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To family, MMA star Kimbo Slice is a hulk with heart

Slice may be tough enough for MMA, but to his family, he's a gentle son and father

By Sharon Robb | South Florida Sun-Sentinel

October 2, 2008

SUNRISE - Kimbo Slice stayed up all night playing with his kids when he got home Tuesday after 11 weeks of training in California.

The Miami streetfighter-turned-mixed martial arts fighter put the big, bad, mean side on the back burner. The kinder, gentler side came out as he settled into his favorite role of being a father to his six children, three girls and three boys, ages 2-16.

"I love my babies, that's what it's all about … I haven't slept yet," Slice said at a news conference Wednesday. "I am their biggest role model. I want to be that. I want them to say, 'He did it … Daddy isn't just that guy from the streets anymore.

"Whatever my little ones, ages 7, 3 and 2, want to do, I am there for them. It's all about them. My 3-year-old, he likes to fight. He just started throwing elbows and knees. I am the practice dummy all the time. It's cool. This is why I do what I do."

Until a year ago, Slice was a YouTube bare-knuckle legend, "taking on whoever wanted to fight me" in South Beach alleys, back yards, flea markets and parking lots.

He picked up pocket money to put food on the table and keep a roof over his family's head. It helped to supplement his other jobs as a limo driver, strip club bouncer and bodyguard.

Today, he is a larger-than-life prime-time television attraction, bringing mixed martial arts into the mainstream and in front of national television audiences. He wears a gold ring with a fist made out of diamonds that reads "305 Street Certified," referring to his Miami home base.

The Bahamian-born hulkster is the featured fighter once again when he takes on aging legend Ken Shamrock this weekend on the CBS EliteXC Saturday Night Fights card at BankAtlantic Center.

It is the first time the undefeated Slice has fought in Broward County. Shamrock has one submission win in 12 years.

"I am honored to fight a legend like Ken Shamrock," Slice said.

Slice's last South Florida appearance was a first-round knockout of Tank Abbott in February at the University of Miami's Convocation Center. He earned $175,000 for 43 seconds' worth of work.

The former Miami Palmetto football star attended the University of Miami on an academic scholarship with the hopes of studying criminal justice, but it lasted only a semester.

"I had to take care of the family, I needed to work and establish some kind of financial income as soon as possible and school was taking a little bit too long," said Slice, who tried out for the Dolphins. "Without college, making it into the NFL is almost impossible, so I let dead dogs lie and moved toward something else.

"I didn't really know what the outcome was going to be. I wasn't going to streetfight forever. It was just to get by, to keep from pulling the rest of my hair out … to keep from really going down that wrong road where I would wind up in jail or dead. I don't condone streetfighting to kids. I want them to go to a dojo or school or gym."

Legendary fighter Bas Rutten, who trains Slice, said his newest student is making progress with every fight, but that expectations are too high too soon.

"Kimbo is like a sponge, you tell him something and the next day he starts doing it in training," Rutten said. "But he needs to fight more and not always these main-event fights."

Like Madonna and Cher, Kimbo is recognized by his first name, which makes his 58-year-old mother, Rosemary Clarke, a former security guard, laugh when her oldest son is compared to the singers.

"He was always a tough kid, I guess he decided to bring it out," Clarke said. "Every time he fights, my butterflies come out. He's still my baby. Everyone loves him. He is just a lovable person. They look at him like he's a beast but he's not. He is a soft, gentle, kind person and a great father."

Fight notes

Radio station Big 105.9 is having a Kimbo Slice lookalike contest today from 6 to 9 a.m. in the parking lot of Clear Channel Radio Group, 7601 Riviera Blvd. in Miramar. …

Friday's 4 p.m. weigh-in at BankAtlantic Center is open to the public.

Sharon Robb can be reached at srobb@SunSentinel.com