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Let’s see… 38 days, 18 mixed martial arts fighters, six weeks, four bedrooms, two Jacuzzis, pool and foosball tables, and a pool – all under one roof.
Sounds like the ingredients for another reality TV series.
That’s exactly what they are, only there’s no tribal council, karaoke competitions, or corporate boardrooms in Spike TV’s “The Ultimate Fighter.”
The second season of Spike’s popular reality series returns with more conflict, confrontation and competition, but this time around, there’s a also a Maine connection.
Bangor native Marcus Davis, a former professional boxer and current U.S. Mixed Martial Arts champion, is one of those 18 fighters battling for a pair of three-year, six-figure contracts with the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) organization, and he’s not the only Mainer on the show. Host and UFC president Dana White hails from Hermon.
So how does one get involved in a series like this?
“They contacted my manager and he told me to put together a highlight reel of my fights. I sent it in and waited,” said the 32-year-old Davis, who also used to train former UFC heavyweight champ and Ellsworth native Tim Sylvia.
That was in early March. The show’s producers contacted Davis in May and told him he was one of 170 fighters chosen from a massive field of entrants who would be flown to Las Vegas to try out for the series.
“I believe they got over a million tapes from all over the world,” said Davis, who is the owner and operator of Institute of Science and Martial Arts on Harlow Street. “Once we got there, we went through a week of tests: Medical, steroids, drugs, CAT scans, eye tests – it was the most thorough physical I’ve ever been through.”
Davis, who is 9-2 as a mixed martial arts fighter after going 10-1 as a pro boxer, was sent home without being told if he’d made the cut. A little over a week later, just as he was assuming he didn’t make it, producers called and told him he was in. On June 5, Davis and the other 17 traveled to the house in Vegas where they would live, train, eat and sleep for the next six weeks.
Davis, who uses the nickname “The Irish Hand Grenade,” is easy to spot on the show. At 175 pounds, he stands out even in group shots with his fellow eight welterweights (170 pounds) and nine heavyweights (265) because he’s almost always wearing a kilt as a tribute to his Irish heritage.
“I can’t tell you anything that happened on the show, but I can tell you about it,” Davis explained. “They made us sign a confidentiality agreement with a 50 million dollar penalty, so it’s pretty serious. Course $50,000 would be pretty serious for me.”
Fortunately, TV-radio-Internet sportswriters receiving an advance copy of the first episode – scheduled to air Monday, Aug. 22 at 11 p.m. – are under no such restriction. The “rough cut” of the first, hour-long episode features plenty of dialog and face time by Davis.
The initial aim of the initial episode was for UFC champions and team captains/trainers Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin to put the group through grueling training sessions and tests the first two days and eliminate the “weakest” of each group (heavyweights and welterweights) and get down to 16. Since it’s a reality series, reality tossed in a monkey wrench and three were eliminated, two (both heavyweights) inexplicably through injury and mental anxiety. The other was eliminated through more conventional means, but with a twist.
“The first two days, they put us through this unbelievable physical fitness test and no one can pass it. They make it so you can’t,” Davis said. “They had us training six hours a day, seven days a week and nobody does that. The most I ever trained was when I was 21 and that was four hours a day.”
Davis refers to himself as the “old man” in the group with most of the other guys being in their 20s. He said it was his maturity, which he admits has come late in life, that proved to be a big advantage for him.
“I think it helped me be myself on camera and have maturity enough not to embarrass myself or my family,” said Davis, who admits he developed “an alliance” in the series. “I’m a pretty easygoing guy now, but I was kind of a jerk in high school and in my 20s… Your typical tough guy.
“On the whole, I think most people will like me because I got along with pretty much everyone. They look for a lot of drama on these shows, but I really didn’t have a beef with anyone.”
As a matter of fact, Davis developed some surprisingly strong friendships.
“I would say the highlight would be thinking I wasn’t going to make any friends and be all business and I ended up making some really close friends I’ll always keep in touch with for the rest of my life,” he explained. “I’ve been back since the 15th and I’ve been talking pretty much regularly with five or six of them via phone or Internet every day.”
The show will air each Monday for 12 weeks and culminate in a live, November broadcast in which the remaining four semifinalists will battle for the heavyweight and welterweight title and contracts.
Davis is staying mum on who the last men standing are.
“Oh, I know, but I can’t say,” he said.
Davis is now back home, eagerly awaiting the debut show and subsequent episodes.
“I’m as anxious to see it as anyone else,” he said. “I’m guessing what they show might be a lot different from what actually happened.”
Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600, or at aneff@bangordailynews.net
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