Mearion Shonie Bickhem III (born May 3, 1972), better known as Shonie Carter, is an American mixed martial artist.^[1] 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.^[2] 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.^[3] 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.^[4] Carter later added Boxing, Kung Fu and Karate to his repertoire.^[4]

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

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.^[2] He began his career in 1997, fighting primarily in the Extreme Challenge promotion. 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. 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 finishing his stint on The Ultimate Fighter, Carter appeared on BET's similar program The Iron Ring as a coach for Lil Jon's team, Headbusters. While taping, Carter verbally sparred with Floyd Mayweather, the leader of another team, over a fight stoppage. Mayweather was condescending toward the sport of mixed martial arts throughout the show.^[9] Carter claims that he has gained more notoriety from members of the black community since his appearance on The Iron Ring than from his UFC and The Ultimate Fighter appearances.^[3]

On May 16, 2008, Carter served as an impromptu guest referee for a notorious bout at a Legends of Fighting event that resulted in a double-knockout. Eight seconds into the bout, newcomers Tyler Bryan and Shaun Parker landed simultaneous knockout punches. The video of the double-knockout, and Carter's subsequent reaction, has been viewed on YouTube over 1 million times.^[10] He spoke with C.M. Punk on making the jump to the professional wrestling ring.^[11]

On April 22, 2017, Carter took part in a "bare knuckle" (in actuality fighters hands were wrapped) boxing event for Bare Knuckle Boxing in England at BKB 4. He faced undefeated Jimmy "Celtic Warrior" Sweeney, BKB's most popular and recognized fighter, in a Middleweight title fight. Carter lost a spirited bout by decision after five rounds,^[12] but took Sweeney the distance, the first fighter in BKB history to do so.^[13] Shonie had his training camp for this bout with Lytes Out Podcast host Mike Davis.

Carter is currently single and has three children: a daughter Sierra Rena, and sons Samearion Andreas, and Kavion Osiris. He resides in Chicago teaching at the Honbu Dojo Shidokan USA under the guidance of USA Shidokan Branch Chief Eddie Yoshimura.^[14] He is a bartender and bouncer at the Mexican restaurant Fiesta Cantina in the Wrigleyville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois and a personal trainer at XSport.^{[citation needed]}