The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

WHILE many pundits in the mixed martial arts community lambasted his last appearance in the cage, Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson continues to be a major draw in the sport and other fighters look to capitalise on that star power.

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is the latest to issue a challenge to Slice.

Recently re-signed to Bellator last month, Jackson discussed a possible matchup with Kimbo following what he called an “embarrassment” of a fight against Dada 5000.

“Well, to be honest, when I did The Ultimate fighter with Kimbo, he kind of mentioned something that he always wanted to fight me and stuff like that. And even though Kimbo’s a heavyweight, I’m a big light heavyweight. What I’m thinking is on The Ultimate Fighter, we seen Kimbo get in shape and do well. I don’t think he took Dada serious, and I don’t think he trained hard for him,” Jackson said while appearing as a guest on The MMA Hour show.

“I’m a fighter — that’s what I do, is fight,” he said. “It’s been a couple of opponents that I didn’t want to fight that I didn’t think would be a good match up that I fought. I’m interested in finishing my career and entertaining my fans. If the fans want to see Kimbo get slammed and knocked out then...”

Jackson has a professional record of  36-11 over the course of his 16-year career. His last appearance was a win over Fabio Maldonado via unanimous decision in April 2015.

Slice scored a third-round knockout over longtime rival Dhafir “Dada 5000” Harris as the co-main event on the card at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.

Most mixed martial arts (MMA) fans expected a slugfest between two heated rivals, but instead the match produced a pair of exhausted fighters trading strikes for three rounds before Slice was able to outlast Harris. A punch from an exhausted Slice forced Harris to the mat at the 1 minute 32-second mark in the third as he improved his win-loss record to 6-2. Harris fell to 2-1.

“I’m thinking that if I had to fight Kimbo I think he would most definitely train hard for me and he’d probably get in shape,” Jackson said. “Especially with that embarrassment out there. There’s a lot of people who are kind of embarrassed of that performance from what I’ve read.”

Despite the critics, Slice continues to be a major draw for the promotion as Bellator 149 set new records. The card averaged 1,964,000 viewers over the three hours to beat the company’s all-time record by 24 percent.

The match against Dada 5000 drew 2.5 million viewers for its 14-minute duration.

The prior record was set on June 19 when Slice defeated Ken Shammrock in his Bellator debut. That card averaged 1,580,000 viewers, and peaked with 2.3 million viewers live for the main event. Bellator 149 was also the third-most watched MMA programme on cable television in nearly five years just behind UFC Fight Night 59 the FS1 aired bantamweight title fight between Dominick Cruz and T.J. Dillashaw.