
Last night’s season finale of The Ultimate Fighter ended with each coach telling us exactly what he thinks of the other guy; basically, Dan Henderson thinks Michael Bisping‘s a douchebag, and Bisping thinks Henderson’s time has passed. And maybe they’re both right. But with three weeks left until they face each other at UFC 100, tensions aren’t exactly building. Here’s a highlight from a media conference call held earlier today, via MMA Fanhouse:
Ortiz/Shamrock it ain’t. If you felt that Team U.S. vs. Team U.K. was one of the least interesting seasons of TUF, blame the coaches. Dan Henderson turned out to be just as deadpan and wooden as we feared he would be, and Michael Bisping — prone to bouts of thin-skinned sensitivity and childish gloating — turned out to be somewhat less likeable than we hoped he would be. Sure, we want to see these two fight, but not any more than we did when the show started.
The dynamics were weird all around this season. House destruction was kept to an absolute minimum. (That’s what we wanted, right?) The intense rivalry between the American and British teams that we were promised only decreased over time, until some guys were literally defecting and others signed shirts to remember each other by. What is this after-school special I-guess-we’re-the-same-after-all bullshit anyway? Only Damarques Johnson seemed to keep his edge. He was also the most insightful and charismatic among the relatively meatheaded Americans, and one of only two fighters in the house who actually looked ready to fight in the UFC, Andre Winner being the other one.
Is that what made this season fall a bit flat? The fact that so few genuine prospects were produced? We didn’t even get a "reality star" type in the vein of Junie Browning. (Not that we need another one.) I know I’m looking forward to the heavyweight circus scheduled for next season — as well as the heat between coaches Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans. But what can be done to pep up seasons 11-14? More established fighters like Roy Nelson and Wes Sims instead of unknown auditioners? A season of women? A rule that the coaches have to hate each other?
(BG)


an all female season should def happen, that’d be epic and huge for womens mma