Quartet of NFL vets to join Kimbo Slice on UFC's "The Ultimate Fighter 10" cast

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Shogun Locc

Shogun Locc

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Quartet of NFL vets to join Kimbo Slice on UFC's "The Ultimate Fighter 10" cast

While the controversial Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson has stolen the spotlight by joining the show's cast, "The Ultimate Fighter 10" will be unique for another reason: the number of additional cast members who once competed in the National Football League.

Sources close to the cast members have exclusively told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) at least four former NFL players have been selected to compete on "The Ultimate Fighter 10," a heavyweights-only season of the UFC's reality series that debuts Sept. 16 on Spike TV.

The list includes Marcus Jones, Matt Mitrione, Brendan Schaub and Wes Shivers.

Barring injury or any last-minute replacements, all are expected to join Ferguson, a former bare-knuckle brawler and YouTube legend who became the biggest star of the now-defunct EliteXC promotion, in the UFC's 16-man tournament.

Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole broke the news on Monday that the show would include Ferguson, who's 14-second loss to late replacement Seth Petruzelli at a 2008 CBS-televised event sparked the eventual financial collapse of one of the UFC's biggest rivals. Although heavily criticized by UFC President Dana White in recent years, Ferguson agreed to join the UFC's reality show in an attempt to prove his legitimacy in MMA.

The UFC's popularity reality competition series debuted in early 2005 and has launched the careers of more than 100 UFC fighters. The upcoming 10th season is the first to feature heavyweight fighters since "TUF 2" aired in late 2005. However, the top heavyweights from that season – winner Rashad Evans, Keith Jardine, Mike Whitehead and Petruzelli, for example – later dropped to the light heavyweight division.

However, with the addition of Ferguson and the former NFL players, who are all true heavyweights, this season could further stock a once-depleted UFC heavyweight division that recently has been reinvigorated with the additions of promising newcomers such as Shane Carwin, Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos, Chris Tuchscherer, Mike Russow and others.

Here's the crop of football-players-turned-MMA-fighters you're likely to see on "The Ultimate Fighter 10" in September:

Marcus Jones, the 1996 first-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, enters "TUF" with a 4-1 professional MMA record, which includes four first-round victories via stoppage (with an average time of just 91 seconds per win). Three of the wins came via TKO and one via submission.

The 35-year-old played football at the University of North Carolina, where he was a four-time letterman, an All-American and the 1995 ACC Defensive Player of the Year. The 6-foot-6 defensive tackle played six NFL seasons with the Bucs. In his best season, 2000, he ranked eighth in the league with 13 sacks. He spent two additional seasons with the Buffalo Bills (but didn't play in the regular season) before giving up the sport. Soon after, he joined instructor Rob Kahn at Gracie Tampa and eventually made his professional MMA debut in 2007.

Matt Mitrione, who had a nine-game stint with the New York Giants in 2002, will be one of the season's least-experienced fighters (on paper, anyway). He has no professional fights, according to the major fighter databases, though he reportedly has fought as an amateur.

The 30-year-old Illinois native was an All-Big Ten defensive tackle for Purdue University. He went un-drafted after his senior year in 2000 but still earned his way into the NFL as a free agent. In addition to the Giants, the 6-foot-4 Mitrione spent some time with the Minnesota Vikings (though he didn't appear in any regular-season games for the team) before leaving the NFL in 2006.

Brendan Schaub, a 6-foot-4 fullback for the University of Colorado who spent some time with (but didn't play for) the Buffalo Bills, is 4-0 as a professional MMA fighter. He's often compared to his longtime training partner, undefeated UFC heavyweight Shane Carwin. Like Carwin, Schaub has made quick work of his opponents since turning pro in 2008. In four professional fights, he has four first-round TKOs, and the average length of each fight is just 59 seconds.

The 26-year-old Colorado native played for the Arena Football League's Utah Blaze before focusing solely on MMA. Schaub, the son of a second-degree Tae Kwon Do black belt, is a Golden Gloves boxing champion and the 2008 Colorado Open Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Absolute Advanced Grand Champion. He currently trains with Greg Jackson's renowned Team Jackson camp in New Mexico and T's KO Fight Club in Colorado.

Wes Shivers, who had a short NFL stint with the Atlanta Falcons in 2000, is 0-1 as a professional and 4-0 as an amateur, according to MMA.tv's fighter database. (However, his record is listed as 6-0 in some places). The muscular 6-foot-7 fighter is well versed in grappling and Muay Thai and previously competed as a super heavyweight before a lack of available opponents prompted a move down to heavyweight.

The 32-year-old Team Hammer Hill fighter was a standout offensive lineman at Mississippi State University. The Tennessee Titans drafted him in the seventh round of the 2000 NFL Draft. After playing three games with the Falcons in 2000, he left the NFL and focused on his MMA career.

In addition to Jones, Mitrione, Schaub and Shivers, a fifth football vet earned a spot on the cast but was forced to give it up. If it weren't for an injury suffered just prior to the show's taping, former Texas Tech stand-out lineman and Indianapolis Colts practice-squad member Rex Richards would also be on the show.

However, a source close to the fighter told MMAjunkie.com that Richards suffered a partial MCL tear just five days before he was set to leave for Las Vegas. Doctors couldn't clear him to compete, so he was forced to give up his spot in the "TUF" house.
 
Shogun Locc

Shogun Locc

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IS KIMBO A MIXED MARTIAL ARTIST? WE'LL FIND OUT

"What has the guy done to deserve to be in the UFC? Nothing. I don’t consider him a real athlete or anything. He won’t win The Ultimate Fighter." Such were the words of UFC president Dana White at the post-fight press conference following UFC 90 last October when asked about the sensationalism of Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson. "The offer is out there if he wants to take it and he won’t win it."

Living up to his end of the bargain, White has welcomed Kimbo to The Ultimate Fighter, building season ten as a competition based solely on heavyweights, just as he had mentioned late that night in the Windy City.

The season, dubbed "The Ultimate Fighter: The Heavyweights" not "The Ultimate Fighter: Kimbo" as some might think, already generated plenty of general fan interest due to the heat between coaches Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Rashad Evans. Jackson actually passed on a shot at regaining the UFC light heavyweight title from Lyoto Machida to accept the slot on The Ultimate Fighter with a promised grudge match with Evans waiting for him in December.

The addition of Kimbo, especially with White's past criticisms of him, only serves to ratchet up the intensity of show, and fan interest, and thusly ratings... by say a factor of 10. It's already being talked about as potentially the biggest ratings grabber in the reality series' history.

"I don't know if there's anybody I've talked more smack about than this guy," said White on a recent edition of the Carmichael Dave radio show, although Gary Shaw and "the t-shirt guys" might dispute that statement. "Basically what I said was, the only way this guy ever gets into the UFC is if he did The Ultimate Fighter."

Regardless of the friction caused by the brash UFC president's comments, or perhaps because of them, Kimbo has answered the call and agreed to run the gauntlet of The Ultimate Fighter to make it into the UFC.

"It's an opportunity for me to prove myself, being a mixed martial artist. Coming from the backyard, coming from being a street fighter, it's time to step my game up," said the YouTube sensation in White's video blog on Monday... on YouTube. "A lot of people out there have a lot of questions about if I could fight mixed martial arts style.

"It's all good. DW can say whatever the (expletive) he want man, but as far as I'm concerned, the (expletive) he's saying, the greatest revenge to my knowledge is success. That's the only thing I got to say about that. The greatest revenge is success."

If nothing else, that attitude has earned him some praise from the man who so often questioned his entry into the mixed martial arts world.

"Maybe he wins the (expletive) thing and I got egg on my face. It wouldn't be the first (expletive) time," said White on Tuesday. "I respect him for coming in and doing The Ultimate Fighter and I did talk a lot of (expletive) about him. He's here to prove himself."

Kimbo gets no extra perks for being on The Ultimate Fighter than do the other contestants, said White. "People don't get paid on The Ultimate Fighter. People get paid, (but) not a lot of money, and then if they win they get the contract, they get into the UFC, obviously.

"He's got a contract if he wins the show. He's got a contract to fight in the UFC. It's a good one. So, that's his carrot."

Of course, given Kimbo's past and the drawing power that comes from his appearances on Showtime and CBS while fighting for EliteXC – coupled with his YouTube celebrity – the carrot being dangled in front of him is much more significant than for the other cast members.

"He has the same TUF deal. If he makes it into the UFC, his contract is different, a lot (explective) different," admitted White. "But, yeah, he came here on the show to fight and win, just like everybody else."

But that's where it ends he says. They're not trying to drag Kimbo along in the show to string out ratings or anything of that ilk, White assures. "Kimbo is getting '0' (expletive) special treatment. He's not getting anything anybody else isn't, and on the flip side, I'm not after Kimbo. I'm not in here, 'Let's make an example of this guy. Let's get his ass kicked. Let's show the world that this guy isn't real.' He's a contestant like everybody else, coming on the show trying to win."

With so much criticism leveled at Kimbo's past, coming from the YouTube street fights, pushed immediately into the main event of EliteXC on nationwide television, resentment from other fighters would be expected. But, surprisingly, many of the UFC's fighters support the move.

"I think that given Kimbo's history and where he came from and his performance in the fights he's had so far, I think that this is probably where he should be," commented former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin. "It's a smart move to put him on the show; it's going to pull in ratings."

"It's a great business move with the UFC," echoed Marcus Davis. "Definitely I think that he needs to go through something like this before he should be fighting in the UFC."

Wanderlei Silva, who faces Franklin next week when the promotion lands in Germany for the first time, was even more enthused by the addition of Kimbo. "It's good because he is exciting fighter. He's aggressive in his fights. He's a very good fighter for the UFC and he is so tough, he can put a lot of guys in the heavyweight (division) in trouble."

Evans, who will either be coaching the former street fighter or leading the charge against him on TUF 10, had a rather interesting outlook on Kimbo that pretty well wraps up how many assess the fighter.

"You see somebody like Kimbo, and his following, and what he's been through, and his journey, and his path of mixed martial arts has been one of its own and definitely a spectacle," said Evans, himself the winner of season two of The Ultimate Fighter. "So you look at Kimbo and man, this is the guy everybody's talking about. So you're kind of anxious to see what he can really do.

"I think he's a fighter. I just don't think he's a full mixed martial artist yet. (Him being on the show) gives people a chance to see what level he really is at."

White echoed those sentiments, having changed his tone from one of contempt to some sense of admiration.

"The only thing I say is I respect the fact that he did it. The guy was getting offered money from other people, but I think that he really saw this as an opportunity," said White.

"Is he a mixed martial artist? We're gonna find out."
 
P

PsyDaL

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Looks like they gonna have a lot of heavyweights with KO power. All those ex pro football athletes have just as much/ or lesser mma experience as Kimbo so everyone has that fighters chance. The entertainment side of things is probably gonna be the best cause you cant get any better than Rampage....
 
Robby2Slobby

Robby2Slobby

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I think kimbo will end up getting ko'd. Probably in his first fight. If not, then the second. These guys will also have to win an extra fight to get to the finale.
 
BCnuggets

BCnuggets

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The thing about heavyweights, it can go either way no matter who it is. They hit so god damn hard that if someone gets caught unexpected its over in a second, and Kimbo already has proven that when getting his ass knocked out by Pinky.
 
Shogun Locc

Shogun Locc

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KIMBO'S TRAINER SAYS HE'S READY FOR ROUND TWO

Randy Khatami says Kimbo Slice is ready for the 15 heavyweights who want a piece of him.

Khatami, a trainer at Elite MMA with Bas Rutten, was one of Slice's chief trainers since the bearded fighter announced his entry into MMA.

Early last month, Khatami began working with Slice again after a six-month layoff. Slice told him he would return soon – to what, he didn’t know, but he wanted to be ready.

Rutten had a well-publicized falling out with Slice after his 14-second loss to Seth Petruzelli at EliteXC’s “Heat” in October.

“Bas and I talked it over,” said Khatami. “Bas, he wasn’t happy with the lack of hunger, and the lack of drive and some other things, and it is Bas’ gym, and I’m a part of the gym as well. It’s one of those things where I told him I was going to do it, and here I am doing it now.”

Khatami worked on Slice’s striking while Raul Montolfo, a Carlos Gracie Jr. black belt, prepped his ground game.

“He came in hungry,” said Khatami. “In my eyes, he came in hungry like he was before the Tank Abbott fight. It was a pleasure for me to see.”

Weeks later, Slice’s next chapter was set – as a cast member of “The Ultimate Fighter” season 10. Once a network TV headliner, Slice would be sequestering himself in a house with cameras and 15 up-and-comers who would in all likelihood want to take his head off.

Khatami didn’t have much time to prepare. His goals were focused.

“One hundred percent sparring,” he said. “We sparred every single day. We did not do that in the past. Because he had so much to learn, so many more technical things that Bas was showing him, he really didn’t have time to spar. You’re talking about a guy that didn’t know anything, that basically came from the streets. We were sparring with him every single day.”

Slice’s TUF appearance has already generated a huge amount of interest in the show, but the odds are stacked against him. UFC president Dana White said Slice’s future hangs largely on his first fight. If he’s blown out of the water, chances are slim he’ll make it to the Octagon. If he wins, and keeps winning, a lucrative contract awaits him. But one thing’s for sure: he has far more to lose than gain.

That could weigh heavy on anyone’s mind.

“I feel that 95 percent of the game is mental, and I spent a lot of time with him on the mental side,” said Khatami. “As far as what happened before, he’s just got to take his loss and move forward. He accepts that and he’s going to move forward. I told him the best revenge is success.

"He needs to go out there and show all those people that don’t like him and talk bad about him, even Dana White, go out there and be successful and everybody will forget all those things that happened to him.”

Before Slice left, the two met one last time to discuss the show.

“The biggest thing is that he’s mentally there, and he’s ready to go,” said Khatami. “That’s why I feel pretty confident right now. He’s got the physical attributes, it’s just that he has to be mentally there.”

When Slice finishes his reality stint, he’ll be back at the gym after a week in Florida with his family.

“He does have a lot to lose, but I think he made the right decision,” said Khatami.
 
Shogun Locc

Shogun Locc

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Kimbo Slice training with Gracie Barra in Tri County, California

"Kimbo really liked the classes and wants to train in the gi when he gets back from shooting the show (TUF)."
 
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