Round 5 today announced that its first series of UFC figurines, which go on sale early next year, will include Chuck Liddell, Georges St-Pierre, Rashad Evans, Kenny Florian, Clay Guida, and Lyoto Machida.

With opposing TUF 10 coach Quinton “Rampage” Jackson out for the indefinite future after calling it quits earlier this week, Rashad Evans will instead fight Thiago Silva in “December or early next year,” according to MMA Fanhouse, possibly at UFC 108 on January 2 in Las Vegas.

On the second episode of The Ultimate Fighter 10: Heavyweights, coach Quinton “Rampage” Jackson retains fight selection for the second-straight bout despite dropping the season’s opening matchup and chooses Team Rashad’s top-pick James McSweeny to take on former NFLer Wes Shivers.

The episode closes with Rashad Evans choosing Team Rampage’s Kimbo Slice to fight former IFL champ Roy Nelson in the next opening round bout.

The tenth season of the UFC’s reality show, “The Ultimate Fighter” debuted last night following “Ultimate Fight Night 19″ and smashed the series’ previous ratings record or 2.8 million for the finale of season three in 2006. The premiere episode of “The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights” brought in a jaw dropping 4.1 million viewers, and became the highest rated original show in Spike’s history, according to a Spike TV press release.

The UFC has a history of counter-programming their competition, that is, putting on their own show opposite the competition’s. When Affliction debuted on July 19, 2008 headlined by Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia on pay-per-view, the UFC threw together a full night of fights on Spike including Anderson Silva’s light heavyweight debut. Most recently they aired bouts from UFC 100 on Spike only a month after the event, to counter Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg. It stood to reason they would try to do something along those line when Emelianenko makes his Strikeforce debut, in fact UFC president Dana White had already said publicly that they had in the works a third November event to be headlined by BJ Penn vs. Diego Sanchez, and hinted that it would air on network television.

The Ultimate Fighter 10: Heavyweights debuted on Wednesday following UFC Fight Night 19, and the 16 fighter cast that includes street fighter Kimbo Slice, former IFL champ Roy Nelson, and four ex-NFLers was introduced to light heavyweight rivals and opposing coaches Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans.

Continue reading MMAFrenzy.com’s TUF 10 episode 1 recap after the jump…

Popular light heavyweight and former UFC champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has landed the role of B. A. Baracus in the upcoming “A-Team” movie, which is currently being filmed for a mid-2010 release.

The role, which was portrayed by Mr. T in the 1980s series, will prevent Jackson from fighting Rashad Evans in the co-main event of UFC 107 on December 12, according to MMA Bay, which is known to have close ties to Jackson’s Wolfslair camp.

Former light heavyweight champions Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans, rivals who are appearing as opposing coaches on upcoming tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter, will headline UFC 107 in December in Jackson’s hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.

Details on the bout were first confirmed by Jackson in a recent YouTube video and the UFC’s Marc Ratner tells MMAjunkie that the pay-per-view event will take place on December 12 or 19 at the 19,000-seat FedEx Forum in Memphis.

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell will reportedly not retire despite the wishes of Dana White, with rumors swirling that he could return to action this fall, possibly for a bout against Rich Franklin.

The anticipated showdown between TUF 10 coaches Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans is expected to headline UFC 107 on December 19 in Las Vegas.

Continue reading for the latest MMA news and notes in MMAFrenzy.com’s Quick Hits…

All 10 fighters tested by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for performance enhancing drugs and drugs of abuse at UFC 98, including headliners Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans, have tested clean. NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer confirmed the negative tests to MMAFrenzy.com on Monday afternoon.

UFC President Dana White announced on Thursday that former light heavyweight champions Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Rashad Evans will serve as coaches on the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter before squaring off later this year to determine who will fight title-holder Lyoto Machida.

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson confirmed Thursday that he'll appear as one of the coaches on The Ultimate Fighter 10. Rashad Evans will reportedly be the opposing coach, but Jackson will fight Lyoto Machida at UFC 103 in September.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission has issued medical suspensions to nine fighters who fought at UFC 98 on May 23 in Las Vegas. Main event loser Rashad Evans, who suffered a second-round knockout to Lyoto Machida, is suspended until July 23rd for precautionary reasons.

Headliners Rashad Evans and Lyoto Machida and co-main event fighters Matt Hughes and Matt Serra were the top earners at UFC 98 on Saturday in Las Vegas. Evans, the former UFC light heavyweight champion who was defeated via second-round knockout by Machida, earned $200,000 for the bout. Machida received $140,000 for his main event victory.