The UFC has been maligned in the past year or two for their heavyweight division and to be sure there’s many top heavyweights not fighting for the promotion–the most significant being the undisputed best heavyweight MMA fighter on the planet, Fedor Emelianenko and the man considered by most to be #2, Josh Barnett. While the UFC might not have the best heavyweight fighter in the sport, they may soon have the most famous. Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole broke the story on Monday that Kimbo Slice will be a contestant on season 10 of the UFC’s MMA reality show ‘The Ultimate Fighter’. A good performance there could see him get a shot at fighting for the promotion.

In the past, Dana White has dismissed Slice and suggested that the only way he’d ever fight in the UFC is by winning ‘The Ultimate Fighter’. Kimbo will get the opportunity to do just that, and combined with the recently announced coaches Rashad Evans and the always entertaining Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson could be the highest rated season in series history.

The UFC president has repeatedly insisted he would not allow Slice to compete in the UFC unless he won his way onto the show by competing on “The Ultimate Fighter,” which beings taping Wednesday and is scheduled to air in September.

Slice has called White’s bluff and will appear on Season 10 of the highly rated Spike TV series, White has confirmed. Fighters live in the same house and train together, and then fight during the show in a bid to earn a UFC contract.

His appearance, along with that of former UFC light heavyweight champions Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans as coaches, should guarantee massive ratings.

“It should be interesting, given some of the things I’ve said about him,” White said.

Slice, who has a 3-1 professional record, appeared in the main event of the first MMA card shown on network television in the U.S. when he fought James Thompson on May 31, 2008, on CBS.

Slice won by third-round stoppage in a bout that attracted a record 6.5 million viewers and remains the most-viewed MMA bout in history.

But Slice hasn’t fought since Oct. 4, when he was knocked out by a jab from late replacement Seth Petruzelli, a light heavyweight, just 14 seconds into another fight broadcast on CBS. The plug was pulled on Elite XC, which reportedly lost millions of dollars, in the aftermath of the fight.

White promised “some major surprises” as he announced on a Thursday conference call that Jackson and Evans, each of whom is a former light heavyweight champion, would serve as coaches on Season 10.

He declined to say anything further but urged reporters on the call not to miss media day, which is Tuesday at the UFC Training Center in Las Vegas.

The presence of ‘Rampage’ Jackson–among the funniest interviews in MMA–had already made the next season of ‘TUF’ very promising and the addition of Kimbo could make it a ratings blockbuster and potentially the biggest celebrity reality TV ‘train wreck’ since Verne “Mini-Me” Troyer and Joanie “Chyna” Laurer on season 4 of ‘The Surreal Life’.

Kevin Iole’s article ‘Kimbo gets TUF @ Yahoo Sports