Dhafir “Dada 5000” Harris claims to have briefly lost his life following a Bellator 149 defeat to Kimbo Slice in February.

In what was a frightening and apparently near-fatal situation, Harris (2-1 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) was stretchered out of the cage after what looked like a punch from Slice (6-2 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) sent him crashing face-first into the canvas to end the heavyweight contest by third-round TKO.

Harris wasn’t the first combat athlete to be taken away on a stretcher, but the outright exhaustion showcased in the bout was assumed to be the primary factor. In the days following the fight, however, it was reported by MMAFighting that Harris was overcome by a kidney issue in the fight and experienced cardiac arrest en route to the hospital. Harris said he required resuscitation.

“I was dead,” Harris said on The Dan LeBatard Show. “When you talk about your spirit leaving your body, looking at the light, but it’s not your time to go, and you actually get brought back, that was my situation. Because I was pronounced dead, and they kept working, kept working, kept working. And I died minutes apart.”

Harris spent approximately three weeks in a Houston hospital undergoing a battery of tests. Once released, he traveled back to his home state of Florida and said he checked into a Miami-area for additional testing.

“I suffered kidney failure and it was raptors meiosis,” Harris continued on today’s edition of MMAjunkie Radio. “It was a breakdown of protein in the body, and it attacked nothing but muscles. I went in the hospital that night weighing 265; I woke up the next morning, 48 hours later, weighing about 230. Literally deteriorating.”

After the scary incident, many assumed the issues were brought on by a lack of preparation for competition on such a grand stage. Harris said that wasn’t the case, though, and claimed he trained plenty for the fight. Moreover, he said he’s fortunate to have escaped death, but it wasn’t a situation he feared.

“They haven’t heard it from the horse’s mouth: I trained very hard for that fight,” Harris said. “I was doing 10-minute rounds, running 45 minutes on the treadmill and coming into the ring, engaging inside of a competition of this magnitude, was really what I was anticipating.

“My kidneys did go out inside that fight. I was not going to stop, I was not going to give up, and that’s what we preach in the backyard. To beat me, you’ve got to kill me. But to kill me, you’ve got to first have the heart to step in front of me, and to do that you’ve got to be willing to die, yourself. I was willing to die inside that ring, and a lot of individuals are not prepared.”

The situation could have been far worse for the 38-year-old. However, Harris said he wouldn’t take any of it back. He never anticipated such issues to occur, and while it would seem like a traumatic experience, Harris said he doesn’t regret accepting the fight or the physical consequences that came along with it.

“To actually be put in a position to finalize this was a dream come true,” Harris said. “I had two pro fights prior to that, but it was not like I was a full-time fighter. I wear many hats. I’m a promoter, matchmaker, speaker, referee, and when the opportunity came about to settle the score with Kimbo Slice with Bellator, I couldn’t help but come out and make a run. I’ve got to take my hat off to Bellator being one of the only promotions that took a chance on putting this together. Together we made history; we broke records. Millions of people watched on Spike, and it sold the arena out.”

The reason Harris was even pitted against Slice was to settle the score over a heated falling out from several years ago. The two were once friends, but over time they evolved into bitter enemies, and both claimed a violent knockout would occur when they shared the cage at Bellator 149.

That’s hardly how it all played out. It was a slow-paced bout in which Harris and Slice were out of gas minutes after the fight began. Each side had moments, but in the third round, the finish arrived when Slice appeared to graze Harris with a punch that led to the scary ending.

Harris said the conclusion of the contest didn’t settle the score with Slice in his mind.

“I really feel like in the beginning I was being slightly affected, but things didn’t get bad for me until the second round,” Harris said. “I felt it. When I got up after the second round, I was seeing three Kimbos. I just looked for the one in the middle. My body did not function the way I’m used to my body functioning. I hit him one time, and he dropped his hands and he was a sitting duck. The Dada I know would have annihilated him. I would have knocked him out two or three times.

“Kimbo didn’t beat me, my body beat me. Clearly he did not hit me when I was going down. I had two heart attacks that sent me down, and one kept me down for the duration of that match. I’ve got to give Kimbo his credit; he was the last man standing in those regards.”

Further reinforcing Harris’ point that the outcome didn’t determine the superior fighter was the fact Slice was recently revealed to have tested positive for banned substances on fight night. Harris said he takes Slice’s choice to bend the rules by using steroids as a compliment.

“When people say, ‘Oh, Kimbo took steroids,’ that shows me he took the fight very serious,” Harris said. “He was facing the strongest opponent he’s ever faced. I didn’t have the skills Kimbo had, I didn’t have the technique Kimbo had, but I’m smarter, I’m bigger, I hit harder and I’m more aggressive.

“I took his best shots. Not only could he not knock me out, he couldn’t knock me on my butt. If my body hadn’t had malfunctions, I would have knocked him out by no later than the second round. I would have bet my life on it.”

When it comes to his current medical situation, Harris said he’s still awaiting some test results that will put further context around what happened and what must be done to avoid a repeat situation in the future. Harris said he expects to receive positive news shortly, and once that happens, he intends to train for another fight.

“They say, ‘Dada, are you thinking about fighting again?'” Harris said. “I say, ‘Of course.’ I think I still have unfinished business with Bellator, and I’m looking to finalize things up, more than likely in 2017, make a comeback and let’s get myself a clean bill of health, get a new set-up going and come back and let people know Dada 5000 is for real and someone you should definitely take serious inside the heavyweight division.”

For more on Bellator’s schedule, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.

MMAjunkie Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show, available on SiriusXM Ch. 93, is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia and producer Brian “Goze” Garcia. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.