CES MMA is looking to make a big splash when they invade the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, RI on Saturday, October 6^th.

Leading the charge will be former WWE superstar Dave “The Animal” Bautista as he makes his mixed martial arts debut against New York native Rashid “Smash” Evans. Bautista has been talking about trying his hand at MMA for some time now and even flirted with Strikeforce before the San Jose based organization was gobbled up by Zuffa.

The 13 bout card also features former UFC fighters David “The Crow” Loiseau and John “Doomsday” Howard. Marc Stevens has competed for Strikeforce, Bellator and was a contestant on season 12 of The Ultimate Fighter. Chad Reiner is the last UFC veteran scheduled to fight on the card, he has an 0-2 record inside the Octagon losing to Josh Burkman and Anthony Johnson.

The rest of the card is littered with fighters who are based on the east coast and fight for promotions such as Ring of Combat and Reality Fighting. It should be an interesting card, but we all know that Bautista is the reason the card is getting as much attention as it has. That’s not a bad thing especially for the younger fighters who are looking to make a name for themselves.

Loiseau is a former UFC middleweight title contender having fought Rich Franklin for the belt at UFC 58 back in March of 2006. He gave Franklin all he could handle taking “Ace” the distance. He hasn’t competed since last February when he defeated Leopoldo Serao at Tachi Palace Fights 8 in California. He has a 20-10 career record and is 4-5 inside the Octagon. He will take on Chris McNally.

Howard will battle Brett Chism in his fourth fight since being released by the UFC after suffering a loss to Matt Brown at UFC on Versus 4. The Boston native has an overall record of 17-7 and is 4-3 in the UFC. He had won his first four fights with the organization, but subsequently lost his next three fights. He has won all three bouts and another win could get him another shot with the UFC.

Bautista has been on a whirlwind media tour promoting this card. Last week he was on Spike TV’s MMA Uncensored Live where he caught some flak after admitting getting knocked down in practice by UFC light heavyweight Stephan Bonnar. The 43-year-old Washington, D.C. native owns a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu gym in Tampa, Florida. His partner is Cesar Gracie the trainer of UFC stars Nick and Nate Diaz and Jake Shields as well as Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez. It will certainly be interesting to see what Bautista has to offer inside the cage after a very successful run in the WWE.

Bautista left the wrestling world in May of 2010 to concentrate on his MMA career and has also appeared in several movies including The Scorpion King 3 and The Man with the Iron Fists. His opponent will also be making his professional debut and has an amateur record of 3-1.

For more information including the full fight card and how to purchase tickets you can visit www.cesmma.com.

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