Are you ready for some football players in the Octagon?
Gone are the 5-yard penalties for illegal hands to the face. So long, holding penalties and their angry looks and yelps from coaches, too. Take care, neutral zone infractions.
Such is the sporting life now for former NFL defensive linemen Marcus Jones and Matt Mitrione. They are mixed martial artists these days, no longer concerned with sacking the quarterback, and you will see them inside the Octagon when Season 10 of "The Ultimate Fighter" premieres Wednesday night at 10 on Spike. Joining Jones and Mitrione are former fledgling NFL players Brendan Schaub and Wes Shivers, and, of course, YouTube heavyweight champion Kimbo Slice.
Their objectives now are to land strikes to the face, hold opponents in the guard and get inside for some dirty boxing and ground-and-pound.
"When I was playing football, every single guy I knew watched every single UFC that came out," said Jones, a first-round pick by Tampa Bay in 1996 who had 13 sacks in 2000. "It is the next step in evolution of every sport. But when they close that cage behind you, it's two different ballgames."
Correct.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that a former pro football player can just step into the MMA arena and dominate. This isn't intramural basketball. Is it possible? Of course. But it won't happen just because they played football.
"In football, you're never on the ground," Mitrione said. "If you're on the ground, you're wrong."
Sure, they carry certain advantages over the 12 other heavyweights on the reality competition show that ends in a six-figure contract for the winner. Namely aggression, discipline, and that game day psychology.
But there are no television timeouts in MMA. No stepping out of bounds to avoid a hit. No taking plays off.
"A play lasts for six seconds, then you rest for 35 seconds," said Mitrione, who played for the Giants in 2002 and was cut from the Vikings in 2005. "In fighting, if you go for six seconds and rest for 35, you're getting carried out on a stretcher."
Jets defensive end Calvin Pace turned heads last week when he said he would spend part of his four-week suspension training in Las Vegas with MMA legend Randy Couture and NFL reporter/MMA practitioner Jay Glazer. He's not alone. The Saints' Will Smith will be there, too. Minnesota's Jared Allen and Arizona's Matt Leinart have already gone through their MMAthletics program.
Jiu-jitsu and Muay Thai can help open a football player's hips and provide better leverage and technique on the line. But tackling a runner doesn't necessarily translate to applying kimuras and arm triangles.
"MMA, it's like putting together a 500-piece puzzle," Jones (4-1) said. "You might have the outside border of the puzzle already complete - you might have the natural physical attributes of an athlete, but when it comes to the inside pieces that sometimes don't always fit, those are the things that you constantly have to work on."