“I am here to be an Ultimate Fighter,” Kimbo said of his motives for joining the heavyweight tournament. “I was street certified, now it’s time to be Ultimate Fighting certified. I gotta thank [UFC president ] Dana [White] for letting me prove myself.”

He also compared his TUF 10 experience to being locked up.

“Being in the [TUF 10] house, it’s kinda like jail, except these guys know how to fight,” stated the former backyard brawler. “It’s different. At any given time you gotta fight, you gotta sit and wait. I sit in one spot, in a blue room, or a green room for hours, it kinda [expletive] with you.”