Dada 5000 chatted with Heavy about his BYB Extreme bare-knuckle boxing promotional company, the 2015 documentary film about his life “Dawg Fight”, and his epic Bellator battle against the late Kimbo Slice.
The 44-year-old from Miami has done just about everything a person can do in the topsy-turvy world of professional fighting. He’s been a streetfighter, a promoter of streetfights, an MMA fighter and now he’s a bare-knuckle boxing promoter.
Dada 5000, whose real name is Dhafir Harris, credited his days arranging illegal streetfights in Miami, the same types of fights his friend-turned-rival Kimbo Slice won to become a massive Internet celebrity during the mid-2000s, as the genesis for today’s rise in bare-knuckle fighting sports.
“No one on the planet was hotter than [Kimbo], because this was a taboo subject, bare-knuckle fighting was always underground,” Dada 5000 said.
So Dada 5000 had an idea about that. He set out to offer other local streetfighters the same kinds of chances Slice had.
Dada 5000 built his incredibly popular streetfighting series after Slice left the scene to become a legit professional prizefighter, and he told other stars “they could be the next Kimbo”.
In a way, the search continues today.
BYB Extreme 7: Brawl By The River is set for September 11 at the James L. Knight Center in Miami. Fighters competing on the card might not have the same kinds of opportunities in boxing or MMA, but now they have the chance to fight their ways into the hearts and minds of the American public.
You can watch Dada 5000 chat with Heavy about all that and more below.
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Dada 5000 Helped Build Today’s Bare-Knuckle Fighting World’
Dada 5000 considers the work he did on the Miami streetfighting scene as paramount to the success of today’s suddenly quite crowded bare-knuckle fighting space.
In addition to BYB Extreme, David Feldman’s Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship and Jorge Masvidal’s fledgling bare-knuckle MMA promotion offer similar types of events.
“A lot of people didn’t see it, so what I did is I went and did it anyway,” Dada 5000 said.
Much of Dada 5000’s early work in that space was captured in the 2015 documentary film “Dawg Fight”. It’s a fascinating look into that world, and Dada 5000 is the main character.
Always a promoter at heart, Dada 5000 says the movement to bring bare-knuckle contests back to the mainstream fighting world started back then.
“Everything that you see now, everybody that you see that’s doing bare-knuckle [boxing and] MMA, don’t think for one second that they didn’t get the blueprints from Dada 5000,” he said.
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Dada 5000 Explains Bitter Rivalry
Beyond being the star of “Dawg Fight”, Dada 5000 is probably most famous for his bitter rivalry with Kimbo Slice.
The two were friends during Slice’s rise from streetfighter to the professional ranks, but they had a falling out after Slice left Miami to pursue his dream.
The beef culminated with the stars facing each other in a pro-MMA fight at Bellator 149 in February 2016. It was the co-main event of that card.
While the promotional buildup for the fight was incredible and helped the event become the most-watched card in Bellator history, the fight itself was panned by many fans and media due to the way things ultimately unfolded inside the cage.
The fighters were so tired after the opening fray that the rest of the bout devolved into something some consider the worst MMA fight in history.
Slice defeated Dada 5000 by third-round TKO.
Tough Night for Dada 5000 Explained
After the fight, Dada 5000 was rushed to the hospital due to suffering cardiac arrest, severe dehydration, fatigue, and renal failure, and it appeared from the way he collapsed at the time of the stoppage that he had suffered all those things right there inside the cage.
Dada 5000 admitted to Heavy that facing his biggest rival on such a grand stage in just his third pro fight was probably a bit too much for him.
“It’s a lot of variables on how I got into that situation. I had never been on a stage that big. It’s a lot of moving components. I just went out there, under the circumstances, and fought the best fight I could have fought with my health failing,” Dada 5000 said.
Wow. Dada 5000 just posted this picture of him in hospital following his fight with Kimbo Slice.
Still, he credits himself with not giving up in the fight. Dada 5000 ended up staying in the hospital for three weeks after the event was over, and he even claims to have been “pronounced dead” there.
But that’s what he was willing to do to defeat Slice that night, even if he fell short of the victory.
“I said to myself in the second round, either this guy is gonna knock me out, or I’m going to die in this ring. Those are the only two options. Either you’re going to knock me out or I die.”
Dada 5000 Never Made Up With Slice
Dada 5000 and Slice never really had the chance to bury the hatchet.
Slice, whose real name was Kevin Ferguson, died just a little over three months after Bellator 149 due to traumatic heart failure. He was 42.
Dada 5000 said he remembers how he felt when his beef with Slice first started. It was just about the same as every other fight between friends in history. The two disagreed about something, and each blamed the other for not seeing things his way
“He should have known me…I couldn’t understand it at that point,” Dada 5000 explained.
He also remembers the last argument they had as friends, which was well before the stars ever thought about fighting each other at Bellator 149.
“I said the best part about this conversation is that we’ll never have to have it again,” Dada 5000 said.
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Dada 5000 on BYB Extreme, Netflix Documentary and Kimbo Slice