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Howdy once again from the Lone Star State with another review of the Ultimate Fighter. It seems like this show hasn’t been on in forever. Usually the series that comes on in the spring is better than the fall installment. With that in mind, this show did not disappoint. In fact, I think it might have been the best debut episode of any season. The show opened with cross promotion with Burger King~! After my cable decided to play nice with me, we come to find out that this season will be in a new house~! All the guys walked in and we automatically got to learn some of their personalities. Basically, Gabe likes to intimidate people and Corey is a crazy guy who likes to talk to himself. Dana attributed all this goofy behavior to the fact all the guys are in the 155 weight class and therefore have some type of “littleman syndrome.” This could be true. I had a friend in college named John who was about 5”1. He was really in to weightlifting and walked around in sleeveless shirts to show his muscles. He always seemed ready to fight and was somewhat confrontational.

Anyways, back to the show. They recapped the history of Jens Pulver and BJ Penn. Basically, history between the two started and ended at UFC 35 where Jens won by decision when everyone thought BJ was unstoppable. This was before we knew BJ liked to train by running up trees and surfing. After a disappointing showing in the welterweight division, young BJ decided to move back to lightweight. Also, he’s still bitter about the loss.

Jens trained all the guys first to see what they had. He trained them pretty good too because BJ came in to train them later in the day and was more than disappointed thinking Jens ran them ragged. He cut off the try-outs early. After training, all the guys interviewed expressed they would rather train with BJ than Jens. Well, I heard BJ is terrific in the gym and Jens is somewhat one-dimensional, predictable even, in his style.

Team selection time. Usually this part of the show is pretty pedestrian but tonight it became one of the best segments in TUF history. Before the selection began, BJ asked the fighters who they would rather be trained by. 10 of the 16 fighters raised their hands in favor of BJ Penn. This pissed off Dana White. The whole process broke down from here because BJ wanted to choose everyone in a group as opposed to one at a time and Dana would have none of it. Dana acted like an adult having to separate two kids as they bickered with one another. Needless to say, great television! After the picks were made, they aired the “BURGER KING TUF standings,” letting us know which fighter was on what team.

Since BJ got first pick for his team, Jens got to pick the first fight. After all this hype for Corey and Gabe to square off, they put together the fight of Cole vs. Allen. Somewhat of a disappoint, really. Corey cut some great promos on Gabe, not to mention all of the weight issues of the latter (he weighed 175).

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see anything before the fight started because my infant daughter had some issues. However, I did manage to see…….

The Fight: Since it started around 9:50, it meant we were in for a short fight, finally! Allen dominated the standing portion and got Cole to the ground. Cole then locked in a guillotine choke but had no luck. He then transitioned to a triangle and got Allen to tap. Pretty textbook fight. Allen then gave the Tank Abbott excuse in that he lost via technique and was healthy rather than injured in a slobberknocker. The only thing he didn’t say to imitate the original Huntington Beach badboy was that “he’s going to the hospital while I’m goin’ to the bar!” All in all, a very entertaining hour.

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