It was a year since we saw UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar in the octagon. But now he’s back, and he finally tackled the pretender to his throne, Shane Carwin, in the main event of UFC 116, shown live in the early hours of this past Sunday morning on ESPN here in Britain, with Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan handling commentary duties.

The show began with the preliminaries, and a light heavyweight bout between Seth Petruzelli and Ricardo Romero. A very entertaining battle here. Petruzelli began the fight with some great striking, and when the fight went to the ground Romero looked like he was about to get the win after a few submission attempts.

It was pretty much the same in the second, although Romero’s ground work was a lot better, and as he tied the Kimbo killer up, trapping his left arm, Romero went for an arm bar on the right arm. Petruzelli tried to move his position while Romero held on to the hold, but it didn’t do him any good. In fact it made things worse, and he tapped out immediately, giving Romero the impressive debut win.

It was up to the heavyweight division for the next fight as Brendon Schaub faced Chris Tuchscherer. A bit of feeling out at the beginning of this one before it suddenly sparked into life when Schaub connected with a big right to Tuchscherer’s temple. Schaub followed him down for some ground and pound before the referee stepped in to give Schaub the TKO win in just over a minute. Schaub looked great in this one.

Filler material followed in the form of Gerald Harris against Dave Branch in the middleweight division. This was a very cagey fight, and although there were a few good moments it didn’t really come to life until the third round, with the most explosive moment at the end. Branch tried to pull guard, but Harris defended and slammed him down to the ground, knocking him out in the process. A great ending to a somewhat lackluster affair.

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It has been about a year since we last saw Brock Lesnar in the cage at UFC 100, beating Frank Mir with the horseshoe that was, allegedly, jammed up Mir’s ass and winning the UFC Heavyweight title. At UFC 116 we get to see him take on an even bigger opponent, Shane Carwin, in what many predict to be the biggest fight of the year, both in terms of divisional impact and PPV buys. A UFC 100 card on the whole it is not, but here’s a quick rundown of the main card.

SPIKE Preliminary Quick Picks
Ricardo Romero over Seth Petruzelli
Brendan Schaub over Chris Tuchscherer

MAIN CARD
George Sotiropoulos vs. Kurt Pellegrino

Starting the night off with a Lightweight scrap between the Aussie, George Sotiropoulos, and New Jersey-native Kurt “Batman” Pellegrino. Sotiropoulos trains with Eddie Bravo at 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu with 7 of his 12 wins coming via submission and he’s currently riding a 6 fight winning streak, most notably a UFC 110 UD win over the very dangerous Joe Stevenson. Pellegrino is riding a 4 fight winning streak, with his most recent win being against Fabricio Camoes in his home state at UFC 111: St. Pierre vs. Hardy. Both have good jiu jitsu with the edge going to Sotiropoulos. I wouldn’t expect this to turn into a slugfest and, more than likely, I see Batman dropping this one (I couldn’t think of a clever enough Batman-related pun here. If you do, please submit it in the comments).

Jay Pick: Sotiropoulos via submission, R2

Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Stephan Bonnar
Moving up to the Light Heavyweight division (side note: there is a fight in every conventional UFC weight class on the main card) for a rematch between K-Sos & Stephan Bonnar. Last time these guys met, K-Sos was awarded the TKO victory after a questionable headbutt cut Bonnar over the head and left him unable to continue. K-Sos outclasses Bonnar with size and a better ground game. Given Bonnar’s participation in the “Most Important Fight In UFC History” (aka The Ultimate Fighter Season 1 Finale against Forrest Griffin) his job security is in tact (he’s 1-3 with his last win coming against Eric Schafer in ’07) but he just does not have the chops to compete in the UFC. Let’s all get used to Bonnar doing color on TUF Finales or WEC shows!

Jay Pick: K-Sos via submission, R2

Chris Lytle vs. Matt Brown

Potential “Fight of the Night” alert. Since “Lights Out” Lytle has rejoined the UFC in November 2006, he’s collected bonuses in 7 of his 11 fights. That’s a fantastic amount of money for a guy in the middle of the pack of the Welterweight division. He’s rattled off two wins in a row against Kevin Burns & Brian Foster since his split decision “Fight of the Night” performance against a very tough Marcus Davis at UFC 93. Brown is coming off a submission loss to Ricardo Almeida but had won three in a row against Ryan Thomas, Pete Sell, and James Wilks. This is another rematch from a UFL card in August 2007 where Lytle choked out Brown via guillotine in the second. I don’t see Brown falling into that trap again and his stand up should see him through this one (not a bad bet as a +155 underdog).

Jay Pick: Brown via decision

Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Chris Leben
Wanderlei Silva pulling out of this fight is one of the most disappointing last-minute withdrawals this year. God bless The Axe Murderer: he had a torn knee and still wanted to fight. It wasn’t until he broke 3 ribs training that it just became too much for him. So 36 hours after knocking out Aaron Simpson at The TUF 11 Finale, Chris Leben gets the call to step in on 2 weeks notice against Sexyama. Not a terrible replacement, but Wanderlei is a fan favorite and I was very much looking forward to that fight. Ok, I am done whining. Sexyama, who’s been vocally disgruntled with the last minute switch, made his UFC debut against Alan Belcher at UFC 100, winning via decision and Fight of the Night honors. A world-class judoka with an additional black belt in Shotokan karate, Akiyama is 13-1 with a decorated career in Japan fighting in DREAM & K-1. While Leben’s “Hey I’m Gonna Club You With My Overhand Left Wildly Until You’re Knocked Out” approach worked very well against a very tough Aaron Simpson, if Akiyama is not an idiot, he’ll use that judo background and take the fight to the mat to secure a submission victory. However, I should note that at +185, Leben is not a terrible underdog bet given his fantastic chin and left hand. Still, I give it to the Sexy One.

Jay Pick: Akiyama via submission, R3

Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin – UFC Heavyweight Championship
And now the fight that’ll light up Vegas for the 4th of July: Lesnar vs. Carwin. The Champ (and by that I mean the actual champ, not the Interim “No Reason To Have This” belt that Carwin won by knocking Mir cold at UFC 111) has been sidelined by diverticulitis and some questioned whether or not his career is over. Instead, he’s come back bigger and stronger than ever (so he says) and recently did an overhaul in his training by switching to southpaw for more effective striking and takedowns. This should make things interesting given that, while I’m sure a monster like Lesnar’s left cross is effective, it could leave him open to Carwin’s big overhand right if Carwin slips in. Speaking of Carwin, the man with 5 XL gloves is 12-0 and has not had to go to the second round in any of his fights. In my eyes, it’ll come down to Lesnar’s agility and control vs. Carwin’s striking. Simply put: if Carwin connects, I do not care who you are, you are staring up at fireworks this 4th of July. Odds have Lesnar at -170 with his own size, strength, and power, but I am going with the upset on this one.
Jay Pick: Carwin via TKO, R2

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The Ultimate Fighter 10 debuts tonight on Spike TV. Kimbo Slice has been stealing the headlines of the returning UFC reality TV show. Lost in all of the excitement is the impact that this show had 10 seasons ago. As much as UFC will try, they will never have another class and show as exciting as The Ultimate Fighter Season 1.

I watched back the entire season of the first The Ultimate Fighter show recently. I remember at the time being hooked on the show the first time I watched it. I felt the same way re-watching the season all over again. The season was filled with drama, tremendous fights, and a cast of characters that has never been quite as engaging as the cast from this season.

First of all, the format was entirely different on the show. The show featured weekly physical challenges ala Survivor. Unlike today where it was as simple as winning teams picks next fight, fight choices were determined by whoever won these challenges. In looking back, it is amazing that none of the guys got seriously hurt on these challenges.

I don’t know if there have been a better paid of coaches than Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture. The guys were true pros and both seemed to have the best interests of their fighters. This was at a time right before the two blew up and became mainstream stars. Randy Couture in particular was fantastic, especially during the Southworth-Bonnar fight when he told Bonnar exactly what Chuck would be advising Southworth.

Joe Rogan has called the cast, “The heart and soul of ultimate fighting.” The cast was truly a classic. From their personalities to the legacy they would build in UFC. It’s funny, because they were portrayed as young hungry inexperienced MMA stars. Yet, a lot of them had great pedigrees and probably would have wound up in UFC at some point. Guys like Chris Leben and Bobby Southworth had good careers going before the show. It really shouldn’t be a huge surprise in retrospect that a lot of them easily transitioned into the UFC.

The cast featured a ton of guys that would go on to main-event UFC Fight Nights and Pay-Per-Views. Forrest Griffin, Diego Sanchez, Chris Leben, Josh Koscheck, Mike Swick, Stephan Bonnar, Kenny Florian, and Nate Quarry. If you just became an MMA fan in the last few years, you wouldn’t believe that all of these UFC fighters came through a reality show. The amount of talent that UFC was able to amass from the show was just amazing.

The first season saw the coaches pick teams. It is funny watching this draft back in retrospect to see how wrong Chuck and Randy were. Out of that entire class named above, none of them were picked #1 overall. The #1 overall pick was Bobby Southworth on Team Liddell. Arguably the biggest star to come out of the show, Forrest Griffin wasn’t picked until close to the end of the draft. It just goes to show you that there is no way to measure a fighter’s heart.

Chris Leben was the star of the show early on. If you heard Leben interviewed today, you would never realize that this was the same kid. Leben was a loud mouthed, arrogant, cocky, drunk during most of the show. Leben went from peeing in one of the fighter’s beds in the first episode to crying in a sleeping bag with Nate Quarry. The guy was an emotional roller coaster and really made his mark.

The most memorable thing about the show was probably the rivalry between Leben and Josh Koshcheck. Things came to a head when Southworth called Leben a, “fatherless bastard” one night while partying. Leben broke down crying and wound up sleeping outside of the house. Koshcheck and Southworth proceeded to dump water on Leben while he was sleeping. Leben got up and in a crazed state wound up going through the house punching walls and windows.

Dana White immediately capitalized on this and made a fight between Leben and Koshcheck. In my opinion, Koshcheck seemed scared going into the fight. This was the kind of a fight that would have made money if it was put on pay-per-view. Koshcheck actually pulled off the upset and won. The fight turned out to be kind of boring with Koshcheck continually grounding Leben. Koshcheck was just too good of a wrestler for Leben to go the ground with. It still amazes me that UFC has never re-matched the two fighters.

For a guy that was in his mid-30s, Southworth probably came out as the biggest idiot of the show. The guy was completely immature both in and out of the octagon. He reminded me of the little kid that encourages the bully in those 1980s movies, but won’t do anything himself. After losing a decision to Stephan Bonnar, Southworth whined and complained. The fight was definitely close, but it was his fault for not finishing. Two minutes after the fight he threw his UFC career out the window when he told Dana White to leave his room. White was angry and well, we have not seen Southworth in UFC since.

Plenty has been written about the finale between Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar and how it impacted UFC and MMA. Diego Sanchez defeated Kenny Florian in the middleweight final. These are two guys that are and have recently fought for the UFC Middleweight title. The level of talent that came out of the show will never be repeated for so many different reasons.

Tonight’s show will kick off the most anticipated season since Ortiz and Shamrock were coaching. Kimbo Slice will take the spotlight and will go from MMA joke to UFC fighter in a matter of hours. People call it hypocrisy, I call it genius. Only two of the lone heavyweight class of past Ultimate Fighters remains in UFC today, and neither are heavyweight. I don’t expect a class to make the impact of the first season, but there are some guys with serious potential this season.

Ten seasons and five years, and I still don’t think UFC has been able to recreate the magic of season one. There have been more talented fighters, but nobody has translated to television like the first class. Getting one star out of a reality show like this is a miracle for anybody like a UFC. Getting 8 future stars out of a 12-man class is unheard of and an unequivocal success. That alone is the reason why no season of The Ultimate Fighter will ever capture the magic of season one.

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Episode 7 of the first season of the Ultimate Fighter featured a match that ended in controversy. The elimination match ended in a close split decision. This split decision may have been the most important in MMA history. These judges had the power to change the course of UFC history forever.

Going into the season, Bobby Southworth was the perennial favorite to win the entire competition. Southworth was the most seasoned of any fighter in the house. UFC knew this, Dana White knew this, and the coaches knew this when Chuck Liddell used his first team pick on Southworth.

Stephan Bonnar was barely on anyone’s radar at the time. I would argue it was more the mystique of training under Carlson Gracie that initially made him intriguing. As the show went on, Stephan’s personality would turn him into a fan favorite. As a top notch fighter, he was far from a favorite going into the season.

Southworth had been a controversial figure from episode 1. Southworth came off as a very immature athlete. Southworth continually ran his mouth, yet had to be practically kidnapped in order to cut weight for his first fight. If MMA fans hate Brock Lesnar, they would have despised Southworth. Southworth would practically get in the face of other fight losers and bark, “flawless victory” at the top of his lungs.

Southworth is probably most known for the incident with fellow fighter Chris Leben. I will get into Leben in a future blog. The gist of it is that Southworth called Leben a “fatherless bastard.” Southworth and fellow fighter Josh Koscheck came close to getting kicked off the show after pouring water on a sleeping Leben later that night.

The idea of the first season was that the fighters would have to compete in physical challenges. Most of the time, the winning team would get to pick their fight. Team Couture won the challenge. Randy Couture initially suggested that Mike Swick or Alex Schoenauer fight “the weakest link on the team” Sam Hoger. Stephan Bonnar spoke up and said he wanted to fight Bobby.

Stephan had his eyes set on Bobby from the start. Stephan loved the test, yet questioned his own decision. Stephan worried that two rounds would not be enough. Stephan later remarked that he wasn’t confident that he could stop Bobby, but knew he could stop Sam. Stephan knew from the start that if he was going to win the fight, it was going the distance.

Bonnar was a huge underdog. Forrest Griffin called him the third weakest on Randy’s team. A great moment saw Griffin (Southworth’s teammate) say to Bonnar, “Let me shake your hand before you’re officially tapped out.” Bonnar took it in good stride, yet he was truly expected to lose this fight.

The fight itself only made you want to hate Southworth more. Southworth looked cocky, but did not engage. Bonnar grew more confident as the first round progressed and started pushing the pace more and more. Southworth was not nearly as aggressive, yet seemed to counter Bonnar with almost every move. All of the fighters remarked that the round was close, but most felt Bobby won due to a key reversal.

One of the greatest moments in Randy Couture history may have came in between rounds. Couture cornered Bonnar for the fight. How brilliant of a fighting technician is Randy Couture? Randy tells Bonnar that Bobby is looking for a left hook and right hand since that is Chuck’s combination. The camera than shows Liddell telling Southworth, “Look for a left hook and a right hand.”

The second round like the first started slowly. Once again Bonnar continued to push the tempo as Southworth sat back and played defense. Bonnar seemed to have a slight edge on Southworth on the ground. Southworth connected hard on Bonnar with about 1:10 left, but couldn’t finish. The next minute may have been the minute that changed UFC history forever.

Southworth started to push but Bonnar fought back. Bonnar caught Southworth with a text book spinning back kick with exactly 0:59 to go. Southworth was stunned and Bonnar knew it. Bonnar followed up with a barrage of aggressive punches. After a back and forth on the ground, the round ended with Bonnar once again aggressively throwing punches.

Nobody from the coaches to the fighters to Dana White himself expected this one to end. The rules were that a sudden death round would be added in the event of a draw. This was by no means a clear cut case for anyone. As a matter of a fact, Randy and Chuck prepared the fighters for another round.

Dana White was surprised as he read the decision. Stephan Bonnar was awarded the win by split decision. In looking back at the fight, I will argue that the spinning back kick is what gave Bonnar the edge. Bonnar was the definitive aggressor, yet Southworth had some great counters. All being even, the kick, the time of the kick, and the damage is what won Stephan Bonnar the match.

The Ultimate Fighter Finale between Bonnar and Forrest Griffin was recently ranked as the number one match in UFC history. The argument was not just the fight, but the impact that the fight had on the sport. That fight was one kick and a split decision away from never happening. The course of UFC history may be much different today if fans tuned into see a Forrest Griffin vs. Bobby Southworth Ultimate Finale on April 9, 2005.

I can’t imagine that match being anything close to Bonnar-Griffin levels. History would have turned out to be much different for UFC and MMA. Spike may have never renewed UFC. This would have meant no more live specials on Spike. We may never have gotten Ultimate Fighters 3-9. 1.72 million people wouldn’t have watched UFC 100. Forrest Griffin may not have turned out to be one of the biggest stars in MMA. Not only would he not have been on the UFC Undisputed cover, there may have never been a game at all.

This split decision was that monumental to the history of the company. One spinning back kick in a match held in a gym may have been the most significant strike in UFC history.

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This Saturday night marks the ninth season finale of The Ultimate Fighter. It seems like it was just yesterday that I was sitting in anticipation for the first finale. Little did I know that Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar changed the course of UFC forever.

I was hooked on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV. As a big UFC fan, I relished the opportunity to see MMA fights once a week. Between the coaches and the fighters, season 1 had the greatest cast of personalities in the history of the show.

I never had any idea throughout the show as to how good Forrest Griffin would become. I never had a clue as to how great the finale between Griffin and Stephan Bonnar would be. I remember thinking about Bonnar, “What the hell is this pretty boy going to do?” What he did was make MMA history.

UFC fans got a bit of a preview of Bonnar vs. Griffin in the first episode. Bonnar and Griffin were taped sparring. Griffin accidently nailed Bonnar with a head butt. The head butt cut Bonnar and he needed stitches. Who knew that this was a sign of things to come?

Griffin and Bonnar took different roads to the finals. Griffin rolled through his opponents to get to the finals. Bonnar on the other hand had a bit of difficulty along his journey. Bonnar barely made it through his first fight against Bobby Southworth, winning a controversial decision.

The night was April 09, 2005. It must be into perspective how different the Ultimate Fighting Championship was at the time. UFC was not the global juggernaut it is today. In a day when UFC fights air practically nightly on Spike, in 2005 this would be UFC’s first live event on Spike TV. Fight fans were getting their mouths watered for an onslaught of UFC.

The fight between Bonnar and Griffin changed it all. An unheard of 3.3 million viewers would tune in at one point to see one of the most exciting fights in UFC history. This would have been a disaster if 3.3 million people watched a boring or inconclusive fight. Bonnar and Griffin delivered a brawl that some will argue was the greatest of all-time.

The fight was three-rounds of non-stop action. The two spent the majority of the fight standing up. An interesting component to this was the fact that these two guys were rather friendly with each other. Imagine if they didn’t like each other? No matter how hard one hit, the other hit harder, yet neither man went down. It was truly a battle of iron men.

Something that can’t be overlooked here is the hunger of Bonnar, Griffin, and other contestants in the first season. I don’t think it is an accident that season 1 produced the most successful fighters of the series. It wasn’t about being a television star to these guys. These were guys that were hungry and just wanted to fight.

I also think that UFC has gotten away from a winning concept. The first season of the Ultimate Fighter had relatively unknown fighters. Since then, The Ultimate Fighter has featured several journeymen who have fought in UFC. I think the raw talent of the first season and their undisciplined habits made for the most entertaining season of the series.

Neither man touched gloves before the fight which showed how serious they were. Commentator Joe Rogan called the first round, the “Hagler-Hearns” of MMA history. The fight almost ended in the second round after Griffin was badly cut. The final round ended with a barrage of punches which cemented this one as a classic.

Forrest Griffin won the finale via decision over Stephan Bonnar. Nobody went down. Dana White immediately offered Stephan Bonnar a contract even though he lost the fight. It was a classy move that would pay dividends. The fight received numerous accolades including Fight of the Year by MMA Weekly.

A company bought three years earlier for $2 million would be worth over $400 million a few months later. Less than a month following the fight, Spike TV renewed The Ultimate Fighter and offered UFC several more live specials. Prior to the show, UFC averaged $1 million in ticket sales for live events. The next UFC event broke records with $2,575,450 in ticket sales and had over 250,000 buys.

Since the fight, Bonnar and Griffin have had mixed success. Bonnar was never able to breakthrough to the next level. Bonnar also failed a drug test and was served with a suspension. Griffin on the other hand has become a UFC superstar. Griffin captured the UFC light heavyweight title and beat his former coach Chuck Liddell. Griffin is also featured on the U.S. cover of the UFC Undisputed video game.

Will the ninth Ultimate Fighter finale make history like the first on Saturday night? I don’t think so. However, if not for the first finale who knows where UFC would be today? The Ultimate Fighter Season One was the little engine that could. It could, it did, and the course of MMA history was changed forever.

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