Sherdog.com’s Guide to the “Ultimate Fighter”
Scott Holmes Jan 25, 2005
This week’s episode of Spike TV’s “The Chris Leben Show” picked up where
we left off last week, with Chris stirring up the pot and burning
everyone’s chili. Actually the show offered a couple of new angles
this week as the mandatory “reality show physical challenge” was
performed, and a few of the contestants slipped and showed us some
of their personality nuances and new characters were born. Mr.
Couture and Mr. Liddell kept pushing the guys through the demanding
workouts and evaluated each man in order to whittle their teams
down to the best fighters.
Anyone watching this show that’s being introduced to mixed martial arts will probably expect to see a sports challenge that is conducive to the sport. For instance, who can do the most pushups and sit-ups, or maybe who can hit a heavy bag the most times in a minute. The true MMA fan knows better; the true MMA fan knows that the path to the UFC has and always will be paved with old recliner race and log chop!
(Actually the log-chopping bonanza wasn’t too bad, but the recliner
race was redonkulous. As pumped as I’ve been for this show, I
almost flipped over to Iron Chef to see if the secret ingredient
was eel or sea urchin roe.)
Understandably they had to come up with a way to select a group to put on the stay-or-leave-the-show chopping block, but that was just silly. Thankfully, next week Randy and Chuck won’t be choosing who leaves, that will be decided in the Octagon—which is why everyone is watching in the first place.
I think most people were curious to see how he would fare during a real fight, but truth be told the chances of him winning this show were slim at best. It’s better for the show, the UFC and the fighters themselves that only the best be represented.
After the first elimination, back to the UFC compound we go, which means more drunken antics and macho posturing. Leben of course is still being Chris Leben and pushing people’s buttons, specifically Mike Swick’s since the two have fought before. Swick gets tired of hearing how he lost that fight and lets it be known that he wants a rematch. Several of the fighters mention that they would like a shot at Leben—but make no mistake, everyone wants to see these two go at it again.
So far it’s the only match up that anyone can really sink his or her teeth into. No one else has really shown much animosity toward another contestant so this is the one fight we all want to see. Diego Sanchez and Stephan Bonnar get into a spat over food, but since they are in different weight classes, don’t expect to see them dotting each other’s eyes any time soon.
Speaking of Diego, he manages to come alive in this episode after getting on the other guy’s nerves for his constant pampering of himself. He also greased himself up for an impromptu drunken pose down. This was a little awkward. Lodune Sincaid emerges as a dramatic character too, as he tosses back a few stiff drinks and decides to parade around in his panties and act like a fruit cup.
It’s all in good fun but later he admits to having a real problem with alcohol and decides to change his ways, pouring out his 40-ounce beer. Lodune goes through so many life changes in this episode that I half expected him to announce that he was dropping down to 175 pounds to wrestle “Shute.” (Yes, I did just make a “Vision Quest” reference.)
After the second physical challenge is over, once again one member of Randy’s team is up for dismissal. Thanks to a TiVo snafu and the WWE running long I lost about a minute of the show and came back just in time to hear Leben say, “I only had some of Diego’s wine,” and by the look on the other guy’s faces it’s sounds like he might have been fibbing to Randy about his alcohol consumption. (Have we learned nothing from Omorosa? Did Leben just go from interesting wild man to somebody who’s willing to flat out lie in order to stay on the show?) Either way Chris Sanford is now gone and again it’s a shame that we couldn’t see what fighting skills the guy has.
One of the great things about this show is sizing up each guy and wondering how they will stack up when it’s time to throw down. Starting next week I believe this will become the new focal point as opposed to the house drama that has been prevalent in the first two episodes. There hasn’t been this much goofy testosterone pent up in one studio since the ’85 Chicago Bears got together for “The Super Bowl Shuffle” video.
Another great thing about this show is that when there is a “testimonial” shot—the scenes when the guys are alone giving their version of what’s happening—they have black eyes. Now we’re talking, this is a fight show!
Most reality shows that are of the elimination variety are very competitive and no one likes to lose … but on this show, seriously, no one likes to lose. It is very entertaining in that respect because these guys aren’t just competing for money or for prizes—they are competing for a career.
Looking forward to next week, everyone should be excited to see that the fighting will begin. In our next installment I’ll answer the big question about “Ultimate Fighter” host Willa Ford: Dead weight or delightful female palette cleanser?
Anyone watching this show that’s being introduced to mixed martial arts will probably expect to see a sports challenge that is conducive to the sport. For instance, who can do the most pushups and sit-ups, or maybe who can hit a heavy bag the most times in a minute. The true MMA fan knows better; the true MMA fan knows that the path to the UFC has and always will be paved with old recliner race and log chop!
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Understandably they had to come up with a way to select a group to put on the stay-or-leave-the-show chopping block, but that was just silly. Thankfully, next week Randy and Chuck won’t be choosing who leaves, that will be decided in the Octagon—which is why everyone is watching in the first place.
Chuck Liddell’s team did
win that amazing recliner race and that put Randy’s team in the hot
seat. The first guy to lose a shot at the UFC contract was Jason
Thacker. This wasn’t too shocking since he struggled from the start
both on the mat and in the house.
I think most people were curious to see how he would fare during a real fight, but truth be told the chances of him winning this show were slim at best. It’s better for the show, the UFC and the fighters themselves that only the best be represented.
After the first elimination, back to the UFC compound we go, which means more drunken antics and macho posturing. Leben of course is still being Chris Leben and pushing people’s buttons, specifically Mike Swick’s since the two have fought before. Swick gets tired of hearing how he lost that fight and lets it be known that he wants a rematch. Several of the fighters mention that they would like a shot at Leben—but make no mistake, everyone wants to see these two go at it again.
So far it’s the only match up that anyone can really sink his or her teeth into. No one else has really shown much animosity toward another contestant so this is the one fight we all want to see. Diego Sanchez and Stephan Bonnar get into a spat over food, but since they are in different weight classes, don’t expect to see them dotting each other’s eyes any time soon.
Speaking of Diego, he manages to come alive in this episode after getting on the other guy’s nerves for his constant pampering of himself. He also greased himself up for an impromptu drunken pose down. This was a little awkward. Lodune Sincaid emerges as a dramatic character too, as he tosses back a few stiff drinks and decides to parade around in his panties and act like a fruit cup.
It’s all in good fun but later he admits to having a real problem with alcohol and decides to change his ways, pouring out his 40-ounce beer. Lodune goes through so many life changes in this episode that I half expected him to announce that he was dropping down to 175 pounds to wrestle “Shute.” (Yes, I did just make a “Vision Quest” reference.)
After the second physical challenge is over, once again one member of Randy’s team is up for dismissal. Thanks to a TiVo snafu and the WWE running long I lost about a minute of the show and came back just in time to hear Leben say, “I only had some of Diego’s wine,” and by the look on the other guy’s faces it’s sounds like he might have been fibbing to Randy about his alcohol consumption. (Have we learned nothing from Omorosa? Did Leben just go from interesting wild man to somebody who’s willing to flat out lie in order to stay on the show?) Either way Chris Sanford is now gone and again it’s a shame that we couldn’t see what fighting skills the guy has.
One of the great things about this show is sizing up each guy and wondering how they will stack up when it’s time to throw down. Starting next week I believe this will become the new focal point as opposed to the house drama that has been prevalent in the first two episodes. There hasn’t been this much goofy testosterone pent up in one studio since the ’85 Chicago Bears got together for “The Super Bowl Shuffle” video.
Another great thing about this show is that when there is a “testimonial” shot—the scenes when the guys are alone giving their version of what’s happening—they have black eyes. Now we’re talking, this is a fight show!
Most reality shows that are of the elimination variety are very competitive and no one likes to lose … but on this show, seriously, no one likes to lose. It is very entertaining in that respect because these guys aren’t just competing for money or for prizes—they are competing for a career.
Looking forward to next week, everyone should be excited to see that the fighting will begin. In our next installment I’ll answer the big question about “Ultimate Fighter” host Willa Ford: Dead weight or delightful female palette cleanser?
