T.U.F Season 3

With the Ultimate Finale looming this Saturday night I thought I'd weigh in (pun intended) on this season, the fighters, predictions, and T.U.F in general.

Format: I liked the new format with the winners making the matches, a tournament format, and no silly challenges. I always hated the idea that a guy could advance to the semi's without having won a fight and thought the challenges were wasteful and just an opportunity to get hurt. There were obviously issues (injuries, girlfriend problems) that upset the apple cart, but the concept was much better.

Coaches: From the outside looking in and reading the fighters comments after the show, Ken Shamrock simply didn't want to be there and did it simply for the sake of a payday and to promote the fight with him and Tito. He seemed lost and disinterested and his training methods and fighting style seem to have no changed since the early UFC's. Ortiz on the other hand came off as not only a better coach but a total babyface who truly cared for his "kids" (I think some of the guys were actually right around his age actually). From what I've seen and known of Tito's reputation he's either grown up a lot or that was the greatest performance of all time.

Fighters: Other then Bisping, I wasn't overly impressed with any of the fighters. Ed Herman has potential but for all his talk he clearly didn't dominate. matt has a HUGE upside, so we'll see. I thought they did a better job exposing the different personalities harkening back to TUF1. They really dropped the ball on TUF2 in this aspect. You could really feel the bonding with these guys as well as who did and didn't get along. You also got a better idea of what a strain living in that environment can be, especially with a lot of the guys in their late 20's and 30's with families at home

Overall: The hardest part with any reality show is what makes the finished product versus what really happens. Reading Tait Fletchers interview you get an idea how much of the show is clever editing done for dramatic effect. That said, I found the whole season compelling. Much better then TUF1. The whole Shamrock/Ortiz dynamic entered my mind very little as it all seemed forced.

Predictions: Bisping/Haynes- Bisping in a walk over. Haynes is lucky Matt got knocked out and even that Fletcher didn't want to come back in. I think he is simply outclassed here. he has a great story but I see Bisping by TKO first round
Grove/Herman is a little tougher. I'm assuming Herman comes in better cardio shape training with Coture and company and hence less likely to gas. I'm going with Herman in a close 3 round decision.

Well, we'll see