Comments on: TUFest of the TUF http://www.mmaopinion.com/blog/2008/09/26/tufest-of-the-tuf/ MMA Opinion and Cheap MMA Gear Sat, 17 Mar 2012 15:45:02 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Matthew O'Connell http://www.mmaopinion.com/blog/2008/09/26/tufest-of-the-tuf/comment-page-1/#comment-2573 Matthew O'Connell Sat, 27 Sep 2008 08:26:28 +0000 http://www.mmaopinion.com/?p=1125#comment-2573 I actually enjoyed season 4 the comeback a lot I thought the idea was good and the choice of characters also. I didn't know who half of them were because after watching the first few UFCs from the first onwards I wasn't able to see anymore. I'm a Brit and until the internet was up to scratch and people were uploading UFC shows there was no chance of seeing them. The first 8 UFCs were released on VHS in the UK, years back, and after, the supply dried up. Unless you ordered them from them US that is and it was expensive to do so back then. Anyway back to the topic at hand. Season 4 was great. I identified with the fighters more and enjoyed the team camaraderie. Serra shone not only as the winner but as the central character revealing himself in a way that established fighters don't usually do unless they've been through that house. Season one was good and I watched it this year along with the other seasons for the first time for the same reason I wrote above. I started following the seasons on a weekly basis in the middle of season 5 with Pulver and BJ. I liked it although even though, including Diaz, the fighters didn't stand out much for me and season 6 was worse. I don't like Danzig and he came across as a real twat during the show. It also gave me great pleasure when Speers was eventually destroyed by Johnson as he was also overrated and a symbol of a weak cast. The latest season was more of the same. Including much more fighting was great yet at the same time something was lost. I think they need to make the show more human again so that viewers can connect with another side of the fighters and not only their stupid drunkenness, which most people seem fed up with anyway. They could focus on more of the team, group aspects of the interaction when training for example and...dare I say it...they could bring back some challenges. Yes, I mean it. Not the stupid ones that featured in the first season like cutting up logs. Instead challenges related to martial arts. They could have the students roll with the teachers as a challenge or test scientifically who can punch or kick the hardest. Just a thought. I actually enjoyed season 4 the comeback a lot I thought the idea was good and the choice of characters also. I didn’t know who half of them were because after watching the first few UFCs from the first onwards I wasn’t able to see anymore. I’m a Brit and until the internet was up to scratch and people were uploading UFC shows there was no chance of seeing them. The first 8 UFCs were released on VHS in the UK, years back, and after, the supply dried up. Unless you ordered them from them US that is and it was expensive to do so back then.
Anyway back to the topic at hand. Season 4 was great. I identified with the fighters more and enjoyed the team camaraderie. Serra shone not only as the winner but as the central character revealing himself in a way that established fighters don’t usually do unless they’ve been through that house.
Season one was good and I watched it this year along with the other seasons for the first time for the same reason I wrote above. I started following the seasons on a weekly basis in the middle of season 5 with Pulver and BJ. I liked it although even though, including Diaz, the fighters didn’t stand out much for me and season 6 was worse. I don’t like Danzig and he came across as a real twat during the show. It also gave me great pleasure when Speers was eventually destroyed by Johnson as he was also overrated and a symbol of a weak cast.
The latest season was more of the same. Including much more fighting was great yet at the same time something was lost. I think they need to make the show more human again so that viewers can connect with another side of the fighters and not only their stupid drunkenness, which most people seem fed up with anyway. They could focus on more of the team, group aspects of the interaction when training for example and…dare I say it…they could bring back some challenges. Yes, I mean it. Not the stupid ones that featured in the first season like cutting up logs. Instead challenges related to martial arts. They could have the students roll with the teachers as a challenge or test scientifically who can punch or kick the hardest. Just a thought.

]]> By: b.d.w. http://www.mmaopinion.com/blog/2008/09/26/tufest-of-the-tuf/comment-page-1/#comment-2572 b.d.w. Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:08:28 +0000 http://www.mmaopinion.com/?p=1125#comment-2572 CURTIS. you hit the nail on the head with griffen/bonner being the #1 moment. legend has it that spike had not even decided to renew tuf for a 2nd season, even with the good ratings, and a new deal was struck right after the griffen/bonnar fight in the back alley of the hard rock. i know this is probably an overstatment, but that fight might be the single most important fight in mma history to date. i enjoyed your whole analysis and agree with everything. off topic, ive read that dream is in a bit of trouble and i would love to see most of their great lws in the ufc, if they cant succeed in japan. i know it sounds like a gimmick, but a tuf with dream's lw's would be awesome imo and would make the non-hardcore u.s fans more aware of them. CURTIS. you hit the nail on the head with griffen/bonner being the #1 moment. legend has it that spike had not even decided to renew tuf for a 2nd season, even with the good ratings, and a new deal was struck right after the griffen/bonnar fight in the back alley of the hard rock. i know this is probably an overstatment, but that fight might be the single most important fight in mma history to date. i enjoyed your whole analysis and agree with everything. off topic, ive read that dream is in a bit of trouble and i would love to see most of their great lws in the ufc, if they cant succeed in japan. i know it sounds like a gimmick, but a tuf with dream’s lw’s would be awesome imo and would make the non-hardcore u.s fans more aware of them.

]]> By: Josh Stein http://www.mmaopinion.com/blog/2008/09/26/tufest-of-the-tuf/comment-page-1/#comment-2571 Josh Stein Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:04:04 +0000 http://www.mmaopinion.com/?p=1125#comment-2571 Favorite moments... I would have to say the Lutter vs. Cote fight is up there. I thought Cote was a huge favorite going into that fight, but Travis Lutter is such a submission machine and he put on a clinic. Also, the challenges out in the desert during the first season. One of the things that made that show great to watch was the fact that they pushed the athleticism, and then allowed to fighters to prove, in the cage, that athleticism isn't everything. In terms of TUF performance, I think Ed Herman should be remembered, though his UFC career has not been so well established. He was the one warrior from Team Shamrock that made good on his promise to go to the finals, and he did it without the help of his coach. Favorite moments… I would have to say the Lutter vs. Cote fight is up there. I thought Cote was a huge favorite going into that fight, but Travis Lutter is such a submission machine and he put on a clinic.

Also, the challenges out in the desert during the first season. One of the things that made that show great to watch was the fact that they pushed the athleticism, and then allowed to fighters to prove, in the cage, that athleticism isn’t everything.

In terms of TUF performance, I think Ed Herman should be remembered, though his UFC career has not been so well established. He was the one warrior from Team Shamrock that made good on his promise to go to the finals, and he did it without the help of his coach.

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