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His passion for mixed martial arts sparked when he saw a video featuring Bas Rutten, a retired, undefeated UFC heavyweight champ with a a fifth-degree black belt in Kyokushin karate and a second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do.



Born in Tilburg, Netherlands, Rutten began his professional mixed martial arts career with the Japanese fighting organization, Pancrase. In 1993, two Japanese pro wrestlers went to Holland to scout fighters for their new "hybrid wrestling" (Bushido wrestling) organization, featuring submission fighting, but with no closed fisted strikes to the face. A precursor to what would become modern mixed martial arts, the organization was the first of its kind.



"When I saw Bas' fight, I thought, This is it,' " said Ferguson.



He immediately set up a meeting with Rutten, who lives in Westlake Village and has a mixed martial arts studio in Thousand Oaks.



"It was like meeting a messiah — the king of MMA ... It's a dream come true," said Ferguson, who trains exclusively with Rutten and Randy Khatami, a certified USA Boxing instructor and owner of KO Boxing Club in Thousand Oaks.

Ferguson said he is honored to be a part of the first prime-time event showcasing mixed martial arts — America's fastest-growing sport that evolved from several ancient combat disciplines. Typically in the setting of a caged octagon, world-class athletes engage in hand-to-hand combat incorporating judo, jiu-jitsu, karate, wrestling, kickboxing, striking and grappling, among other techniques.



"I'm glad to be a part of this," Ferguson said.

Kevin Ferguson was 13 years old when he won his first brawl protecting a childhood friend from a bully.



"Other than being beaten up by my sister, that was my first fight," recalled the 6-foot-2, 230-pound cage fighter, better known as Kimbo Slice.



"An older guy was pushing my buddy around ... and I went in to protect him," Ferguson, 34, recalled. To his surprise, "instinctively, I saw his punches ... he telegraphed everything. I threw a left hook, connected, and he was done."

Abbott, a more experienced mixed martial arts fighter than Slice, tried to go for a takedown early, but it didn't work. Slice hit Abbott in the back of the head when Abbott dove at Slice's feet, and as a result the referee halted the fight for a moment to warn Slice about punching to the back of the head.



But once they started fighting again, Slice and Abbott turned back into the usual brawlers, and since Slice is in much better shape than Abbott, Slice was at the advantage. Within seconds Slice landed the knockout punch. The whole fight lasted less than a minute, and Slice got another knockout over a sub-par opponent on his record.

The white guy deserves a lesson!