WitP: Mauia, Bess, LaBoy, Ulbrich

Reagan Mauia was released by the Bengals.

They also cut fullback Reagan Maui'a with an injury settlement. A second-year pro, Maui'a played in two games this season with no stats. He had been on IR since injuring his hamstring in practice last month.

All the best to the Juggernaut.

Travis LaBoy is listed as questionable for tomorrow's Cardinals vs Eagles Thanksgiving matchup.

And now some better news -- Davone Bess will probably see a lot of playing time this Sunday against the Rams.

Sparano indicated that undrafted rookie wide receiver Davone Bess is likely to see more repetitions Sunday against the Rams in the absence of Camarillo.

From the same article, Chad Pennington has a nice quote about Bess:

Pennington recalled seeing Bess in training camp when he arrived in the beginning of August and thinking that he was further ahead than most rookies. He attributed that to the system Bess played in at Hawaii and the coaching he received, and as the season has progressed so too has Bess as a receiver. He has been running crisper routes and showing great hands, but now that his work load is about to significantly increase, it'll be a test to see how Bess handles it.

And more from Tony Sparano:

"There will be a couple of people that we'll ask to work in and out of there, for the simple reason that Bess going from his role right now to Bess going to a full load, he's going to have to show me right now that he's able the full load, the punts and the things that we're asking him to do," Sparano said. "The guy goes from, right now maybe on a good day, 24 snaps during the course of the game including his punts, to up in the 50s. That's a lot of running.

"So I need to see him be able to handle those things. … In a game situation I need to see him do that, so we'll probably wean him in that way a little bit and kind of back him up with a few people."

And from an MMAWeekly.com article from last week, 49ers linebacker Jeff Ulbrich talks about his love for MMA and how he applies it to football.

Ulbrich explains his fascination with training comes from the varied elements one can work on through the sport.

“It was limitless as far as what you could learn,” he stated. “There are so many different facets to it. Just the thought that every day when you train it can be challenging, something new makes it exciting to learn.”

Ulbrich sees enough similarities between both MMA and pro football that he’s cross-trained them together to become a more complete athlete.

“As far as the mental preparation for it, there is a ton of similarities,” he commented. “I think it’s a great way to develop mental toughness.

“It reinforces that great technique – in any sport – can overcome size, strength and a lot of obstacles where at first look it may seem like there’s no chance. Technique is critical towards being successful in sports.”

He also talks about a possible future in the sport:

“This offseason I’m going to get more involved in the sport, but unless I could be very successful at it, I wouldn’t step in there,” he said. “I’m not one of those guys that thinks that just because I played in the NFL that I can go in and dominate any sport. I understand that MMA takes years to be successful at.

“I would definitely considering doing a small show or something like that after a couple years of training, but I won’t make any predictions that I could hang with the big guys.”