As more information comes forward about the death of Kimbo Slice Monday night, the shock among the mixed martial arts community remains strong.
According the South Florida Sun Sentinel, a Broward County medical report says Slice had been diagnosed with heart failure when he was admitted to Northwest Medical Center in Margate on June 3 after he complained of severe abdominal pain, shortness of breath, and nausea. Doctors also suggested he would need a heart transplant.
Slice, whose real name is Kevin Ferguson, had been placed on a ventilator in intensive care and was scheduled to be transported to Cleveland for placement on a donors list. The medical report also says there were no apparent signs of illicit drug use in his medical history, and neither trauma nor foul play were suspected in his death.
Mike Imber, the late fighter's manager, told ESPN on Tuesday that Slice had seemed healthy until Monday.
"He went to Germany around March and got really sick while he was there. I don't know what he thought it was, but he just felt sick. On Friday [June 3], he had bad chest pains and went to the hospital. I went and visited him on Friday and he seemed OK. I didn't feel like I was going to lose my friend in two days, by any means. He seemed concerned, but he seemed all right. I talked to him that Saturday and Sunday and he was still in the hospital. I said, 'something's not right.' On Monday, his wife called and told me he had stopped breathing."
Slice was set to fight James Thompson at Bellator 158 on July 16 in London. But Mike Brown, his head coach at American Top Team, mentioned that Slice had been leaning toward withdrawing.
"He had a few things going on," Brown said. "He had hit a crazy hiccup problem and he had high blood pressure. He also had a problem that had something to do with his gallbladder. We had talked about him pulling out of the fight. That's what he was going to do. I don't know if he had done that officially yet, but a decision had already been made not to fight."
Slice's record was 5-2. He is survived his wife and six children.
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