TUF 15 Episode 1 Recap: We are LIVE!
Posted on March 9, 2012, 10:50 PM by Evan HoloberThe Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV has been a staple of mixed martial arts for 7 years, and in that time frame we've seen pretty much everything. Chris Leben entered our hearts with some smack talking, glass punching, and a little bit of pee. Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz brought the term "bad blood" to a whole new level. Dave Kaplan thought it was a good idea to a take a flush shot to the jaw from Tom Lawlor, which was incredibly entertaining. Junie Browning... I don't really have to explain that one do I? Dustin Pague decided to eat some bugs. Oh yea, and there was probably some fighting in there somewhere too.
However, with a switch to a new station (Spike to FX) came a switch in format. In the first 14 seasons there was one common factor in each go round’, the episodes were prerecorded. Combatants would stay in the TUF house for short time period, and film enough footage to last throughout a 12 episode season. This season will be live, and each episode will contain footage from the fighters training, and interacting in the house throughout the week. Another wrinkle thrown in by Zuffa is the coaches involved this season. Each season so far has contained coaches that compete at a weight class above 155lbs. Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber (the champion and #1 contender at 135lbs) will break that rule this season. They’re long standing dislike for one another didn’t show through in the first show, but it hopefully will provide some fireworks in the weeks to come.
Because of the new live format each qualifying fight in the first episode will only be 1 round. That made for some exciting finishes, and easily controlled rounds for good wrestlers. Although it could have been a little bit more exciting (8 finishes in 16 fights with 2 of those stoppages being questionable) this season still looks promising. Cristiano Marcello’s BJJ looks nasty. Justin Lawrence showed off his Black house training in absolutely obliterating James Krause. Mike Rio’s wrestling and control were dominant in defeating Ali Maclean by submission, and a few more performances were worth the view. Nobody looks to be far and above the pack so this season should be very evenly matched.
Results of each fight below:
Joe Proctor defeats Jordan Rinaldi by Guillotine choke
Cristiano Marcello defeats Jared Carlsten by Rear naked choke (RNC)
Sam Sicilia defeats Erin Beach by Knockout (KO) (Early stoppage by Josh Rosenthal)
Chris Tickle defeats Austin Lyons by KO (Another early stoppage, this time by Steve Mazzagati)
Andy Ogle defeats Brendan Weafer by Unanimous Decision (UD)
Vinc Pichel defeats Cody Pfister by RNC
John Cofer defeats Mark Glover by UD
Chris Saunders defeats Chase Hackett by UD
James Vick defeats Dakota Cochrane by Split Decision (SD)
Michael Chiesa defeats Johnavan Vistante by RNC
Mike Rio defeats Ali Maclean by RNC
Justin Lawrence defeats James Krause by KO
Daron Cruickshank defeats Drew Dober by UD
Jeremy Larsen defeats Jeff Smith by UD
Al Iaquinta defeats Jon Tuck by UD
Myles Jury defeats Akbarh Arreola by UD
Comments
Hate the new LIVE layout for the ultimate fighter! i doubt this show will be as successful as the early days until they remember what put the show on the map in the first place.. i think there are 2 main reasons that put this show on the map 1 was the In House Reality Show part of it..like it or not Reality Tv is what people want watch these days UFC needs to attract NEW fans..look at the first season with all the crazy shit that happened in the house people like drama over the past few seasons they have been cutting out the reality part alot..the second reason is there was actually GOOD fighters on the show..look at the first season of how much talent was in the house and still fighter in the UFC today look back at the first few season...i follow TUF and ufc very close and i still dont care or remember who won the last couple season!
The 2 guys with a karate background ,Lawrrence and the other guy were good. They looked like Jean Claude vandamme ! lol
I loved the live format but was not feeling the whole 1 round thing at all. It seemed kind of biased to wrestlers because if you could score a takedown and lay on the guy for 1:30 you pretty much got the decision. Case in point is Jeremy larsen vs Jeff Smith (I think maybe wrong fight) but Smith landed more on the feet, and threatened to submit larsen multiple times (even looked like he tapped to a kneebar) then larsen got on top for a minute thirty did nothing with it and they gave him the fight
they had to do 1 5 minute round how else would they squeaze 16 fights in 2 hours. People just need to relax a bit for those who want drama its comming, they will have a whole week to shoot the training, and stuff that happens in the house, I really enjoyed the fights this week, nothing scripted here normally in the past they would show ceartain promos or hightlight characters on the premier that end up winning the fight to get in the house, they tried to show a few people to get your interest and they ended up lossing. Also the comment above me the first 2 seasons had the best talent, because it was the first time the show opened up, and the took all the top guys out there. Those guys arent going to be there 15 seasons into it.
All great points. the only thing I'd disagree on is that the talent level on season 5 was the highest IMO. Lauzon, Manny, Nate, Gray, Wiman, Cole Miller... great freakin season.
Live show is much better! I don't care about the whole somebody stole my socks and ate my sandwich crap part of TUF. I was more pleased with this tuff show than most of the others just because It did not cater for my wifes story line hopes.
They are still shooting "non-live" training and I am sure they will show plenty of house drama too.
Yeah probably right but I enjoyed the one we have so far.
Great fights, but not a big fan of the "Live" idea. The production value drops tremendously, and whatever you see live they are going to show you in an edited show anyway.....
The live aspect just comes across as a poorly planned production and does not really gain the viewer anything, except odd pauses and longer bleeps when someone swears.
Sorry, I just like it better that way. I don't need a fantasy version of the real deal.