LAS VEGAS -- Sports vs. entertainment. That's a line that becomes a little blurry when it comes to The Ultimate Fighter.
Anyone who watched Season 8 knows what I'm talking about. Yet beyond the pranks, the flying glass, the "yellow liquid" consumed -- and we're not talking beer -- there were actually enough great displays of mixed martial arts skill to keep it in line with what made the
show what it is.
Lest the UFC brass forget that TUF reality show was key in making MMA the popular sport it is today, the culmination of this particular season goes down with the finale Saturday night here in Las Vegas at the cozy Pearl at The Palms. And it presents a different animal than most UFC fight cards.
For one, it's held at a much more intimate venue than say MGM Grand (which can hold over 14,000). The Pearl only seats about 1,000 for MMA events and the UFC continues to hold all the TUF finales there because of an already-established deal with The Palms. That obviously means there's a little less buzz. On the other hand, it's free on TV (watch it on Sportsnet tonight!)
But a major difference with these TUF fight events is the content. For those who don't watch the reality show, the card is filled with a bunch of nobodies (apart from a couple bouts, one involving our own blogger Jason MacDonald).
However, if you do watch the show, then the finale presents some
Match-ups that are perhaps even more intriguing than what you get on
your run-of-the-mill UFC card. Because you get to see the culmination
of the efforts of the fighters you've gotten to know week after week.
You get to see how they may have improved their skills over the six months between the end of taping and the finale. You get to see how they may have adjusted to anything they learned from their TUF coaches, in this case Frank Mir or Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
You get to see how the very erratic Junie Browning went from hoping to get kicked off, to acting cocky and confident, to saying he's done as a MMA fighter -- "Maybe I'll flips burgers," he said -- to now fighting on the main card with an opportunity to make the UFC.
And there's the entertainment aspect again. Browning is probably the most hated participant ever to grace the TUF confines -- for fellow housemates and fans combined. (One of my Sportsnet colleagues asked me if I could punch Junie in the face for him.) While that isn't going to happen, it will be interesting to see what does occur when Browning enters the cage for the first "official" time. How will the crowd react? How will he approach the fight? What will he say afterward?
Because you have to wonder how much of his hijinks were just for show. Since he was knocked off in the semi-finals, he hooked up with Xtreme Couture and from what I hear, he has been training hard.
But that's enough about Browning. Let's talk about the very worthy fighters who are competing for The Ultimate Fighter crown. These guys also face an interesting "sports vs. entertainment" dilemma.
Yes, the most important thing on their minds is a chance at a "six-figure contract" and guaranteed spot in the UFC. So it's win, baby, win, any way possible. But this is also the best opportunity they'll have to establish a name for themselves as a true MMA sports athlete able to handle all the pressure of fighting in front of a live crowd. Almost paradoxically, this means they probably don't want to win ugly.
That's something Ryan Bader talked about on a conference call on Thursday.
"You have to be exciting (because) you know people are going to want to tune in to watch that," Bader said. "They don't want to watch ... somebody laying (sic) on somebody else and I realize that."
One more worth noting. Because a number of the fighters are young and just embarking on their MMA careers, they come in with different approaches and sometimes new techniques not seen before. Mir referred to that on Thursday.
"Vinny Magalhaes, he does moves that I haven't seen," Mir said of his pupil who is fighting for the light-heavyweight crown. "The other day
I had him in a omoplata and he stuck me in a triangle. That's not basic. That's weird you know it's a little athletic and that was what the statement was."
After months of watching guys walk the line between being entertainers and mixed martial arts fighters, Saturday they get the chance to make a statement whether they're in the sport to stay.
NOTES: Speaking of sports vs. entertainment, a fight from
Wednesday's Fight for the Troops card made showbiz headlines, but for a reason one person wished weren't the case.
Celebrity gossip site TMZ.com and irreverent pop culture/sports site
WithLeather.com both had stories about Corey Hill's gruesome tibia-fibula snap suffered when his leg met sharply that of Dale Hartt. They include video footage of the break as well as still shots for the not-so-faint of heart.
Going one step further the TMZ show lead off with a story on Thursday night, showing not only the break itself but the reactions of numerous people from all over the country as they watched it on YouTube (where it received enormous amounts of hits) for the first time. Can you say, "Oooooooh!"
