THE CANADIAN PRESS
After a so-so Season 13 of "The Ultimate Fighter," it looks like the reality TV show has gone back to basics.
Focus on the fights.
At least, that’s the thrust of the two-hour opening — titled Scrappers — to Season 14 that aired Wednesday night.
UFC president Dana White has acknowledged the show erred in getting away from staging elimination fights to determine the final cast.
Season 14 remedies that, with 16 bouts featuring bantamweights (145 pounds) and featherweights (135) for the first time.
The bar is immediately raised as the fighters walk into the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas rather than the more modest UFC Training Centre
"I want you to feel it," says White, noting the fight banners hanging overhead.
After a brief pep talk from the UFC boss, it’s straight into the fights in the empty arena. And they don’t disappoint with producers stacking the order to lead up with a bang.
Bantamweight Josh Ferguson disposes of Casey Dyer in just 14 seconds, living up to the pre-fight hype of his overhand right.
Featherweight Diego Brandao, out of Greg Jackson’s gym in Albuquerque, then KO’s Jesse Newell inside of a minute courtesy of a left hook to the head followed by a flying forearm smash to the jaw.
"Look at that dude’s face," White whispers after Newell gets back to his feet.
"This is going to be a nasty season," he adds.
The hits keep coming as bantamweight John Dodson needs less than 90 seconds to stop Brandon Merkt, taking the fight out of him with a crushing body shot.
B.J. Ferguson, Josh’s brother, falls victim to the nasty jiu-jitsu of Winnipeg bantamweight Roli Delorme.
"I’m coming out to take his head off," says Delorme.
The Canadian brown belt settles for a triangle choke and a first-round win.
"This was basically a jiu-jitsu clinic," says an appreciative White.
Bantamweight Johnny Bedford — "seven years in this sport fighting for peanuts, man, trying to make it" — chokes out Carson Beebe in the first round. Beebe’s older brother Chase was a former WEC champion.
Featherweight Micah Miller, younger brother of UFC lightweight Cole Miller and a WEC veteran himself, also loses — to Steven Siler.
Eight fights are shown in their entirety before the show opts to use highlights.
Other winners are bantamweights John Albert, T.J. Dillashaw, Dustin Pague, and green-haired Louis Gaudinot and featherweights Stephen Bass, Dennis Bermudez, Marcus Brimage, Bryan Caraway, Akira Corassani and Dustin Neace.
The final count is eight KOs, five submissions and three decisions.
"I’m overly impressed," says White.
Adds coach Michael Bisping: "Every single fight was explosive … The guys looked like fighters. They looked like UFC fighters."
Corassani looks to be an early contender for one of the season’s biggest characters and egos.
"My fighting style is unique," says the tattooed Swede, who celebrates his win by spraying water at coach Jason (Mayhem) Miller. "It’s my art. People use their brush or their instrument to create art. I entertain people with my brutal style."
The fights are the star of this show, with few sparks between middleweights Miller and Bisping. The season is young, however, and neither man is exactly a shrinking violet.
The teaser to future episodes hints of no shortage of practical jokes, with mules, mariachi bands and a fire extinguisher prominent.
Season 14 also ups the ante by having fans vote on the best knockout, submission and fight throughout the show, with each award worth US$25,000.
This season marks the last on Spike TV. The series will then switch to FX, with White telling a news conference Wednesday in Denver that the FX series will have a weekly live component.
