The next season of The Ultimate Fighter will begin airing tomorrow night on Fox Sports 1 and the tryouts for The Ultimate Fighter 22 will take place on Monday in Las Vegas with likely over 100 fighters looking to be casted on the show.
The Ultimate Fighter 22 will be a season that will feature fighters in the lightweight and welterweight divisions. One of the fighters that will be at the Palace Station Hotel in Las Vegas on Monday to try out for the show will be Vince Eazelle.
Eazelle is out of Springfield, Illinois and has won nine of his ten professional fights. He is currently on an eight fight winning streak and his most recently win came in September as he defeated WEC/DREAM/Bellator alum Chase Beebe by TKO at Capital City Cage Wars.
One of the requirements for the show is that fighters are between 21 and 34 years of age. Eazelle is currently 34-years-old and this will be his only chance at getting on the UFC reality show. While some people may look at this situation as a back against the wall type moment, Eazelle does not see it that way.
“I do not feel my back is against the wall,” Eazelle told The MMA Report. “Age is a limit that people put on people or a person will put on themselves. I really do not see myself as being old, but I understand what the UFC is saying. I know they are looking for the young guys that have the long staying power. You have fighters out there that are fighting until they are 47-49 years old. I do not have all of the wear and tear on my body so age is how you perceive it. I am in the gym right now working out. I already ran for miles. I am here getting an hour in here at the gym and I am going to train tonight to get my fight training in.”
“As long as you take care of your body, you put the right things inside in your body, feed it well, and you do preventative maintenance on it — the body will go on as long as you want it to. I do not feel that my age plays a part or my back is against the wall. I train with 21-year-olds, 18-year-olds and I out work them. I think that at this point in my career being 34, I am smarter. I work smarter. I train smarter and I have a work ethic. I have developed a lot and I think I am in my prime. I do not think my back is against the wall.”
Recently, Eazelle went down to American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida to do some training with that team. He called it one of the greatest experiences of his life as a fighter. He was able to work with extremely talented training fighters and commented how American Top Team was like a family environment.
He may end up moving his training down to Florida on a full time basis at some point, but his mind is right now on being casted on The Ultimate Fighter 22. If he ends up being picked to be on the show, he will bring all of his life experiences and will be taking everyone serious in the house no matter how they act.
“I think that it’s how I hold myself, how I conduct myself — yeah I feel that is going to be what brings it over the top,” he said. “A lot of these guys come for their 15 minutes of fame or just to get on the TV show. They really do not come with any skill but then there are people that do. You have to be ready for any situation or any case. Every man or every person — I do not care how old or young there are, there are going to come with an aspect. I am taking every person that makes the house very serious. Regardless of how goofy or how serious they are.”