Sherdog.com’s Guide to the “Ultimate Fighter”
Scott Holmes Feb 8, 2005
In order to bring you the very best breakdown of The Ultimate
Fighter I decided that I would go the extra mile to bring you the
inside scoop. So last week I told my boss to shove it, took off my
Pizza Hut apron and threw it in the dumpster. I ran home grabbed my
only suit, sold all my baseball cards and bought a ticket to
Vegas!
While checking out the weigh-ins I was able to talk to some of the contestants and get a better understanding of what went on during the filming of the series and what it was like for the fighters.
They gave me some insight on what really went on in the house when
the cameras were off. For instance, each night when the training
and challenges were over they all relaxed and kept up the
competitiveness with board games and kissing contests. (Kidding!
Just seeing if you were paying attention.)
The few fighters I talked to said that their lives haven't changed too much, but that the exposure made the show more than worth it. Since they are all still under contract obligations you won't be seeing any of them fight outside of the UFC until the show is over and they weren't able to discuss there fights on the show. Not that I wanted them too, I still want to see how it all goes down and it would have looked stupid if I was in the casino with my hands over my ears yelling "spoiler alert."
Ricco Rodriguez – “I haven't seen it.”
Frank Trigg – “Haven't seen it yet; been in Europe.”
Evan Tanner – “It's my Monday night tradition."
Matt Lindland – “It's good for MMA and it's good for Team Quest.”
I would have asked Paul Buentello but I didn't want to hear a grown man weep about how you can skip 10 years of fighting your heart out and just grab a recliner to race with or paddle across the desert in a canoe, fight a few guys and get a nice fat UFC contract.
All of that aside we do have an episode to talk about. This week's wasn't as gripping as the Bobby Southworth diet-athon, but we did get to hear a few guys get called out to fight. Now that Couture's team has begun to dwindle since they have lost all the physical challenges, fights, and vote-offs, Team Liddell was forced to give up a light heavyweight to Randy's Team.
Chuck chooses to lose Alex Schoenauer and Randy's team is back in business.
The physical challenge this week was a combination of activities that employed the use of a large medicine ball. Before the challenge is announced, the wily Chris Leben decides to throw the event so that he will be the one to have to fight and choose his opponent. Looking to make a statement, Leben wants to fight Koscheck. Koscheck is widely regarded as the most athletic of the bunch and Leben thinks he can work him over.
The plan backfires though as Willa Ford announces that the team that wins will be able to choose who they want to fight. This little twist is nice because now instead of being forced to fight like last week's episode, the guys volunteer to fight one another. The Leben vs. Koscheck scenario is debated, but in the end they decide to go with Diego Sanchez vs. Alex Karalexis.
Back at the house, Leben still discusses the possible match up with Koscheck as they both do a little macho posturing on who is in for the bigger surprise. I'm looking forward to the match up, however, I also wanted to see Leben vs. Swick. So now I'm a little torn. Hopefully there is enough scrapping to go around.
Both Sanchez and Karalexis train for their day. Karalexis works on his takedown defense but Diego has a recurring hip injury that he gets checked out by a doctor. It looks like a tear but he decides to fight anyway.
Both men claim that they will end the fight quickly. Karalexis, with his heavy hands, looks to swat down Diego before the grappler can take him down. Diego wants to skip the stand up and take it to the floor where he's comfortable.
It's fight day and both guys square off. Karalexis fires off a right hand that doesn't connect and Sanchez immediately takes him down. Sanchez works to pass the guard of Karalexis and then throws a few fists from up top. Karalexis gives up his back and tries to come up with a way to kick Sanchez off, but his balance and control is too good. After a few failed efforts to get out of that dangerous position, Sanchez is able to break him down flat and secure the rear naked choke. Sanchez lives to fight another day and Karalexis is removed from the show.
As I said earlier, I was able to talk with several people from the show. I ran into Sanford, Sanchez, Southworth and Stephan Bonnar.
All of them said that things were getting back to normal for them since the show has stopped taping. They are all back training and waiting for the offers to start rolling in. We discussed the match ups for Saturday's UFC and nobody was willing to offer up a prediction on Tito and Vitor. We talked about what it was like dealing with all of the "missing parts" of the show that the viewer doesn't get to see because of editing and time constraints but they all seemed pleased with the finished show.
I asked them what it was like to get in the cage to fight not only your opponent, but to also fight for national recognition and a contract with the UFC. They all agreed that when “Big” John says, "let's get it on," all of that stuff goes out the window and it's just a normal day at the office—except that the office is a cage and your coworker wants to choke and whip you silly.
I'd give you the interviews verbatim but the casinos were loud and the audio is kind of crappy and I'd hate to quote somebody as saying they would "love to hang Liddell" when they really said "love to hang with Liddell," causing someone to get beat unmercifully.
I was able to talk to Dana White as well and he told me that the UFC had a five-year plan and that they achieved those goals within four years. Now they are working on a new five-year plan and hopefully on the horizon for the UFC is a "Tuesday Night Fights" type of show and bigger pay-per-view paydays.
I’m hoping that it all pans out and in a few years my stupid boss is asking me if I saw the Yves Edwards fight instead of yapping about the expert child-rearing of Nanny 911.
One final note, I saw a few celebrities at the show like Mario Lopez and Sugar Ray's Mark McGrath … actually make that Entertainment Tonight's Mark McGrath. I would have grabbed some interviews with them as well but since I was all out of questions about Screech or celebrity weddings, I passed.
I tried to find Willa Ford at the show so I could ask her a few hard hitting journalistic questions regarding her midriff baring t-shirts, but I ran out of time. I had accidentally married my Ecuadorian hotel maid at a 4:30 a.m. service in one of the casinos and I had about an hour to get the paperwork nullified.
While checking out the weigh-ins I was able to talk to some of the contestants and get a better understanding of what went on during the filming of the series and what it was like for the fighters.
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The few fighters I talked to said that their lives haven't changed too much, but that the exposure made the show more than worth it. Since they are all still under contract obligations you won't be seeing any of them fight outside of the UFC until the show is over and they weren't able to discuss there fights on the show. Not that I wanted them too, I still want to see how it all goes down and it would have looked stupid if I was in the casino with my hands over my ears yelling "spoiler alert."
I also spoke to some of the current UFC and other MMA fighters to
get their takes on the show:
Ricco Rodriguez – “I haven't seen it.”
Frank Trigg – “Haven't seen it yet; been in Europe.”
Evan Tanner – “It's my Monday night tradition."
Matt Lindland – “It's good for MMA and it's good for Team Quest.”
I would have asked Paul Buentello but I didn't want to hear a grown man weep about how you can skip 10 years of fighting your heart out and just grab a recliner to race with or paddle across the desert in a canoe, fight a few guys and get a nice fat UFC contract.
All of that aside we do have an episode to talk about. This week's wasn't as gripping as the Bobby Southworth diet-athon, but we did get to hear a few guys get called out to fight. Now that Couture's team has begun to dwindle since they have lost all the physical challenges, fights, and vote-offs, Team Liddell was forced to give up a light heavyweight to Randy's Team.
Chuck chooses to lose Alex Schoenauer and Randy's team is back in business.
The physical challenge this week was a combination of activities that employed the use of a large medicine ball. Before the challenge is announced, the wily Chris Leben decides to throw the event so that he will be the one to have to fight and choose his opponent. Looking to make a statement, Leben wants to fight Koscheck. Koscheck is widely regarded as the most athletic of the bunch and Leben thinks he can work him over.
The plan backfires though as Willa Ford announces that the team that wins will be able to choose who they want to fight. This little twist is nice because now instead of being forced to fight like last week's episode, the guys volunteer to fight one another. The Leben vs. Koscheck scenario is debated, but in the end they decide to go with Diego Sanchez vs. Alex Karalexis.
Back at the house, Leben still discusses the possible match up with Koscheck as they both do a little macho posturing on who is in for the bigger surprise. I'm looking forward to the match up, however, I also wanted to see Leben vs. Swick. So now I'm a little torn. Hopefully there is enough scrapping to go around.
Both Sanchez and Karalexis train for their day. Karalexis works on his takedown defense but Diego has a recurring hip injury that he gets checked out by a doctor. It looks like a tear but he decides to fight anyway.
Both men claim that they will end the fight quickly. Karalexis, with his heavy hands, looks to swat down Diego before the grappler can take him down. Diego wants to skip the stand up and take it to the floor where he's comfortable.
It's fight day and both guys square off. Karalexis fires off a right hand that doesn't connect and Sanchez immediately takes him down. Sanchez works to pass the guard of Karalexis and then throws a few fists from up top. Karalexis gives up his back and tries to come up with a way to kick Sanchez off, but his balance and control is too good. After a few failed efforts to get out of that dangerous position, Sanchez is able to break him down flat and secure the rear naked choke. Sanchez lives to fight another day and Karalexis is removed from the show.
As I said earlier, I was able to talk with several people from the show. I ran into Sanford, Sanchez, Southworth and Stephan Bonnar.
All of them said that things were getting back to normal for them since the show has stopped taping. They are all back training and waiting for the offers to start rolling in. We discussed the match ups for Saturday's UFC and nobody was willing to offer up a prediction on Tito and Vitor. We talked about what it was like dealing with all of the "missing parts" of the show that the viewer doesn't get to see because of editing and time constraints but they all seemed pleased with the finished show.
I asked them what it was like to get in the cage to fight not only your opponent, but to also fight for national recognition and a contract with the UFC. They all agreed that when “Big” John says, "let's get it on," all of that stuff goes out the window and it's just a normal day at the office—except that the office is a cage and your coworker wants to choke and whip you silly.
I'd give you the interviews verbatim but the casinos were loud and the audio is kind of crappy and I'd hate to quote somebody as saying they would "love to hang Liddell" when they really said "love to hang with Liddell," causing someone to get beat unmercifully.
I was able to talk to Dana White as well and he told me that the UFC had a five-year plan and that they achieved those goals within four years. Now they are working on a new five-year plan and hopefully on the horizon for the UFC is a "Tuesday Night Fights" type of show and bigger pay-per-view paydays.
I’m hoping that it all pans out and in a few years my stupid boss is asking me if I saw the Yves Edwards fight instead of yapping about the expert child-rearing of Nanny 911.
One final note, I saw a few celebrities at the show like Mario Lopez and Sugar Ray's Mark McGrath … actually make that Entertainment Tonight's Mark McGrath. I would have grabbed some interviews with them as well but since I was all out of questions about Screech or celebrity weddings, I passed.
I tried to find Willa Ford at the show so I could ask her a few hard hitting journalistic questions regarding her midriff baring t-shirts, but I ran out of time. I had accidentally married my Ecuadorian hotel maid at a 4:30 a.m. service in one of the casinos and I had about an hour to get the paperwork nullified.
