Veteran Pro fighter, Kyacey "Ice Cold" Uscola, hailing out of Idaho and currently training out of Urijah Faber's Ultimate Fitness in Sacramento, is a member of The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 House. He got into the House by knocking out Brent Cooper in just 25 seconds of an elimination bout and then once getting in, he had the added pressure of his wife giving birth to a son while the show was being taped earlier this year. NW Fightscene's Steve "Spaniard" Valentine sat down with Kyacey inside Ultimate Fitness  and talked about the newest Uscola, getting on the show, about Kyacey's career path, and more...

NW Fightscene: Congratulations on your young guy.  
Kyacey Uscola: Thank you.

NWFS: I know that you had the little man while on the show, which had to be absolutely, ridiculously hard. How did you do the show and not want to jump over the fence and run home?

Uscola: You know, I did [want to]. I wanted to the whole time since probably the second or third day in the show. I was pulling my hair out. It was pretty nerve racking the whole time. But there was a bigger picture at hand and I was just trying to be mature about the situation and get the job done.

NWFS: Talk about the selection process. What you went through and what it took to get to the show?

Uscola: The selection process. Its sort of weird that I even got into the selection process. A couple of the guys from the gym were going down in my weight to try out and I figured if these guys are going to go try out I might as well. I jumped in the car with them, went down there and tried out. We did a grappling session I did really good at. We did a striking session I did really good. They must of liked me in the interviews because they brought me back for a second screening and flew me out for the show. 

NWFS: Did it ever go through your mind that this isn't what I want to do. Did people have to talk you into it or was it kind of from day 1, this is where you want to go?

Uscola: I've always wanted to be in the UFC, that's for sure. But as far as the Ultimate Fighter, I sort of almost gave up hope being in the UFC. I fought a lot of tough guys in my career and had a few more losses than I should have. And I just figured with my record there's probably not going to be a shot. I know I can compete with those guys but its a matter of getting in there and getting the opportunity to do it. You know, I got my opportunity in that first week to get into the house, and I think I proved that I belong there. And the rest was history. 

NWFS: For people that don't know you too well, tell us a little bit about your wrestling background and how you got into MMA?

Uscola: Wrestling background started way back in the day. Seven years old, I was wrestling Freestyle and Greco pretty consistently, every weekend for a while. I was like a 7-time Freestyle state champ, and a 4-time Greco state champ. And I ended up winning the high school state championship. Went on to wrestle in college, was All-American in college. And that's pretty much the gist of my wrestling career. Figured I better give fighting a shot.

NWFS: So what made you start fighting? Was it anything in particular?

Uscola: I'd always been watching it and I'd always loved to do it, I thought I could compete with those guys but I didn't really know how the avenues... it really wasn't mainstream back then, so there wasn't a lot of connections and networking going on to get into a fight, let alone a legitimate sanctioned fight. I heard about this promotion up in Portland. I was going to Eastern Oregon [University] at the time. It wasn't too far away. I sent up this application to a Portland website that was doing mixed martial arts. It was called the FCFF, Full Contact Fighting Federation. And they got right back to me probably two or three days and lined me up with a fight. I went out there and knocked my first guy out in like 17 seconds or something, and just caught the bug man. Caught that feeling of being in the cage, that rush, that adrenaline dump, and fell in love with it.

NWFS: So what was your amateur career like? Were you amateur for a while or did you just go pro immediately?

Uscola: I was amateur for probably five fights, I don't know. But I got a way more fights on my pro record than it shows. I fought on an 8-man out in Antigua, won that. Fought a couple fights in Boise, Idaho, that aren't posted. Those were professional fights, won those. Another one or two in Salt Lake City, another three or four in Portland that weren't documented as pro fights. I got a lot of pro fights. Its kind of hard to determine what is a pro fight because I was always compensated, but there wasn't always a commission. Know what I mean. So nothing ever got reported. Its cool with me though.

NWFS: Now sitting back, watching yourself on TV, what's that like?

Uscola: Its weird to see how they play it out. You know what happened, you lived it. But they can pretty much twist it any way they want to. Its pretty much been shown true to story, what I've seen so far. So it'll be interesting to see what they portray and how I portray myself and stuff like that.

NWFS: On the show, you talked about how your record doesn't really say who you are. Talk about that, what does that mean?

Uscola: Ever since day one, I fought the toughest, toughest guys you can think of. It was always for a belt. It was always going into another guy's backyard. Fighting their toughest guy they could find. Fighting world champions. Chael Sonnen's fighting for the title right now, fought him. Gegard Mousasi has the Light Heavyweight Title in Strikeforce, fought him.

Kyacey Uscola vs Chael Sonnen (Sportfight 20 - 10/27/2007)

Kyacey Uscola vs Gegard Mousasi (Bodog Vancouver - 8/25/2007)

 Joey Villasenor, Josh Burkman, Xavier Foupa-Pokam, the list goes on. Pretty much everybody I fought has been in a huge show, a big show, and is a legitimate fighter with a winning record. I'm not the type of guy that's going to take fights just to beat up on a cream puff, you know. That actually makes me look bad I think, beatin' on cream puffs. I take tough fights. I'm always game. I'm always in every fight I've fought in. And anytime I get in a fight, people know they got in a fight.

NWFS: The coaches on The Ultimate Fighter show, Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. I know you can't give up too much about what happens on the show, but tell us a little bit about the coaches, the actual experience and what its like.

Uscola: The coaches are legit. I like both of them. I like Chuck a lot. I like Tito a lot. Tito is a great coach. He actually cared about our well-being as his fighters. And it was just good to be in their presence. They got a lot of good things for 'em both. And to just sort of pick their mind and see how they live their life and try to emulate that was an experience in itself.

NWFS: So what was the first thing you did when you got home?

Uscola: First thing I did, I walked inside, I looked at my boy for a little while. Held him. That was pretty cool, that was pretty special. And just talked to my girl, told her where we're at, how I did. Things like that.

NWFS: What's next for Uscola?

Uscola: Hopefully the Finale. You'll have to watch to find out.

NWFS: Stay Tuned! Any sponsors you'd like to thank?

Uscola: I'd like to thank Metal Mulisha, Fairtex, and Pure Power Mouthpieces.

NW Fightscene thanks Kyacey for taking the time to sit down and speak with us.

Kyacey Uscola is fighting on Season 11 of The Ultimate Fighter with a new episode airing every Wednesday night on Spike TV at 10 PM. The finale is set for June 19th, 2010. More info at Spike.com or UFC.com.