Following a display of explosive MMA action from UFC Fight Night 19, MMA fans witnessed the premier episode of the most-anticipated season of "The Ultimate Fighter" in recent memory.
The reality show that everyone has been talking about by the water cooler at work for months has finally begun. Each week, I will be blogging my thoughts as well as updating my weekly TUF fantasy game right here on Bleacher Report.
Early in the episode coaches Rashad Evans and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson are seated on a bench bickering like an old married couple about how one is going to knock the other out.
Rampage tells Evans that he’s going to “knock his ass out” and Evans counters claiming Jackson is too slow and his big head makes him an easy target.
Clearly, this show is being promoted on the wrong channel, as Comedy Central would seem to be a better fit for this particular season than Spike TV.
While the coaches continue to trash talk one another, the season’s competitors make their way into the UFC training center putting a halt on the verbal grappling among the former Light Heavyweight champions.
It isn’t long before the war of words starts up again as Rampage begins to poke fun at the way Evans was knocked out in his last bout by current UFC Light Heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida. Evans maintains a confident smile and fires back with insults of his own bringing up a 2005 defeat Jackson took at the hands of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.
I don’t know about you guys but I have Evans winning the trash-talking portion of the show so far. Jackson is a very funny guy, but Evans seems to be more clever and logical with the things he says.
UFC President Dana White warns the coaches not to get into a fistfight and then tells the other fighters to line up for an announcement. White announces that there are only 15 contestants in the room, not 16, and that one more fighter was on his way in.
“I know this next guy is a fighter. The question is, is he a mixed martial artist?” White said. “I’ve talked more [expletive] about this guy than anyone else.”
Rampage wonders if it’s Tank Abbott that White is referring to, but Abbott was too busy chugging down a case of Coors light and eating live kittens to make it down to Vegas for the show.
Instead, YouTube Street-Fighting sensation and former Elite XC headliner Kimbo Slice walked through the door, garnering mixed reactions from the other competitors.
Rampage made it known that he wanted Slice on his team and informed his rival coach to “stay away from Kimbo.”
During the two-hour fighter evaluations, Evans put the fighters through heavy bag drills which Rampage laughed at claiming that the only way to evaluate the fighters is to have them fight.
During Rampage’s evaluation he put the fighters through sparring sessions while cracking jokes at Roy Nelson’s pot belly and Darrill Schoonover’s “titties.” Neither fighter seemed all that amused by Rampage’s comments, but I’m sure everyone watching at home choked on their popcorn from laughter.
After the evaluation, both teams evaluate their talent and prepare for the draft. The traditional coin toss is implemented prior to team selection, but White tells the coaches that the winner of the toss can take either first pick or select the tournament's first two matchups.
Evans wins the toss, and he elects to take the first draft pick. For his first pick Evans selects his good friend and training partner James McSweeney, which isn’t all that surprising.
McSweeney is a deadly striker, but he isn’t very experienced in MMA. While it would seem most have listed as an early favorite to win the competition he could be in trouble up against a strong grappler.
Rampage follows up on his word and selects Slice as his No. 1 pick. Obviously, Slice has the most hype out of the 16 competitors, but will he be able to live up to it?
He has been over-hyped in the past and was exposed with a first round knockout at the hands of a much smaller Seth Petruzelli.
It will be interesting to see how much Slice has evolved since then and if Rampage can mold the internet superstar into the next Ultimate Fighter.
Surprisingly Roy “Big Country” Nelson—the man whom most fans are picking as a dead-on favorite to win the show, was selected late in the draft as Evans' fifth pick.
The picks end up as follows, listed from top to bottom in order of selection:
TEAM RASHAD
James McSweeney
Brendan Schaub
Justin Wren
John Madsen
Roy Nelson
Darrill Schoonover
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