Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Kimbo Slice Jr. On Following His Father's Footsteps and Creating A Legacy Of His Own

Episode Date: October 14, 2021

Today's guest is Kimbo Slice Jr. (aka Kevin Ferguson Jr.). Kimbo Slice Jr. is an MMA fighter, entrepreneur and the son of the late legendary bareknuckle fighter and mixed martial artist, Kimbo Slice. He joins Chris Van Vliet at his home in Los Angeles to talk about following in his father's footsteps, creating a legacy of his own, growing up in Bahamas and Miami, his fights in Bellator, where he wants to fight next, his entrepreneurial ventures and much more! If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://chrisvanvliet.com Follow CVV on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are gathered. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Blitz! All right, my friends, welcome back to another audio adventure on Insight. I'm Chris Van Vle. Thank you so much, my friends, for being with us on this episode and on every single episode. My guest today is a name that you know, but you may not recognize that junior part at the end. Kimbo Slice Jr., whose real name is Kevin Ferguson, Jr., is following in his father's very famous footsteps in the world of combat sports and mixed martial arts,

but he's also making a name for himself both in the cage and outside of the cage as an entrepreneur. So good to have him over to my house to do this interview in person. Man, I just love doing these interviews in person, just so much more, pardon the pun, personable. And I know you can't see him because this is a podcast right now. The video version, though, is available on my YouTube channel, but he looks just like. his dad, just like his dad, but a hundred pounds lighter.

His dad was a heavyweight. Kimbo Slice Jr. is a lightweight fighting at 155. But you can see him on his social media. He's at Kimbo Slice Jr. on Twitter. He's at Baby Slice 242 on Instagram. And if you're

not following me, it's simple. It's just at Chris Van Vleet. Big shout out to our fan of the week. Xavier Almighty 17 who left this review on Apple Podcasts, simply the best. There's a reason why top wrestlers choose this guy or wrestlers who don't do many interviews

go to CVV. I usually don't give reviews and podcasts, but after hearing the Billy Kay episode, he's the only interviewer who's had both of the Iconics cry on the podcast. And Billy Kay felt so comfortable with CVV that she revealed that she's been married for seven years on this podcast.

He's earned all of his stripes and deserves more Emmys. Well, geez, Xavier Almighty 17. Thank you so much for that. Thanks for taking the time to leave a review. And I read one on every single episode. So if you have an iPhone, if you listen on Apple Podcasts,

and you haven't left a review yet, it would be so greatly appreciated if you could take a few seconds out of your day to just leave a few words or a few emojis on there. And we'll read one out. You will be our fan of the week. All right.

Let's dive right into this. Let's get to it. Please welcome Kimbo, Slice, Jr. Thank you so much for coming to my place. Oh, no problem, man. It's a nice spot. I like it. Now, this is, well, we live so close to each other.

Right. This is way better than doing it over Zoom. It is, it is. You know, it's nothing but a little 25-minute drive, a little bit of traffic. That's very generous up you. I mean, 25 minutes in L.A. is like going half a mile, I feel like sometimes. Right, right. I just weaving and out of it, you know, I'm like pretty good when it comes to driving.

That's my thing. Yeah. Well, I think there's going to be a lot of people. that see the title of this interview and go, oh, my God. I didn't know there was a Kimbo-Slicz Jr. Right, right. I guess the world's going to know now. Yeah.

Well, and anyone who is an MMA fan certainly is familiar with your work. For sure, 100%. Do you feel like you're, you know, following your father's legacy? Is that what this is? So I always say this a lot. Like, at first, you would think that I was following this legacy or because, you know, or his dad was a fighter, he's a fighter. Yeah.

But this is something I grew up doing, you know, like this is something I love. love to do. Yeah. But so in a sense, yeah, I'm following in his footsteps and then I'm creating my own. But now at this point in my life, I don't want to be known as just an MMA fighter no more or, you know, Kimbo-Sys-son. I'm going to take it to a new level. So, you know, I want to branch off in the business world and create my own legacy while

continuing my dad's legacy as well. You look so much like him. I appreciate it, man. I never had the chance to meet your father. But yeah, in your eyes, you look so much like him. For sure, respect. Do you feel like you inherited a lot of his fighting skills? Oh, yeah, 100%.

Honestly, I think I'm a little bit better than my dad. It's crazy as that might sound, you know, just because my dad didn't run, he didn't really train. He didn't train for most of his fights. He just went out there and fought these guys who's been training six weeks to fight him. And he went out there and fought and did that. I'm actually training every day. I'm running. I wrestled in high school, wrestled in college.

So I have, and I did jujitsu for a whole two years before I turned pro. I have a lot more background in fighting than my dad in a sense. You know what I mean? So your dad was very much a brawler. Right. Kimbo Slice was so much a brawler. He had that incredible right hand. Right, exactly.

You're like a well-rounded fighter. 100%. I'm well-rounded. And I like to play on the ground a lot. You know, that's my thing. I feel like in the stand-up part, anybody could get lucky. Like, if me and you have a fight and you throw a bunch of punches, one might land and can do a lot of damage. But if I grab you and take you down, then it's like, that's a different ballgame.

You have to know what you're doing. When you get to that ground, you can't get lucky on the ground in the sense. Punchers' chance, right? Right. Everyone has it. Everyone has it. The fight is 50, 50 on the feet, 100%. Once the grappling get involved, that's when skills come into play.

Yeah. So if we take this way back, you grew up in South Florida? Yeah, Miami-Dade, Florida, you know, Jackson Memorial Hospital, to be exact. But yeah, that's where I grew up, man. That's like, that's the hometown right there. And then you actually ended up growing up in Bahamas. Right, 100%. All you did your research.

I see you did a lot of reasons. But yeah, I grew up in the Bahamas. So I was born. And as soon as I was born, I went to the Bahamas for seven years. I came back to the States at like seven or eight years old to live with my dad. And then, you know, that's where, you know, I grew up. But the reason why is because my mom was 16. My dad was like 18, turning 18.

So they had to continue their childhood. My dad wanted to go to college. My mom was still in school. So my grandmother took me to the Bahamas. We have our own private island over there. And, you know, that's what I grew up on. Hold on you have your own private island? have my own private island in the bottom one hold on what yeah 100% Kimbo slice island the Kimbo slice island exactly

we're going to build a resort you know are you serious yeah yeah we're planning on like building a nice resort over there for people to come over it's private it's red across the street from the beach no one's around it's 100% ours so like when you think of people who own islands it's like tyler perry has an island yeah i think like richard ranson has an island yeah how do you own an island well those guys or people celebrities they bought their island this is inherited Like I grew up on our own island, you know, it's mine, you know, my dad passing away, you know, leaving it to me in a sense. And then my grandma owns part of it. So we're going to, we just go over there.

It's pretty much my family island, but we all have a piece of it. So we just go cut up our part and build. Wow. So this is something that's been in your family for generations. For generations, yeah. And how big are we talking here? It's pretty big, man. It's a private island.

Like, you know, it's not small, you know. And my goal is to, you know, start building on it and have like a nice little private resort for, you know, celebrities and people to come over and just rent it out. And you need some time to get away. It's like a retreat, you know. Wow. So growing up, what's the first sport that you played? First sport was football, I would say. No, actually, I'm fighting, actually.

I started fighting. So it's weird because I started fighting on the streets like, you know, my dad did. And then it got to a point to where I started hurting people and, you know. And I'm in, so I'm in middle school and I'm fighting high school. but I'm breaking their jaws. I'm knocking out teeth. I'm wiring up people. So my dad is like, you can't fight no more in the streets.

So track, actually. So in middle school, I started running track. What events? To get 100-yard dash for 4-B4 relay, shoppery, discus, all of those. Everything. Yeah, pretty much. Not everything because I didn't really like to run too much. That's still a lot of events.

Right. Yeah, for sure, for sure. Wow. But yeah, those was my things. I was, like, fastest in my school. My dad had a nice record on the shop. So I always tried to beat that. But once I actually got into high school, I went to Rastair and the football.

So at what age did you start to realize who your dad really was? Sixth grade maybe. No, eighth grade, actually. So in eighth grade, I went to a school on Florida called Walter C. Young. And then that's where my dad had his first fight with Ray Mercer. And it was like the biggest thing popping. And they couldn't even sanction a fight because they didn't know, like, my dad wasn't a fighter. He wasn't pro.

So, well, and Ray Mercer was pro. So you bring this guy on the streets to fight a pro boxer who killed someone in the ring, no one knows what was going to happen.

They couldn't sanction it. So it was an expedition. So he had that fight, which was all over the world, all over the TV, beat him. And like, from that point on,

like it blew up. But a lot of people on the streets, like, when I, like, our hood in a sense around the streets, a lot of people knew me because of my dad

street fights. So it kind of got crazy with that. Like, that's how it started with the street fights. Well, then it got to a point

where, literally everybody across the world knew your dad from his street fights. Literally the world, like outside the United States, United States, it just, it was crazy.

It still is crazy. We just, I just did a video that did a hundred and twenty-eight million views and three million likes. Like, it's insane. It's insane.

Wow. Yeah. I mean, you are like the living legacy of your father, but your father's name and what he did in and out of the cage or in and out of the ring.

lives on forever. Yeah, man. I don't think it would die down, especially with like, if you do it right, create a movie, TV shows, like everyone loves them.

Like, you release these, only like Justin Bieber get views like that on YouTube. You know what I mean? Not too many people get over a hundred million views. Like, it's rare,

especially a fighter. I don't know any other fighter that got over 100 million views. Not even Mike Tyson in a sense. Yeah, well, it's his name, right? Like Kimbo Slice is a memorable name.

Yeah, for sure. Going by Kevin Furrow. Ferguson, like, yeah, great name. Yeah. Certainly not taking anything away from that. But you're not going to remember Kevin like you're going to remember Kimbo. Exactly, 100%. That's correct.

Was he always Kimbo to the people that he hung around with? Depending on what era you knew him in. So if you knew him in the high school days, a lot of people call him a Ferg. You know, that's short for Ferguson. Yeah. And then they called me Lil Ferg. And then you got Kimbo and then it's Kimbo Jr. And then Kimbo Slice.

The slice came after the five. the bare knuckle fights, because everyone he hit, he sliced their face. So they was just like, man, you're Kimbo Slices. And he was like, oh, I like that. It's a ring to that. And he just ran with it from there. I mean, it's so incredibly memorable. Right.

How are you going to forget Kimbo Slices? Right. And that's why everybody just called me Slice now. So, yeah, how'd you become Baby Slice? I'm a baby version of him. You know, he fought at heavyweight. He was 260. I'm like 155.

Like, I mean, I can be Kimbo Slices Jr. But I feel like that's more if I was a heavyweight. Then I could, you know, but I'm a baby version of him, you know, literally, like, I'm the, the baby version. I weigh 100 pounds less than him. So when you enter to deuce yourself to people now, is it Slice? Is it Kevin? What is it? It's Slice now. Wow.

And then once I start becoming, like, more of a businessman, it's just going to be Kevin Ferguson, Jr., you know. I don't know. I feel like Kimbo Slices Jr.' As a businessman? Why not? I stick with it then. I mean, it's great brand. Or just Slice, Slice, Slice, you know?

I mean, if you get an email from Kimbo Slice Jr., I am opening that in a second. Okay, you're right. know what? I like that. I'm just straight with Kimbo Slication 100%. I mean, if you don't have Kimbo Slice. Or KimboSlec Jr.com, you should have that. I'm definitely going to have it now for sure. That's it. I like that ring as a ring to that, you know. So when you're doing all of these sports growing up, what made you really start leaning towards fighting, not just as something you were doing as a pastime, but maybe as a profession? Well, so I can't work a 9 to 5, obviously. Like, it's not enough money into that. So I needed to make, like, a decent amount of money.

And fighting is something I'm really good at and I've been doing for so long. So, you know, I have to fight to get to this level that I'm at now, you know? And now it's like, all right, I got a name from fighting. I done dead my thing. Now let's do something more.

Like, it weighs on your body, man. This fighting thing is kind of rough. I turn pro at 24 and I'm 29 now. And my hands are all beat up. I tore my ACL in the fight. It's brutal, man. It's a brutal sport. I know a lot of people,

you got to say, you got to love it, but I do love it. but I love my body more. I love my health more than the sport and itself. Well, what you're doing is you're looking ahead. And so many fighters would be 29 going, well, I'm worried about what's happening at 29.

Right. And then maybe 30. You're going, all right, well, I still want to be able to walk. I want to be able to like get out of bed without pain when I'm in my 40s and 50s and 60s and so on. Yeah. And I've been doing it for five years. And it's like, I can feel it.

You know, I could just imagine when I get older, like, I'm like, yeah, I can't. It's no way I could. do this forever. I'm just be real with myself. I don't want to do it forever. Honestly, I just did it just because, like, this is who I am in a sense. But now it's start, now it's like, it's time to like man up in a sense and do it the right way. My dad didn't want me to fight. He didn't want me to do this sport. If I had a kid, I wouldn't want him to fight, honestly speaking. So when you did start fighting, what did you dad say? He just was like,

keep your hands up. Like, keep your hands up and be first, you know. It's brutal, man. It's a brutal sport, you know? You don't get paid like boxers do. So if it was boxer paid, then okay, then I could do it. But it's not, you know, there's nowhere near it. So, well, yeah, nothing against, you know, anything, because I'm still MMA fighter, but it's just a truth. Yeah, you want to look out for your future. Right. In my family. Exactly. You want to make enough money to take care of everybody. I'm not trying to fight to make a living. I don't want to fight to pay the bills. Like, I have to fight to pay this bill. I have to fight. Like, that's not, you don't love it no more at that point. Yeah. You know, it takes away from the

the love of the sport. So while you are looking ahead at being a businessman and growing that, obviously in the very near future, you've got some fights, or at least you want to have some fights. Oh, yeah, for sure. So what are your goals in the fight game? I used to make as much money as I can at this point now. I don't want to fight for crumbs in the sense. Definitely, if I'm boxing, I know the money is there already.

Like when you hear a boxing match, you know you're getting paid, you know? When you hear an MMA fight, you're like, it has to be the right fight at this point. Yeah. I can't just go out there and just go crazy now. can't walk for a whole year and I got paid a regular salary that's not going to last me now, you know? And then I have to rehab. And then I, so is you out for two years without paid? Yeah. You don't, you don't get a pension or anything like that to like fall back on or any, so, you know, you just got to be smart. And there's nothing against other guys because

there's people right now training to be a champion or training to be the best, not knowing what it really, you know, what really is involved into the sport. Yeah. With Jake Paul and Logan Paul, what they're doing right now, they're putting boxing on. the map. Like, love them or hate them. You've got to respect what they're doing right now. Yeah, I definitely respect them. And you know, a lot of people hate them saying they're not real fighters and they're doing it for whatever. But just get with the wave, man. Look what's going on. Like, just pay attention to what's going on. These guys got millions of followers. They put a lot of eyes on the sport. They're making the celebrity versus real fighter thing. They're making it,

they're making it fun again. Yeah. And it's boxing was like kind of boring floor, retired. You know, you got Javent Davis coming in, which is a great fighter. So when he fights, It's like you're watching the Mike Tyson fight. You just ready, waiting for that one punch. Yeah. You know what I mean? But other than that, who is it, you know? Well, what you've got right now is even if you're not on their card, people are excited about boxing.

Yeah, for sure, for sure. And I have a big name. I feel like my name alone could get me a fight with anyone, like any little nice little celebrity. And I'm not trying to go out there. Let's just make some money. Let's have some fun, you know? I'm not trying to go out there and kill you. Like, I know you're not like a real fighter.

Let's just get paid. Let's make it entertaining. Now, if you try to come out and throw some crazy punches in, you know, I might hit you with a little body shot or something like that and sit you down, but I'm definitely going to win, yeah, for sure. I'm just saying I'm going to do it in a nice way. I'm going to pick you apart. Like, I'm not going to try to just knock you out.

And, you know, depending on what celebrity it is. And if the fans don't like you, then I give the fans what they want. But think about it. If you get a few big wins under your belt, there's no reason you couldn't be on a Showtime card is headlined by Jake or Logan. For sure, 100%. I mean, who wouldn't want to see Kimbo's Life Jr. Even, I mean, maybe you go up a weight class or two.

Right. Maybe you fight Jake Paul. Yeah, I can get big. That's nothing, right? Like, I have to maintain 170. It's easy for me to get 190, 200. Solid, though, you know? I was walking around in high school playing football,

215. I wrestled 189. So that's natural for me. 170, 155 is like, I got to watch what I eat. I can't eat too much. I, you know, I have to make sure I'm running. But it is what it is.

I'm down to fight. We could do it at 200 or all the way from 200 to 100 to 100. Yeah, for sure. So why 155? now that? Just because it's MMA. That's why

anything over 170, now I'm fighting the guy is 6, 3, more tight, throwing knees, elbow. It's just,

it's so much to deal with in an MMA fight. Yeah. So I just fight at a 155 where everybody's cutting from 200

anyways. Yeah. You know what I mean? So, yeah, and then I can't move how I want to. Like,

the movements are different from M. And boxing, and boxing, I can slip all the way over here. I could drop down.

In M. M. you can't do that. If I slip too far, this way, I'm going to get hit with a kick. If I drop down underneath, I'm going to get hit with a knee. So you have to be like on point. And it's a lot to worry about an MMA, which I grew up doing.

You know, I just being honest. Like, I just, I'm an honest person. So you're saying you're leaning more towards boxing training right now. Yeah, but I, if whatever is first, but if, you know, is this whatever first for me, you know, like I'm a fighter at end of the day. And I'm a prize fighter now. Oh, okay. So wherever the money's at. Yeah.

So if someone hasn't seen a Kimbo slice, june, junior match. Right. Which one should they go and look up on YouTube right now? Honestly, all my fights, the wins, the loss is you're going to see I come to fight, you know? But it's a lot that goes on like in MMA. You can't do like one thing.

So I had one fight to where I was cutting weight and then the commissioner said, you can't come back over 165. Normally when I come back over my next day, I'm 175, 178. Oh, yeah, yeah. But this guy said I couldn't come back over 168. So I had to, I couldn't hydrate how I wanted to. So I ended up going into the fight dehydrated, and that's when I rupture, and I tore my ACL in that fight. So then another fight, I was like, all right, forget what the commissioner is saying.

I'm just going to come back my regular weight and I ate too much. So now I'm coming into the fight, super tired. My body is on, what did my coach call it? It's like hibernating mode, like where I didn't eat for so long. So now that I'm eating, my body wants to just eat and relax and rest. So I was falling asleep backstage. Like the rest of us after Thanksgiving dinner. Exactly.

You know, literally exactly not. Go try to fight now after you eating all that food. Go fight the next day. You can't. Your body is like, you need to sleep all day the next day after Thanksgiving. So I go out. I did three, three, five-minute rounds, but I didn't warm up until the third round. If you watch it, I didn't sweat the first two rounds.

There was no sweating of all. Third round, last two minutes, I woke up. And I'm like, oh, okay. But I had to like, but it's all good. It's a learning thing. I never had an amateur career. I never cut wait for a fight. So you guys see in my growth all.

in the ring, you know. I had one amateur fight that went viral and then I signed with Bellator with no experience at all. None, not none. All just heart and raw talent. Well, it's also where your dad fought, you know, right before he ended his career. Right, exactly. But then back then, the MMA world wasn't so advanced. So he was able to get away with a lot of things that you can do now. Yeah. These guys been doing this from little, from little kids. They got a little kid in our gym name Mason, AJ's McKee, little brother. And he's doing arm bars at three years old. On bars, elbow and knee throwing left.

I'm like, oh, man, he's going to be a champion for sure, just like his big brother, you know. So if someone sees one of your fights, what genes will they see from your dad that they'll, you know, see in you? The heart, I go to I literally can't no more until my heart is like, boom, boom, boom, like until I'm done. Like, my body is weak, the power. I never landed a solid punch on anyone. I grazed everyone and knocks them down, knock them out with a graze, you know? Damn. So it's the power, man.

The power's there. The talent is there. You know, the speed, the heart is all there. Man, I'm an athlete at heart. But I'm leaning towards more of like just branching off in the business role. Is there one thing that you specifically learned from your dad, either in the fight game or outside of it that you now carry with you in your heart all the time? Just don't depend on fighting because, like he said, I could get hurt. And sometimes you have life-ending career, like life-ending injuries.

A career-ending injuries. Right, there we go. And that messes you up. And I have to think about that a lot. You know, now I think about it more than ever because I feel like I feel what it's doing to my body, you know. I don't know if a lot of guys talk about it. Like, most people say they don't go into a fight 100%.

Everyone say they go into a fight with an ache or pain or that's just how it goes on this level, you know. It is what it is. But I just know who I am. And I know that I need to be smart. Like my dad said, use my head, you know. Yeah. Think more.

And it ain't all about, like, trying to prove a point. So it was so crazy for me when I learned that you were actually training with your dad. Right. Yeah. So, like, how do you train with a heavyweight? Did you spar with him? I spar with him all the time, actually. It's actually pretty fun.

You know, I would love to spar with him now, which would be more crazier than back then because I didn't know anything back then. So I was just raw, like I said, raw talent to spawn with him. I was the only person ever, like, bust his lip and sparring. He used to spar with some heavyweights. And like they said, man, it's like your son just, he's a seat of you. So he has, like, the one up on you. Even though I see it in my gym with A.J. McKee and his dad is like, he's just,

he has one up on his dad. He's the only one who can do that to his father. No one else can. Yeah. So it's just like, I don't know. I guess that's just how it works. When you have a kid, they just get something your gene, but younger, stronger, faster. Yeah.

Yeah. What's your favorite Kimbo slice match? I think it would have to be, it's tough. I could either say the Houston and Alexander, the UFC debut, or the James Thompson fight. It's out of those two right there for sure. And then far as street fighting, street fighting, those were just so, like, brutal. Maybe the one I went to, I went to one, he fought a dude, a big bouncer. He had dreds.

The guy stepped on his feet and threw a jab at the same time. So it looked like, you know, he knocked him down. So then he ended up like throwing, taking off his shoes, driving the guy in the garage. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, hitting them, putting knots on his head. And the guy didn't want to fight no more. So you know what? We could do street fight, MMA and boxing, you know?

Okay, sure. So for the street fighting, I would say is that one. He fought two people at one time, actually. I think Afro-Puff is what they called him. And then Big Mac. And he finished both from him. He actually tore his bicep. Yeah.

He tore his bicep in that fight. And still fought two other, one more person after. that. So Big Mac versus the Afro Puff dude, that's my favorite street fight. MMA fight, it would have to be out of Houston Alexander and James Thompson because he just, it went, it went all three rounds and he showed improvement. He showed ground game. He showed cardio. He showed heart. So those two fights where in the MMA world where he really, like look at the James Thompson fight. It was going back and forth. And James Thompson was a big dude, you know. His thumbs was messed up after that fight.

You know what I mean? But so out of that fight, I would have to say James Thompson because he finished him in the third round out of Houston Alexander, but Houston Alexander was a great fight as well. And then boxing would have to be that uppercut knockout that everybody sees. Like, he fought one dude through like a four-piece combination. This is the first minute of the fight. The dude threw a right hand and he ate the right hand and he was good at like

taking a shot to give him back. He didn't mind getting hit to deliver. his bro, you know, that was his thing. The fact that he fought a legend like Ken Shamrock, too, like, that's a good one as well. Yeah. Ken Shamrock had to choke in pretty deep. Yeah.

I showed a lot of grit, a lot of heart there, too, you know. So if we went to a street fight, if I was going to attend one of your father's, like, first ones, what's the setup here? How do I find out about it? Like, it seems kind of like under the- First of all, you're not going to find out about it unless we don't want you to find out. Right. Unless we was cool back then, and I'm like, hey, we got to fight.

you're trying to go to it. All right. So you will be in a car. The dude will be just waiting and waiting for my dad to go. Where are we? We're in a park. We someone's backyard. Back of a liquor store.

Who knows what he's fighting? A boat yard. You know, it can be anywhere. But that we make sure it's like sanction off. But you need it to. Like we don't want it in plain sight. We don't want people driving by and calling the police. Exactly.

Right. You don't want that. So it's going to be ducked off in the back. And as a matter of fact, the police might show up and want to watch. Especially in Miami. We're talking about Miami here. That's true. We kind of like not saying we run Miami, but everybody knows Kimball Shice in Miami.

So like that's my city in the sense. But anywhere in Miami will be good. It could be in a parking lot of Walmart, you know, people are going to show up and want to watch that fight. But the guy been in the middle of the crowd in the sense. And my daddy, get out the car and go right to get right to it. Get out his way. Let him, he's going right to the fight. Don't stand in his way.

Just get out and just move. Crowd spread up. and he goes in there and get it done. Whatever happens at that point, happen, you know? And then you leave after getting your face knocked in? Well, you know how it is. Before the fight, we're not friends.

After the fight, let me help you up, give you a towel for your blood, you know, drop you off at the hospital, get stitched up, and then you get your little cut and go by your way. Have you ever had,

well, I guess younger, you talked about having street fights, but did you ever have one that was like a spectacle like this? No, I couldn't say, No, most of my fights was like, if someone knew that we was going to fight, it wouldn't fight me.

Well, bare knuckles is a thing now. It is. Would you ever consider having a fight in BKFC? I would have to do one bare knuckle fight, honestly. So, you know, David, you're ready, man. David was on the show not long ago. Yeah, let him know. I have to do one.

It would make so much sense. I have to do one. And it'd be so marketable for them, too. 100% marketable. Yeah. Think about it. Not saying I'm the top, whatever, but it's the truth.

Like I said, I just like to be a, honest, you know. Yeah. No one will have a bigger name than me in bare knuckle and bare knuckle fighting. That's true. Can you name one? Then name someone that, think about what my dad did first. Kimball Schlese, all his backyard accolades, all the street fights and what he did for

the MMA world. Now his son is about to do a professional bare knuckle boxing match. The only big names that I can think of off the top of my head in bare knuckle are the guys who had a career in MMA or had a career in UFC and now they're fighting in bare knuckle. But even then, those guys are still, some guys that's there now. I do it, Tiago Alvarez, Bigfoot Silver did one. And I would blow, I feel like I would blow those ratings out the door.

You're talking about Kimball Slices' son doing a bare-knuckle fight. My dad just did 128 million views a week ago on a video. Like, it's just what it is, man, it's the truth, you know? I think it's-it-and-less Mike Tyson have a son. And my Tyson's son go and do a Bernard Anderson-Silver son. But even then, though, they dad didn't do street fighting. Well, their knuckle was BKFC, David Feldman was talking to Mike Tyson. Right.

About having him have a match. That'd be big. They sent him the paperwork and he didn't end up agreeing to it. Right, right. They were. But that's on the same card. Ooh. Put us on the same card.

Let's sell out something real quick. Who would you want to fight? It doesn't. Honestly, at that point, who cares? I think you'd have to fight someone with a decent name. Right, right. Build up some sort of storyline here. Yeah, but everyone's coming to see me.

No one cares who I'm fighting. They want to see me fight. They want to see me knock out some. That's what the crowd wants. Like, I'm just being honest. It's like it's entertainment we're in. And that's what everybody will want to see. Kimball Slice signed, do a bare-knuckle fight, and knocks his opponent out cold.

Sign me up. Everybody's watching. I'll be in the arena. We're talking about Australia, Canada, London. Like, you could just, the list goes on. Yeah. The list goes on, you know. Everybody's tuning in for that.

Do that fight in Miami. That makes perfect sense. Now we're really sad. Now we've got to do it at the stadium, Dolphin Stadium or something. Oh, yeah. It's going to sell out. Hard Rock Stadium. Hard Rock Stadium.

It's selling out. For sure. There's no doubt in my mind. Jeez. Yeah. I think we've put this out into the universe. Right. Could this be your next fight? It could be.

Money has to be right, though, for sure. You haven't fought in about a year. Right, exactly. Could this be your next fight? It could be. Who knows? I'm not assigned to, I'm open. I'm like a free agent in a sense, you know?

Yeah. I learned like if you sign multi-fight deals, you limit yourself to a lot of opportunities. Yeah. And I had to learn that, you know, growing up in a sport, like literally, like growing up in the sport. I learned the do's and the don'ts. So would you fight in UFC? I would fight the UFC. Well, maybe.

I'd rather box. I'm just be real. I mean, I'm only asking because your dad fought the UFC. Right. Nah, I wouldn't fight the UFC. I'm cool. You wouldn't fight the UFC? No, I don't want to fight the UFC.

Really? Is there bad blood there? No, no bad blood. Okay. Okay. Yeah, Dana's all good. Everybody's cool. I just...

I don't know, Dana... I'm cool, you know? This was actually really interesting because I was such a fan of what your dad was doing in the bare-knuckle stuff. It was obviously a huge UFC fan. Yeah. And people wanted to see Kimbo slice in the UFC. Right. And Dana was basically like, you want to be in the UFC? You got to come up the same way as everybody else.

Most ratings in USC history for the ultimate fighter. What was your dad's reaction to that? Like, I got to go be on this reality show first. He loved it. He hates being away from his family for too long, but he realized it was a good move, you know, for his legacy. So, you know, he did it and boosted the ratings. It certainly did. I think they're number one right now. I think people just thought because because of the name that he had, he could go right into you. UFC. Right, right. Yeah. And Dana was almost like disrespecting him. It was.

But he gained a lot of respect after. Because of the ultimate fighter. And just because of who he was. Yeah. He got to see the real Kimbo slice, not like the image everyone put out on it. Who was the real Kimbo slice? Very kind, loving. If you as part of the crew, you're protected.

Nobody's going to be able to, like, touch you in the sense. And yeah, that was him. You know, I mean, he could be mean, but that's only when he's feel disrespected. You know, that's one thing he was big on is the respect of things, you know? Yeah. And it's not, like, you don't just earn the respect. You don't just get it off rip. You know, you got to earn that, you know.

So, yeah, it was the respect thing. He looked like a mean man. Exactly. I know, people think I look like a mean person. You think? You know, of course. I don't know. You seem pretty nice.

Because you know me, but maybe if you saw me on the streets or something, you know, like, wait a second. I probably wouldn't pick a fight with that guy. Exactly, you know. Oh, his name's Kimbo's Lys, Jr. But I'm cool, though, you know. I'm all cool. You know, I'm very chill.

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Did you know that there was something wrong before your father ended up passing away? Well, he was hiding it, but, you know, like, I feel like it's hard to say because I wouldn't say you have to go through it because I wouldn't want nobody to go through nothing like that, but you know something is wrong. You know, he kept saying, I just got a flu

or I'm just sick, you know, but he's in the hospital 24-7. So it's like, hold on, something's not adding up here, you know what I mean? But then he's like, they say you got to get like a procedure or something like that they didn't want to do. So at that point, he was just ready to like just call a quits in the sense. But then I'm like, nah, you know, let's get right. I'm going to take over the MMA. That's what really made me want to do the MMA thing, you know, because of what was happening. So I'm like, I'll take over.

So he's like, all right, I want to be involved. I'm going to be behind you, show you the ropes. And then literally, like, he was like, all right, I'll get, he had to get like a little pacemaker or something to just to keep the heart pumping until like he gets a, actual heart transplant, but he had to travel to like Ohio or something like that where the best doctors was at. So the night before we were talking for hours on the phone and then the next day it was like, that was it, you know? No way. Yes, yeah, weird story, crazy story. How did you find out? Stepmom. Stepmom called me. And then my dad's manager, Mike, he called me and Nike was like, yeah. And then it was like media frenzy. Well, yeah. And were you living in Florida at the time?

I just moved to Long Beach, not even three months living in Long Beach. Yeah. So you immediately fly back across the country? No, I didn't go. Really? Yeah, I wasn't going. Why not? I'm not a big funeral kind of guy.

No, that's not my thing. Yeah, energy is completely horrible there. Have you ever been to a funeral? Was that a funeral three weeks ago? How did it feel? It's funny because it's very sad. Dark. It's very solemn.

Yeah. It makes you question your own mortality. Exactly. the singing, the everything. Well, I don't know how, like, each funeral might be. It's very different now because of COVID. Right, but it's like the singing. It's just too much, too much of, like, negative vibes for me.

I mean, so the last funeral I went to is for my grandfather, 97 years old. Yeah. Lived an amazing, very full life. So in the sense, it was okay. Yeah, we kind of went, man, what a life you live. Right, exactly. We're super sad. We're 95, 94.

Yeah, we're super sad. You're not here anymore, but 97 years. Yeah. What a lot. Come on. Incredible. Yeah. So you go from sad to kind of being like, let's tell great stories about great.

Right, right. Let's remember the man that he was. But there's certainly an element. And this happens at weddings too. Right. Where it's supposed to be about the person. And all you can do is think about yourself. Right.

100%. You know, when you're at a wedding and I was at one of those recently, all you're thinking about is either your wedding if you've been married. What am I doing? What your future wedding might be? What's going on in my relationship? Yeah. Same thing at a funeral.

Right. And now that's my thing with friend rules, you know? And in the Bahamas, the kids don't go to front of rules. They don't let kids go. Any age or just like? Probably got to be over like 16. I could see that. Yeah.

But that's how, that's how you do it. Right, exactly, you know. But that's how they do it here. Over here is kind of different. Like, you see little kids. Yeah. And they don't know what they're crying for. They don't know why they're sad.

They just gone off the emotions of things, the energy that's around them. You know, kids adapt to that. did you have a chance to grieve them? By myself, I guess, yeah. Yeah. But everyone does it different. You hear a voice. Like, I don't know, man.

Like, talking to him made it kind of easier, you know. So anytime I'm trying to, like, want to be sad, I can't even be sad. It's like, he's just like, what are you doing? Like, chill out. You know what I mean? He hears voice. Yeah, all the time. So I don't have room to, like, be sad.

I have a lot to accomplish. You know, I have goals now. So maybe after I accomplish a couple of things, I'll take, like, a trip and do something, you know? You haven't been to his grave site? No, cremation. Okay. So I have like ashes and stuff like that.

Yeah, we have a memorial. Yeah, but yeah. I'm cool. I'm going there too. I won't go. You won't go? Nah. Wow.

What's the point? And I think that's a personal decision for you. You know, maybe one day. Yeah, maybe. But I could just talk to him in a sense. I don't need to go to a site to, you know, what is that? That's doing nothing for me in a sense. Yeah.

If that's the case, I could look at a bobblehead. and talk to his bobblehead. Like, you know, I don't know. Yeah. And like he's there in the sense, like, it's more of an energy type thing now. It's not even like a physical. There's no physical. Well, that's the thing.

When someone passes, they leave a part of themselves in every single person that they came to contact with. Yeah. So it's like they don't have to be with us for us to feel them still all the time. I'm sure you feel him with you right now. All the time. Yeah. I mean, I wear Kimbo hats.

I wear Kimbo everything. Well, I mean, that is also you. Yeah. And you are the man that you are now because of him. Yeah. I mean, if it wasn't for him, I, man, who knows? Like, a lot of, I had, I had a sense of direction. I had structure, you know, I had a physical big male role model who would, if I did something, say, hey, tighten up.

You can't do this. You can't do that. Yeah. You know, so, I don't know. And then I feel like I'm about to accomplish great things now. Like, and this is outside of fighting, you know what I mean? So that's, like, the best part. So, yeah, I'm good with where everything is going.

Was he part of your life your entire life? My entire life, 100%. So even when... It's been a time. Okay, so there was a time, nobody knows. There was a time where, like, so I was living in Miami. Miami is horrible. This is I got out of college and I'm with my mom.

And I'm like, man, this is not it. I came from college. I saw, like, a different lifestyle in San Francisco. So I'm like, this is, I can't do this forever, you know. So I end up selling my car for $2,000. I blew the $2,000 on smoke. I was like, I used to smoke heavy back then. I don't smoke a drink, like for past five years.

I don't know anything, nothing. So I end up blowing the $2,000 on smoking with my buddy. Now I'm stuck. Now I'm like, okay, what do I do now? I'm living with my buddy and his family. They're so nice that they're not going to say, hey, you got to get a job, you got to get this. their family, like, his name was Kyle, his family, and then was Connecticut. So they're like, my kid can live with me until whenever.

He doesn't have to move out. This is my kid, my son. I'm going to take care of him for until I can't anymore. Sure. So they was like that with me. They brought me in that same way. So like I said, I always heard the voice, but this is when my dad is alive. But I'm not talking to him because there's no way I can say, oh, well, dad,

I'm living with my buddy and his family, not working, smoking weed every day, playing video games, and they're cooking for me. How can I tell my father knowing how he raised me, you know? So in my head, I'm hearing his voice, like, you can't do this forever. You can't. You have to do something. You have to do something. So I'm like, okay, enough.

I get a job at a gas station working overnight at a Valero in Connecticut. And I start paying $200 a month for jiu-jitsu training. So I'm driving an hour from my buddy's house to do jiu-jitsu. So now I do that for like five months. My raw talent, you know, come out. no trainer. I do one amateur fight. I do the amateur fight and knock the dude out of alcohol. Right? That goes viral. I turn pro. I'm out. I love how the guy's like laying on his face. Yeah. I got a hell of it. And then he tried to buy me a drink after. I'm like, I'm cool, bro. I don't know. That's weird. Why are you trying to

just knocked you out in front of all these people. You want to buy me a drink? All right. No, I'm cool. And that's when my life changed though when I started to like hear that voice. My dad. And then I talked to him after six months, six to eight months. And he's like, why you didn't call? I'm like, I, what was I going to say? Like, I know how you are. I wasn't doing nothing right with my life. I can't talk to you. It's embarrassing,

in a sense, you know, what am I going to say to you? So what made you stop talking to him? Because of that reason. Oh, just because you were embarrassed. Yeah. Like, you were in touch all the time. Texas, the text messages, the things like, are you okay? Yeah. And then you're not like, I hear you that what's going on with you.

Yeah. Smoking weed. Literally nothing. Like, you know, so once I got everything rolling, I call him when I'm working. I figure out, like, everything he said was right. You know how he raised me? And I'm like, thank you. You know, I'm thanking him for everything.

I'm in a parking lot of the gym. And I'm just thanking him for everything. I'm letting know I'm training. I got a fight. I'm going to do this fight. Yeah. And everything's going good. And he's like, well, you have to talk, though.

No matter what you or whatever, what did you think, community, we have to talk. You can't miss that time. Like, that's time we don't get back now. So from that point on, though we was talking every day, every day. But this is how crazy, like, everything works. This is in 2015, the ending of 2015. So I turned, I fought in November, maybe. So now we're talking about December, January.

I'm in California, turn pro at 24th, January. February, March, he shoots this, he hosts a signing for me. This whole time, he's in the hospital, and then out the hospital in February, March. April may come around. I think I'm like, all right, I'm back to, I'm back in California training. May, June, that's when he passed away. That's how quick everything happened, you know.

Wow. So you were really reconnected with him. Yeah. But we didn't really lose too much time because we always text. Like, are you okay? Everything's good. All right. I'm working.

Like, so it was just, it wasn't like how we normally were taught. Yeah, yeah. Just because I couldn't do it. I couldn't like. Yeah. I was embarrassed. Like, how can I tell my father, like what I'm doing right now? Like, I was laid.

I was being lazy, but I had to get that out, though. You know, I had to, like, have that lazy moment to be that become where I'm at now. If I would have never sold my car, if I would have never got that job at a gas station, then I wouldn't be here right now, you know, talking to you. But the fact that you had the self-awareness to know that this isn't it. Right. I just can't keep doing this for the rest of my life. No way.

But a lot of people do. Yeah. It's easy. And maybe it's not the drinking or the smoking or sitting on the couch and playing video games, but it's a lot of other things in their life where they're just spending. their wheels. Yeah, for sure. But for you to have the self-awareness to go, all right, I need to step out of this. Yeah. It's hard to start taking steps towards whatever's next. 100%. It's a big move. Yeah, it is. I guess when I look back on it, I, it was, you know.

I left everything. I left my mom, my brother, my brother went to jail for six months after because he didn't have a father figure, so I was his role model. He was with me every day, you know. So the minute I'd left, he got into the streets, you know, but sacrifices had to be made. Yeah. You know, but he thanks me for it. thing about being stuck in a rut is ruts are really comfortable. It is. You know, you can just kind of sit there. But the fact for you to climb out and like make something of yourself is so commendable. Yeah, for sure. Do you feel there's a certain amount of pressure on you because not only was your father who he was, you share his name. You also look a lot like him. Right. So has there a ton of pressure?

It's like 50-50. They say pressure bus pipes and pressure makes diamonds. So which route are you going to take? You know, with me, pressure is easy. Like, there's nothing. Like, I've been doing this. My dad used to put me under the most crazy amount of pressure as you. I'm 18. I graduated with a 3.5 GPA. My dad said the next day you have to leave the house when I leave the house to go get a job.

I didn't have no room to, like, to chill. Like, I just turned 18. I just graduated 3.5 GPA. I'm thinking I'm about to, like, stay home and relax. I had to get up that next day after graduation and leave the house. When he left the house to go to the office, I had to go and get a job. So that's, that's a job. So that's the kind of pressure I was put on.

So maybe like I needed that little break to just relax for a second. Because I never like had that chance to like relax. Yeah. So but it was yeah, it was. And I was the oldest. There no one else got this treatment but me, you know. And with, but I thanked him for everything because if it wasn't for that, man, I'll be I'll be lost out here in this world, you know. What kind of job did he have when he wasn't fighting?

He worked at the office. He was like he had a website, Kimbo 305.com and all his merch and stuff was on it. So his job was his business. He was the business. Yeah, for sure. When you say The Office, my mind just immediately goes to Steve Correll. Oh, yeah. Like, he didn't work there.

I love The Office, though. It's one of my favorite. I watched it at least five times already. Was your favorite character? It has to be Dwight. Dwight Shrewman, that's my guy. I just feel like we're all Jim. In every single episode, we're Jim just being like...

Jim, he just chill, likes to play pranks, you know, cool. But I feel like Jim is the audience member. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah, the way he acts and so, yeah. But Dwight, like, what a character. Yeah. Why he's the man. So good.

Yeah. I love everything about him. So good. Everything. He's cool. Would you ever think about adopting your dad's hairstyle for a fight? There's no way. I'm sorry.

I was just going to be honest. Yeah. It's not happening. I mean, this is great. Yeah. And that probably took you a very long time. Yeah, for sure. A couple years.

I started when I was like 18 and I cut it at least four times already. Yeah. It's been like down here. Yes. But I mean, that was also what made your dad, your dad. That's what made. Kimo Slic, Kimo Slics. That ridiculous but very memorable haircut.

Right, yeah, true. That was his style. You know how to, you know, make a look, look good, you know. And that was his look. They caught it, Mr. T sometimes, too. But that was his thing, though. He hated that. What a haircut.

Yeah, for sure. What if a promoter was going to pay you like a large sum of money? Easy. I'll do it. What numbers are we talking here? Sign, once the money in my account, let's get, bring the barber. hair grows back. Anyone can do it.

It doesn't matter. I don't even my own bar. I like how you went from now. I'm not doing it. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Show me the bags. Money talks for sure.

What are your goals outside of fighting? Did you just become a business, man? Like, I'm working on a lot of big things that, I mean, I can't really talk about it too much, but I'm having, I have business in the crypto space. Okay. You know, I'm coming out with something huge. Your own crypto? In a sense, something like that.

But it's bigger. than that. It started off as like my own crypto and then just it's going to be huge. I get you involved a little bit, man. You know, I trade a lot of crypto right now. Oh, see, that's perfect. We'll just have a conversation off camera.

I don't know if I've ever even said that out loud of yours. Yeah, like look at that, you know. And then I have this show that I'm going to do in Miami. So that's in the works right now and that's going to be big as well. So I'm more of a businessman than a fighter, man. And I don't want to, I just, not saying I don't love fighting, but I love business even more. Like, send down in the office and having these meetings, I'm more comfortable doing that.

You know, that's fun to me. I'd rather, I'd rather sponsor a fighter and be Kate's side watching fights with my friends and family, you know, then to go in there and fight gladiator style. You know, there's nothing against it. I love it. I grew up doing it, but I guess I'm just having changed your heart. I'm getting older. I'm realizing that, like my mom. My body's getting beat up and I'm 29.

Like, I shouldn't feel like this at 29, you know? Yeah. But you also know that your name carries a lot of weight in the fight world. So a couple of big prize fights really gets your name on the map. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And the name is already big, you know. It can't be no bigger in a fight world.

Like, it is what it is at this point. Yeah. I have to do something bigger. I have to use my head like my dad said, you know, use your brains, you know. I'm not like a dummy. Like I said, I graduated 3.5 GPA. Yeah. I went to college for two years, associate's degree.

And photography and fashion. So, you know, it's time to start using my brains now before they get knocked silly or something. Fashion photography? Yeah. So what's your real passion, then? I always, you know, like, my dad used to say you don't want to be a jack of all trades. Master of one, yeah. So I call myself a king of all trades.

I'm not a jack. Like, I'm an ace of all spades. Like, I can do it all, man. I'm just being real with you. Like, not trying to be cocky or anything like that. It's just the truth. You know, I could think. You know, like I said, I'm becoming a great businessman.

And, you know, people hear what I have to say. And these are big-time people and they want to jump on board and be involved, you know. So what's, when you say you have a show in Miami, are we talking to like a card, like boxing? No, it's more like a reality TV competition show. Oh. And it's not just from Miami. And you're going to be on? Well, it's mine.

I'm the owner of it. Oh, man. I'm the host and the owner. I love it. Okay. Yeah. you more about everything. Like,

tell me off. And then we're going to come back. Like, we're going to do a part two. We'll do part two in the studio in Las Vegas. Exactly. Yeah, we'll do it there.

Then we're going to like spill the beans a little bit, you know? But, uh, yeah. So, um, it's going to be big. It's going to bring a lot of attention to, uh,

this certain, uh, what is this? Like a group of people like this certain group of people in a sense. Okay. Well, when it comes out, it'll all,

everything you're saying here is going to make sense. It's going to make a lot of sense. Okay. What do you think is your father's legacy? Hmm. It could be so, it has, it would have to be fighting. Yeah, but like what within fighting is it? Just the, the heart.

The heart. It's the heart. It's the toughness. Like, I don't know if people knew he trained to not, but he wasn't giving up. You know, he's going to fight to the death in a sentence. And it's like literally, you know, what he did, you know, but. Yeah. Yeah.

His heart, his grit, his demeanor. his demeanor, he's not giving up. He's willing to take a punch to give one. So those kind of things, man. He's, he did great for the sport. And I don't think he gets a lot of credit for it. So I feel like it's on me to take his name to another level. And it wouldn't be fighting because I don't want to be a champion.

I'm not fighting to be the champion of the world. I can't care less about a belt. You know, I don't care about that, you know. And, yeah, he didn't care about that either. He was fighting for the money for take care of his family. He put three of us through school. My brother has a degree in criminal justice. I have a degree.

I have other siblings coming up that's doing great. So he did good as a father. You know, I could say he did pretty good. You know, he had six kids. Yeah. And so you have a brother also named Kevin? Kevin Ferguson the second. So how does it like when, like are you both going by Kevin?

KJ. Yeah, he's KJ. Kevin. I'm junior. You're Kevin Jr. Junior. You're junior. Yeah.

He's KJ. Yeah. This is very confusing. And then we got Kevlar. Okay. Yeah. Wow. All right.

What's the legacy that you want to have? We're not talking about the next year, but like if we sat down 40 years from now. Man, a year from now, like if we sit down again. Okay. It's going to be, I'm completely different, you know? Like what I have in the store and what's going on in my life right now is huge, you know. And I'm not just saying this based off like I'm just saying it without no like people backing me. Like I have like a huge team behind me, like a lot of people.

And these are big time people, you know what I mean? Like big time production companies, big time people that that loves my, the way I think, my thinking process. And the things that I'm trying to do, they are for it. So it's only a matter of time before like I'm just hang up the gloves. and I just become, you know, like I say, I guess Kimball Slices, tuning you the business, man. I love it.

Yeah, the entrepreneur. I end every conversation with the same question because I believe in so much in gratitude. Right. And I think that if you can be grateful every day, it's so hard to be upset. Yeah, for sure. Because you focus on the things that you do have.

Yeah, 100%. So what are three things in your life that you're grateful for right now? I'm grateful for my team, the team that I'm building that's around me. Yeah. My wife, obviously, you know, like, she's a big part of everything. And I guess I could say I'm grateful for everything my dad's taught me.

Because if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be the thinker that I am today and the man that I am today, you know? Yeah, what do you think is the biggest thing you carry with yourself every single day from your father? Just my thinking process. Who I am is who I am is not because of him in the sense, because, like, he could have taught me all this and I could have been an asshole or I could have been like a jerk or anything like that. Kimbochle-Sai son, blah, blah, blah, you know. But I barely bring his name up unless you know already, then you know. But if not, you wouldn't know, you know what I mean? So I don't know, man.

Just me being me, you know, that's just at the end of the day, that's what make me who I am. Because his name just brings the attention my way. Yeah. His name just bring the eyes on me and it will give me a chance now. But once they realize, oh, this guy is different. He's different than that's when. Like his name just adds on to who I am, you know. Yeah, so maybe his name opens some doors.

Open a lot of doors. But then you've got to prove yourself. Then I have to prove myself, right? And that's the easy part for me. I like that. Yeah. Man, I've so enjoyed this. 100%.

I'm really excited to see what's next for you both in whatever, you know, your next boxing match or MMA match and then everything beyond that. Right, for sure. Thank you so much. The fighting in the boxing, that's just part time. Part time for now. Right. Well, there we go, my friends. Kimbo Slice Jr., and I can't wait to see what's

next for him, both inside the cage or the ring or outside of it. Give him a follow on social media on Twitter. He's at Kimbo Slice Jr. He's at Baby Slice 242 on Instagram. And if you're not following me, I'm just at Chris Van Fleet. Also, make sure to check to see your subscribed on the podcast wherever you're listening right now. And maybe also subscribe to the YouTube channel.

We just hit 300,000 subscribers on there. Incredible. And the Clips channel, CB. clips where I put little clips from these interviews, it just hit 25,000 subscribers. So thank you so much for being on this journey with us. I'll leave you with the words of the great Vince Lombardi, who said, the only place that success comes before work is in the dictionary. Be great. Be grateful. We'll see you on the next one for some more insight. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s,

There were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock. But there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley.

Ever heard of them? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Allie. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.