“Everyone he bumped into (before), he crushed. “This is Kimbo before he started really understanding what it meant to be a fighter,” Santos said. The notoriety also earned Gannon a shot in the UFC in 2005.įor Santos, the fight was about something else, something Slice came to buy into - that there’s no substitute for well-rounded MMA knowledge in a fight, no matter how scary, menacing, and powerful your punches may be. The fight has been viewed millions of times on YouTube and other Internet video platforms, and it sparked the Slice phenomenon, which produced record ratings for fights on CBS and cable. That’s a long time to let somebody get up and get punched again. “Especially like that 30-second knockdown (rule). “I don’t know I would do it again in retrospect,” he said. Santos, who has since moved his gym from Cranston to Providence, looks back on Slice vs. The effect was reminiscent of the seed that spawned the modern UFC, an underground compilation video of amateur footage showing members of the famed Gracie jiu-jitsu family tapping martial arts masters of all disciplines in private gym challenges. “I showed it to them and they were going crazy. “I remember I came back to my dorm and I had the footage and I’m telling my roommates, ‘Like, dude, I just came from this fight,’ ” Lauzon said. Lauzon drove back to Wentworth after the fight clutching his version of the legendary fight (he can’t find the tape today). Slice’s exploits were said to be financed by a porn producer for whom he served as bodyguard, in hopes of compiling a Kimbo Slice fight DVD for retailing. Gannon fight was rights to the video, which leaked almost immediately and caused Boston Police to sanction Gannon for his participation. It’s telling that the big prize promised to the winner of Slice vs. That wasn’t what sold Slice, though, particularly at a time producers were making substantial money selling DVDs of untrained bums fighting in the streets. He was widely liked in the fight community for his charitable streak, affection for his kids, and conversational manner. “It’s like going over to your friend’s that has a big Rottweiler or a pet tiger, and they’re like, ‘Oh, no, it’s cool relax, just hop in the elevator with us,’ ” Santos said.īut when Slice stepped into the national spotlight as an MMA fighter unparalleled in his ability to draw big television ratings, fans would come to learn he was hardly some unrefined brute. Though a fighter himself, Santos said he felt uneasy the entire time. Santos remembers picking up the menacing Slice and his crew at a hotel to transport them to the gym. Santos’ father, then stationed in Afghanistan, phoned his son to ask about it after his roommate said he’d heard it went down in a basement in Boston. “He thought it was going to be like every weekend, every third week, would be a crazy fight,” Santos said. One new pupil happened to be at the gym, and soon was wondering what he’d gotten himself into. The pending fight was a closely guarded secret to all but the most connected from the local fight community, and many, including Lauzon, found out only hours before.
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