TUF Season 12: Team St-Pierre Vs. Team Koscheck—Live Blogging the Madness, Pt II

Alright fights fans, we only about 15 minutes away from the second installment of the Ultimate Fighting Championship's spearhead into the world of popular culture, The Ultimate Fighter reality series.

The first episode is always a little slow as 28 no-name fighters are whittled down to the 14 semi-unknowns who will be staying in the house. At one point, it was 32 down to 16, but the wild-card system has replaced the eighth pairing of contenders.

As always, the winner will get a six-figure, multi-bout deal with the UFC plus a hearty handshake and four-letter peppering of encouragement from the organization's president, Dana White.

Although the audience was teased with montages of flavor from upcoming episodes, it's too early to have much of a feel for the guys in the house. Alex Caceres made an immediate impression with a mild afro and blazing-banana-yellow bodysuit, Cody McKenzie also left a lasting dent in the consciousness with his submission and unique background (Alaskan fisherman), and Dane Sayers showed the raw tools to be a player this season (provided he's a quick study).

The rest, however, have some work to do to build their individual profiles. Along with Caceres, McKenzie, and Sayers, we've got:

—Jonathan Brookins

—Sako Chivitchian

—Michael Johnson

—Jeff Lentz

—Sevak Magakian

—Spencer Paige

—Nam Phan

—Marc Stevens

—Kyle Watson

—Aaron Wilkinson

Check back when the action starts and we learn a bit more about this season's cast.