Authorities have not disclosed the cause of death of MMA fighter Kimbo Slice, but signs point that the 42-year-old former YouTube sensation died of natural causes on Monday.
Slice, whose actual name is Kevin Ferguson, was admitted to Northwest Medical Center, a facility near his home in Coral Gables, Fla., police confirmed to USA TODAY Sports. Reached Tuesday, the Broward County Medical examiner’s office said no forensic investigation was planned for Slice.
“We were informed of the death,” Craig T. Mallak the chief of the Office of the Medical Examiner and Trauma Services, said in an email to USA TODAY Sports. “After review of the records, we declined jurisdiction as his death is not a medical examiner case.”
In these instances, declining jurisdiction typically means that the doctor who pronounced death would have the final world on the cause of death. Medical examiners tend to decline jurisdiction when no foul play and from all appearances the death was from natural causes, according to the Florida Department of Medical Examiners.
Mallak declined to specify what Slice succumbed to, citing privacy laws. Messages left with Northwest Medical Center were not returned.
Among the causes of death that the Florida statute spell out should require a forensic investigation include: deaths by accident and suicide; poisoning; and any suspicious or unusual circumstances.
