Dada 5000 says it's 'disturbing' Kimbo Slice would fight so soon after steroid failure

The aftermath from the fight between Kimbo Slice and Dada 5000 at Bellator 149 in February hasn't been much prettier than the actual fight.

Dhafir Harris, better known as Dada 5000, suffered serious health complications following his fight with Kimbo Slice back in February. To make this situation more alarming, three weeks after the event, Slice tested positive for steroids.

Since then, little information from Harris about his experience has emerged. However, we recently caught up with Harris to talk about his health, his future career, and Kimbo Slice's failed drug test and short suspension.

Below is a transcript of their conversation.

Marc Raimondi: Hey, Dada. How are you feeling? Are you back to 100 percent?

DADA 5000: Actually, man. I'm about like 70 percent and growing. This whole ordeal, you know, has been very, very trying because of the process I had to undergo. My kidneys went out during this fight. I was on dialysis for a couple of months. I had two heart attacks. I died inside that ring. They brought me back, and then my heart stopped. For like five minutes, they brought me back, and then my heart stopped again for like eight minutes. So, you know, I've been really trying just to bounce back, but I will say this. There is a lot more to this situation than people can imagine.

So, I hear that on Sherdog or something like that they dropped a post saying that Texas has suspended Kimbo and certain things have been reversed. I have not yet been able to check that but what I can say is this right here. I was telling people earlier that that dude is a dirty guy. That they don't play fair. That they had my fight put in but they said that they did not have it, and they posted clips of me getting hit to make me look bad. But I'm like, "Okay, it's a fight. You're going to get hit." We all know that. But it's not how hard you get hit, it's what you do after you get hit that matters. I'm a true warrior at the door. So at the end of the day... I can say that the water is not clean. This situation goes deeper than the steroids. When the truth comes out in a second, it's going to show that this dude could not have beat me even though he was on steroids, and I was compromised.

I saw the opportunity to knock him out at least two or three times. I hit him one time and he dropped his hands, but my body just locked up, like my muscles just went to sleep. That sh*t was supposed to be over right then. I had him another time on all fours. He was on his knees, and I was tapping him. My 2-year-old niece hits harder than that. I'm like "Jesus what is going on with me." When I first kicked him, and I threw a jab out, and I rushed him into the gate, and he took me down, I had him in the choke right then. Listen, with what comes out in a second, is going to be shocking, and I don't think nobody is going to have respect for Kimbo Slice ever again.

MR: Are you surprised Bellator is bringing Kimbo Slice back to fight again this quickly?

DADA 5000: Yeah, of course man. It's disturbing. This is letting you know that this was bigger than me and than what I expected. I was the underdog. Everybody had their chips on Kimbo Slice to win, and they [Kimbo's team] could not let Dada 5000 win under no circumstances. At no cost, you know. But that backfired on them because he was convicted of steroids.

To beat me you got to cheat me. What's the honor in that? But you guys going to embrace that? You guys going to accept that? What about the 15-, 16-year-old kids that are home training hard, running sprints with logs on their back, saying, "In four or five years, I'm going to be the next Bellator champion. I'm going to be the next UFC champion." Not if you got guys like this on your roster. It's going to beat these young kids out of their future because they want to play dirty. This is a noble sport. Once it's starts getting contaminated, you know, riddled with picking faces, and it's no longer about athleticism of the competitors, it's going to get like boxing. It's going to be too political. That's why I said what I'm going to do is stick to my gimmick.

It was a great opportunity that Bellator gave me. I didn't think that I was walking into an ambush, in a sense. But that's how I'm feeling right now, looking at it like this. You know, they're giving this dude another shot. But what is this dude's punishment for being on steroids? [Ed. note: The Texas Department of Licensing and Registration suspended Slice for three months.] I don't take drugs; so I can't say I would have got on it, but I'm like, "Come on, man. If you got to be fair, be fair. I'm a referee in the backyard and I got buddies that get in the backyard and I tell them, "I'm going to be fair." And that's how I am. This is a business. You can't pick faces inside the business.

MR: Do you want a rematch with Kimbo Slice?

DADA 5000: He can't beat me. If he is not on steroids, and well I'm not trying to take anything from anybody else, not even my corner. I rather have my mom and my brothers in my corner than anybody else. In this game, at this stage, you know, I don't trust anybody because everybody has to fight. Anybody can be compromised.

MR: So, will you fight Kimbo Slice again?

DADA 5000: He wouldn't take that. I would beat him. He knows it. He knows it. Listen, I took him to deep waters and he was on steroids. At what point in time, a performance enhancement has not enhanced a fighter's performance? He looked like trash out there, and he was on steroids. But at the end of the day, I took his best. I've never been knocked out and I never will. I never will.

Cedrick James hit me with some good stuff. I shook it off and knocked him out. Kimbo Slice's fate would have been the same thing. He hit me with his best shots, and I'm still good. He hit me one time, and I looked right in his face and I saw his confidence leave his body.

MR: Things were very bad for you. You had been in the hospital for a long time and had just been through an ordeal. How did you feel when you found out Kimbo Slice was on steroids when you fought him?

DADA 5000: I'm going to be honest with you. It wasn't upsetting because that's his M.O. Don't think he was just taking steroids for me. He's been taking steroids. He [took] steroids because he didn't feel comfortable not taking them because he didn't know how his body was going to react. He's been taking steroids. This time he just got caught.

I don't want to say that Bellator knew that he was on this type of sh*t, but it's hard for me to believe that they did not know.

You know, I have my own league to the point that I'm going to be alright, regardless. I have BYB - Backyard Brawls. We have pay-per-views. We have a home. We're pure. We are the new evolution of extreme reality because once we put the gloves on, we on.

Now, we have all these politics in boxing now it's starting to trickle down in MMA. They asked Kimbo, "So what about Dada 5000?" And he had the balls to say he broke my jaw. When? Where? He said he broke my ribs. When? Where? He said he knocked the eye out of my socket. Come on, now you want to fabricate? He was on steroids because he was embarrassed of his performance. You [Kimbo Slice] got the 10-year experience, the 10-year skills, and you got all these extra things going for you. Dada 5000 hasn't been inside the ring since 2011. He has ring rust. He really is not a fighter; he's a promoter. And this guy took you all the way to the third round. So how can this guy [Kimbo Slice] say anything?

On paper, I shouldn't have lasted 30 seconds. The world is mad because they thought that Kimbo was going in there and knock me out, you know what I'm saying. They didn't understand the chief that lives within me. If what happened during that fight, did not happen, I would have knocked him out hands down. Hands down it would have been over.

I just can't wait till I'm clear to really elaborate and shock the world on what it is that happened to me. It's bad because it put a bad taste in my mouth to the point that I could care less to ever fight MMA again. And this type of stuff like this is going to happen, then what's going to protect the fighters? And it wasn't like I'm a no name. I'm a star in my own right. I got the No. 1 documentary out on Netflix till this day. Now we're filming Dog Fights Round 2. I won two Emmys on NBC. I broke records on ESPN four times. ESPN 360, ESPN magazine, ESPN radio, Sports Illustrated, National Geographic, Telemundo, Univision, you know what I'm saying. EA Sports, I've done everything.

MR: So, what's next for you?

DADA 5000: I'm extremely lucky to be sitting here with you, giving you this interview. My blood pressure was 40 over 30. I was dead. The doctor told me, "Listen, 'I've been in this business 20 plus years as a doctor, and I've never seen numbers as bad as yours. I've seen bad, and they're not here to tell the story. Your numbers were far much worse than theirs and you're still alive. It seems what you need to do is find a place, a quiet place, get on your knees and pray because you are extremely, extremely lucky." Listen, when my kidneys went out, I had two heart attacks that triggered a lot of things inside my body. But that was induced. That was not natural. That's as much as I can say about that. That was induced. That was not natural.

MR: What do you think happened?

DADA 5000: If I was going to have kidney failure, if I was going to have a heart attack, I would have had it in practice. When I was doing 10-minute rounds in sparring and grappling, everybody would get a break except me. I was in shape. A lot of people may think I was not in shape. But no, being in shape had nothing to do with it. This sh*t was bigger than being in or out of shape. These guys were looking to take me out at all costs. The inflammation that I'm going to submit is documented. Don't take my word for it. It's documented. And when Kimbo Slice feels like sh*t or anybody that's involved, they're going to know Dada 5000 took this seriously. They try to say, "Hey, he took the fight too soon. He cut weight too fast." You know, man. I was cleared by all the medical doctors. Don't try to throw that out there as scapegoat because I don't need it. I was cleared and ready to fight. I felt great up until the time I started taking and drinking that water out of the back dressing room. I'm telling you guys this.

MR: Who do you think it was? Kimbo's people?

DADA 5000: If it is, we're going to find out. But the truth of the matter is that I felt horrible after I started drinking that water. This is bigger than me. There is a lot of money on the line; millions and millions of dollars were on the betting line. I don't know who it could have been, but I know it was not natural...

You guys want to hurt me over a fight? Just train, man, and come on and beat me hands down. If you want to beat me, you have to cheat me. I didn't sign up for that. And now everybody wants to condone this and give this guy another fight. Where's the punishment in that? They said three months, but guess what, he was fighting three or four months apart anyway, so he was going to be on his down time anyway. So that's not going to affect him.

MR: Will you ever fight again?

DADA 5000: I'll compete again. Maybe not against him, but I'llncompete again. And even if not with Bellator or the UFC or none of those guys, I'll do it for myself. I own my own league... They know, when they said let the best man win that there is no BS going on inside of it... Straight up, I'm a fair guy. If you beat me, hands down, man, I'll say you're the better man. But don't cheat man. Don't cheat me. No organization, don't embrace this cheating, man. And if you come out to talk like this, to let you know that Bellator don't like it, oh well, I was the one that was violated. What are you just going to slap the guy on his damn hand?

I understand this is a business that is fueled by money, so at the end of the day, they have to go with what makes them money. So I understand that but I just didn't want to be [a scapegoat] or guinea pig. I'm bigger than that. They thought that Kimbo Slice was going to come out uncompromised, he's on steroids, and he's going to walk through me and smash me in 30 seconds, killing the whole backyard momentum and everything. It didn't work like that. Yo, you had your way, and I still took your ass in the deep waters into third round. You did not hit me to make me go down. I had a heart attack. That's what put me on the ground. Not a blow from Kimbo Slice. He did not hurt me at all in that fight. If you see that fight, I took his shots, and I was still coming forward. If I was able to punch back like I should have, like I trained, before that f*ckery came into place, I would have knocked him out. I would have been holding my hands high... I know for a fact that my situation was not normal, and I will get to the bottom of it...

I come to fight. Don't set me up, man. Don't do that man. I got a family, man. If a fight meant that much to you, I wouldn't have taken it. I wouldn't have taken it. This is worse than in the streets.