I had hoped that most of this episode would go to Justin and Roy, but nope, it went half to Matt Mitrione and his “rattled brain”. Matt didn’t want to fight. That’s plans and simple. He was scared of James and was looking for a reason not to fight.

After all the bullshit he caused this season with our team, we were just sick of the acting and drama that he created every single day. I gave Matt the benefit of doubt up until this point of the show. I realized that one-minute he would be fine and playing cards, and the next he would be acting like a kid from a special needs 3rd grade class.

So after the acting Matt gets a day away from the house and goes to stay at hospital for the night. He comes home, does some more acting, and then when Dana shows up he smiles huge. Dana asks him if he will fight and with a smile Matt says, “I can’t say no”.

If Dana would have walked away right then and not continued the conversation I believe the acting would have ended. But Dana says lets see what the Doc has to say and immediately Matt see his opportunity to have an excuse. He explains how his brain is rattled and how he needs to see if he is up to it. Then he tells Dana that his brain is not just knocked loose from that fight, it’s from years of football. Dana immediately asks, “So you had concussions a lot in football?”, and Matt responds, “I don’t know, Maybe?”.

What a douche bag. He just told the boss that bullshit. I think Dana smells bullshit but you have to wait till the next episode to see what he says about it. Sorry….haha

Moving on, the fight between Justin and Roy was a great fight. I think that both fighters respected their ground games and kept it standing the entire fight because of that reason. Roy is a smart fighter and knows Justin is more dangerous on the ground. Justin also knows that if he goes to the ground Roy has 90% chance of catching him.

Justin comes out and puts the pressure on Roy and has him backing up for the first minute. Roy keeps Justin at bay by repeatedly jabbing Justin. Roy would move away and jab hook with the left hand and he rarely used his right hand. The fight is a good swing fest and had us on our toes the entire time.

I think it was called correctly because although Justin charged Roy the first minute of the fight, Roy controlled the bout with his jab, and only threw when it would connect. Justin was getting tired and throwing anything in hopes of something connecting.

I also believe that Justin gave his all in the first 10 minutes and that it would have been bad if the 3rd round was chosen.

Justin is a great young and tough fighter that will have a long career. He fought a more experienced fighter and came at him looking for a victory. It just wasn’t enough on that day. I think Justin wore himself out with the wild punches. Justin will get another shot in the real UFC and will win. He has to remember that this was an exhibition and a set up reality TV show fight. There is a huge difference.

Roy always sticks to his game plan and never drifts from it. He had said previous to the fight that he would keep it on the feet and try to make it exciting without taking damage. That’s what he did. Roy and Justin were really good friends on the show and I think that had a lot to do with his game plan as well. Roy wanted Justin to train with him after the show was over to help him and I think that’s why we saw the fight that we saw.

But, what I noticed throughout the fight that Roy threw his right hand only when he was pinned or in trouble. Roy maybe threw his right maybe 15 times in that fight. Roy’s right hand is his KO. If that guy hits you on the chin with his right, its game over.

So, Roy wins but the show stealer for me this week was a 1-sentence line given by Dana after the fight “Roy loves Roy more than anyone loves Roy.” That is a classic line and I laughed my ass off while I was watching the show with Roy. Funny stuff.

Ok, so make sure to check out my new radio show. Its called Alpha Dog Radio and you can call in at 501-262-1066 or listen live on the internet if it’s not broadcast in your area. Tonight we will be talking to Cory Brady from FiveOuncesofPain.com on all the rumors and skinny in MMA. You can also check me out on the web at MikeWessel.net. See you next week.

EDITORS NOTE: *Make sure to check out the official Juggernaut website over at MikeWessel.net

Be sure to check back in on the blogs as sometimes it may take Mike a day or two to get back to your comments, but rest assured that he’s lurking.

This week was my fight against big baby, but first off I want to clear the air about the sucks balls comment. When I wrote sucks balls it was purely a joke. That was my saying to everyone that week because I was bored and entertaining myself. I said I would tell him I said it but I was told to leave it be and drop it. I didn’t think he would be that upset over it but regrettably he was. I had not intentions of messing with him and that happened a week before we even knew we would be fighting each other.

I got along great with Marcus and was just playing along with the pictures. I didn’t mean anything more than to joke with him, not at him. However, it was funny that the guys that told me not to tell him, 10 minutes later told him if the guy who wrote it was a man he would admit it.

I respect Marcus (even before I lost to him). He is a great guy and I am glad that we will soon be training together (maybe). Marcus is such a great guy that I felt bad he took it that way because we hung out a lot on the show. But, I had no problem telling him I did it. I really didn’t think he would take it that way. If you want proof that we got along watch this weeks episode of the aftermath show with Amir Sadola on Spike, or my Facebook fan page.

Secondly, the stuff about my wife is true. We found out she had cervical cancer two days before I left for the show. I knew she would have surgery while I was on show and opted out, but she wanted me to go. My wife had surgery and had the cancer removed the week before my fight and is clear for now. She goes back in December for a follow up. I hated not knowing what was happening to her. There was more than just the surgery, it was maybe not having children with her. It was not being there to support her if more bad news came. I was going to bail on the show but she would not let me. I found out two hours before I was picked up by the UFC when her surgery would be. I’ll admit, it was a major distraction, but not the reason I lost the fight.

The fight between Marcus and I was a simple plan: Keep it standing. I was told that he didn’t like to be hit and to not go to the ground; keep it on the feet. I veered from the game plan. I went for the leg trip and got reversed and it was a dumbass mistake on my part that cost me the fight. I hate that I had such a poor showing and deserve all the criticism from all the haters for my performance.

I have never fought any worse than I did against him. I am embarrassed by my fight. I did not stick to the game plan and almost cost me my fucking arm. My arm took two months to heal fully after that. What sucks is I didn’t even see it coming. Marcus did a great job and he is a great fighter. He has a huge career ahead of him.

The difference between real fighting and reality TV fighting is the surroundings and the lack of preparation. I had no clue to how he really fought. Yeah, the coaches told me but I am not good at imaging things. So, when someone says that guy is good on the ground, I think, ‘Well I’m good on the ground, so, no worries’. You get no visual on your opponent. I didn’t know his speed or his skill. That was the toughest thing about fighting this fight. I had to stick with my game plan because I didn’t know what he was capable of, but I clearly didn’t stick to my game plan and got my arm handed to me after almost being ripped off. I give no excuse for my loss; on this day Marcus was the better fighter. It’s not failure if you gave it your best, it’s just a loss.

I really am happy for Marcus. He deserves it because he is such a genuine person. I enjoyed hanging with him in LA two weeks ago. I am also more pumped about him coming to train where I train in Vegas.

Sorry to all my fans that I lost and that I didn’t make it go longer. I really appreciate the support and wish I could have done better for all of you. I’ll be back with better focus. The house is tough, but I think everyone saw that I really need to be in the right frame of mind. Thank you all for your support and being there for me even when I lose. Make sure to check out my web page at www.mikewessel.net or add me on my fan page on Facebook.

Next week is the beginning of some really good stand up wars. The show only gets better from here on, so until then, SUCK BALLS hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. JK

EDITORS NOTE: *Make sure to check out the official Juggernaut website over at MikeWessel.net

Be sure to check back in on the blogs as sometimes it may take Mike a day or two to get back to your comments, but rest assured that he’s lurking.

This weeks show starts off with the final two picks of the first round. Now if you remember right, Matt was to fight Marcus in the beginning, but because of his shenanigans and snitching he had the picks switched. The truth is that I was to fight Wes Sims, Matt to fight Marcus, and Justin to fight Scott. But, because of Justin and Scott’s friendship and Matt snitching, the picks get switched. Not that it really matters anyway because when the coaches asked me who I wanted to fight, there was no long discussion, I said, “I don’t care. I can beat any one of them”. That was all I said because I am not scared to fight anyone.

However, according to Matt’s note I am. Haha, that note was funny after the fact, but both teams and coaches were shocked that he would say that about me. I was as well.

Of course, he didn’t say it he wrote it on a piece of paper like a chicken shit and showed it to a good friend of mine… Scott. Scott and I were boys way before the show and I don’t think Matt knew that.

So Scott tells me what it said, and the entire world got to see my reaction to his bullshit. What was really great is that I didn’t have to do shit about it. Both teams started hazing him and giving him shit. Even the coaches said shit to him like, “Of all the people to do that to, you choose Wessel”.

It was great having everyone on both sides kinda stick up for me because I was so well liked by everyone. I still think its funny how he wrote it and didn’t say it. WHAT A COCKSUCKER!!! LOL

Moving on to more Matt bullshit. Did anyone catch his ramblings about his voices and that he talked to his wife. I understand if you’re a spiritual man and you normally talk that way, but this dude can barely talk, let alone understand and have a greater mindset. Truth be told, he has faked his way through everything and lied his way through a lot of his life, and in this house it comes out.

The incident between John and Matt was more comical because of how John handles himself when Matt was having a childs temper tantrum. I liked John. I admit he rubbed people the wrong way, but that’s his personality and we got along fine. I understood him and his views so he didn’t bother me. But Matt is the type of guy that doesn’t say shit until he can make a scene about it. Matt could have said something to John about it in the house or on the 45-minute drive, but he chooses to become Tommy Tuff guy or Harry Hardass (whichever you like) and do it when he could get the most camera time and attention.

Rashad should have blasted his ass. Trevor (the boxing coach) refused to work with Matt and Rashad was on his last limb because of all the bullshit he creates. However, Rashad is a coach and a great guy so he kept trying to get through to Matt what was truly important and what not but Rashad soon realized it fell on deaf ears.

Matt is a douche. If you were to meet him on the street he would be very cool to you, but he always has an agenda. You never know, in the house we’re all getting crazy and out of wack so it could be a lot of that as well.

The fight between Scott and Matt was a very good fight. Scott took a shot to his eye and I know that it caused a lot of problems with him in this fight. We all wanted Scott to win for two reasons. Scott is a kick ass guy and because we all hated Matt’s bullshit. I truly though that the fight was even, and with Scott’s take down he should have won or at least went to the 3rd round. After the first two minutes of the fight Matt’s punches became soft but Scott couldn’t see at all from that eye. More is to come from Scott’s eye injury but I can’t say anything else.

Any who, I thought Scott won. That’s not based on my feelings on Matt either. I am a fair person when it comes to stuff like this and it at least should have went to a 3rd round. But, I also thought Shogun won last week too, so I must really suck at decisions.

Well next week is my big week. I have already seen this episode and it is awesome. I give the Spike people credit: These last three episodes have been great. I even enjoy Kimbo’s interviews.

Marcus and I liked each other, but we’re both competitors and I knew he was coming and I was too. I am the final fight and I am the guy that can make team Rashad 8-0. It’s a huge week and a great episode coming up next Wednesday. Stay tuned….

EDITORS NOTE: *Make sure to check out the official Juggernaut website over at MikeWessel.net

Be sure to check back in on the blogs as sometimes it may take Mike a day or two to get back to your comments, but rest assured that he’s lurking.

Later, Brendon made a comment about Marcus doing this as a hobby and Brendon said this is how he eats. That’s very true. I felt the same way because I need this to survive and provided for my family. I’m not taking anything away from Marcus, but he has made his money and has all the opportunities we don’t. However, its not his fault for being so gifted. I don’t want to sound like I am hating on him, and I think highly of Marcus and his fighting ability. I just thought Brendon made a great point.

I enjoyed how they are showing how the “snitch” really happened. Matt is a good guy but from day one we all wondered why he was there. Matt telling Scott about the match up with Justin was definitely a way to get a different fight. Its funny to show how Matt got his nickname “Meathead”. LOL But, Matt had a great strategy to get the easiest fight in the first round and play the reality game. Which is smart, but I felt that he sold the team out as well. Matt’s first response was to switch the picks, but you get to see how we react and the whole team is ruthless toward him because we all felt betrayed.

Every member of Team Rashad did something to Matt in some way and we even loved ripping him more in front of everyone else, but it was even funnier to see the coaches go after him and make fun of him too. Matt knew what he was doing and in the next couple of episodes you will see him play more games.

The match up between Demico and Brendon was a great match up for Brendon and the team. Brendon’s coaches back home are all of Team Rashad’s coaches on the show. That’s a huge advantage to him because they already know how to coach him and what his strengths and weaknesses are. They know how to get in his head, control him and coach him in the cage because they have done it many times before.

I expected for Brendon to destroy Demico and get out quick. But, Demico showed that he is a very talented and an over looked fighter. I didn’t expect Demico to do as well as he did, but in the end the coaches from Team Rampage screwed him up during the fight. That was a huge reason for his loss. Brendon also is a great fighter and took advantage of Demico’s mistakes and that’s what great fighters do. They find your mistakes and take advantage of them. They even admitted it after the fight. That’s why it was so huge for Brendon and James to come to the show with their coaches because they know them in every way that is important for a coach to know their fighter.

Rampage didn’t even show up with enough to help Demico warm up and I was glad that they showed how Rampage and their coaches really didn’t care about their fighters or the show. It was more to promote Rampage, and that sucks for everyone their team.

Rampage has a ton of talent on his team and it was a shame that they got stuck with a coach they didn’t care about them. I am not talking about all the coaches because Junior and British Tom tried but they are going to follow Rampages lead. Rampage didn’t even go to him after the fight he just sat outside of the cage and felt sorry for himself about how he must have the worst luck. Really? What a dick.

Rashad and our coaches came over and took care of him and that shows how much our coaches care about all the athletes on the show. The only thing that Rampage did right was admitting he coached Demico wrong but Rampage never admitted it to his own team and he needed too. After how he acted I think Rampages team finally felt like they didn’t have any support.

Next weeks episode is where all the Matt Mitrone drama and starts to show how Zach gets hazed constantly by his own team. It starts to get ugly in the house.

In total the broadcast drew a household rating of 3.7, with 5.3 million total viewers.

A total of 6.1 million viewers tuned in at one point during the episode, making it the highest rated UFC program in the history of Spike TV, trumping the previous record of 5.9 million viewers during the main event between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Dan Henderson at UFC 75 back in September of 2007.

The show starts off with the great people at Spike trying to make Kimbo even more marketable when they show him struggling with his “Inner Me”. I really don’t know what they wanted to get out of this, but besides Kimbo being the toughest dude at the BBQ, he cannot sit at that same BBQ and be a philosophizer.

The show also shows how sensitive Marcus Jones is. Marcus acquired the nickname “Big Baby” on the show because he truly is one of the planets biggest gentlest creatures.

The scene on the back porch with Marcus and I was at 6 am before practice and he talked and talked about his flower gardens. He really got into to it to. I was sitting just laughing because I have never heard someone be so passionate about flowers, except my grandmother. Marcus is a really good guy and that is his release for his stresses. We all have are own ways of dealing with our problems or stresses but now we all know that Marcus deals with them through his gardening. It was just hilarious to me to have this giant NFL guy taking about his flowers.

Later the fight finally came. Now, even though Dana said, “Roy only did what he had to with out getting hit”, we all thought that that was the whole point of the show. You have to fight 3 times in 6 weeks. I didn’t understand why they still hated on Roy after he did what he had to do with minimal damage.

To me Roy fought a smart, well thought out fight. Roy did what he wanted and didn’t get into any trouble. I did think it was funny that everyone makes such a big deal over Kimbo, and that when someone beats Kimbo they immediately shit on the guy for being happy about winning.

After Roy won he said, “ Can I get a whopper”. Roy was happy, playing around and trying to get Burger King to sponsor him. He was not trying to act like he destroyed him or the world should be shocked.

I just think that its funny how they hype up Kimbo so much and hate on whoever beats him. Kimbo is a big fight for anyone because of all the hype that the media has put into him. So, why is it so bad when someone is happy they beat him and did it in such a manner that they hardly even got hit? In my opinion that’s a smart fighter.

They also showed how team Rashad has a traitor on the team. Now this is where the show starts to get dramatic and starts to be more of a reality type feeling. I am involved in most of the traitor controversy. I cant say who did it but I am involved in more than one-way. It gets really interesting and extremely dramatic very fast.

The show ends with Marcus fainting and the hype of a possible Kimbo come back. This come back stuff is where Dana gets involved and he is very funny and truthful, but he also smacks some heads (verbally) and puts some of us back in line.

EDITORS NOTE: *Make sure to check out the official Juggernaut website over at MikeWessel.net

Checkout past blogs here: Episode 1, Episode 2

Be sure to check back in on the blogs as sometimes it may take Mike a day or two to get back to your comments, but rest assured that he’s lurking.

But isn’t that the whole point. Hasn’t Lyoto Machida been praised in the past by Dana for the exact same thing? Of course Machida didn’t just embarrass one of the biggest cash cows in the business either.

Either way, credit should be given where credit is do. Nelson was in a couple of bad situations during the fight and used his experience in the sport to take the fight where he needed to, making his comments to FiveOuncesOfPain.com just before the airing of last evening’s bout make a lot more sense.

I’ve always made it a habit to use my opponents weaknesses against them, but in a format like this, you have to be a little more cautious abut what you do. Instead of throwing the whole kitchen sink, you may have to say, “Ehhhh, here’s just a little water”. Because the thing is that there’s been times that I’ve left it all out there and wound up breaking my hands, and that’s one thing on your mind; you don’t want to break your hands. You just play the safe mode, to just get the W.

My biggest thing with this fight was to take no damage, end the fight as fast as possible, and win. That was my gameplan going into the house regarding any of the bouts I may have ended up in. It didn’t matter if I punched the guy, or took him down. Whatever you had to do to get the W. It didn’t matter if it was the ugliest win on the show. As long as you got that win, that’s all that mattered. At the same time, you want to leave the bout with no injuries, and you just have to get it done. It’s not like a real fight. It’s not like you’re fighting for a payday. You just have to get it done, and then move on to the next fight.

Upon closer inspection of Wednesday night’s widely viewed episode of The Ultimate Fighter, one would have to try hard not to notice Roy discussing the exact same position he finished the fight with with other house members.

A master technician in the sport, Nelson revealed his extremely intelligent and calculated side when he discussed how counting the punches out loud would force the referee to stop the fight. When Roy’s team members did this in the bout, Herb Dean had no choice but to call a halt to the contest.

I’d relate this to Babe Ruth calling his shot in the fifth inning of Game 3 of the 1932 World Series. The only difference in Nelson’s case was that he called his shot the night before, and “The Bambino” wasn’t fighting a grizzly looking 230 pound power puncher by the name of Kimbo Slice.

I have already had to delete a couple of new users due to over the top fighter bashing in the direction of “Big Country”? I mean over the top, like Sylvester Stallone “Over the Top”. Some people are acting like Roy held them down in a crucifix position and battered their faces until Herb Dean was forced to shout out, “That’s it!”.

And why? It can’t just be because Nelson is a self described fat guy. Or even because he openly admitted to being really hungry after the fight. Perhaps it’s because he didn’t choose to “stand and bang” with Kimbo.

Seriously? Did anyone that follows the sport of mixed martial arts closely think for one second that Nelson was going to make a slugfest out of it for the fans at home? This isn’t about the fans at home for the guys in that house. It’s about what’s best for them and their families. It’s abut getting that win and being able to go on to that next fight. That’s the bottom line.

How many fighters that lost their first round bouts in The Ultimate Fighter do you remember off the top of your head?

Exactly.

The moral of the story is that the whole point of being at the house is to win and earn the six-figure contract with the UFC. There’s no guarantees for the guy in second place, and there are certainly no guarantees for a guy like Roy Nelson, who’s already had as rough a time as anyone getting himself into the Octagon.

On the other side of that coin, if it wasn’t already staring you right in the face, the fact that there is an obvious double standard when it comes to Kimbo is impossible to ignore at this point, being that he was pretty much completely dominated in his first fight on the house, yet recently spilled the beans in regards to a bout in December he was currently preparing for.

And if you think for one second that the UFC President truly believes that Kimbo will have some type of miraculous turn around in his skill level from his time spent on the show, then you are being trolled by Dana White at the highest level.

It’s all about how you spin it baby! Take notes from the master, Making Money In The Sport 101.

Kimbo makes sense for business, and at it’s deepest level, he makes sense for the MMA as a whole considering the attention captured by his mystical beard can do nothing but expose this great sport to more and more people.

In less than a years time Kimbo will be on is way out. A rich man, but on his way out never the less. History will look back on Kimbo as modern MMA’s answer to Tank Abbott. Great for ratings, but a terrible representation of the sport as a whole.

Of course it makes sense to put Kimbo in there with a guy like Roy Nelson. Slice loses to the former IFL heavyweight champion and you can always pull the “He was outmatched, but he has a lot of room to grow” card. Quite frankly, that fight ends the exact same way with 90% of the other guys in that house.

Kimbo made it quite clear that he hasn’t taken anything seriously in regards to his training in the sport up until this point. Now all of a sudden he just has this new fire under his butt to become a walking, breathing sponge to everything MMA? It’s not happening.

The fact that Slice hasn’t bothered to even attempt to evolve in the sport that has earned him an enormous amount of money tells me all I need to know about Kimbo’s character. He’ll never have the dedication and determination it will take for him to beat anyone better than James “Colossus” Thompson.

Instead of worrying about how to improve his skills and escape armbars in the future, Kimbo’s too busy pulling out his strap in the gym and waving it around like a cowboy at the OK Saloon.

Outside of his non-existent ground game, Kimbo is quite obviously in the wrong weight class. While not fat by any stretch of the imagination, I still feel like a cut down to 205 pounds would be possible for Slice, who currently walks around near the 230 pound mark.

If he doesn’t cut the weight he’ll stand very little chance against the new breed of big men currently invading the UFC heavyweight ranks.

Just think of the possibilities awaiting Kimbo at light-heavyweight.

Kimbo Slice vs. Houston Alexander in December anyone?

As Nelson sat outside with a few of the other fighters on the night before his big fight he discussed the crucifix position. Roy seemed to be focusing on the position because it was obvious that it was the one position where he would take the least amount of damage, even going as far as explaining that the punches you hit your opponent don’t have to be the hardest shots in the world. The ruling goes, if you’re not able to intelligently defend yourself, it’s a wrap.

Following an extended feeling out process in the early moments of the opening round, Nelson shot in on Kimbo, and caught a couple of hard punches in the process. On the heavy handed slugger like a leech against the cage, Roy wound up scoring the takedown with 1:30 remaining in round. From there it was a fluid succession of: mount, side control, and eventually, you guessed it, the crucifix position. Quite possibly the safest position in all of mixed martial arts. For a solid 15-20 seconds Nelson tapped away at the face of Kimbo with a series of punches, and while they weren’t the hardest shots, referee Herb Dean was just a second or two from stopping the bout as the first round came to an end.

Kimbo starts round two swinging for the fences, catching Nelson a with a couple of solid bombs before being tied up by the much larger and more experienced veteran of the cage, and slammed to the Octagon canvas. It was just a replay of the first round once they hit the ground. Roy goes right into side control, and it’s not long before he’s right back in the crucifix position, delivering unanswered damage to the grill of Kimbo Slice once again. Herb Dean continuously warns Kimbo to improve his position, but it’s pointless. The fight is stopped, winner, Roy “Big Country” Nelson.

Staying true to his plus-sized form and light-hearted nature, Nelson immediately joked, “Can I get a Double Whopper with cheese?” following the bout. A fat guy’s version of the traditional “I’m going to Disneyland” celebration.

Justin Wren

In a conversation with TapouT Radio, Wren addressed reports that Kimbo’s management had gone as far as to insure Kimbo’s beard in fear of potential household shenanigans involving scissors, electric razors, hedge clippers, fire, or god knows what else.

As he got further into the subject, Wren began to convey that Kimbo’s beard was protected by more than just an insurance policy. Not unless that that insurance policy was issued through Smith & Wesson.

“He definitely says some crazy stuff,” said Wren. “I heard a story about how he went down to ATT (The American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida) to train and got armbarred. Kimbo doesn’t like to tap, so he didn’t tap and the guy hurt his arm. So he came back in there with a gun. Cops were called and everyone went nuts. So we didn’t necessarily want to mess with Kimbo’s beard, but there were definitely talks about it, for sure.”

When questioned about the incident in a recent media call to promote this evening’s TUF 10 bout with Roy Nelson, Kimbo was quick to correct Wren’s version of events, explaining there was no reason for him to come back into anywhere with a gun; Kimbo stays strapped at all times.

“Well first of all, with my pistol, I carry my gun with me wherever I go man,” explained the native of the Bahamas, and resident to Miami, Florida. “I don’t have to leave and come back with nothing.

“But yes, I was at ATT a couple years ago and I got arm barred, you know what I’m saying? But I didn’t go get no pistol or nothing like that and come back with no pistol.

“I got arm barred and I didn’t like it, you know what I’m saying? But, you know, I know how to defend that s*** now so I won’t be having that problem anymore.”

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, or have had the unfortunate luck of being stranded on a deserted island without cable television, the most highly anticipated episode in the history off The Ultimate Fighter will be airing tonight at its usual place and time on Spike TV.

There’s going to be a gentleman competing on the show by the name of Roy “Big Country” Nelson. He’s a self described “fat guy”. A fat guy with a track record for being one of the most dangerous heavyweights in the sport. Now, this fellow that goes by the alias “Big Country” is set to face off with a well muscled former street fighter with a massive Grizzly Adams beard that is most commonly known as Kimbo Slice on this evening’s broadcast.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com recently had the opportunity to catch up with Nelson on the eve of what will undoubtedly be the most important and widely viewed battle in the history of his career, and quite possibly the sport as a whole. A fight that fought under different circumstances could very well have been the biggest payday either fighter had ever seen.

“When I was in the IFL and he was with EliteXC, I really wanted to fight him because it would have been a big payday,” explained Nelson. “He made about $500,000 in his last fight, so if we would have fought I probably could have made $150,000 – $200,000. So it would have been a great payday, as opposed to now, where we’re basically fighting for free.”

There’s no reason to dwell over the money you could have made, and no time for it in a house filled with predators with intentions of making you the prey. Roy showed up to fight, and as far as he was concerned, the sooner he got his feet wet the better.

“While you’re in that house you get so built up with frustration because of the lack of any type of release,” said the 33 year old Las Vegas resident. “You go into that house knowing that you’re going to fight so I think it’s better just to pop your cherry as soon as possible so that you can relax. I go into that house knowing that I may have three fights in five weeks, so I want to spread those fights out evenly over that time period because you don’t want to start having fights that are just back to back.”

Of course there have been many fighters over the last year or two that have extremely vocal in their criticism of Kimbo and his meteoric rise to fame after becoming famous for beating up hooligans on the Internets, but what may came as a surprise to some, Nelson shared none of that resentment.

However, if Roy WAS the type of guy that gets frustrated about certain fighters not putting their time into the sport, there would be a different target for his animosity. A guy that “Big Country” would personally love to pull the horseshoe out of his a** and beat him over the head with it, as he would explain, “If that was the case I should really be mad at Brock Lesnar.

“If we’re talking about paying dues; that’s the guy that has never paid a due in his life. Just based on the amount of fights he had before getting his title shot. But it’s not about that. It’s all about putting butts in the seats. Everybody doesn’t know that, but that’s really what it is. It’s about making new fans and keeping the fans happy. The one thing that Brock and Kimbo have is a lot of fans. Brock brought the professional wrestling fans, and Kimbo brought the Internet fans.”

Anyone that was paying close attention to the first episode of TUF 10 would have seen a few brief clips of Nelson and Kimbo in a sparring session during the tryout phase for Team Rampage. If you paid even closer attention to the segment one would further notice that, although just a sparring session, Slice appeared to be getting the better of the much more experienced veteran of the fight game.

So was their time spent training together accurately portrayed on the show? According to Nelson, you can chalk another one up to camera trickery in that one.

“I was actually dominating the sparring session beforehand because every time I moved away I was hitting him,” revealed Nelson. “So it was just a little bit of that…. movie magic. Kimbo wasn’t going 100%, and you can land a jab on Kimbo all day when he’s not going 100%. That’s when everyone was like, “Oh, I wanna fight him! I wanna fight him!”, because they all sparred him. I’m sitting there thinking, ‘Can’t you see he’s sandbagging?’

“When I was sparring with Kimbo I thought he was sandbagging for sure, and then come to find out…. that’s what he was doing. He was just sandbagging.”

Being that this will be viewed on such a wide scale, one could assume that both guys will be coming out trying to murderize one another, but you have to remember that this is basically a tournament format. An extended sixteen man heavyweight kumite where preservation of your health and ability to continue on to your next fight is almost as important as the victory itself.

“I’ve always made it a habit to use my opponents weaknesses against them, but in a format like this, you have to be a little more cautious abut what you do,” explained the former IFL heavyweight champion. “Instead of throwing the whole kitchen sink you may have to say, “Ehhhh, here’s just a little water”. Because the thing is that there’s been times that I’ve left it all out there and wound up breaking my hands, and that’s one thing on your mind; you don’t want to break your hands. You just play the safe mode, to just get the W.”

“My biggest thing with this fight was to take no damage, end the fight as fast as possible, and win. That was my gameplan going into the house regarding any of the bouts I may have ended up in. It didn’t matter if I punched the guy, or took him down. Whatever you had to do to get the W. It didn’t matter if it was the ugliest win on the show. As long as you got that win, that’s all that mattered. At the same time, you want to leave the bout with no injuries, and you just have to get it done. It’s not like a real fight. It’s not like you’re fighting for a payday. You just have to get it done, and then move on to the next fight.”

Make sure to tune it tonight, and don’t forget to keep supporting the fat guy.

“I just want to thank all of the fans out there,” said Nelson. “I really appreciate the support. Keep supporting the fat guy! Of course I want to thank TapouT, because I’m bad for the sport! Just based on my appearance, I’m going to change the look of the UFC! I also want to thank superaction.com.

Rampage knew what his next fight was going to be, but he spent more time messing with Kimbo than training Wes Shivers.

As far as “Team Rashad”, I think that people at home got a real good sense of what “Team Rashad’s” coaches were about. From the very beginning Rashad’s coaches started building a team unity and pushing us very hard. It was the best training I had received up to this point in my career.

However, the stuff with Roy Nelson was played up a bit more than what actually happened.

Roy is a great guy and always having fun and making light of things. Although I understood the points that Rashad’s coaches were making, Roy felt that because Brendon and James were from their camp, that he wasn’t getting the same training that they were getting, and would get.

They edited out the part were Roy questions them and asks, “So you’re going to train me the same as your friends (Brendon/James) and own teammates outside of this?”. The coaches’ response was “YES”, to which Roy’s reply was, “Wow, I wouldn’t want you as my friends in this situation.”

Although, the coaches were right about Roy’s ability to take coaching from them, I understood Roy’s view as well.

Now, on to the fight between Wes Shivers and James McSweeney. I was torn in because I knew Wes previously to coming on the show, and we got along. Yet my teammate “James” was new to me, and I didn’t know what he was about yet.

Both guys came out and gave it what they could. I remember watching and seeing James turn his back a ton, and just running, but that’s what he had to do to survive. If James would have not done that, Wes would have over powered him and won the fight. The fact that Wes got tired was because James played his game well, “stick and move”. However, in this case it was more like “stick and bail out running”.  Haha!

James is a great fighter and the other team didn’t do their research well enough, because James record in the U.S. is 3 wins 4 losses, but in the U.K. and K-1 he is like 129-4. Rampage didn’t bother look at that and it cost him.

Wes just chased too much, and took to many devastating blows to the leg. Wes didn’t walk right in the house for 3 weeks after that, and he went to the doctor several times for his deep thigh bruising.

Wes is a great fighter. If he is to get into a good camp and train full time, he will be one of the UFC’s best heavyweights.

Next week is Kimbo vs. Roy. I bet Rampage didn’t see this coming. But, the winner is….. stay tuned, haha.

*Make sure to check out the official Juggernaut website over at MikeWessel.net.

Roy “Big Country” Nelson

The highly anticipated match-up will be airing next Wednesday at it’s normal place and time on Spike TV.

The announcement came on the heels of James McSweeney of Team Rashad’s majority decision victory over Wes Shivers during last nights episode.

The win for Team Rashad placed the ball in their court when it came choosing time for the next match-up.

And so it shall be Big Country vs. Kimbo next week. A showdown between a Youtube sensation and a battle tested veteran of the game.

Make sure to tune in nexty week to what promises to be the highest rated episode in the show’s history.

When they introduced Kimbo the entire cast was like, “Who gives a s***”. Nobody was intimidated, or scared. I remember one guy during media day asking me, “what do you think your chances are now that Kimbo is on the show?”. My response was simple, ‘The same f***ing chance I had before he came on’.

But, Brendon said it best, “F*** that guy”.

The fight between John and Abe went as planned. I remember talking to John beforehand, and his whole strategy was to take him to the ground. I also remember Abe being really over-confident and cocky, thinking that there was no way John could hold him down.

Abe got his ass handed to him. The doctor said that his cut was the worst in MMA history. Abe got 36 staples and over 200 stitches. Abe actually asked if his skull was fractured and the doc pulled his scalp back and said, “No need for x-rays, I can see your skull and no fractures”. It seriously was every bit as bad as it looked.

As far as the house goes it was pretty calm the first week. Both teams just trained their asses off. John even trained an hour after his fight.

It was great to finally have the show air. At the end of the show people saw me jack someone in the pool. I cannot say anything except there is a ton of drama coming this season. I promise that this will be the best and craziest season that has ever aired.

*Make sure to check out the official Juggernaut website over at MikeWessel.net.

In the opening scenes of the 10th season of TUF, there is definite heat building between the heavyweight coaches Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans.

“You’re too slow and your head’s too big and easy to hit,” said Evans.

“You got a big a– mouth and it’s going to cost you,” Jackson responded.

Next, 15 of the heavyweight hopefuls walk into the UFC training center as Jackson and Evans take note of the fighters size. Dana White is next to enter the room to announce that the 16th fighter is on his way in.

You can see the shock and other mixed expressions of the 15 fighters as Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson appears.

Jackson almost immediately claims Slice to his team while Evans undoubtedly has teammates James McSweeney and Brendan Schaub down for his first picks.

The heavyweights are then off to show the coaches what they’ve got before they select their teams. Evans is looking for a tough team eager to learn while Jackson puts the fighters through sparring rounds to see how they react to live situations.

Jackson looks right past a few of the potential UFC heavyweight fighters including the former IFL champ Roy Nelson.

“Roy Nelson got a big a– belly; we checked him out and he was fat,” said Jackson.

Here are the finalized teams for TUF season 10.

TEAM RASHAD

James McSweeney
Brendan Schaub
Justin Wren
John Madsen
Roy Nelson
Darrill Schoonover
Matt Matrione
Mike Wessel

TEAM “RAMPAGE”

Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson
Abe Wagner
Demico Rogers
Wes Sims
Scott Junk
Wes Shivers
Marcus Jones
Zak Jensen

Back at the house there is a lot of talk about who will have their hand raised over Slice, as if you couldn’t guess. Slice is aware that he has become somewhat infamous to both fans and fighters alike and is likely a big target this season.

Since Evans had first pick for his team, Jackson controls the match-up for the first fight. Jackson selects his own Abe Wagner to take on John Madsen from Team Evans.

Jackson is aware of Madsen being a Division II National Wrestling Champion but feels that Wagner’s jiu-jitsu will get him out of any trouble he may face on the mat.

Abe Wagner vs. John Madsen

Round 1 kicks off and Madsen takes control of the fight and shoots in bringing Wagner to the mat. Madsen keeps the fight on the mat with ground and pound and opens a nasty cut on Wagner’s head. The round ends and everyone takes notice of how much blood is on both the mat and Wagner.

Wagner is cleared for the round 2 but Madsen picks up where he left off in the first round. Madsen scores another takedown and reopens the cut on Wagner’s head. Wagner is given a few chances when Mazzagatti restarts the fighters on their feet but the fight ends with Wagner on his back, bloodied with no answers to Madsen’s ground and pound.

Dana White deems this “the bloodiest ‘Ultimate Fighter’ [expletive] fight, ever.”

HEAVYWEIGHT ELIMINATION BOUT

John Madsen def. Abe Wagner via unanimous decision (20-16, 20-17, 20-17)

After growing up on the football field, Mike Wessel wound up landing a job as the strength and conditioning coach for the Arkansas Razorbacks. While content with what many would consider a “dream job”, a year into his stint with the Razorbacks Wessel began to feel that itch for competition he developed during his years spent in football boiling to the surface once again. An itch that could not be fulfilled through watching over the athletic career of others.

Training in kickboxing was the first step for Wessel, and it wasn’t long before he hooked up with fellow fighters Roli Delgado and Matt Hamilton. The rest is history.

Wessel quickly earned the monicker “The Juggernaut” after carving a path of destruction through the heavyweight ranks, finishing his first three bouts by knockout, and putting together an undefeated record of 6-0 in less than a years time spent in the sport.

The rapid rise was enough to catch the attention of the UFC, and when the news came in that Mark Burch wouldn’t be able to compete at UFC 92 as previously expected, Wessel answered the call on less than a weeks notice, facing off with feared kickboxer Antoni Hardonk. While Wessel eventually succumbed to a second round TKO, his heart and fortitude for accepting the fight was widely recognized throughout the mixed martial arts community.

Mike is kind of an exception on the show due to the fact that he had already been signed to a four fight contract with the organization prior to the bout with Hardonk. A contract he agreed to put on hold so he could have the opportunity to be a part of the most highly anticipated season of The Ultimate Fighter in the show’s history.

All of us at FiveOuncesOfPain.com are ecstatic about Wessel’s agreement to blog his experiences of being in the house during The Ultimate Fighter Season 10. At 6’0″, 260 pounds, a record of 6-1, and the type of heart you just can’t teach, Mike will definitely be one to keep a close eye on during this season of TUF.

Mike is a really cool, down to earth guy. He’s excited about being a part of the 5 Oz’s family, and we’re excited to have him. You can expect his first column to be rolling out in the days following the first episode of TUF 10, which will be airing tomorrow evening on Spike TV following the UFC Fight Night 19 broadcast.

Please feel free to welcome Mike on board!

Marcus Jones

We are currently three weeks deep into the taping of the upcoming tenth season of Spike TV’s The Ultimate Fighter. This season is set to feature nothing but the big boys as sixteen larger than life warriors will be duking it out to determine the king of the heavyweight Ultimate Fighter crop.

The Ultimate Fighter: The Heavyweights could already be considered the most highly anticipated show of the series largely in part of the recent announcement that none other than Kevin Ferguson, aka Kimbo Slice was expected to enter the shark tank.

The timing couldn’t be any better. I don’t think that I’m alone in saying that the most recent season of the show was the most lackluster of the series to date. Never have I been as unengaged with a season of TUF before season nine.

The most successful television show in mixed martial arts needed a drastic change, or a makeover in a sense. It needed something, and it looks like it has found its answer in the form of sixteen mammoth sized brawlers willing to put their bodies on the line in the pursuit of their dream to become a UFC heavyweight.

A full list of the men expected to appear on the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter was recently released by the popular U.K. newspaper, The Sun. Among them are four former professional football players, a portly wrecking machine, a thugged out Internet sensation, UFC veterans and MMA rookies alike, The Ultimate Fighter: The Heavyweights is sure to have quite the variety of personalities and schools of thought.

Come along as I try to help you make some sense of who these guys are, and what they’re all about. Let’s kick things off with the Internet sensation from Miami.

*Kimbo Slice: You know his resume. Former porn star bodyguard out of Miami turned YouTube brawler superstar. 6’2″, about 230 pounds, 35 years of age, massive beard, heavy hands, glass jaw. He was told by UFC President Dana White that the only chance he had of fighting in the UFC was if he made it through a season of The Ultimate Fighter. You have to give props to Kimbo for humbling himself and manning up to the challenge. Without a doubt, all eyes will be on Kimbo during the tenth season.

*Roy Nelson: Appearances can often be deceiving, especially in the case of Roy “Big Country” Nelson. Sporting a 13-4 record and a pot belly that would make Tank Abbott jealous, Nelson is my hands down favorite to win the tenth season. The plus sized heavyweight brawler doesn’t make a habit of letting his size slow him down. He is explosive, fast, has heavy hands, and a lot of people have no idea that he is actually a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu. He’s dropped his last two bouts to the likes of Andrei Arlovski and Jeff Monson, but the bout with “The Snowman” could have easily gone either way. Prior to those defeats Nelson was coming off of a five fight win streak in the IFL, knocking out four of his five victims.

*Marcus Jones: If it wasn’t for the over-qualified Nelson making the cast for the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter, Jones would be my tentative favorite for the upcoming show. Jones has kind of been flying under the radar since making the transition to mixed martial arts from professional football back in October of 2007. A first round draft pick in the 1996 NFL Draft, Jones started and finished his professional football career as a defensive tackle for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Jones has a world of potential and has been described by many as having freakish, inhuman strength. He has been doing his fight training at Gracie Tampa with Rob Kahn so you know his submission defense should be up to par. At 6’6″ and 260 athletic pounds Jones will be a serious force to be reckoned with in the house.

*Wes Shivers: Another one of the four total former NFL football players to make the cast this season. Shivers is 6’8″ and walks around near the 300 pound mark. He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans but ended up with the Atlanta Falcons where he played briefly during the 2000 season before leaving the sport to pursue a career in fighting. He is known for his knockout power and went undefeated as an amateur before recently being knocked out as a pro by Brad “Mongo” Tidwell in late 2008.

*Scott Junk: A mountain of a man. The 6’1″, 265 pound Scott Junk is yet another of the heavyweights on this season that will be testing the scales. He holds a 6-2 record with his lone two defeats coming to former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez in Junk’s MMA debut and Christian Wellisch in his last bout that took place at UFC 76. Junk lost in his octagon debut by way of heel hook in the first round. Junk has also competed in kickboxing for the K-1 promotion where he wound up going 0-2.

*Jim York: A native of Invercargill, New Zealand, it’s not difficult to assess how “Big” Jim York acquired his nickname. This 33 year old brawler stand at 6’1″ and tips the scales at the 260 pound mark. He brings a 10-2 record to the show with one of his losses coming in his professional debut and the second defeat going to Yoshihiro “Kiss” Nakao at Sengoku in May of 2008. York bounced back from that loss in his most recent outing where he stopped James “Colossus” Thompson by TKO in a brutal back and forth affair at a Sengoku event held in March of 2008.

*Wes Sims: Zero wins and three defeats in the UFC. It’s no mystery as to how Sims wound up on this season of The Ultimate Fighter and that was to stir the pot and hopefully piss Kimbo off. Kimbo is a relatively docile man by nature that prefers for his fists to do the talking. Being docile and respectful does nothing for ratings though. They’re going to need for someone to get underneath Kimbo’s skin to force a reaction and boost ratings in the process. Sims is without question that man. He made his controversial octagon debut back at UFC 43 where he was disqualified for illegally stomping on future heavyweight champion Frank Mir‘s head several times during their bout. Sims made his return at UFC 46 only to get knocked out by Mir in the rematch, and Mike Kyle sent him packing permanently with a first round knockout at UFC 47. If there’s one thing Sims is good at it’s being loud and obnoxious when need be. Just don’t say I didn’t tell you so if there ends up being some serious drama involving Sims during the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter.

*Matt Mitrione: Played for the New York Giants during the 2002 season and spent some time with the Minnesota Vikings just prior to leaving the NFL. It appears as though Mitrione has had some amateur experience but has yet to record his first fight as a professional. He currently trains with UFC heavyweight veteran Jake O’Brien.

*Mike Wessel: Another man with prior UFC experience, Wessell accepted his first and only prior fight with the UFC on less than one week’s notice and came up on the losing end of a second round TKO at the hands of Antoni Hardonk. Prior to his octagon debut Wessel had strung together an unblemished record of 6-0. He had signed a four-fight deal with the UFC just before his fight with Hardonk and his decision to compete on the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter. He was a former strength & conditioning coach for the University of Arkansas‘ football program before ultimately deciding to pursue his fighting career full time.

*Justin Wren: Justin is the youngest fighter on the tenth season at just 22 years of age. This standout former wrestler entered the world of fighting after becoming injured while competing in the Olympics. He is currently 6-1 as a professional with five of his wins coming by either knockout or TKO and the left over victory coming by way of submission. Wren currently trains with UFC veteran and Jiu-Jitsu black belt Travis Lutter.

*Jon Madsen: Madsen makes his home at The HIT Squad training with former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes and UFC veteran Robbie Lawler. He has had just one professional fight up to this point in his career and it went well for him, knocking out Cody Griffen in the very first round at Crossroads Combat Challenge 3 in May of 2008.

*Brendan Schaub: Brendan was a fullback for the University of Colorado before going on to spend a brief amount of time with the Buffalo Bills. Schaub eventually played for the Arena Football League’s Utah Blaze before making the decision to train full time in mixed martial arts. He has put together an impressive record of 4-0 with four first round TKO’s in lightning quick fashion. He was the 2008 Colorado Open Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Absolute Advanced Grand Champion on top of becoming a Golden Gloves boxing champion. He has been a long time training partner to UFC heavyweight title contender Shane Carwin and has spent some of his time training out of Greg Jackson’s MMA in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Schaub is another guy with the potential to go all the way this season.

*Zak Jensen: Known as a powerful wrestler with knockout ability, Jensen has put together a record of 7-3 during his time fighting professionally. He has suffered losses to the likes of Brad Imes and Mike Whitehead during the course of his career. Jensen’s most recent appearance saw him knocking out Matt Hirsch in the first round at Brutaal: Fight Night on February of 2008.

*Darrill Schoonover: Schoonover is one of the early favorites to win the whole thing just based on his impressive 10-0 record alone. Finishing half of his fights by knockout and the other half by submission, this imposing 23 year old Texan showed in his most recent fight that he has what it takes to get the job done in the later rounds as he stopped the highly touted Rex Richards by TKO in the fourth round of their battle that took place at Shark Fights 4 in May of 2009.

*Abe Wagner: Wagner fights out of Nebraska and currently holds a professional MMA record of 6-2. He’s currently riding a three fight win streak with his most recent victory coming in the form of a split decision over Sherman Pendergrast at VFC 25 in December of 2008.

*Tom Blackledge: Blackledge is a tougher than nails Brit that makes a serious habit of finishing his fights. Sporting a record of 8-6, Blackledge has finished four of his wins by either TKO or knockout, and the remaining four by tapout. He recently bounced back from a two fight losing skid that included a defeat at the hands of UFC veteran Stefan Struve by catching Tatsuya Mizuno in a rear-naked choke in the first round of their M-1 Challenge bout that took place in April of 2009.

Quite frankly, the possibility of Kimbo winning this season of The Ultimate Fighter is not a possibility. Roy Nelson may appear similar to some of the guys that Slice assaulted during his Internet boxing days but he’s a whole different animal. Nelson would handle Kimbo in any manner he sees fit. Knockout, submission or ground and pound, it’s not even close.

Let’s throw Nelson right out of the equation. It makes no difference for Kimbo. Marcus Jones takes his lunch money from him, Schoonover embarrasses him and Schaub turns him into a highlight reel.

On the other side of that coin there should definitely be a fight or two that Kimbo can win in the house. I’d give him a good chance against guys like Jim York, Scott Junk, Wes Sims and MMA rookie Matt Mitrione. However, I wouldn’t bet a dime on Kimbo against anyone in the house at this point.

As much as the upcoming tenth season seems like it’s all about Kimbo, it’s really not. It’s about showcasing some of the best up and coming talent the heavyweight division currently has to offer and hopefully add some credibility to the promotion’s biggest weight class.

The UFC’s heavyweight division seems exciting and fresh right now with fighters like Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir, Shane Carwin, Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos that all have the potential to take the weight class by the horns. However, it’s just a matter of about a year before the weight class sorts itself out and there will be another need for some fresh blood for the UFC to buld up. Fresh faces such as Marcus Jones, Darrill Schoonover and Brendan Schaub could very well lead that charge into the next decade.

Sources close to the cast members told MMAJunkie.com that 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 September 16 on Spike TV.

The four former players known at this time are Marcus Jones, Matt Mitrione, Brendan Schaub and Wes Shivers.

Jones is the most well known to NFL fans. A former first-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in 1996, Jones spent eight seasons in the NFL, although he never lived up to his lofty draft status. Jones enters the show with an MMA record of 4-1.

Mitrione played nine games for the New York Giants in 2002. He comes to The Ultimate Fighter with no professional fights, although he reportedly fought as an amateur.

Schaub is a former fullback who spent some time on the Buffalo Bills roster, although he never actually appeared in a game. He has shown some promise as an MMA fighter, going a perfect 4-0 early in his career. Schaub has won all four of his fights by first-round TKO.

Shivers had a short stint with the Atlanta Falcons in 2000. He is currently 0-1 as a professional MMA fighter but he did go 4-0 as an amateur. After playing three games with the Falcons in 2000, Shivers left the NFL and focused on his MMA career.

Well, according to Kevin Iole of Yahoo.com, that’s exactly what’s about to happen. Dana White has reportedly confirmed that Kimbo will appear as a cast member on the tenth season of Spike TV’s The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights which is set to begin filming shortly and will feature former UFC light heavyweight champions Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans as competing coaches.

One big change in the show is that the sixteen competitors on The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights will not have to fight in order to secure a spot in the house like in previous seasons. This move could have been made to guarantee that Slice will not be forced to fight early and will kept around to help increase ratings as much as possible.

Slice hasn’t fought in MMA competition since the last EliteXC show in October. He was scheduled to face Ken Shamrock in the main event on the card, however Shamrock was cut during training and was forced out of the bout. EliteXC officials then scrambled to replace Shamrock and ended up choosing relative unknown Seth Petruzelli. Petruzelli then proceeded to knock Kimbo out in front of a record 6.5 million viewers in just a matter of seconds.

The UFC is set to announce Slice’s appearance at a media day on Tuesday at the UFC Training Center in Las Vegas

“The tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter is going to be the most highly anticipated one in years, and with two of the greatest pound for pound fighters in the world today, both of which have personalities as large as their skill-sets, it promises to deliver,” White was quoted as saying in a press release issued by Spike TV this afternoon.

The show is set to debut on Spike TV on September 16, 2009 at 10 pm. The Ultimate Fighter will continue to air on Wednesday evenings.

The show’s tenth season will be the first to feature the heavyweight class since the the second season. “The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights” will feature sixteen big men in an all heavyweight season.

The TUF 10 Finale has been set for December 5 in Las Vegas.

Neither Evans or Jackson are strangers to the reality hit. Evans was the heavyweight “Ultimate Fighter” on the second season and Jackson appeared as a coach opposite Forrest Griffin during the seventh season.

Evans is rebounding from his knockout loss suffered at the ands of Lyoto Machida at UFC 98 and Jackson’s last appearance in the Octagon saw him edge out Evans’ teammate Keith Jardine in a closely contested affair.

No word on whether Jackson and Evans will face off at the conclusion of the show but it would come as a surprise if they didn’t considering the pairs checkered past with one another.

Newly crowned light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida had been rumored as a coach for the tenth season before Evans was officially announced as the second coach opposite Jackson this afternoon. Many fans will be happy to know that a UFC championship will not be tied up during the taping of the show as has happened in seasons past.

According to Fighter’s Only Spike TV executives are looking for him to return to a coaching role on The Ultimate Fighter season ten.

Nothing has been offered and there are other options being considered but Spike officials have let the UFC know of their admiration for Jackson.

Filming is set to begin in the next month or so and with Rampage being the number one contender to the light heavyweight title a spot on TUF opposite the winner of the Rashad Evans-Lyoto Machida could work out. With Evans and Machida scheduled for May 23 the winner would be allotted a long break before having to fight Jackson. Having either Evans or Machida on would be great exposure for either one. Machida really needs the exposure as he is quiet and it was only until recently that the UFC put any focus on him.

Evans who was the winner of season two of The Ultimate Fighter also needs help as his personality is all that captivating. The fact that he has a brewing feud going on with Rampage will only help matters. It would mark the third time that a winner of the show would go on to be a coach as Evans would follow in the footsteps of season one winner, Forrest Griffin, who coached opposite Jackson on season seven. Michael Bisping who was the light heavyweight winner on season three is coaching against Dan Henderson on the latest installment of TUF in which eight British fighters are going up against eight American fighters.

Rampage could bring out the best in either Machida or Evans as he is as playful as he is serious. When he coached against Griffin he had moments where he was extremely angry and went as far as to threaten Griffin. He also had moments where he played around with Griffin when he shot him with water guns. Evans and Jackson had a face to face meeting at the end of Jackson’s bout with Evans’ teammate Keith Jardine at UFC 96. Evans and Jackson jawed back and forth for awhile and apparently this animosity carried over into a recent photo shoot that the two were scheduled for. Jackson was furious that he and Evans were together and had to leave the room to keep his cool.

The biggest question when it comes to Machida is how his English is coming along. Based on reports he is working very hard on learning the language. A spot on The Ultimate Fighter would be great for the Brazilian as not many people who aren’t hardcore fans are familiar with him and many fans who are do not like his style. Some say he is boring and that he does not take enough chances while others say he is extremely talented and will remain unbeaten for a long time to come.