The path to the highest levels of MMA still generally begins with base in a traditional combat sport like folkstyle wrestling, sambo, Muay Thai, etc. Alex Caceres heads into his fight vs. Kevin Croom at UFC Vegas 20 on Saturday night on a three-fight win streak, and has been fighting since 2008.

But his base was unconventional. Here he is in a backyard brawl vs. the unheralded ShortyCash, promoted by Dada 5000. The intro lasts longer than the fight.

I performed in street fights before. I believe the videos are on YouTube as well. So it’s pretty known that that’s where I began my career, said Caceres to Gabriel Gonzalez for Cageside Press. I was training years before that as well.

Does street fighting transfer into mixed martial arts in the cage? I can say it does. I can say any type of fighting will do. You see a lot of styles and people fight very differently out there. And no matter what background they come from, they seem to do pretty well for themselves.

I’m always trying to get better. So I can attribute it to time and patience and effort and practice. … It’s a puncher’s chance, every time you get in there. Sometimes you lose to the worst, sometimes you lose to the best. Sometimes you win. Sometimes you don’t. It happens.

Caceres is of course not the only MMA fighter to come out of Florida’s backyard, bare-knuckle fight scene. Dada 5000 did so, but it nearly killed him. Kimbo Slice did it, and it made him millions. And Jorge Masvidal did, and finds himself ranked #4 in the UFC’s deepest division, with his next fight either a title shot rematch vs. former Div I wrestler Kamaru Usman, or a stint coaching opposite former Div I wrestler Colby Covington on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter. 

As for “Bruce Leeroy,” as noted, he fights “The Hard-Hitting Hillbilly” tonight.

Rest in Peace Kimbo Slice (February 8, 1974 – June 6, 2016)