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Marcus Jones was a good college football player at North Carolina, a first-round draft pick in the NFL, and a Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end for six seasons. He played his last NFL game when he was just 28 years old, however, and he still had the urge to hit people even after his playing days were over. Now he’s hoping to get a chance to do his hitting in the UFC.
Jones is one of a growing number of former football players who are trying to make it in mixed martial arts, including four on the coming season of the Spike UFC reality show The Ultimate Fighter. And Jones makes it sound like the cage is a greater challenge than the gridiron.
“In the NFL, you might have a play that goes six seconds, and then you get 30 seconds’ rest, or you might get a television timeout,” Jones says. “Here, once that cage closes, and they say, ‘Are you ready? Are you ready?’ and you go, it’s five minutes, non-stop. You don’t get any breaks. If you take a break you’re either on your back or you’re knocked out. That strength that you build your whole entire life to play football doesn’t translate when you get choked out.”
The upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter is getting attention mostly because of the presence of Kimbo Slice. But I’m looking forward to seeing how Jones and his fellow ex-NFLers look in the Octagon.
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Marcus Jones From the NFL to ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 09:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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