It was no secret that a big announcement was expected tonight during the Ultimate Fighter finale. Could it be a CBS television deal? More UFC 79/80/81 fights? Fedor vs. Couture? No more crying in the octagon during victory speeches? More Liddell vs. Silva commercials? We have been asking for those, haven’t we?
After being shocked by Roger Huerta during the main event, I was hoping for some good news to shake up the UFC and it’s overall “expected” performances (see UFC 78 and tonight). To be honest, it was a tad better than I hoped. At least the Koppenhaver/Rollins fight was exciting when I was expecting a lopsided bout. Everything else aside from the main event was just plain. Mac Danzig won. We knew that 12 weeks ago.
Apparently Mr. White says the next Ultimate Fighter season is going to be “different.” Also, one of the coaches will be Ultimate Fighter Season One winner Forrest Griffin. You can find out who the second coach is by watching the Video Game Awards on Spike TV on Sunday night at 9PM EST.
So what does it all mean? Apparently the UFC has heard our cries for change. The Ultimate Fighter has gotten bland over the past couple seasons and it’s easy to understand why. The fighters are isolated, the drama isn’t really dramatic at all, and the ratings are dropping due to the overall production of the show.
I’m hoping the other coach is Stephan Bonnar. I hope it’s not Rampage, but many sources are pointing towards the outspoken light-heavyweight champ and it would make sense from past shows.
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December 9th, 2007 at 12:25 am
Seems almost like a foregone conclusion that it’s rampage when Dana called Forrest the number one contender and that he would be fighting the other coach. I can’t see any way the UFC would call him the the top contender and then have him fight anyone other than the champ but we’ll wait until it’s official.
December 9th, 2007 at 1:01 am
Yes, Rampage, but I’m curious why you’d want it to be Stephan Bonner. Not that it’s a horrible idea, because they have a fun dynamic and both are TUF alums, but they’ve had a second fight, and Forrest is so far ahead of Bonner right now. Not only that, they’re training partners at Xtreme Couture. I’d think Bonner wouldn’t take the fight for the sake of his career continuing upward, unlike Rich Franklin odd new path of needing the champ to lose to get a big fight.