The 19th season of The Ultimate Fighter got underway on Wednesday night, following The Ultimate Fighter: Nations finale. This season is coached by former lightweight champions Frankie Edgar and BJ Penn. The Hawaiian wanted a third crack at Edgar after two disappointing performances, and the New Jersey native granted his wish. They will fight on the finale card at season’s end.
The premiere episode featured 15 fights to see who would go into the house, as well as the team selections. Without any further ado, here is the good, the bad, and the ugly for the opening episode of the 19th season.
The Good
- Edgar and Penn as coaches is fantastic — two quality coaches who can impart a lot of knowledge to their team. This is Penn’s second coaching stint, and he showed in the fifth season that he is a great coach who cares about his fighters. This could be a good season with these two at the helm.
- We often see organizations skirt around their competition, but the UFC said the word “Bellator” several times. Yes, it was due to former Bellator champion Lyman Good losing, but at least they didn’t skirt around the word or edit it out.
- Edgar and Penn were two of the more vocal coaches at the evaluation table. It was a welcome change to see two coaches sitting back and enjoying the fights. They were open with their thoughts about the fights and fighters.
- The talent pool for the 19th season is actually quite good compared to recent seasons. That is a welcome change, and it should produce some good fights.
- BJ wanted to split the remaining fighters between him and Edgar without any selections, and Dana spoke up that this was similar to season five. It was a humorous moment between the two, and lightened the mood at team selections. I’m always in favor of some humor.
The Bad
- Jake Heun had a second chance to get on The Ultimate Fighter, and he failed. That is not why he is on “the bad”. He lands here because of how he lost. He dominated the fight, but prematurely celebrated. Then he left his arm in a dangerous spot to be caught in an armbar.
- Cathal Pendred did not get a fight. He got a bye. White stated that it was because his opponents missed weight or couldn’t be on the shown. Perhaps I am cynical, but I am not sure I 100% believe that. Pendred has a lot of hype surrounding him. It is nice to have him on the show regardless.
- Lyman Good did not fare well on the premiere episode, and the slights at Bellator were humorous for the wrong reasons.
- The red corner had their shorts cut for good luck. White and the coaches all had a good laugh about it at the table. They were laughing because of how terrible it looked. White remarked to Edgar that it was “Jersey style”.
The Ugly
- Tyler King got knocked out in the opening fight of the season, and his mother was in attendance. That is never cool.
- White said, “You can’t fight in the UFC if you can’t defend the takedown or get up.” While we would love for this to be true, a quick look at the roster and UFC preliminary cards make this statement unequivocally false. There are some substandard fighters under the UFC banner in 2014.
- Chris Fields defeated Josh Stansbury by the “Luck of the Irish”, or so said bantamweight Conor McGregor. Stansbury was dominating the action until he blew his knee on a takedown. An unfortunate way to lose, but Fields slides into the house on an injury.
BJ Penn had the first fight pick, and he selected Cathal Pendred (Team Penn) to go against Hector Urbina (Team Edgar)
