This 13th season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) show brings in phenomenal UFC heavyweight fighters Brock Lesnar (5-2-0) from the Death Clutch Gym and Junior dos Santos (12-1-0) out of Team Nogueira. It begins with Dana White offering a pleasant surprise to the guys, with them not having to fight their way into the house! I think this was a relief to all the fighters, one less step up on the ladder towards winning the show. This also let the viewers skip right to the meat of this season, showcasing the individual fighters, their fighting styles, fight histories, a little about their personalities (heart or ego), and the training sessions both coaches will employ.
During this first episode, the two coaches evaluated the fighters, both to determine their styles and skills, and to pick for their individual teams. Brock chose a cardio (heart rate recovery) method to see who had the best gas tanks, while dos Santos chose a method more geared toward sparring in the Octagon. Junior speaks minimal English, so this might be a limiting factor with training his English speaking team. Nevertheless, both evaluating methods seemed to work, and the coaches had the chance to see which fighters they wanted to select for their respective teams. During the evaluation sessions, Team Lesnar hopeful Myles Jury (9-0-0), who fought in King of the Cage, tore 100% of his ACL, and the doctor confirmed that he couldn’t fight. Dana White explained to Myles and Brock that because he can’t fight, he is finished for this TUF season, but Myles is young and has a promising and bright future, hinting that he will either get another chance for a TUF show, or actually get to join the UFC. Myles was replaced with Chuck O’Neil (8-3-0) on Team Lesnar.
With a coin flip, Brock won the initial fighter pick and chose Charlie Rader (15-4-0) out of Power MMA. Next dos Santos quickly picked wrestler Shamar Bailey (10-3-0) out of Integrated Fighting Academy. Dos Santos chose the first fight. The first fight of the season was Team dos Santos’ Shamar Bailey vs. Team Lesnar’s Norin Asrih (15-6-1), who is TUF’s first fighter from Germany.
In Round 1, Asrih brought Bailey down with Bailey on top, which was not a good idea because Bailey is a very strong wrestler, a similar wrestler to “King Mo” Lawal from Strikeforce. However Asrih was comfortable on the ground, and remained active from underneath Bailey. In Round 2, Asrih immediately attempted a high kick and then fell back to the mat, while Bailey jumped on guard and they both scrambled for dominant position, with Bailey once again ending up on top. Asrih remained active and going for various submissions, but could not secure anything, leading to a decision victory for Bailey.
This episode didn’t leave any time for the usual house drama, but it looks like the next episode will prove different! And this season once again will allow surprise guest fighters into the facility to bring more great training, tips and techniques to the up and coming potential UFC fighters. Each Wednesday night on Spike will bring a new episode of The Ultimate Fighter, where we can witness future UFC fighters, and possible world champions, on the rise!
