Wes Sims isn't afraid to speak his mind.

The hardcore mixed martial arts fans know that. They've always known that. But new fans of the sport, who might be getting their first taste of Sims on the current 10th season of "The Ultimate Fighter," might think he's a little off his rocker.

That is, Sims says, if the Spike TV reality show had him on screen more.

"I really don't like how Spike's portraying me," Sims said Tuesday. "I'm not happy about how they're doing things -- I'm not in it! Trust me, there's plenty of material. It'll change (in future episodes). Wait till you see the destruction I do in that house and in that cage."

Sims is one of 16 heavyweights this season, highlighted by former streetfighter-turned-MMA-hopeful Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson and former IFL champion Roy "Big Country" Nelson, who fought on the show's third episode on Wednesday with Nelson winning by TKO.

And while much of the anticipation for this season was for Kimbo and Nelson, as well as the inclusion of four former NFL players (including ex-Purdue star Matt Mitrione, who does a weekly TUF Q&A series for The Times), you'll forgive Sims -- even just a little -- if he believes he should be a bigger part of the show. After all, he's a former UFC fighter with two fights against former heavyweight champ Frank Mir on his resume -- two of the more controversial and talked about fights in UFC history.

In their first fight, at UFC 43, Sims was disqualified for stomping on Mir's head while he was on the ground. In the second, Mir won with a TKO when referee "Big" John McCarthy stopped the fight.

In the first, Sims says if not for the DQ, which he says was retaliation for a Mir eye-gouge he now admits was likely accidental, he won the fight. In the second, Sims, not surprisingly, says he won that one, too.

"If we hd a time capsule, everyone knows that first fight, I won," Sims said. "Even if I hadn't stomped him I would've pounded him straight through the cage. When I dropped him on his head, he was unconscious. End result, he was laying unconscious and I had my hands raised. Second fight, I've said it so many times I believe it myself, I won. Everyone can see Big John made the wrong call. Sure I got rocked. But when I hit the ground, I was pulling guard, John stopped it too early, and it cost him his job."

It's hard to tell sometimes when Sims is being serious and when he's clowning -- McCarthy refereed many UFC matches after the Mir-Sims fight at UFC 46. But Sims likes to play that outlandish and controversial angle. It's who he is. It's who he showed on the first episode of TUF this season -- but he has, as he says, been mostly absent in Weeks 2 and 3.

MMA fans have a chance to meet Sims tonight at the "Best in the Midwest" fight card at D.C.'s Country Junction in Lowell, where he, along with John Kolosci, of Portage, will meet fans, sign autographs and take pictures. Fighting on the card is Ohio-based fighter Dorian Price, who like Kolosci was on Season 6 of "The Ultimate Fighter," as well as a 135-pound Cut Throat MMA title fight between Mike Welsh and Jake Rosenbaum, who trains with Kolosci at L.A. Boxing in Merrillville.

Rosenbaum is scheduled to soon move to Sacramento to begin training with Team Alpha Male, run by former World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight champ Urijah Faber.

Sims also said he plans on doing a charitable drive in Gary this weekend to bring food to the homeless and needy families, which he did recently in Chicago, as well.

Though this season has yet to reveal how Sims (22-12-1) fares in the TUF house, he said he has an obvious goal of getting back to the UFC after several years of grinding it out for regional MMA promotions.

"Either way (on TUF or not), I have to fight my way back to the UFC," Sims said. But he also said he'd love one more run at Mir. "I definitely want one more fight with Frank before I'm done. In the UFC, in the Spearmint Rhino, wherever it's going to have to happen, I want a third fight. I want to believe that there isn't a single night he goes to bed that he doesn't think about fighting me to redeem his honor. But he's probably mentally blocked me out of his head so he can live day to day. That's just my thoughts, though."

And that sums up Sims pretty well -- a man never afraid to give you his thoughts.

Best in the Midwest

When: Doors at 6:30 tonight, fights at 8.

Where: D.C.'s Country Junction, 3599 W. 161st Ave., Lowell

Tickets: At the door, or call promoter Mike Davis at 773-491-5952 for information

Fight card:

Danny Gilbert vs. Evan Morgan

Matt Kucala vs. Matt Singleton

Ed Carpenter vs. Justin O'Keefe

Mike Pickett vs. Roberto DeLeon

Anthony Gomez vs. B.J. Thompson

Dorian Prices vs. Chris McMurte

Audrey Pang vs. Sara Bussy

Nick Wayne vs. Jacob Morales

Jake Naurcy vs. Jorge Gonzales

Brandon Delprado vs. Mike Junk

Matt Singleton vs. Matt Moreno

Mike Hartline vs. Will Casoday

Jake Rosenbaum vs. Mike Welsh (for 135-pound title)