Street fighting legend Kimbo Slice showed he was more than a brawler in MMA fight against former Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis opponent

Kimbo Slice wasn’t simply a slugger like many would have you believe.

Slice – real name Kevin Ferguson – rose to prominence in the mid-2000s when videos of his unsanctioned street fights took the internet by storm.

His violent knockout victories amassed millions of views online and paved the way for a successful career in mixed martial arts.

In 2005, the bearded powerhouse started training in MMA.

Slice initially picked up the discipline solely to learn dirty boxing techniques for his bare-knuckle fights but quickly fell in love with the sport.

He lost his amateur debut via first-round knockout to Jay Ellis in October 2005, although that didn’t deter him.

Two years later, Slice agreed to fight former WBO heavyweight champion Ray Mercer in an exhibition MMA bout at Cage Fury Fighting Championships V in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

During the early to mid-1990s, Mercer was one of the top fighters in boxing’s glamour division and shared the ring with the likes of Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko.

But by the time he squared off with Ferguson, he was well past his best at 46 years old.

This became apparent from the off when Slice came charging across the cage and drove his adversary down to the canvas in the opening 10 seconds.

Mercer managed to get back to his feet but when he did Slice closed the distance again and began firing knees, elbows and punches from the Muay Thai clinch.

With Mercer’s back against the cage, Slice shot in for a double-leg takedown before transitioning into a slick guillotine choke to force the tap from his adversary.

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Leading up to the fight, most felt Slice was a one-trick pony and expected a brutal slugfest to ensue.

However, Slice proved he was more than just a brawler as he combined multiple martial arts to seal the victory.

Mercer went on to compete once more in MMA, knocking out former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia a year later.

Meanwhile, Slice turned over as a professional and strung together an eight-fight run in the sport (5-2-0-1).

He won his first three fights via knockout against Bo Cantrell, Tank Abbott and James Thompson before running into late-notice replacement Seth Petruzelli at Elite XC: Heat.

Slice was supposed to face Ken Shamrock in the main event but the MMA legend suffered a cut to his eye during his warmup, just hours before the bout was set to take place.

As a result, the Elite XC promoters chose Petruzelli to step in and save the show but it ended up backfiring on them as the UFC veteran TKOd their cash cow in 14 seconds.

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Elite XC went defunct shortly after while Slice was signed up for the 10th season of the Ultimate Fighter.

Despite losing his preliminary bout to eventual winner Roy Nelson, the UFC gave Slice another shot at the Ultimate Fighter Finale where he met Houston Alexander.

Slice won the fight via unanimous decision and was immediately booked to face fellow Ultimate Fighter alumni Matt Mitrione at UFC 113.

Mitrioine proved to be too much Slice as he dumped him on his back and finished him with ground and pound in the second round.

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A seven-fight stint (7-0) in boxing followed before Slice returned to MMA in 2015 with Bellator.

He blasted out Shamrock in a fight that was seven years in the making and then stopped Dada 5000 in 2016 after his fierce rival collapsed from exhaustion.

It was later revealed that Slice had failed a pre-fight drugs test leading to the clash being overturned to a no contest.

Slice was then booked in for a rematch with Thompson in July 2016 at London’s O2 Arena.

However, the street-fighting icon died from heart failure before the contest could take place.

He was just 42 years old.