You know you are dealing with a completely different kind of fighter when you sit down with Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson (Pictures).

For starters, I can't remember any other mixed martial artist asking a member of his posse to pose in photographs with him, and I am positive if it happened the partner never mimicked pointing a rifle at the lens.

A lot of hype has been built around the impending EliteXC matchup between Ferguson and former UFC legend David "Tank" Abbott because of their respective backgrounds. Heck, the moniker "Street Certified" tells viewers all they need to know about the men scheduled for Saturday's main event.

In one corner stands Ferguson, a man who, among other things he would only describe as "thugging," made a living fighting bare-knuckle challenge matches for upwards of $10,000 before making a move into professional combat sports.

On the other side of the cage will stand the 90's version of Kimbo: Tank Abbott, a barroom brawler with a self-professed 200 street fights under his belt. It is a strange image of yesterday's bad boy versus his shinier, newer version.

Once you set aside the compulsory argument about whether this fight is good, bad or indifferent for the sport, there remains a matchup that screams hardcore MMA fan heaven.

Everyone with even a cursory knowledge of the sport knows what Abbott is all about. Despite his less than stellar record, he still pulls in the fans one way or the other: They either love him or they hate him.

Ferguson lit up MMA message boards and forums after a video of one of his more brutal unsanctioned scraps appeared on the Internet. At the end of the one-sided beating handed down by Kimbo, his battered opponent, with an eye displaced from its socket, looked like he had leapt right off a horror movie set.

"To this day, that dude can't go outside during the day without sunglasses on," Ferguson says. "People always think that was fake or set up, but it was for real."

So how does a guy who worked as muscle for a porn outfit to supplement his street-fighting income end up headlining a major card on Showtime?

According to Ferguson, he really didn't have much of a choice. As word and video of his exploits circled the World Wide Web, it became harder and harder to find people willing to fight him. One man who did step up was a Boston police officer and professional mixed martial artist named Sean Gannon.

Gannon beat Ferguson. The circumstances and outcome of the bout still eat away at Kimbo, but he realized that if he was going to keep fighting trained opponents, he would have to commit to becoming a professional himself.

"The decision was made for me," Ferguson says. "The only guys that wanted to fight me after a while were guys who were already training in MMA."

That is not to say he is all right with the blemish, even though it does not reside on his official record. Gannon parlayed his win -- a win Kimbo alleges was aided by a choke that violated agreed-upon rules -- and the notoriety he garnered from it into a UFC deal.

"I would love to fight Sean Gannon again," says a bitter Ferguson, "and now I will fight him in the MMA world. Now that I know what I know, it's only fair that he signs with Showtime and we make this s--- happen."

Why is Ferguson so sure the outcome would be any different a second time around? Well, for one, he has been training for a year with some of the best MMA fighters in the world. Under the tutelage of Bas Rutten (Pictures), Ferguson has transformed his game from that of an aggressive, heavy-handed intimidator to a well-rounded mixed martial artist.

Noting he has only been training for a year, Ferguson understands there is still a long way to go, yet he is confident he has what it takes to have a successful professional career.

His trainer concurs. Rutten says Ferguson has all the promise in the world, but until he gets in there and fights the fights, it is still just potential.

"I am a guy who needs to see it in the ring," states the former King of Pancrase. "Kimbo has come so far in the last year, but he still has a lot to learn. But the potential for him is there, and if he stays dedicated, he can do good things."

With that in mind, it is not surprising to hear Rutten say he thinks Ferguson needs another three or four bouts before he takes a step up in competition. For a man with a 1-0 record, that is probably a wise choice.

For now Ferguson has in his crosshairs a man with which many have compared him. A clash with Abbott was supposed to happen last October before the promotion scrapped the event, letting the bad blood simmer for some time now.

Abbott, in trademark fashion, fired the first of many barbs when he called Kimbo the gay Mr. T. The longtime MMA veteran has also disparaged Rutten, calling him a slap fighter as well as claiming his UFC heavyweight title win over Kevin Randleman (Pictures) was the product of a bad decision.

"It's a fight," says a smoldering Ferguson. "You know, you want to disrespect me and talk s--- in front of the camera, OK. But when the camera is off and the cameras ain't up and running, the s--- is personal. I'm a street fighter. I'm gonna punch you in the mouth. That's why I respect all these guys, on and off camera."

With only one fight under his belt, a quick knockout that really did not give him a chance to show what he has learned, Ferguson is still an unknown quantity. A win over Abbott would definitely give him a boost toward establishing himself as a legitimate professional, but it will still take some time before we know where he will end up slotting into the notably weak heavyweight division. On the other hand, a loss to the aging pugilist, who sports a 1-7 record in his last eight fights, would be a telling sign that Ferguson may never belong.

Understandably, there is a lot riding on the fight for Kimbo. Perhaps feeling the pressure, he made it clear that losing is not an option he has had the luxury of considering.

"This fight means more to me than it does for him," Ferguson says. "He don't have s--- to lose. I have a lot to lose, so when I train, I train hard and I train for real and I put everything into it. … I'm coming to seek and destroy."

Ferguson is right when he says he is the one with more on the line. A loss would not hinder Tank's ability to earn a paycheck. For Kimbo, a loss would be a big blow to his marketability while a win would, if nothing else, solidify his place as the top street fighter in the world of MMA.

"I got tools on my belt now," Ferguson declares. "Any position I get in … if Tank don't got a gun, he gonna have hell in there with me."