The first episode of The Ultimate Fighter is under the belt, so to speak. Not a bad start. The first episode is usually subdued anyways. The fighters meet at the UFC gym. Dana White gives a speech to remind them of the opportunity they have. Teams get split up between the coaches and they start training. How all this happens always gets tweaked a little bit from season to season.
In past seasons potential competitors fought to see if they would make it in the house. In season 13 the fighters were evaluated before the start of the season. The evaluations were mini training segments. No fights. At the start of this season the final competitors were brought in, got their speech from Dana and then were told that they would not have to fight to get in the house, but would now be evaluated by the coaches. The original evaluations did not have the final coaches for the season. Only Dana White, trainers picked to evaluate and the producers of the show were there to decide. I watched a video of the early evaluations and while interesting in itself I have always loved the fights to get in the house. I found this season's process a little lacking in excitement.
The coaches evaluation was interesting, as you got a sense of the coaches styles. Brock Lesnar focused on testing their cardio/conditioning, while Junior dos Santos put them in sparring scenarios to see what their skills were. What were their strengths? Also, Brock met and interviewed everyone, while Junior, although able to speak English (He is from Brazil) didn't feel he had the fluency with English to make that strategy meaningful.
After evaluations Dana met with the coaches and had them choose the teams. Dana did the traditional coin toss to give one of the coaches their choice of either first pick for the fighter, or to pick the first fight. Brock won the toss and picked the first fighter. Here is a breakdown of the top pick for each team and the final.
Team Lesnar
1st - Len Bentley
7th - Nordin Asrih
Team dos Santos
1st - Shamar Bailey
7th - Keon Caldwell
As usually happens the first picks get the confidence boost, but high expectations from the coaches. While the last picks now have something to prove.
Okay, teams have been chosen, now on to the Vegas mansion that the fighters will call home for the next several weeks. Team Lesnar is stationed on the 2nd floor. Team dos Santos is on the 1st. Everyone is now trying to get comfortable. The best comment during this acclimation was from the resident Brit, Mick Bowman. In wonderful british accent. "Our team will be in one room, the green team (Team Lesnar) will be upstairs in their bedroom. We're not here to make friends, really? Are we? We're here to beat each other up."
Training begins, and early on we find out that TUF has already claimed its first victim. In the coaches evaluation Myles "The Fury" Jury (Team Lesnar) injured his knee. The doctor thought it was fine at the time, but decided to be safe and had X-Rays done. Unfortunately, Myles completely tore his ACL and the back part of the lateral meniscus. Medical opinion-Myles can't fight. Out of the competition, and out of the house before its even begun. Last minute replacement, Chuck O'Neil steps in to fill his shoes.
As Lesnar got to pick the first fighter, dos Santos got to pick the first fight. I personally think its better to pick the first fight, because if you can take control early, and maintain the control you can ride it through a good part of the show. Past coaches have shown that - George St. Pierre, Chuck Liddell & Rashad Evans to name a few. For the first fight dos Santos picks Shamar Bailey (dos Santos first round pick) against Nordin Asrih (Lesnar's last pick). Playing it safe? Most definitely. Shamar is a strong wrestler, and Nordin's only strength is striking.
This was a very one sided fight. Shamar took it to the ground early in the first round and there it stayed. Nordin had zero take down defense and once on the ground a sloppy guard. Shamar was able to pass guard pretty much at will. Nordin was only able to get a couple strikes in from his back and did no damage. In the second round Nordin put himself on his back within the first ten seconds with a wild high kick. Nordin did get a good reversal and almost had Shamar in a guillotine, but after that Shamar was in control, yet again. Shamar got full mount twice, took Nordin's back and had excellent ground and pound in the last 40 seconds. However, Shamar did not take any advantage to finish the fight. He had several openings to attempt submissions, but never took them. Dana White even commented that Shamar basically laid on top of Nordin for five minutes of the first round and then 5 minutes of the second round. "Not the most exciting fight you will ever see, in Ultimate Fighter history."
In his defense, Shamar had this statement. "Our game plan worked in my favor 'cause I didn't show the other team everything that I have in my arsenal. So I do whatever my coaches tell me at this point. Um, I trust them and really happy to be on Team dos Santos."
What did you think of the first fight? Does Shamar have what it takes?
Don't leave it to the judges. Will Shamar show that he can finish a fight, or will all his fights go to decision?
Why aren't these guys wearing masks like the Latino wrestlers do? Those are cool.
ReplyDeleteJust kidding.
Ok let me qualify this by saying not being one that follows the "Sport" so there may be factors I'm not taking into account. That being said, are you kidding me? You'd pass on picking Tiger Woods in his prime, and be ok getting Phil Mickelson just so you could pick which tee box to drive from? My point is that one dominant fighter can win it all for the team, as for the match up that was chosen by Team Los Santos *nod to GTA San Andreas* was chicken $#it. Really? Your best against their worst? just so you don't "Show them anything"? IMO I'd want to see how my best stacks up agaisnt their best, do the majority of your moves that you have done and are available on video, if the opponents are worth anything they better be wathcing tape and studing their opponents moves, tendencies, and weaknesses. Attack them hard, keep some moves secret, but find out their best fighters weaknesses early, expose them and then stratigize and game plan for them, see if you can put them in situations they haven't been in before to see how they respond. Then watch the heck out of that video and game plan more, notice what the opponent did that worked for them and plan defenses around them. But what do I know, I just talk crap from the balcony.
I should have used spell check. Dang it!!! and I'm not sure why I can't get it to register my name. it's me, Clark.
ReplyDeleteThese are definitely strategies that work, but not going to help them for The Ultimate Fighter. These are unknown fighters, so for the most part they don't have videos they can watch. It is also an elimination competition. Team dos Santos wanted to make sure they had their best past the early fight and at least in the semi-finals. Playing it safe also helped ensure Shamar didn't get any injuries he would have to deal with later on. The game plan for The Ultimate Fighter is to eliminate as many of the other team, sweep if possible, and have as many from your own team in the finale. The best strategy has always been to take control of who picks the fights. As long as Team dos Santos keeps winning they can keep control and pick the fights that they feel will eliminate the other team. Then roll into the finale with your fighters, and clinch the victory.
ReplyDeleteIt's smart strategy, just not as exciting as a fight. They now have their fighter with the most potential on to the next level. Shamar won't have to fight until all the rest finish their fights and can focus on training. They also give extra time to train the fighters that they feel have potential, but want the extra training days to prepare for the cage. Then, if they have managed to keep control of the fight selection, they can throw in their worst fighter at the end, as a sacrificial lamb, already with the majority of their team guaranteed in the final matches.
ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz!!! Boring!!! No wonder i don't watch it. lol just kidding. Well that makes sense, thanks for explaining the logic behind it. So it sounds like you get to watch some reality show like drama. And some guys laying on each other trying not to do anything, hmmm. So is this like NBA basketball where you tune in for the last 1:30 of the game to see people actually try to win? Meaning skip watching the entire series until the last match where they are most likely to try?
ReplyDeleteNot really. Though the strategy is to take out the other teams easy fighters. The low hanging fruit if you will. This does not always work as planned. In a cage fight, or any fight for that matter, it is never a foregone conclusion. The under-dog can win. Check out my blog post for episode two, and you will see what I mean.
ReplyDelete