'The Kimbo Slice Story': Coming Soon To Theaters Near You?

A veteran of HBO’s “Entourage” is in full swing trying to bring the colorful true story of cult mixed martial arts figure Kimbo Slice to theaters near us all.

Kevin Connolly wants to reportedly produce and direct the biopic – which he says already has a script in place, according to The Wrap – after “Entourage” wraps its upcoming final season.

"I have his life rights, we have a script that's great. It's out and about, and the powers that be are trying to put the money together,” Connolly said. He added that he’s been in talks with Kimbo Slice to play himself, ala Eminem in the semi-autobiographical “8 Mile.”

"Kimbo Slice is known as one of the first YouTube celebrities. He was the first person I ever sat in front of a computer and typed somebody's name into YouTube. His fights ended up on the internet, his backyard fights, and he all of the sudden... became this celebrity."

Sure, that’s where the story would really pick up steam. But it’s everything else along the way that could make things interesting.

Kimbo – real name, Kevin Ferguson – is a native Bahamian who was raised by his two brothers and mother in Cutler Ridge, Florida. After his home was destroyed in 1992 in Hurricane Andrew, he lived for a month in a 1987 Nissan Pathfinder. He attended the Universityof Miami on a partial athletic scholarship for a year and a half, and had a 1997 tryout with the Miami Dolphins.

He was a strip club bouncer before high school friend Mike Ember made him a driver and bodyguard for his online porn enterprise RK Netmedia, better known as Reality Kings.

In 2003, footage from his unsanctioned street fights started going viral via YouTube and his growing notoriety led to interest in booking him in sanctioned professional MMA bouts. Less than a year into his career, he debuted with EliteXC – at the time, the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s closest competitor.

His popularity and vicious knockout power made CBS sit up and take notice of the promotion, which eventually led to what was to be a marquee match-up between Slice and UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock in prime-time. However, Shamrock suffered a cut warming up hours before the fight and had to be replaced at the eleventh hour by journeyman Seth Petruzelli. Petruzelli knocked Slice out in 14 seconds, setting off speculations the next day that EliteXC promoter Jared Shaw had tried to fix the fight.

After that, Slice briefly gained entry to the UFC, with President Dana White coming through on his word that if he was willing to fight his way into the company via the promotion’s tournament reality show “The Ultimate Fighter,” he would structure a whole season around him. Slice lost his first bout on the show, but received two more official UFC bouts before his release.

Personally, I love the idea. Slice’s story is something you almost couldn’t write if you tried, and few would see it if it wasn’t a true story. Plus, there’s precedent for a formula like this working. “8 Mile” was a critical and commercial success, and even garnered an Oscar for Best Original Song.