Kimbo Slice: Five things you didn't know about the MMA star

Mixed martial arts fighter Kimbo Slice has died at the age of 42. While no cause of death has been officially revealed, reports in the US suggest that he suffered a heart attack.

Slice, real name Kevin Ferguson, died after being admitted to hospital in Coral Springs, Florida. He had been due to travel to London next month as the headline star of the Bellator 158 MMA bout at the O2 arena.

Bahamian-born Slice began on the unofficial "backyard brawl" scene before making the transition to professional fighting, including stints in UFC, MMA and heavyweight boxing. He was signed up by Bellator MMA last year for a return to the sport.

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"We are all shocked and saddened by the devastating and untimely loss of Kimbo Slice, a beloved member of the Bellator family," the company's president, Scott Coker, said in a statement.

Despite failing a drugs test in February, Slice was one of the most popular fighters on the MMA circuit. Here are five facts you may not know about his extraordinary life:

A hurricane destroyed his football dream

During his childhood in Miami, Slice dreamt of playing American football and was a promising high school player. However, his school was damaged when Hurricane Andrew tore through south Florida in 1992 and the footballing season was cut short, which in turn meant his sport scholarships to college were withdrawn.

He was homeless

Two years after losing his scholarship, Slice was living out of a 1987 Nissan Pathfinder. Too proud to return to the family home, he slept in the car for a month, taping plastic bags over the broken windows and swimming in the sea to keep clean, ESPN reported in a 2008 profile.

He was once a bodyguard for a porn company

Slice did a series of odd jobs to get back on his feet, including stints as a limo driver and a bouncer at a strip club. But the strangest was his time as a bodyguard for porn production company Reality Kings. Slice can even be seen in the background in some of their X-rated offerings, although he never performed himself.

He was a gentle giant

Behind Slice's tough exterior, said ESPN, "there's a conscience, a blueprint and a loving father". Slice made his name in the murky world of underground "street fighting", described in the same article as "human cockfighting", and won thousands of YouTube fans for his savage style. However, Bellator boss Coker said Slice kept his rage confined to his job. "Outside of the cage he was a friendly, gentle giant and a devoted family man," he said today.

He was a fan of the Kardashian school of names

Slice was a father of six and was clearly a fan of alliteration when it came to names, with his boys called Kevin Jr, Kevin II and Kevlar and the girls Kassandra, Kiara and Kevina. Oldest son Kevin Jr has followed his old man in more than his name – the 24-year-old, nicknamed Baby Slice, fought and won his first MMA bout earlier this year.