Last night was the much anticipated season premiere of Spike’s The Ultimate Fighter. This season features coaches Rashad Evans and Rampage Jackson as well as 16 heavyweights that include 4 former NFL players and legendary street brawler Kimbo Slice. Although its too early to tell if the season will live up to its billing as the best season of TUF yet, it did cap a night of great MMA.
The season started with the two enemy coaches Rashad Evans and Rampage Jackson talking in the TUF gym while waiting for the fighters to arrive. Listening to them banter had me thinking that their feud is a put on, a charade to amp up anticipation for the season and for their fight. They playfully taunt each other until the fighters walk in, each of them bigger than the next. And in typical Dana White dramatic fashion, only 15 of the seasons 16 fighters enter the room. Dana announces that the last fighter is someone that everyone knows and someone that he has talked a lot of shit about. Rampage guesses its Tank Abbott and I wonder if that went over any of the other 15 heavyweights heads. But alas, in walks Kimbo Slice.
A face only a mother could love.
After brief moments of the guys training its time for the coaches to make their picks. Rashad won the coin toss and elects to pick the first fight, thus Rampage gets the first pick. Rampage had made no secret that not only would he pick Kimbo first, but that he was convinced Kimbo already had what it took to compete and didnt need to alter his style much (Im wondering if Rampage missed his brief encounter with Seth Petruzelli on national TV). Following that pick, it pretty much goes like this. Rampage picks the biggest dude available, and Rashad picks who he believes to be the most talented fighter available. Obviously its too early to tell which strategy will work, but I will say this, my money is on Rashad's guys.
Rampage has the opportunity to pick the first two fights and he decides to put one of his inexperienced fighters, Abe Wagner, against an unassuming, yet experienced wrestler John Madsen. Rashad claims this is a huge mistake and 2 rounds later, we see that Rashad couldn't have been more correct.
The first round could be summed up like this. Bell rings. Madsen shoots. Abe crumbles without resistance. Madsen destroys his skull. Blood is everywhere. I call Keith and he thinks that when they come back from commercial, Abe will have bled out and they'll be zipping him up in a body bag. That doesnt seem far off.
The second round could be summed up like this. Exact same as the first round. The only difference in this round is that Rampage stops yelling "get up" and just walks away angrily. In Abe's defense, it was A.) a terrible fight selection for him and B.) some of the worst cornering I have ever heard from coaches. Granted there isnt a lot to tell a guy when he is pinned to the ground, but Im pretty sure "get up" is oversimplifying Abe's quandry a bit.
Its an obvious unanimous decision, and some judges even scored it 20-16, 20-17. Thats bad. On a closer look at Abe's head, you can actually see his brains in the cavernous opening in his skull. Its amazing they let him out for the 2nd round, and its even more amazing he survived it. Rampage is clearly furious with the performance and demands his guys don't touch gloves before any of the fights this season. I have a feeling that he'll need to use that and all of the other motivational tactics he can fathom to win any fights. This could get ugly and even more bloody.
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