by Nick Meyer, BETUS.COM – BET NOW!

He’s been one of the most popular Youtube video stars of all-time, and his fights all but carried an entire mixed martial arts organization on network television, EliteXC.

Now, Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson is set to make his UFC debut, and he will do so on UFC President Dana White’s terms.

Slice, who became popular by beating up average joes on youtube before turning to MMA and has been ridiculed by MMA fighters the world over as well as White, who has said in the past that he “sucks,” will be a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter TV show’s 10th season, which will feature Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans as coaches.

White first suggested the idea at a past press conference when pressured about the popular-but-unseasoned heavyweight fighter, who has been trained by legendary mixed martial artist Bas Rutten.

While Slice obviously was proven to be an average-at-best fighter at this stage in his career judging by his easy knockout at the hands of former TUF washout Seth Petruzelli, his signing for The Ultimate Fighter is one of the biggest announcements and coups the organization has come up with in years.

The only thing that could have topped this announcement at this point in time would have been a signing of Russian legend Fedor Emelianenko.

The implications of the Kimbo Slice signing are staggering. The first and most obvious impact is that it will do wonders for The Ultimate Fighter, which has struggled a little bit in recent seasons, leading to the experimental USA vs. UK format on the current season between coaches Dan Henderson and Michael Bisping.

The show’s formula has gotten so stale that the UFC even tried to promote lightweight malcontent Junie Browning on Season 8 despite the fact that his talent didn’t come close to backing up his mouth and his actions.

Slice is more hype than results in the Octagon, but he will shift plenty of eyeballs back to the show.

And combined with the presences of Evans and Jackson, the latter one of the most fascinating characters in the world of sports entertainment that not a whole lot of people know about, TUF Season 10 with Slice will go a long way towards breaking into the urban male demographic that the UFC has only partially captured to this point.

Finally, tons of casual fans from all other walks of life will tune in, at least initially, to see what the 34-year-old Slice can do against younger, hungrier challengers. His Youtube videos have been wildly popular and about 6.5 million people watched him defeat James “The Colossus” Thompson in their May 31, 2008 fight on CBS, the most-watched MMA bout in TV history.

While White and his UFC contemporaries have seemingly always rooted against Slice to preserve the integrity of the sport, they will probably do a 180 and root for him to make the TUF Season 10 Finale this time around, because it would make for easily the most-viewed finale in UFC history.

While Slice has his work cut out for him to make it that far, he also has the kind of raw talent and power in his hands to make things very interesting in the chase for a six-figure UFC contract.

With Slice on board, The Ultimate Fighter’s 10th season could be reality TV at its best. And if Slice brings his usual brash persona into the Octagon and someone takes issue with him, it could also be reality TV at its worst. Let the games begin.