Things have changed pretty dramatically for Rosemary Clarke's baby boy Kevin. In 1992 Kevin Ferguson, not yet known as Kimbo Slice, was a star linebacker at Miami Palmetto High School. College seemed a given, with dreams of possibly playing on Sundays. Then Hurricane Andrew hit, destroying his house and his life. For a time he lived in his car, a 1987 Nissan Pathfinder. But Kimbo Slice never gave up hope.

"It's a good feeling looking back on my life and how things transpired," Kimbo said. "It motivates me and I can give my kids more of an insight into how if you hold on to your dream it can happen. If you never let go and keep the faith."

Kimbo found salvation in the strangest of places. He didn't find comfort and security in the church-his saving grace was a strip club. You could say that Kimbo started earning his living with his fists all the way back at his first job as a bouncer. That may be true, but it was the first time that he pocketed some folded up and bloody cash that he knew he had found a new way to make "that bread."

"The very first fight, when I got a couple hundred dollars-that was big," Slice said. "That's when I decided to do this for a living. This is another way. I could start robbing, start selling dope or some shit like that. I didn't want to do that. My old girl, my mother, she wasn't with that. I couldn't get caught stealing something from somebody's house. Not with a mother like mine. This was an opportunity. I could take my ass to work and do it the honest way...What we did was raw. There was no training. It was just straight war. I'm coming right into your back yard. I'm gonna knock a nigga's ass out, leave his blood on the ground. And I'm dippin."

Fortune 500 companies have trouble monetizing the internet. Microsoft, Google, AOL: all are still looking for that magic application that turns clicks into cash. Kimbo Slice found it. Apparently Steve Jobs should have challenged Bill Gates to fistfight to see who was king of the operating systems. Preferably in a boatyard or in the backyard, carefully side-stepping the Direct TV satellite if at all possible. Because no one got richer off the internet faster than Kimbo Slice. First he was a youtube hit machine, the scariest and blackest LOL cat in the world. Soon that internet infamy was spreading out into the real world. Kimbo was in demand.

"We didn't know where it was going to go. I didn't go out looking for fights," Kimbo said. "At least not at the beginning. Opportunities. There was always another dude who felt like he could whoop me. That's what made me want to do it. People thinking they could kick my ass. That's what made me good."

The rise was astronomical. He went from fighting a washed up boxer named Ray Mercer on the Atlantc City boardwalk to main eventing the first MMA show ever held on network television in less than a year. Kimbo was street certified, but there was little doubt that his fame had exceeded his skill level. Professional fighting at the highest levels is a tricky game. Fighters have to be able to navigate dangerous ground both standing and on the mat. There are dozens of techniques that Kimbo needed to be able to execute, and more importantly, defend against. He's very much a work in progress.

"I'm a hard puncher trying to learn the ground game," Slice said. "You're going to learn a lot, but you're not going to master anything in two years. In mixed martial arts, it's that type of training that you learn through life. The more you roll the more you learn."

Many people suggested that an offer to appear on The Ultimate Fighter, a reality television show used to create new UFC stars was an insult. After all, Kimbo had drawn more television viewers than anyone on the UFC roster. As a star, Kimbo has eclipsed anyone in the UFC not currently Dancing with the Stars. As a fighter, Kimbo Slice is right where he needs to be, learning the fight game from the bottom up. Kimbo has learned the same lesson Tank Abbott learned years earlier-a sport fight is not the same as a street fight.

"In a street fight, first of all you've got to have that respect from your homeboys and everybody in the street. They've got to know and understand what's about to happen here. If I knock your boy out, his crew got to know this nigga just got knocked out. You can't be pulling out pistols and talking about 'He need another chance' and this and that," Slice said. "That has to be established before the two guys even engage in combat. There's no comparison though between a street fight and where I am right now as a professional fighter. A street fight is one dimensional. All you have to worry about is a guy throwing punches. You don't have to worry about nothing except getting knocked the fuck out. In mixed martial arts, you have to train and be prepared. These guys have skills and these guys are professionals. And you can be hurt."

The show is doing more than teach Kimbo to fight. It has also allowed fans to see the human side of Slice. He talks often about his family, in ways you might not expect at first glance. Because of his thug persona it was surprising to hear him talk passionately about his kids' education or his fondness for birthday parties and barbecue. Kimbo is more than a fearsome glare and a bushy beard. He's a real person: alternatingly tough, vulnerable, even at times a little scared.

After record ratings for the first two episodes of The Ultimate Fighter season 10, the moment the fighting world has been waiting for has finally arrived. Kimbo Slice fights Wednesday night on SPIKE TV. It's no easy mark either. Kimbo will face off with the odds-on favorite Roy "Big Country" Nelson. Nelson is by far the most accomplished fighter to appear on the reality show in years, but online Kimbo fans have been given hope thanks to a frame of film pulled from a UFC hype video. The footage clearly shows Kimbo rocking Nelson with a big right hand, his only hope against one of the best ground fighters in the heavyweight division. Will that punch be enough to secure a Kimbo victory? The UFC and SPIKE and betting you'll tune in to find out. Is it Wednesday yet?