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Cape Town - It was far from the barn burner or rock 'em sock 'em robot type of fight we expected but Kimbo Slice walked away the victor on Friday night.
Overcoming severe exhaustion, Slice knocked out his old friend and rival Dhafir Harris (Dada 5000), with a third-round flurry of strikes in the co-main event of Friday nights Bellator 149 card according to Nick Strickland of MMALatestNews.com.
Although it was a bizarre ending to a highly anticipated grudge match, Kimbo managed to make good on the promises he made during fight week.
"Losing is not an option for me," Slice said the post-fight presser.
"You've got to really just beat the hell out of me in there. I never give up. I don't care if you've got a submission, you're going to have to break it. If you got a neck, you're going to have to choke me out, put me to sleep. And if you got better hands, you're going to have to knock me out silly for the ref to stop it."
"I'm that type of fighter. I'm not going to never, never just give up in a fight. As long as I can breathe, and I can get back to my feet, we're going to go."
Conditioning proved to be the biggest factor on the night as both Slice and Harris gases early. The technique flew out the window and even veteran referee John McCarthy had to, numerous times, stand the action back up even tho Slice was in a full mount.
Slice (6-2) like always was the most critical of his performance, expressing how the weight difference between himself and Harris affected his cardio and conditioning.
"It was really the weight. I underestimated the weight. It's all good. It went three rounds, I did good."
"It lets me know that I have to continue to train with a little bit more bigger guys to get to used the weight. He was a pretty strong dude. He took punches better than I thought, but hard work in training camp pays off."
The 42-year-old Slice has come along way since appearing on YouTube some nine or so years ago. From straight stand up machine to now having some what of a ground game, Kimbo still has some aspirations to end a fight via submission.
"How epic would it be if I finsihed a fight with some submissions? Right? That's what I'm saying, man. I still have goals."
Kimbo finally put away a long time rival in Dada 5000 and in doing so can now move onto the next opponent. With no name or event mentioned all Slice knows is that he wants to get back in the cage in July.
