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View Full Version : TOP 7 beste momenten uit The Ultimate Fighter



Tony
02-04-2008, 11:15
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Three years and six seasons ago, "The Ultimate Fighter" made history by being the first show to showcase MMA in a reality television setting and changed the course of the sport forever. On the eve of the seventh season, my work bully asked me to whip up the seven best moments in TUF history as I see them. No polls or DVR -- just the best moments of TUF in my memory of having covered every episode.

Since the show is "reality," 90 percent of it comes from forced drama thanks to the situations and careful editing. With all due respect to the great fights we've seen and the epic moments, like watching chicks fall off horses, here are the top seven moments that stick out in my mind.

7. The first couple of seasons of TUF were dumb in that they had team challenges that no one wanted to see. Sure, MTV has made a killing having "Real World" and "Road Rules" casts compete in all kinds of stupidity. But when it comes to fighters, no one wants to see them waste time by climbing ropes or dropping flags in a bin.

However, in Season 2, one challenge was beyond hilarious when Joe Stevenson had to keep his body off the ground by revolving around Mike Whitehead (Pictures). Not only did the poor guy do it for hours, after he had finished, Team Franklin decided to forfeit, which left Team Hughes looking spent and stupid. It was quality television for those of us that love minor tragedies and mental games.

6. In Season 5 Gabe Ruediger (Pictures) came on the show a little heavy for the lightweight lineup -- like 20 pounds heavy. Instead of seeing shots of Gabe getting in extra cardio or eating wedge salads, it was cake and enemas as he prepared for his fight with Corey Hill, who is so skinny that the irony is not worth pointing out.

Having to cut tons of weight at the last minute, Ruediger's time in the sauna was so taxing and overly dramatic that had they watched it, the entire cast of "Titanic" would have puked.

"Pull me back in," he whispers as a tear rolls down his cheek. Never mind that he wanted no part of the sauna until they announced he couldn't fight.

All joking aside, Gabe Ruediger (Pictures) was one of the best TUF castings ever.

5. For all the stars that TUF has helped make famous -- Sanchez, Griffin, Stevenson, Jardine, Herman, Bisping, etc. -- just as many fighters have become infamous thanks to poor decisions made during the show (see No. 6). Noah Inhofer's predicament shone a light on the type of things that most fighters, or guys wanting to fight, have to deal with every day.

There is adversity outside the ring as well as within, and both will test your mettle to be a true champion. Noah smoked opponent Jesse Forbes (Pictures) by submission but instead of sticking around to see how far he could go, he bailed after learning that his new girlfriend might be cheating on him back home.

Men can have a hard time trusting their women. Fortunately, most of us don't cave in on national television. I felt for Noah, but that didn't make it any less pathetic. Internet quarterbacks got a good laugh, and I had a very easy article to write that week.

4. Following on the heels of No. 3 comes Dana White's legendary speech in Season 1, when he asks, "Do you want to be a f------ fighter?"

No! No one wants to be that, but an MMA fighter maybe. Dana got his point across to that season's fighters, but maybe not to everyone since. It seems as if a few competitors that never really wanted to compete slip through the cracks. Blame Dana and the producers since they cast personalities over talent from time to time.

In Season 3, Kristian Rothaermel and Tait Fletcher (Pictures) chose not to accept a second chance to fight on the show. Maybe they had their reasons -- like not wanting to train with Ken Shamrock (Pictures) anymore -- or maybe they had a gut-check-in-the-mirror moment and didn't like what they saw. Either way, White's words still ring true every season. Fighters that look to get famous on this show typically achieve that goal when they perform like what they purport to be: hungry fighters with a golden ticket.

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TOP 3

3. While technically not a complete TUF moment, watching Tito Ortiz (Pictures) and Ken Shamrock (Pictures) on Season 3 was like getting a "Cliff Notes" version of the epic saga between these two.

Make no mistake, Shamrock is a legend. And with all respect to his skills, Ortiz's career can be traced by the times he has rattled Shamrock to the glee of the general public. It was hard to tell what motivated Shamrock to appear as a coach on the show. He seemed to lack any inspiration when it came to training the young fighters, and his style of speaking in hyperbole kept many of the contestants from connecting with him.

On the flip side, Ortiz seemed to be all about making his team better. When he wasn't molding Matt Hamill (Pictures) into a future contender, he was aping Shamrock in order to get under the older fighter's skin -- once again. When Shamrock finally decides to retire, Tito owes him one of those 20-years-of-service gold watches that companies used to hand out.

2. While most people enjoyed the skull-splitting backyard brawl between Marlon Sims (Pictures) and Noah Thomas (Pictures), nothing compared to Chris Leben (Pictures) in Season 1.

Leben is the TUF equivalent to Puck from "The Real World." He was and always will be the ultimate star in that he pretty much stole the show whenever he appeared on the screen -- for better or worse. After Bobby Southworth (Pictures) called him a bastard, he then got a wet wakeup call by the same man and his nemesis, Josh Koscheck (Pictures), when they decided to hit Leben with a hose while he slept his depression off outside.

Leben woke with a roar and went on a rampage of destruction, punching out windows and breaking down doors in the house. It might have been bad for the sport, as they say, but God did it make for great reality TV. UFC or not, Leben secured his place on fight cards across the country for the rest of his life.

1. The No. 1 moment in TUF history was actually more momentous than all the editing, careful casting and contrived drama of all the seasons combined.

It's been said before that Dana White didn't really want to do the show. It was the Fertittas who thought something could be accomplished by creating the show, but no one would have ever guessed what would occur during the finale of Season 1.

Forrest Griffin (Pictures) and Stephan Bonnar (Pictures) made their way into that final match with the chance to fight live in front of a television audience comprised of plenty of new MMA fans. Fans both new and old weren't disappointed when they battled it out in one of the greatest fights of all time -- boxing or otherwise.

It wasn't the most technical of fights, but anyone who saw it was in awe of the heart that both Bonnar and Griffin showed while they wailed on each other in a match so close that White had to (shrewdly I might add) give them both a "six-figure" contract.

If the UFC were a calendar, consider Bonnar vs. Griffin to be the "A.D." mark. Sure, things happened before it, but that fight was the turning point in the sport's history.

el bastardo
02-04-2008, 11:31
Waar is de "double decker"? Weet ff niet meer wie m deed.

Ik verheug me alweer op dit seizoen! En met Rampage - Griffin zal het wel behoorlijk lachen worden. Ben alleen benieuwd of ze ook serieus met hun team kunnen omgaan. (vooral van Rampage) Hopelijk wat minder kleuters in deze serie zodat we wat minder naar het drama van de week zitten te kijken omdat de een een lollie minder krijgt dan de ander. Hopelijk wat meer van de trainingen e.d. Hoe dan ook. I'm hooked!

chief108
02-04-2008, 11:41
Hopelijk wat minder kleuters in deze serie zodat we wat minder naar het drama van de week zitten te kijken omdat de een een lollie minder krijgt dan de ander. Hopelijk wat meer van de trainingen e.d
:stupid:

zal wel niet
maar kijken doen we toch :lol:

qball
03-04-2008, 00:09
Waar is de "double decker"?

het was de "upper decker" dat was inderdaad wel gieren...

el bastardo
04-04-2008, 11:04
het was de "upper decker" dat was inderdaad wel gieren...
Oh ja hahaha. Toch onthouden voor als ik binnenkort nog ergens een feestje heb :whistling:

Tony
04-04-2008, 12:53
refresh my mind.. wat was die upper decker voor iets? Welk seizoen?

chief108
04-04-2008, 13:45
baltimoresun.com - MMA Insider: TUF 6 Episode 11 recap: The "Upper Decker" (http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/mma/blog/2007/11/tuf_6_episode_11_the_upper_dec.html)

Tony
04-04-2008, 13:54
sweet :)
Ik weet het weer ja... Was dat niet hightower met die neger die dat kunstje flikte?

el bastardo
04-04-2008, 15:40
yepz, dat was t idd. Hij kon er niet om lachen :)