The Brock Lesnar Model: Former NFL Players in the UFC

Over the last few days, lots of attention has been paid to Fedor and Dana White's search for a heavyweight to compete with the mammoth Lesnar. After dismantling top contender Frank Mir, Lesnar has left many wondering if there is a big body in the weight class that can give him a run for his money. 

Enter Ultimate Fighter season 10 and the search for a new heavyweight contender. While Kimbo Slice has been the talk of the competitors, it's another tagline in the commercials that should be attracting more attention. The new season will include four fighters that have some experience in professional football. A trait that they will share with the current heavyweight champ.

Even though Lesnar is more famous for his NCAA and professional wrestling background, he also made a brief foray into professional football in 2004 when he was a participant at training camp with the Minnesota Vikings. Lesnar attempted to make the roster as a defensive lineman, and made it all the way to the final cuts before being sent packing. 

Other former professional athletes have tried to make the transition to MMA only to be met with knockouts and a mounting number of losses. Two of the most notable failed experiments were former MLB All-Star Jose Canseco and former professional boxer Ray Mercer.

But maybe the physicality of professional football will translate better to the octagon than other sports. The professional wrestling background that Lesnar comes from is certainly more brute physical strength than it is speed and athleticism.

So, who are these new contenders then? The one with the most successful pedigree would have to been Marcus Jones. At 6'6" 260 pounds, Jones played defensive tackle for the University of North Carolina before being selected in the first round of the 1996 draft by the Tampa Bay Bucs, where he played for seven full seasons.

He has since switched to MMA and has compiled a 4-1 record since his debut in October of 2007, with none of his fights lasting past the first round.

Matt Mitrione is another contestant with some NFL game experience, albeit not nearly as much experience as Jones. Mitrione played in nine games with the NY Giants in 2002 and has zero professional fights under his belt, so he certainly comes in as a severe underdog.

The participant with the richest MMA background seems to be Brendan Shaub. Shaub is a 6'4" former University of Colorado fullback, who was a member of Arena Football league's Utah Blaze and also played for the Buffalo Bills for a season, although he saw no game action.

Shaub certainly has the most UFC-level experience of the four former NFL players, as he is training partners with undefeated UFC heavyweight Shane Carwin. Like Carwin, Shaub was been making quick work of his foes, compiling a 4-0 professional record with four KOs. His fights have lasted an average of just 59 seconds. 

Lastly, we have Wes Shivers, another player with marginal NFL experience after he spent part of one season with the Atlanta Falcons. The 6'7" Shivers has been listed on some sites as having a 6-0 professional MMA record and appears to be a seasoned muay thai fighter.

Many of the other contestants on the show who have no professional football experience still boast a pigskin background. Scott Junk, who fought on UFC 76, was a Division II All-American for Southwest Oklahoma State University.

Then there's Abe Wagner, who played linebacker at Michigan Tech, Demico Rogers who was an All-State high school football player, and even Kimbo Slice, a high school linebacker, who was supposedly set to play for big time division 1 football programs until a hurricane wiped out his senior season.

But will their football backgrounds actually give these fighters an upper-hand in a contest that involves more than just size and brute strength? Only time will tell.