Shonie Carter

Mearion Shonie Bickhem III (born May 3, 1972), better known as Shonie Carter, is an American mixed martial artist.

He is a former WEC Welterweight Champion, a UFC veteran, and a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter 4 reality show.

He has also competed in Pancrase, Shooto, King of the Cage, M-1 Global, KSW, and Bellator.

He is known for his flashy dress, colorful vocabulary, outlandish personality and use of the spinning backfist in competition.

Carter was born in Chicago, Illinois and served for six years in the United States Marine Corps before beginning his profession as a fighter.

Carter attended Proviso East High School.

He began his martial arts training in Wrestling at Triton College in River Grove, Illinois before transferring to Carson-Newman College in Tennessee where he began studying Judo and Jujutsu, under Dr. Stephen Terrell and Dr. Stephen Karr.

He was also an All-American Wrestler and participated in the Olympic trials.

After a semester of studying Judo, Carter enrolled in the Tennessee state championship in the White, Green, Brown, and Black Belt divisions.

He won state titles in the White-Green and Brown divisions, and placed second in the Black Belt division.

His instructor awarded him his Brown Belt after his performance.

Carter later added Boxing, Kung Fu and Karate to his repertoire.

In addition to his MMA career, he also holds a record of 57 wins and 5 losses as a professional kickboxer.

Carter has fought in a wide variety of shows, both large and small.

He has won at least ten belts in various organizations throughout his career.

He began his career in 1997, fighting primarily in the Extreme Challenge promotion.

In 2003, he appeared in fledgling promotion World Extreme Cagefighting and became the WEC Welterweight Champion after defeating JT Taylor.

He would lose his first title defense to Karo Parisyan.

Other notable fights included a loss to future UFC title contender Jon Fitch, a victory over future UFC fighter Jess Liaudin, and a victory over Jason Black, who was undefeated in 22 fights prior to the bout.

After losing to Nathan Quarry at UFC 53 by TKO, Carter's UFC record stood at a lukewarm 3–2.

He applied as a contestant for the fourth season of The Ultimate Fighter a reality show on Spike.

The season, subtitled "The Comeback", featured MMA veterans whose careers in the UFC could use a jumpstart.

Carter joined Team Mojo and was picked to fight first against Team No Love's Rich Clementi.

Carter arrived to the show out of shape and struggled through his initial workout.

With help from his cornerman Matt Serra, however, Carter won a two-round decision over Clementi.

In the second round, Carter fought a rematch with Matt Serra.

Much was made of Carter's come-from-behind KO by spinning backfist in their previous encounter.

Though Carter landed another spinning backfist, he lost the fight by decision.

Throughout the show, Carter earned notoriety and sparked irritation from his cast-mates with his habits, including his unusual style of dress and various artistic projects.

He angered both teams by unilaterally deciding to train with Team No Love for a day.

He also asked Clementi to corner him in his fight with Serra.

On the show, his MMA record showed that he had 198 professional fights.

After the completion of the show, Carter did not appear on the card of the season finale.

He did, however, make an appearance a month later at UFC Fight Night: Sanchez vs. Riggs, losing to Marcus Davis by unanimous decision.

Afterward, Carter continued to fight in smaller promotions.

He won the Throwdown Middleweight Championship at Throwdown ETC – Showdown on February 20, 2009, via a split decision victory from George Lockhart.

Though he lost his debut fight to LaVerne Clark by knockout in just 9 seconds, he went on to rack up an 11-1-2 record before facing UFC welterweight champion Pat Miletich.

He lost via a decision.

Carter began to make appearances in Pancrase and won his UFC debut at UFC 24 against Brad Gumm.

He went on to win notable victories over Chris Lytle and Matt Serra.