'TUF' Television for Fans of MMA

With The Ultimate Fighter Season 8 premiere about a month away I thought it would be a good time to start some sort of countdown in preparation for it.

For the next 4 weeks I'll be making a weekly post that is TUF related, whether that be a look at past winners, losers, cry babies or some of those "Holy Sh!t" moments that each season undoubtedly has.

I would LOVE for people to chip in with memories of their favorite (or not so favorite) moments in TUF.

IN CASE YOU FORGOT
Despite the stigma that comes along with being on a reality TV show, some of the former cast mates of Spikes The Ultimate Fighter fight on to become great fighters who eventually overshadow their reality TV days. While some aren't quite the lucky I wanted to take a look at each season and the fighters we may (or may not have) forgotten were once of the show.

Season 1: Team Liddell v. Team Couture

No doubt, a little chaotic in their inaugural season, Season 1 of The Ultimate Fighter would lead up to one of the most pinnacle points in UFC/MMA history -- the TUF Season 1 finale with Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar. Still considered one of the best fights televised by the UFC, Griffin and Bonnar left it all hanging out in the ring, slugging each other for what seemed liked the entire duration of the bout. Neither man really seemed interested in showing any kind of defense and by the time the final bell rang both men looked like they'd been chewed up by a grizzly bear.

Season 1 of The Ultimate Fighter left us with quite a few fantastic fighters who still mix it up with the best of them in the UFC including: Forrest Griffin (Season 1 Light Heavyweight Winner), Stephan Bonnar, Diego Sanchez (Season 1 Middleweight Winner), Chris Leben, Josh Koscheck, Kenny Florian, Mike Swick, Sam Hoger, and Nate Quarry.


Season 2: Team Hughes v. Team Franklin
Who could forget this seasons first episode? It was like a soap opera! First, Heavyweight Kerry Schall is eliminated because of a knee injury, then Eli Joslin leaves the show (mostly cause he's a p*ssy), and THEN Stevens is forced to forfeit his match after not being able to make weight for the fight. Oh the popcorn drama! Deliciously fantastic! (Guys, if you want to get your girlfriends into MMA, make them watch this show.)

Some characters that still make their faces shown in the UFC include: Joe "Daddy" Stevenson (Welterweight Winner), Rashad Evans (Heavyweight Winner), Luke Cummo, Josh Burkman, Marcus Davis, Melvin Guillard, Mike Whitehead, and Keith "The Dean of Mean" Jardine.


Season 3: Team Shamrock v. Team Ortiz
The third season of TUF featured one of the most entertaining grudges in television history (*hyperbole*) between coaches Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock. I'm not going to delve to far into their antics on the show as I want to save coach antics for my post next week, but boy was it a good one! They also changed the format of the show a bit, which made it a little more streamlined and made it seem a lot less like Family Double Dare.

Aside from the heated rivalry between Ortiz and Shamrock, we got to see a lot of great fights and meet some newcomers who have cemented themselves as legitimate fighters including Season 3 Middleweight winner Kendall Grove, Season 3 Light Heavyweight Winner Michael Bisping, Matt Hamill, Rory Singer, and Ed Herman.


Season 4: Team No Love v. Team Mojo
This season of TUF saw a slightly different take on the show's premise. Instead of UFC hopefuls the season was comprised of fighters who had yet to get a title shot in the UFC. Instead of coaches, named trainers and UFC fighters acted as advisors. The winners at the end of the season would get the usually $100,000 plus a guaranteed title shot.

This season had some great characters that we would have otherwise missed including Matt Serra (Welterweight Winner) and Shonie Carter. However, there were a couple of recent casualties of Season 4 cast members in the UFC due to poor performances or consecutive losses including Din Thomas, and Travis Lutter (Middleweight Winner).


Season 5: Team Pulver v. Team Penn
This season of TUF featured for the first time only one weight class, lightweights. Also, another change is that eliminated fighters do not leave the house, instead they stay around to train and cause trouble. Not necessarily in that order. And once again, the bitter rivalry between Penn and Pulver made for some really intense television. Again, I'll talk about this next week when I feature coaches from TUF.

So, we can't talk about this season unless we talk for just a second about Gabe Ruediger. His failure to make weight and the waterfall of tears he shed on camera after being verbally slammed by Dana White made this one of my favorite seasons. Let's not forget the confrontation between Marlon Sims and Noah Thomas which ended in their expulsion from the show along with Allen Berube for instigating the fight. Ah, the drama.

Some familiar faces include Joe Lauzon, Manny Gambaryan, Rob Emerson, Gray Maynard, Matt Wiman, Cole Miller, Corey Hill and one more... let's see... oh yea, Nate Diaz.


Season 6: Team Hughes v. Team Serra
There were several things that made this season memorable. Mostly the rivalry between Hughes and Serra, but for me personally, this season cemented (in my eyes) Hughes as a world class dick and Serra as a world class smart ass. Needless to say, I was (and am) a Serra fan. :)

Once again, this season featured just one weight class, Welterweights. It was pretty clear who the winner was going to be after the first episode. Mac Danzig showed he was the superior fighter on this season by finishing Joe Scarola in the first round via triangle choke and barely broke a decent sweat.

Joe Scarola was a personal friend of Matt Serra and needless to say Matt was disappointed that his friend lost. However, Serra's disappointment didn't end there. After bitching and moaning about how he wanted to go home for the next several episodes, Matt Serra sat down with his friend for a talk. Serra's conversation with Joe was basically, "If you embarrass me on national television by leaving, you can not be my friend nor will you have job at my gym." Next Dana White had a talk with Joe. The actual meat of the conversation is meaningless next to its point. "If you leave this show, you will never work for the UFC." That is me paraphrasing of course, but seriously, that was what it all boiled down to. Despite Dana's warning, Joe packed his bags and left. What a dumb ass. This move still baffles me and irritates me, so let's move on.

Ok, so now we can talk about the familiar faces from this season which include Mac Danzig (Winner), Jared Rollins, Jon Koppenhaver, Troy Mandaloniz, and Ben Saunders. Tommy Speer had a couple fights after the season ended, but was eventually let go after some disappointing losses.


Season 7: Team Griffin v. Team Rampage
This season featured Middleweights teams led by then current Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and number one contender and Season 1 Light Heavyweight winner Forrest Griffin. This season was full of surprises including a slightly new format. Instead of starting the season with 16 fighters it would begin with 32 fighters who would have to fight down the to the 16 who would eventually end up at the TUF house.

On a personal note, I really liked this change. We start the season off with a bang having several fights in the first couple episodes. Also, there were a lot less spotlights on them in the house as there had been in past seasons.

The biggest surprise this season had to of been Amir Sadollah coming out of nowhere and winning the whole kitten caboodle! Amir came off as a very unsure, self-depricating fighter when interviewed but seemed to always pull something out in the ring, especially when on the losing end. Also, Jesse Taylor was eliminated from the competition after the end of the show, a first in TUF history. Taylor made some bad decisions while drinking which caught the attention of UFC President Dana White who saw no other alternative but to dismiss Taylor from the competition. Taylor later came back to fight C.B. Dollaway and lose by way of submission in the first round. Shortly after he was let go by the UFC.

Some familiar faces from this season include Amir Sadollah, C.B. Dollaway, Matthew Riddle, Tim Credeur, Matt Brown and Dante Rivera.


Season 8: Team Noguiera v. Team Mir
This season starts September 17, 2008 and will feature both Light Heavyweights and Lightweights.

Well, that's it for a rundown of each season with a look at the familiar faces from each. Next week I'll be taking a look at some of the rivalries between coaches of TUF.

Until then, stay TUF! (Too cheesy?)