Kimbo gets TUF

[Daigorō]

LAS VEGAS

[waveomatic]

Now that's going to be and interesting season of Ultimate Fighter!

[Konfusion]

THE CAST for season ten of The Ultimate Fighter has leaked - and SunSport can reveal who will pit their wits against Kimbo Slice.

With the ninth instalment of the show ending on Saturday at the TUF 9 Finale, mixed martial arts fans are already eager to find out which men will make up the roster for the next series.

We understand that the full list of the 16 heavyweights who will compete for a six-figure contract with the UFC will be:

KIMBO SLICE: The YouTube phenomenon and former Elite XC headliner will be the main attraction in the new season. UFC president Dana White has continually derided the 35-year-old, claiming "he would get killed in the UFC". It will be interesting to see if he is proved right.

ROY NELSON: Boasting a 13-4 MMA record, the 32-year-old is a former Elite XC fighter who is perhaps best known for being knocked out by Andrei Arlovski last October.

WES SIMS: Formerly on the UFC roster, the 29-year-old was cut after just one year in the promotion in 2004 after losing three successive fights to Frank Mir (twice) and Mike Kyle.

MARCUS JONES: Former NFL defensive end for Tampa Bay Buccaneers between 1996 and 2002. Occasional guest on the popular American radio show Bubba the Love Sponge. Trained in MMA for just over two years.

MATT MITRIONE: Another ex-NFL player, debuted as a rookie in 2002 for Minnesota Vikings. Very little MMA experience but trains with highly-regarded UFC heavyweight Jake O'Brien.

WES SHIVERS: NFL veteran and a late call-up to replace fellow pro-footballer Rex Richards. Very confident of winning the whole thing. Speaking last year, he bragged: "The only reason I have six fights now is because we have trouble finding opponents. One fight in particular, I had four opponents back out on me in a two-week period of time."

JIM YORK: Nicknamed "Big", York shares one thing in common with Kimbo - he too has beaten Britain's James Thompson. The 33-year-old New Zealander emerged victorious from their Sengoku 7 clash after KO'ing the Englishman in the opening round of their bout in March.

JUSTIN WREN: At 22 years old, The Viking is the youngest contestant in the new series. He has a 6-1 MMA record and trains with UFC star Travis Lutter's Brazilian Jiu Jitsu team.

MIKE WESSEL: The Ohio native has already fought in the UFC, losing to Antoni Hardonk via TKO at UFC 92 in the second round. However, it should be noted that Wessel only took that fight on a week's notice, and UFC president Dana White was impressed enough to offer him a four-fight deal and place on season ten of TUF for his efforts.

SCOTT JUNK: Another fighter with previous UFC experience. The 30-year-old lost via heel hook in the opening round of his UFC 72 bout against Hungarian Christian Wellisch in September 2007.

ZAK JENSEN: Boasts a 7-3 MMA record and is noted for his strong wrestling ability. Has suffered defeats to fellow TUF alumni Brad Imes and Mike Whitehead.

DARRILL SCHOONOVER: An impressive 10-0 MMA record sets the big Texan apart from the rest of the cast. The 23-year-old is an early favourite to win the series and UFC contract.

BRENDAN SCHAUB: Has fought in MMA for over two years but little is known about his ability. A 4-0 record suggests he has raw skills but his lack of experience could count against him.

JON MADSEN: Part of legendary UFC welterweight Matt Hughes' stable but only has one MMA fight to his name - a KO win over Cody Griffen earlier this month.

TOM BLACKLEDGE: British MMA enthusiasts may already be familiar with Blackledge - he fights out of the Wolfslair in Widnes. He will be hoping to repeat the success of teammate Michael Bisping by winning TUF, but his 8-6 record suggests the odds may be against him.

ABE WAGNER: Big Nebraskan holds a 6-2 professional MMA record and could be the surprise package of this season.

[waveomatic]

Damn, a lot of ex NFL players.

I don't know who all these cats are, but so far I think Roy Big Country Nelson is gonna be tough to beat even though he's coming from two losses, one being knocked out by Arlovski. All his other losses came from decisions and he has fought some pretty tough cats.

[10zen]

I thought this season would be good until Rampage went on another losing streak and stopped caring about his fighters. Kimbo Slice getting sandwiched between the floor and Roy Nelson's big belly turning into a TKO was pretty disappointing too.

[waveomatic]

I did call it, Roy Big Country Nelson. :)

Rampage was the worst coach on TUF ever. Dude did NOTHING for his team. He only cried when they lost, or when Rashaad got to his head. Crackin jokes on the other team won't help out your team, now instead everyone is crackin jokes about what a horrible coach he was. I hope he doesn't plan on opening up a gym, no one will go after seeing that shit, hahaah.

[waveomatic]

To Rampage's credit, he did say a bunch of time he is not a coach, but then again why did he take the gig? I am not a huge fan of Rashaad's so its not hating, hehe, its just RJ let me down. He was all about himself and not his fighters. He cared more about making Rashaad look bad than he did about making himself look good.

It backfired.

Kimbo showed promise. In his last fight, he displayed for the first time to me some ground game knowledge. We know his stand up is nutts, at least his upper body, but I saw him even go for a submition! If he stays healthy and doesnt jump the gun to fight over experienced wrestlers, his record might start looking pretty good.

Roy showed he is more than just crucifixer, he knoced out brandon with an over hand right which showed one punch knock out power. Love him or hate him, big boy can fight.

[fromthetown]

Rampage himself seems to ignore most of his own coaches so it's not surprising he didn't shine as one himself. I think with the distractions of hollywood his better days may be behind him.

Kimbo kinda looked hopeless to me the other night. I know he won, but his inability to impose his will on Houston was worrisome. I can't even tell how good his ground game is cuz Houston is so bad on his back it's hard to tell. Sticking your arms forward like that when someone has you in a full mount is a pretty basic fuck up--even spectators like me know that.

Also, Kimbo let Houston go to work on his legs with those kicks, imagine of that would'a been someone with serious Muay Thai skills.

Overall, I think Kimbo needs to drop another ten pounds if it's humanly possible and fight at 205. I can't even see him being someone like Silvia or Arlofsky (if they were still in teh game).