By. James McDaniel

The seventh season of The Ultimate Fighter began with a look back at highlights of past TUFs including not only the successes (Rashad, Forrest, Koschek, etc…) but also the failures or, according to UFC President Dana White, “the pussies.”

This season’s crop of fighters, all Middleweights (171-185) walked into the UFC training center in absolute awe of their surroundings. The aforementioned awe turned to a sense of confusion as more guys showed up. Then as even more guys (32 in all) piled in, the fighters began to get a little freaked out. It was obvious to everyone in the building that with that many guys, something was up.

We may have an instant personality in fighter Jeremiah Riggs who sounded as if he hailed from the heart of Appalachia and was brought up fighting both the Hatfields and the McCoys.

At this point Dana came onto the scene grinning like the Cheshire cat, introduced Forrest and Rampage and immediately lit into a fantastic speech centered on his hatred of “pussies & posers” who take a deserving fighter’s spot on the show and then quit for either no good reason, or for cake. Okay, I added the part about the cake. According to Dana this had been the one big problem on the show and “I found the fucking solution to the problem.” Here it was, if these guys wanted to be on TUF, they would have to fight their way onto the show. The ensuing moment was summed up best in the eloquent words of coach Rampage Jackson: “I think some of [the fighters] crapped their pants. I smelt’ it.”

Weigh-ins would be in 24 hours and fights in 48.

In past years each coach would take the 16 fighters and evaluate their skills based on group workouts. This year the first round of fights will be the evaluation as Dana, Forrest and Rampage will be cage side, taking notes.

Next we got a quick montage of fighters in various states of undress along with snippets of talk about weight cutting and different fighters weighing in both literally, and with their opinion of the new format. John Wood seemed to think that it sucked that he had to actually FIGHT to be on TUF. Contrast that with “Appalachia” Jeremiah Riggs who said he didn’t need 24 hours notice to fight. He would do it in one. As for the literal weigh-ins, no one missed weight despite one man having to cut 17 pounds.

On with the fights:

Prince McLean (5-4) vs. Mike Dolce (4-4)

Though Prince is 5-4, he walked into TUF on a 4 fight losing streak. Dolce came in extremely confident and I believe is fighting out of Jorge Gurgel’s camp in Ohio. There was a lot of dancing around in the beginning, Prince threw a kick that was caught by Dolce, Dolce landed a huge left, and sprang on top of the fallen McLean…man, that really sounds like a sandwich. In any case, Dolce picked up Prince and slammed him and moved to side control. Prince managed to get up and was immediately knocked out. WAY out. One of the best aspects of the fight was that Dana, Rampage and Forrest were, as mentioned before, all at ringside, all mic’d and all bantering throughout. As expected, Prince was heartbroken. The fact that these men gave up so much to be on the show and stood to lose so much from day one gives the show an added weight that was not there in the early stages of previous seasons.

Cale Yarbrough (0-0) vs. John Clarke (6-2) Cale is the youngest and most inexperienced fighter on the show, and Clarke was the guy who had to drop 17 pounds. Cale indicated that he would like to draw the fight out to take advantage of Clarke’s weight cut, in so much as he hoped he would gas.

Forrest indicated early that Cale was his friend but that this was the worst possible match up for him.

Cale came out with leg kicks and looked to be significantly smaller than his opponent. Clarke shot and Cale pulled guard. Clarke laid in a numerous punches to the back of the head of Yarbrough who, other than the aforementioned guard, appeared to have ZERO Jiu Jitsu. The two men rolled into a choke, Cale stood up, immediately found himself on the business end of a german suplex and yet somehow, when all was said and done, found himself in top position. Cale got caught in an armbar, showed some toughness holding on, escaped the hold and stood up. Cale began throwing punch after punch to a still kneeling Clarke. Cale’s corner screamed for him to let Clarke up, but luckily Clarke’s tank was completely empty as the fight was stopped seconds later due to strikes.

Cale Yarbrough appears to be a tough, smart, unskilled fighter who won due to mental toughness, a good game plan, and a dumbass cutting too much weight too quickly.

Amir Sadollah (0-0) vs. Steve Byrnes (6-1)

Before the fight it was revealed that Steve Byrnes lost a decision at Ultimate Fight Night 7, so he is no stranger to the UFC.

Amir came out with high front kicks, Brynes shot, Amir sprawled. Amir demonstrated GREAT takedown defense until Byrnes finally, after numerous attempts, Byrnes slammed him. Byrne had half mount but then Amir, who seemed to be really flexible, pulled full guard. Amir did a really good job, from the bottom, at nullifying Byrnes offense despite the fact that he came up bleeding slightly from the nose. Amir flipped the ituation around and was on top in full guard when he got caught in an armbar lifting Byrnes off the ground twice before escaping. Byrnes came out on top and was almost caught in a triangle, took some punishment, got out and ended the round on top delivering hammer fists.

It was a close round, but Dana and the coaches think Amir came out on top.

Amir began round two with a high kick, superman punch, a knee, and was immediately taken down. Byrnes got his back at first, but Amir ended up on top laying in blows. The two men stood up with Amir getting the better of the stand up. At this point Byrnes was gassed and yet still getting take downs. Forget what I said about Amir’s takedown defense. Then came the craziest try attempt at a gogoplata that I have ever seen, with Amir finally coming out on top and again laying in blows. Amir got full mount, Steve gave him his back, and Amir just let him out, for no apparent reason. Finally on top and in guard Amir slapped on a tight armbar and finished the fight. Amir’s victory celebration consisted of his running and jumping into a sitting position on top of the cage and, exhausted, immediately slipping and falling HARD to the mat.

It was a strange, hard fought, back and forth battle that got 5 stars not only for the fall off the cage, but for the fact that once he could stand up again, Amir immediately broke into the robot.

For the sake of brevity this match was followed with highlights from several others.

David Baggett vs. CB Dolloway

CB came out with a big leg kick and knee, a nice throw, and an immediate ground and pound victory. An impressive victory that, as Forrest pointed out, was so quick and decisive that the judges did not have much to go on when it came to grading his skills.

Dante Rivera vs. John Wood

Dante got a quick takedown, picked Wood up took him to his own corner with a big slam, and finished him with a Kimura against the fence. Rampage was impressed with Dante’s strength, his just taking his opponent by force to his corner, and the fact that this was the first time Quentin ever saw a kimura off the cage.

No wonder John Wood wasn’t pleased at having to fight his way onto the show.

Nick Klein vs. David Mewborn

David is a friend of Forrest, was immediately taken down, pounded and choked out with an arm triangle.

Paul Bradley vs. Reggie Orr

We were immediately told that this was a terrible fight. Bradley got the immediate takedown and apparently gave Orr a good string 10 minute humping. Dana made it clear that he hates that fighting style and obviously cannot wait for this man to lose.

Dave Roberts (4-5) vs. Jeremy May (6-5)

Dave Roberts is an old friend of Rampage and even wrestled with Quentin in high school. The match began as a battle of leg kicks, May followed with some sharp punches, Dave tied May up briefly on the fence, but just ended up getting punched some more. Dave got the takedown but may quickly laid in an armbar for the submission victory. Rampage was really disappointed as he not only wanted his friend around for camaraderie, but says he really wanted him to win the whole thing.

So here we are, 8 fights down and 8 scheduled for next week.

I really think Dana and the boys at Zuffa are onto something with this new format. In recent years TUF has started the season with strong numbers that seem to fall off a bit each week. The past few seasons Spike TV, in a misguided attempt to draw ratings, has saddled the show with goofy fighters with little to no experience; fighters that have, to many, damaged the shows credibility as well as it’s ability to make new stars. This new 32 man fight concept should knock out both of these issues at once, as Dana can match up the goofs with his top guys so as to knock them out before the show even starts, and viewers will be drawn in by the constant action of 16 fights in the first two shows.

All in all, Forrest Griffin, Rampage Jackson, and a distinct lack of goofs should make for an exciting season ahead.

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