Category — TUF

My primary interest in tonight’s TUF Finale card is the main event, Keith Jardine vs. Matt Hamill. I didn’t watch the last few episodes of The Ultimate Fighter. I know, blasphemy, right? But inevitably the Tito Ortiz saga sucked my will to tune in, even though by most accounts the fights were relatively decent and the drunken housemate bullshit was kept to a minimum.

Still, I’m looking forward to the card because 1) most of the fighters need a win if they ever want to see the inside of the octagon again (Techno Viking included), so a lot of leather will likely be thrown, and 2) it’s free.

BTW, here’s the trailer for the movie about Hamill, called – surprise, surprise – Hamill. It’s got a very TV movie-of-the-week sports inspirational feel to it and focuses almost entirely on Hamill’s days as a collegiate wrestler. Nary a shot of MMA in the entire thing, which means they are definitely aiming this toward… who? Red Staters in the middle of the U.S. who know wrestling?

HAMILL – Official Teaser from Hamill the Movie on Vimeo.

There’s a lot to talk about after Saturday’s UFC 112. Much of it to do with Anderson Silva. But enough of him for a moment. Let’s look at the other two big fights at the card, namely Matt Hughes vs. Renzo Gracie in an old-timers match-up and BJ Penn vs. Frankie Edgar in a David-and-Goliath title tilt. Joining me is Revolution MMA’s Joel Gerson.

JG: UFC 112 confirmed my theory that the events that are the most exciting on paper usually go down like a sinking ship.

How can any MMA fighter, namely Renzo Gracie, go into a match at this point in his career and not know how to check a low kick? That fight was an abomination with two guys completely lacking in kickboxing ability doing just that for 15 minutes (and you paid to watch it, sucker). Neither one showcased their respective specialties: Hughes with his wrestling and Gracie with his BJJ.

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I hate to admit it, but Tito Ortiz isn’t the worst thing about the new season of The Ultimate Fighter. Not yet anyway. To be fair, I’m actually warming to him a little bit. He appears to actually be trying to coach the fighters and he’s doing a pretty good job of it (despite his Mayhem Miller-wannabe douche-fighter losing the first bout official bout of the season). I know it’s still very early, but I’m not ready to write him off just yet.

And the fighters seem to have some skills, a little experience, some raw talent, reasonably tolerable personalities and they’re in shape, which is especially important after the camera-unfriendly heavyweight season (they say the camera adds 10 pounds and they must’ve shot that show with about 20 of them). On the down side, anybody else notice the slightly glazed expression and general jitteriness of Chuck Liddell?

Just came across this interview with Renzo Gracie, who makes his UFC debut against Matt Hughes at Saturday’s UFC 112. The clip is obviously a couple of weeks old (it’s shot at Gracie’s Academy in New York and Gracie is currently in Abu Dhabi for the fight and has been for several days) but it’s worth watching.

I’d all but given up on The Ultimate Fighter following last season’s Kimbo- and Rampage-powered flabbyweight meltdown. It was just a horrible, horrible show full of made-for-TV hype for a fight that still hasn’t happened and a bunch of fat, talentless fighters.

And I’m not convinced that TUF 11 will be any better. Okay, I know it has to be better, but how much better will it be? Sure, the fighters look to have some chops, what little we saw of them in the cage during Wednesday night’s season opener. There were some knockdowns and knockouts and one graphic re-creation of Rich Franklin’s caved-in nose (it was like watching a bridge collapse during an earthquake). So maybe the fighters this season have more skills. Maybe.

But what about the coaches? Last season was all about hyping a fight between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans, a fight we already knew wasn’t going to happen because Rampage (temporarily) quit the UFC to make The A -Team. So their on-screen squabbles weren’t suspense-building, they were fucking annoying and pissed me off the more I had to sit through them.

This time, it’s Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. It’s a fight I wouldn’t mind seeing. Except there’s already strong rumours that Ortiz pulls out of the show at some point for some reason and is replaced by Franklin. There have also been rumours that Franklin will also fight Liddell in the TUF Finale instead of Ortiz. The latest rumour is that Liddell will actually face Randy Couture – for the fourth freakin’ time! – at UFC 116 on July 3. Who the hell wants to see that fight?

More importantly, who wants to watch a whole season of TUF when they’re hyping the hostility between Liddell and Ortiz if the two never fight? Fool me, once shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

As a side note, it’s kind of sad that I’m already looking forward to TUF season 12, which could feature Georges St. Pierre coaching opposite the winner of UFC 113’s Josh Koscheck vs. Paul Daley throwdown and which might also benefit from a little Guida action.

The 11th season of The Ultimate Fighter, featuring coaches Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz (and Rich Franklin?) kicks off tonight following the UFC Fight Night 21 with Kenny Florian and Takanori Gomi in the main event.

Considering tomorrow’s April Fool’s Day, it seems like a good time to suggest ways to make the UFC-meets-Big Brother reality series more fun to watch.

1. Fighters will share the house with people from other reality shows – an addict, a hoarder, a dwarf, people with 19 kids, Paris Hilton, Flavor Flav…
2. There will always be one less bed than fighter. The odd man out must sleep in the tool shed out back.
3. Only winners of fights get any toilet paper.
4. Coaches won’t pick fights. Like American Idol, match-ups are made by the viewers via phone or text.
5. Dr. Drew will be on hand to deal with the Junie Brownings and JT Taylors of the house.
6. Unlike previous seasons, contestants will be able to watch TV. However, they only get one show: The View.
7. Fights that go to the judges will be decided by a game of Red Rover, Red Rover.
8. Fighters are told the house will be co-ed. The female fighters will actually be actors paid to mess with their minds.
9. The house will double as the Liberace museum.
10. The Situation and Snooki will be assistant coaches.

So it’s a neck injury that forced Tito Ortiz to withdraw from coaching duties on The Ultimate Fighter and a subsequent fight with Chuck Liddell. Not the flu or partner Jenna Jameson’s miscarriage or any of the other theories that floated around the internet this week. At least, that’s the story right now. Ortiz is out and Rich Franklin has stepped in as coach, although he won’t be fighting Liddell.

Ortiz has a history of back problems so maybe this is in some way related. Or maybe he got dropped on his head by an overzealous TUF contender. Short of being in a wheelchair, though, I have to wonder what would keep him from coaching the show. It’s not as though it’s a physically demanding job. The most Quinton “Rampage” Jackson did during his stint on the show is tear apart a cardboard door.

Who the hell was the casting director for season eleven of The Ultimate Fighter? My guess is David Lynch, because this is the freakiest, douchiest, crash-test-dummiest group of fighters I have ever seen. I see at least one Dustin Hazelett, one Junie Browning and a couple of JT Taylors in the bunch. Not to mention a “published poet.” Seriously, read his and all the others’ bios over here. Although I suggest you skip that – most fight-related info is pretty meaningless at this point – and go over to Cage Potato, which has picked out a few humorous highlights, like this one:

Ben Stark was “a practitioner of the Orthodox Jewish religion until the age of 6,” which is about the most meaningless piece of biographical information one can imagine since it tells us about the religious choices he made before he was at an age where he was allowed to make choices about religion. He also breeds snakes though, and that’s pretty sweet.

TUF 11 Cast Announced

My gut reaction upon seeing this Peeping Tom video of Chuck Liddell and girlfriend Heidi Northcott getting buff in the buff was to throw up a little bit in my mouth. There are somethings I just don’t need to see. Liddell’s little Iceman slapping thighs is one of them, even if it’s blurry.

Turns out the clip was staged. It’s a viral video advertising the new Reebok ZigTech sneakers, the only thing Liddell is wearing while he exercises. It’s actually the second Reebok video the Ultimate Fighter coach has been in – he appeared, along with a handful of other sports stars, in a video featuring Jersey Shore’s Pauly D and “The Situation.”

And while I may need a breath mint after watching it, I have to admit that it does the trick. Now I have no idea what it will do for sales of Reeboks (MMA fighters don;t wear shoes in the cage so I’m not sure how being associated with Liddell will help). But it is bringing MMA more mainstream exposure – latenight talking head Jimmy Kimmel mentioned the naked Chuck clip in his monologue yesterday.