Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The Ultimate Letdown


Maybe this is just me but I keep track of the days by knowing which televisions shows will be on that night. For instance I know it is Monday because Monday Night Football is on and I know it is Thursday because The Office is on. Every night has a show that is exclusive to that night and therefore helps keep track of the days when they all seem to run together.

For Wednesday night that show is The Ultimate Fighter or TUF. An MMA reality show where 16 amateurs are trained by 2 professionals and fight for their chance at a 6 figure UFC contract and a chance to become famous. The show first started in 2005 and since its first season it has produced some of the biggest names in the UFC. Guys like Forrest Griffin, Diego Sanchez, Joe Stevenson, Rashad Evans and Michael Bisbing were all winners of the show.

Usually it is a very entertaining show which contains 1 fight at the end. Sometimes the episodes are pretty weak and are forced to rely on some of the drama that goes on inside the house they all are forced to live in but for the most part it focuses on the fighters themselves and their preparation for their fights.

The first season of the show was amazing and had the best fighters by far and so obviously since then the show has declined somewhat. The fighters seem to be getting worse and the show tends to focus on boring and repetitive storylines. For example every season there is a fighter on the show who gets hurt and can't decide if they want to fight or not. In response to this UFC President Dana White comes in and gives everyone a lecture where he drops 48 f bombs in the span of 6 sentences.

Despite the shows gradual decline it is still a great show to watch and really the only good show on Wednesdays (at least until LOST comes back). Having said that this season of TUF has been just awful and is making me start counting days until LOST comes back so I can have an excuse to miss TUF.

Each season the show features a different weight class of fighters. Last season it was lightweights and middleweights. This season it is heavyweights. Now if you don't watch UFC or MMA all you need to know about heavyweights is that 99% of them are boring, slow and overweight guys who all think they are the strongest guy on the planet. For the most part they lack technique and decide to just throw wide looping punches hoping for a knockout. While this might sound exciting it is anything but as after 2 minutes they are both gassed and struggling to stand.

Welcome to The Ultimate Fighter season 10.

There have been 10 fights so far and in 9 of them someone has been gassed and barely able to stand. By gassed I mean they run out of energy and stand with their hands on their hips struggling to breathe. The worst example of this was when James McSweeney fought Wes Shivers. At one point both guys were standing at opposite ends of the octagon with their hands on their hips, in the middle of a round. That isn't fighting it is standing. I can do that.

Kimbo Slice is on this season and has been mildly entertaining and he often claims to the camera that, "once these things get on you [holds up fists] its dun dada." My favorite aspect about Kimbo being on the show is how everyone in the house likes him. When he first came on the show everyone was ripping on him and muttering shit about him under their breath. Now they are all pumped on him and his possible chance to fight again (he lost in his first fight to Roy Nelson after tapping out due to the lethal beer belly choke).

The reason why Kimbo might get to fight again is because Matt Mittrione (a former NFL scrub) won his fight but is having concussion like symptoms. The plot line of will Matt Mittrione fight or not has now been going on for 3 episodes. This is how bad the show has gotten. Since they have nothing to talk about the whole show consists of them showing Matt Mittrione talking to people about whether or not he is going to fight. Next week on the Ultimate Fighter will Matt Mittrione fight? That has been the preview clip for 3 weeks now.

The main reason the show has been watchable though is Rampage Jackson. Rampage along with Rashad Evans are coaches this season and were supposed to fight at the end of the show but that is no longer taking place due to Rampage quitting MMA to be in the A-team movie. Although he isn't in MMA anymore Rampage is still hilarious as he makes fun of Rashad constantly and calls one of the guys on Rashad's team "titties" because he has man boobs. Rampage has done and said some other hilarious things during this season and he continues to be the comic relief. He also demolished a door in the training facility (the Random YouTube Video for today).

I am no longer content watching the Ultimate Fighter and it needs to get better or else it will cease to be my Wednesday show which believe me Dana White does not want. My readership is MASSIVE and if I stop watching no doubt you all will too. I hold the power and hopefully by boycotting next season or maybe even the rest of this season White will get the message.

Only 2 more months til LOST.

Random YouTube Video

No comments: