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I love the Ultimate Fighter tv show and this sounds very entertaining but it also leaves me with some questions. First, why would Slice's management agree to this? The fighters on the tv show are not paid to appear on tv, and there are no purses other than fight bonuses for knockouts and submissions. So is the UFC actually paying Kimbo- and only Kimbo- to appear on the reality show? And if so, how will the other fighters like that?
Despite his loss to James Thompson Kimbo is still a fairly big draw, and he can probably still get at least one or more nice sized paydays on a one or two fight contract to fight in Japan or perhaps one of the alternate promotions like Strikeforce perhaps. I recall reading that he got as much as $500k or so for his Elite XC fights. Even to collect half of that for a fight or two would be a big deal, and passing those potential opportunities up possibly a big mistake. Or does he really think that he is going to win the competition and get the six figure contract or at least do well enough to get invited to fight in the UFC? Maybe they are banking on this making him an even bigger star even if he doesn't have a chance to win the reality show?
Another interesting thing in the Yahoo article. It is going to be an all heavyweight season, so no fighting their way into the house this time. I think that there are simply not enough good heavyweight fighters available to cast for the Ultimate Fighter show.
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