wish to do extra at the hours of darkness facet area, let’s do Darkish Facet of the Cage. Let’s simply dive into combined martial arts and let’s dedicate a complete collection to those tales.’ And that was a couple of 12 months in the past, and Vice was receptive. They jumped proper on it they usually greenlit these 10, one-hour episodes, and that’s actually the backstory of the genesis of the concept.”

Different subjects being featured on season one of many new program embody Diego Sanchez, Ronda Rousey, Nate Diaz, Matt Hughes, and the rise and fall of Satisfaction FC.

Healy mentioned the primary 10 episode subjects have been pretty apparent to all concerned, and kicking issues off with Slice appeared to be the easiest way to go — particularly since he would doubtless be one of many extra misunderstood athletes for those who didn’t know him.

“You’ll be onerous pressed to seek out anybody to say one dangerous factor about about Kimbo,” Healy defined. “He was clearly a drive to be reckoned with, however I by no means met him, however from what everybody says, he was simply the nicest man.”

The story of Slice discusses his notorious yard preventing days that made him a YouTube legend, to his underground battle with Boston police officer Sean Gannon, his transition to the world of combined martial arts, up till his premature demise in 2016 on the age of 42.

Slice at all times had that star high quality, and even again when the game was gaining increasingly more notoriety, Slice performed his position completely — by means of the ups and the downs. However the extra you hear about Slice’s path by means of his profession, the extra you perceive that he might have been virtually a decade forward of his time.

“I feel one of many massive takeaways, I feel if you watch the episode is he wasn’t this younger man when he began his MMA profession, like he was actually late to the sport,” Healy mentioned. “He had a late, late begin, he’s preventing in backyards in Miami, and Bas Rutten talks within the episode about his stage of dedication, proper? And the heart that it took to get into the game at a late age. He had no floor sport in any respect, so he had no submissions. When he misplaced to Sean Gannon in that well-known battle in Boston, it was as a result of Gannon was hitting him with guillotine chokes and he didn’t know the best way to react or the best way to get out of a choke.

“However he grew to become a pupil at a late age. If you have a look at what occurred to him, how he was type of the one of many greatest athletes and was sitting on the sofa on the Jimmy Kimmel present and making the late evening rounds, after which all of a sudden every thing falls aside at Elite XC. After which the man goes on The Final Fighter the place guys originally go. So he was a man that wasn’t afraid to actually put it on the market to place himself out on a limb to attempt to succeed at one thing. So I feel he would have tailored to all these different alternatives in fight sports activities actually, very well.

“I imply, it was simply tragic what occurred to the man.”

Some of the notorious fights of Slice’s profession passed off at Bellator 149 — simply 4 months earlier than he handed away — taking over fellow road fighter and bitter rival “Dada 5000.” The battle was one of many weirdest in MMA historical past, however finally ended with Slice incomes a knockout win within the third spherical earlier than it was overturned to a no-contest as a consequence of a constructive steroid check by the Texas Division of Licensing and Regulation.

Because the present dives deeper within the memorable heavyweight tilt, the sadder it turns into in hindsight.

“[The Dada 5000 fight was] tragic,” Healy mentioned. “I imply, if you watch that battle within the episode and Huge John McCarthy, who reffed that battle, he talks about how he virtually feels type of responsible as a result of he was urging Kimbo — you hear him within the [cage] saying, ‘You need to do one thing. You’ve received to maneuver,’ not realizing the man had a coronary heart situation.

“It’s like, if you watch that battle, you don’t have any thought what’s occurring inside that man’s physique and the way sick he was.”

Take a look at an unique clip of Wednesday’s premiere episode beneath.