TUF Competitor Marcus Jones Excelled At Football But Loved MMA
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Former first round NFL draft pick and “The Ultimate Fighter” competitor Marcus Jones (4-1) spent years playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but his heart was never fully in it until he found mixed martial arts.
In a recent article by the Las Vegas Sun, Ryan Greene talked with some of Jones former NFL teammates about his transition from football to MMA.
“He’ll even tell you, he didn’t really love football,” said Ian Beckles, who played nine seasons in the league from 1990-98, spending the first seven in Tampa. “He just played football and he excelled at it. But he loves MMA. So the odds of him excelling at that are probably better than football, and he had a pretty good football career as well.
“He says that MMA is his passion, and I believe him. He loves it. To go out there every day and practice like they do, and for his body to already be beat up and having taken those kinds of beatings, you have to love it. Because he doesn’t need the money. That’s for sure.”
At 36 years old, Jones is a hot, top prospect all over again, just as he was heading into the 1996 NFL Draft. Following a stellar collegiate career at North Carolina, the Bucs made him the 22nd overall draft pick that April — four picks before Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis, a sure-fire Hall of Famer, out of Miami.
Jones is the only member of Team Rampage to make it into the second round of season 10 of “The Ultimate Fighter” and will face Darrill Schoonover in the second round of the Spike TV reality series. The heavyweight defeated Team Rashad fighter Mike Wessel with an arm bar submission, shocking everyone in the house with how quickly he gained the victory.
The season finale will air on Spike TV next Wednesday in a two-hour show and will feature the final rounds leading up to the Dec. 5 TUF 10 Finale event.
