Read on for details about Shivers comeback.

From StrikeForce:

NEW YORK (Nov. 11, 2010) – Former NFL player-turned-Mixed Martial Arts fighter, popular heavyweight Wes Shivers, of Brandon, Miss., returns to the cage to face Goldman Butler, of Tupelo, Miss., in the top undercard fight of a STRIKEFORCE Challengers event in Jackson, Miss., on Friday, Nov. 19, at Jackson Convention Complex LIVE on SHOWTIME® at 11 p.m. ET/PT, (delayed on the West Coast).

“I’ve been kicking it around for awhile that I wanted to get back in there,” said Shivers, a star offensive tackle at Mississippi State who was drafted by the Tennessee Titans where he saw action in three games. He also played for the Atlanta Falcons before being released and walking away from the game.

“I didn’t really have any motivation to get back to training. I got the phone call from (local promoter) Dave Ferguson who asked me if I wanted to fight again. I thought it was a great opportunity to be able to fight in front of my home crowd. Not to mention it’s a STRIKEFORCE show. I had to take the opportunity.”

In the main event on the first STRIKEFORCE event in Mississippi, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro (20-4) will face Justin “The Silverback” Wilcox (9-3) of Cincinnati in a lightweight (155 pounds) match.

The 33-year-old, 6-foot-8 Shivers (7-1), a Rankin County Deputy Sheriff, will take on Goldman (1-3) during the non-televised portion of a card that will include many fighters from Mississippi and Tennessee.

Shivers said it was a lifelong dream to play in the NFL, but he has no regrets over his short-lived NFL career, which ended in 2001.

“Any kid growing up in America wants to play a pro sport and I accomplished that goal,” he said. “When I got in there I realized what the whole business was about and it really wasn’t my cup of tea. I saw an opportunity to walk away from the game without any regrets and I did it. Looking back, I still don’t have any regrets. It’s a business. Like any sport, if you take the fun out of it, it’s not worth playing anymore.

“I had several opportunities to go other places after I was released. I just decided I could do more with my life than play football.”

Shivers started training for MMA as the sport began to get hugely popular in Mississippi and he had his first professional fight at the end of 2005.

“I just loved the competitiveness of it and testing myself on a daily basis,” he said.

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What do you think about big Wes Shivers?  Does he have a second life in STRIKEFORCE?

The heavyweight star made waves right away in the division when his much anticipated octagon debut met and exceeded all expectations, when the 24-year-old knocked out veteran Tim Hague in just 7 seconds at UFC 102 in August of last year.

Sidelined due to injury, Duffee returned 9 months later and was thoroughly dominating PRIDE veteran Mike Russow for two and a half rounds. Then, out of nowhere, the body builder was put down by the body spiller, when a vicious right hand connected for Russow, another one followed and Duffee was out cold.

Now this wouldn’t be enough reason to release a previously undefeated heavyweight prospect with the kind of buzz that surrounded Todd, but if you read you might see why he got his UFC walking papers.

His meteoric rise to the top made him an overnight success in the UFC, after recording the fastest knockout in the company’s history, sky looked like it was the limit for Duffee before the bandwagon was derailed by Russow. However, even after the bout–which Duffee left from relatively unscathed, Todd was geared up and ready to go for a second time around. However, what ensued following the loss to Russow was a young-minded Duffee digging himself into a bigger grave over and over again, according to Travis of MMA Scraps Radio.

“Original fight (before Russow) was McSweeny but Duffee turned it down for a “bigger named opponent” He fights and losses, but that isn’t that big of a deal (it ends up being the way UFC can release him, but whatever) He accepts fight with Madsen, but then pulls out after mentioning that he needed time to do a movie. Apparently after that, he then said he was injured. UFC asked for paperwork from his doctor and it was sent, so he was covered there. He was given the go ahead to do the movie He tweeted some stuff about being broke and made comments about needing money. The final straw was when he talked a bunch of crap about the UFC to one of the UFC employee’s wives and Dana found out about it. That sealed the deal. Dana ordered him fired.”

If that wasn’t reason enough for the Zuffa company to serve Duffee notice and hand him his pink slips, then I don’t know what is.

So, MMA peeps, what do you make of this excerpt? Was his release valid in the long run? Should the UFC had held on to Duffee? Will he make an inevitable return? Sound off in the comments section below. Thanks to MiddleEasy.com for the find.

The finalists were determined in the two semi-final fights Wednesday night on SpikeTV.

Nelson TKO’d James McSweeney (3-4) in the first round of their exhibition fight.  Nelson slammed McSweeney in a double-leg takedown and passed to half guard where he trapped McSweeney’s right arm beneath his knee and pounded McSweeney’s head until the referee stepped in.

Schaub TKO’d “Big Baby” Marcus Jones (4-1) in the first round of their exhibition fight.  Though Jones scored an early takedown, Schaub dropped Jones with an overhand right and pounded on Jones until the referee stopped the fight.

The final episode will air for two hours and feature fights that will determine the two athletes who will fight for a six-figure UFC contract at at SpikeTV’s The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale in Las Vegas December 5.

The remaining heavyweights include James McSweeney (3-4), ex-NFL defensive tackle Matt Mitrione (0-0), “Big Baby” Marcus Jones (4-1), “Titties” Darrill Schoonover (10-1), “Big Country” Roy Nelson (13-4),  and Brendan Schaub (3-0).

Wednesday nights episode will feature matchups between McSweeney and Mitrione and Jones and Schoonover, then the winners of those fights in semi-final matchups with Nelson and Schaub.

Though a plotline forced by the show this season has been the return of “Kimbo Slice” Kevin Ferguson (3-1) after his first round loss to Nelson,  light heavyweight “Assassin” Houston Alexander (9-4) has confirmed he’ll fight Slice December 5.

Fighters.com will post live coverage of the final fights of season 10 tonight.  Return to Fighters.com tonight for discussion of the final fights and the season.

“I had a lot of doubts going in here,” Baroni said after losing three straight and spending his entire career at 185-pounds, “but I erased them with that right hand.”

The usually brash “Bad Ass” lost a bit of bravado with the 15 pounds of inflated muscle, graciously admitting, “I feel really lucky to have this opportunity.”

In an unfortunate scene of MMA hooliganism, a friend of Jansen’s attacked Baroni in the cage after the knockout; but, order was quickly restored.

A reinvigorated Baroni asked after the fight, “Who’s next?”

CageRage is owned by ProElite, which also owns EliteXC and Icon and has a working relationship with Strikeforce, leaving open a lot of options for Baroni in his new weight class.

Heavyweight Neil Grove (6-1) knocked out “Buzz” Robert Berry (12-8) at 1:29 of round two, ending any leftover controversy from a Grove corner stoppage “W” over Berry last December.

Mustapha al Turk (6-3) earned the CageRage British Heavyweight Championship in two minutes of G’n'P on James McSweeney’s (1-2) head.

“Kong” Tom Watson (6-3) won a unanimous decision over John Phillips (6-2).

Heavyweight “Crazy Bear” Stav Economou (7-0) stayed undefeated with a unanimous decision over Piotr Kusmierz (1-1).

CageRage British Featherweight Champion “The Flame” Robbie Olivier (15-8–1) defended his belt from “Ash Cream Man” Ashleigh Grimshaw (5-4-1) with a second round rear naked choke.

Featherweight “One Punch” Brad Pickett (14-4) used a guillotine to choke out Italian Cristian Binda (4-5).

Irish Jason Young (4-1) pounded Francis Heagney (4-3) to earn the vacant CageRage British Lightweight Championship by unanimous decision.