Dada 5000
The heavyweight fight between former backyard bareknuckle brawlers Kimbo Slice and Dada 5000 at bellator 149 in 2016 always looked like being a freakshow, and it lived up to that.
The fight was almost comically bad to watch as both men ran out of gas quickly, but the reality was that something far more serious was happening to Dada 5000 than anyone realized.
Dada had cut over 40lbs in preparation for the fight and it had taken a toll on his body, to the extent that by the second round he was starting to suffer from kidney failure.
Worse was to come as in the third round Dada reeled off-balance away from Kimbo and eventually fell to the mat. At the time everyone assumed he’d been caught with a fight-ending punch, but it would later emerge that he’d actually just suffered a heart attack.
In fact, by the time he woke up in hospital several hours later, Dada had lived through two heart attacks, renal failure and severe dehydration.
The fight brought an end to Dada’s short-lived career, while the fight was later amended to a no-contest ruling after Kimbo tested positive for steroids.
In a further twist to the tale, just four months after the fight Kimbo Slice died of heart failure at the age of 42.
