It occurs to me that most of you haven’t seen my argument that The Ultimate Fighter is suffering because of the lack of house shenanigans, even if hard-core fans would hate to hear that. Here it is:
The Ultimate Fighter: It’s the stupid reality, stupid … | Popdose.
The idiosyncrasies of the new TUF format are truly coming home to roost.
Basically, we’re not yet through the first full round of competition. And we’ve completely run out of time to show what’s happening in the house.
The last three weeks are packed. Two quarterfinals May 11. Two more May 18. Then the semifinals May 25. And because it’s live, we don’t know how long the fights will last. They have to allow 15-20 minutes per quarterfinal and devote the entire May 25 episode to the semis.
If we get another Koscheck-Leben blowup or a Junie Browning meltdown, they’ll have to rush right through it. At this point, there’s no point to keeping these guys in the house.
We’ve seen fighters cry. We’ve seen fighters in the shower accused of doing something unclean in there. We’ve seen Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock left alone in a room with a camera crew for what seemed like hours.
Last week, we saw the most awkward scene in the history of The Ultimate Fighter.
Everyone’s surely sick of hearing me talk about touting Ronda Rousey as a future MMA star a few years ago. I never dreamed she would be this successful this quickly. I also never dreamed she would embrace the role of MMA sexpot. Oh, the Octagon Girls still get their share of attention, but Rousey is now the Mae West of MMA.
Yes, I’m a little late with last week’s recap. And yes, the headline is a shoutout to The Mr. Men Show.
But I’ve also decided that recaps aren’t really getting it done in this new live era. The Ultimate Fighter is no longer a soap opera that evolves through the weeks, with storylines carefully laid out by the editors and producers. It’s more like an ant farm. We check in once a week to see what’s changed.
And so far, the answer is “not much.”
The only fighters getting consistent screen time are Mike Chiesa, for his good sense of humor and tearful evocations of his late father, and Chris Tickle, who alternately annoys and amuses everyone. Mike Rio sometimes gets a moment on screen so we can see how his knee is progressing or how he has decided to teach young whippersnapper Justin Lawrence a lesson in humility.
The rest of the prefight time each episode is devoted to introducing the fighters who will be squaring off live. But we don’t learn much. They’re dialing up the tragic pasts — absent parents, street fights and so forth. That sort of thing loses its impact when you’ve also been watching The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil, where one guy took his mattress outside because he couldn’t get comfortable in such a fancy house.
Most of the fighters seem like good guys. Last week, Joe Proctor laughed heartily when he walked into a Tickle prank, the classic water-bucket-over-the-door trick (give Tickle a 9.8 on the execution). Then he beat Tickle handily while never lapsing into a moment of bad sportsmanship. The other thing to know about Proctor: He trains with and sounds like Bostonian Joe Lauzon.
One twist of the live format — the house and gym are no longer quite as isolated as they’ve been in the past. Most fighters are on Twitter …
http://storify.com/duresport/tuf-live-tweets.js[View the story “TUF Live Tweets” on Storify]
And John Cofer, who’s fighting this week, is active on Facebook. The fighters do seem aware of what’s been said in the outside world, which explains why Proctor urged Tickle’s haters to back off a bit after their fight last week.
Tickle’s haters may not like it, but he has emerged as the most compelling personality in the house. He learned a lot of MMA the way Evan Tanner did — through video. (Imagine Evan Tanner in the YouTube era.) He took it upon himself to roast a turkey for housemates to celebrate Easter.
And we’re not getting compelling stuff from Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber. These guys should hire Bisping and Mayhem to do their talking for them. Or at least define “shark contest.” (Yes, I Googled it. Nothing.)
Faber leads 3-2, but he’s running out of top fighters. This week, he’s sending John Cofer against fellow sixth-round pick Vinc Pichel. The only Faber fighters remaining are his last two picks. Cruz still has second-rounder Sam Sicilia and fourth-rounder Mike Rio to go.
And this will be Episode 7. The timetable gets rather compressed from here. We have to eliminate 14 fighters in 12 weeks before the June 1 finale. Will the finalists have anything left?
Which ’80s comedy movie villain is Dominick Cruz? It’s driving me crazy because he really dials it up this week. He tries to get Sam Sicilia to narc on his good friend and training partner Michael Chiesa, figuring that a good betrayal on top of a guy’s dad passing away would be a good thing. Then he plays doctor, diagnosing Chris Tickle’s foot.
It’s really amazing how TUF coaches fancy themselves as doctors. More than once, a coach has said a guy is faking, only to find out later that something really serious has happened.
Chiesa apparently will be fighting one of his roommates. But he’s easygoing about it, as he is with nearly everything. “As long as you don’t reach out in your sleep and strangle me,” Chiesa tells Jeremy Larsen.
After Cruz gets on Tickle’s case again, possibly with some justification this time, he tells us he knew Larsen growing up. They drifted apart later, but they seem to have good rapport now.
For the first time since the premiere, I’m actually watching live. Tonight’s fight is Myles Jury (Cruz) vs. Al Iaquinta (Faber), and because no one already knows the outcome, we have fight odds. Jury is a huge favorite, even though Iaquinta is Faber’s No. 1 pick. This could easily be a semifinal matchup.
Long recap of last week, with everyone agreeing that jiu-jitsu expert Cristiano Ronaldo, er, Marcello should have tried some jiu-jitsu against Justin Lawrence. The stand-up battle did not go his way.
Flea’s bass line kicks in, and the opening credits are underway.
We cut immediately to Dominick Cruz bragging. People seem to like that. I don’t understand it. But I’m old. I don’t understand the kids today. I always though Urijah Faber was the cool and hip one, but maybe I’m biased because he’s a much better interview than Cruz. Or because Faber looks like the cool surfer dude and Cruz looks like an 80s movie villain.
I have time to muse on all this because … nothing’s happening. Team Cruz is happy. Team Faber is disappointed. Iaquinta is confident.
The opening is unfamiliar. As with the season opener last week, we have Jon Anik’s voice introducing us live, even though we’re going to have 45 minutes of reality TV first. Then it’s a ponderous intro explaining the new format in vivid detail. Dana White nearly falls out of a chair.
The usual theme music is gone. The graphics have changed. It barely looks like TUF.
We see the fighters going to the house late at night, probably just after the live broadcast last week, and immediately racing to choose beds.
Michael Chiesa is excited to have a place to live rent-free. Jeremy Larsen thinks it’s like a first date — everybody’s on their best behavior. Still drinking a bit, of course, but no house shenanigans. We go straight back to the gym for the draft.
Since the UFC was kind enough to send a press release with records and hometowns, I’ll include that in the draft roundup along with a couple of reminders of who’s who:
Faber practices first, and everyone loves him and each other. Cruz’s session gets a timestamp for Saturday — early TUF episodes would say “Day 13” and so forth, but that was phased out. This is new.
Tickle is an interesting situation. He’s apparently a buddy of Faber’s who figured he’d be on Faber’s team. Cruz knew that. But after 12 picks, Cruz was sick of waiting. Faber looked stunned. Tickle was irritated that he didn’t go earlier.
And then Cruz decides to test Tickle right away, throwing him in a grappling session with top pick Lawrence. He takes it well and manages to bond a bit with his team.
Off to fight selection. Faber won the coin toss and chose the first fight instead of the first pick. That’s not a bad idea. Setting the matchups can lead to a long run of wins. But I’ve already seen the result here, so I know Faber botched the pick.
And first, Faber says his dad called and said Cruz is a bold-faced liar. “There’s some UFC magazine saying my parents gave me a gym.” Faber denies such a thing and is pissed that Cruz brought up “family.” Cruz says he won’t bring up family and apologizes to Faber’s parents. It’s one of the least interesting debates in TUF coaching history.
Fight pick: Vick vs. Cruickshank. Faber thinks Vick lost his prelim fight, so it’ll be an easy win for Cruickshank.
Then comes the shocker.
Chiesa, the easygoing guy with the tangled hair and beard, says he was at practice getting warmed up when Faber told him he had to call his mom. He surely knows it’s not good news. He retreats to a dressing room and learns that his father has passed away.
He struggles through a confessional, saying his dad has been fighting AML, a form of cancer.
Chiesa says he had promised his dad he would stay on the show. But he tells his mom he’ll see what his options are. Faber goes in to comfort him and says in confessional he hopes he’ll stay.
Back at the house, Chiesa calls Sam Sicilia over. They’re training partners. They barely get in the house before Chiesa breaks down and chokes out the words that his father passed away. Sicilia is emotional in his own confessional.
Sicilia stresses the positive — his dad got to see him fight and win on national TV.
After an ad break, we get another Anik voiceover reminding us about the fight coming up. It’s a little jarring given what’s going on in the episode.
Timestamp: Monday. Chiesa goes in to meet with Dana White. They agree that he’ll go home to see his family and attend the funeral, then return. Maybe it’s cliche, but it’s what his dad wanted.
We meet Vick. He grew up poor and takes fighting very seriously. Strategically, Cruz wants him to stay busy so he doesn’t fall prey to Cruickshank’s takedowns. But Cruz also gives him a grappling crash course with the help of Lloyd Irvin, whose team and supporters typically deafen fans at DC-area MMA cards. Enthusiastic folks.
Cruickshank: “Some people are born fighters and some are raised fighters. I’d say I’m both.” His parents have martial arts backgrounds. Faber is training him to defend specific submissions that Vick might try. A little strange considering that Cruickshank says Vick considers himself a boxer.
Cruickshank seems overconfident. But we know the producers aren’t telegraphing anything because the fight is live.
Chiesa returns. He found out that his dad hung on to see him fight last week, then rapidly declined a few hours later.
Weigh-in: Thursday 4 p.m. That’s Pacific time, so we know the editors have had a little more than 24 hours to put this together. Ogle says Cruickshank has been kickboxing since he was born and will be going for KO of the season.
Again — we have to remind ourselves that the producers are not telegraphing things. We have no idea if the overconfident fighter is getting come-uppance.
“And we welcome you live,” Jon Anik says. Backstage with Cruz and Vick, then Faber and Cruickshank.
Vick is the tallest fighter in the competition at 6-3, Anik tells us. They offer up “keys to victory,” and Vick’s are to use his reach and keep his back off the fence. Cruickshank needs to control the center of the cage and push the pace.
Cruickshank charges in with uppercut. Vick high kick. Cruickshank spins. Vick charges. Curickshank leg kick, then spinning back kick, then charges for a takedown.
And Vick knocks him out cleanly with a knee.
Vick and team celebrate. Then the camera gets close into the huddle around Cruickshank, where referee Herb Dean is telling him to relax. He got caught. Fight’s over.
The official word: knockout, 2:16 into the round. Anik comes in to do a postfight interview. Vick says his knee was supposed to be a kick, but it worked out pretty well.
Anik also talks with Cruickshank. “What happened at the end of the fight?” “I don’t remember too much,” he says with a smile. The smile fades when Anik asks if it’ll be tough to stay focused for the next 12 weeks. Yes, 12 weeks in the house and the gym, with no chance of fighting again unless someone gets hurt. Reality has set in.
Back from the break, Anik talks with Dana, who says Faber underestimated Vick. Then Dana walks across the gym, like Stephen Colbert going for an interview, to do the fight picks.
Cruz throws everyone a curve. He calls up No. 1 pick Justin Lawrence, then says Faber can pick whichever guy he wants. Dana says he’s never seen that before. Faber jokes, “Shall we do the finals now?” Then he tentatively asks his team who’s ready to scrap. No one is. Faber asks Lawrence to make a pick, and he takes Marcello.
So things are off to a pretty bad start for Faber. But Chiesa’s week puts that in perspective.
Duresport.com 