(No, no, not THAT kind of ultimate fighter.) 

Seven years. Fifteen seasons. The Ultimate Fighter has been a part of our lives for nearly a decade, ladies and gentlemen, and not only is it still going strong, but it has spread at the rate of your average zombie apocalypse. With the first international installment of the hit reality show already under way, TUF has seemingly evolved beyond its counterparts, transcending even that of the sport in it’s ability to excite, and often inspire its audience. Sure, the next season of Jersey Shore will feature a piss drunk pregnant woman and a possible probable cokehead and will therefore rule the ratings from here to eternity, but The Ultimate Fighter has something better to bring to the table than fabricated drama. Mainly, sweet ass knockouts.

Seven years of sweet ass knockouts, to be precise. That’s the entire length of Tommy Callahan’s college career.

With these knockouts, we’ve seen underdogs pull off upsets, loudmouths get their comeuppance, and the emergence of future superstars. So in honor of what has already been a KO-ridden season of TUF, we decided to watch every season back to back, and determine the BEST knockout from its respective season. Enjoy.

(Back when Ken was making more than GSP…)

The TUF 11 Finale went down 1 year ago.

Why it matters:

Five of the fighters from the show are still active in the UFC and four are undefeated in the Octagon.

TUF winner Court McGee, who defeated Kris McCray in the finale by rear naked choke also beat Ryan Jensen by arm triangle at UFC 121 in October. He’s set to face Don Yi Yang at UFN “Battle at the Bayou” in September.

Kyle Noke, who was beaten by teammate McCray by unanimous decision in the quarterfinals of the show, defeated Josh Bryant by TKO at the finale and rattled off two rear naked choke submission wins against Rob Kimmons at UFC 122 in November and TUF 11 cast mate Chris Camozzi at UFC 127 at home in Australia in February. He’ll face Tom Lawlor next at UFC Live: Hardy vs. Lytle in August.

Brad Tavares, who lost to McGee in the semi-finals by rear naked choke is undefeated in official competition as well as 2-0 in the Octagon.He defeated TUF 11 quarterfinal opponent Seth Baczynski at the finale by unanimous decision and Phil Baroni by knockout at UFC 125 in January.

(“If you hear something late at night / Some kind of trouble, some kind of fight / Just don’t ask me what it was…” Photo courtesy of MMAWeekly)

With Jason Miller being drafted for a high-profile gig coaching The Ultimate Fighter, Mayhem’s original UFC return opponent Aaron Simpson was left without a dance partner. However, the UFC confirmed last night that Simpson will remain on the UFC 132: Cruz vs. Faber 2 card (July 2, Las Vegas) against undefeated TUF 11 semi-finalist Brad Tavares.

Kind of a downgrade for Simpson in terms of name value, but Tavares (7-0) is one of the best prospects in the middleweight division, and is coming off a first-round knockout of Phil Baroni in January. During his stint on The Ultimate Fighter, he won three consecutive fights before being choked out by Court McGee in the semis, then outpointed Seth Baczynski at the Finale show.

(Forget money and fame – Phil was fighting back when the prize was a weird trophy and a semi-attractive Japanese chick. / Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

When we learned that the match between UFC veteran Phil Baroni and 23-year-old prospect Brad Tavares would indeed be aired before the UFC 125 pay-per-view broadcast this Saturday, it reminded me of our last chat with the New York Bad Ass on episode 11.1 of the Bum Rush Radio Show. Baroni has reached that point in his career where youngsters are trying to make their names off of him, and he has to beat them if he wants his own name to retain its value. I asked Phil if he felt like the last in a bygone generation of fighters, considering that so many of his rivals are no longer competing. And I thought his response was worth sharing again…

 
(Marcus Davis and Ion: A match made in…convenience?)

Less than a week before UFC 125 goes down in Las Vegas, UFC president Dana White has revealed that there will be a "Prelims" broadcast before the pay-per-view card – good news, since it’s one of the most interesting undercards in recent memory. But it won’t be aired on Spike TV. For the first time, the UFC will put a broadcast on Ion Television, which is apparently cause for celebration, even though we only had a vague knowledge of the channel’s existence until this morning. Said Dana White: "These guys are considered a network. The FCC calls them a network. This is the first time we’ve ever been on network television, and the prelims are going to be aired. It’s a big deal. It’s in over 100 million homes."

Three fights will be scheduled for the broadcast – Marcus Davis vs. Jeremy Stephens, Josh Grispi vs. Dustin Poirier, and Phil Baroni vs. Brad Tavares – which is unprecedented in itself. "The prelims we do air, there’s only supposed to be two," White said. "Time-wise, it’s impossible to pull off three if they all go to the distance. I’m going to roll the dice on this thing. Not only are we going to bring the prelims to the fans, but everybody has been hammering me for the Phil Baroni-Brad Tavares fight, so I’m going to do three fights. I’m going to give them that fight, too."

Phil Baroni Sits down with Cagepotato.com – Watch more Funny Videos

With his fight against Brad Tavares booked for 1/1/11, Phil Baroni has two options in front of him — victory, or possible banishment from the UFC. Our friend Ruben Vera tracked down the New York Bad Ass at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, and grilled him on everything from his brawl-based gameplans to his cardio problems to his fondest MMA memories. Honestly, it’s one of the most revealing interviews with Baroni that we’ve ever seen. Some highlights…

On his gameplan for Tavares: "You know me. I’ve been doing this for ten years, there’s no surprises. I’m gonna do what I do best."

On his conditioning struggles: "It’s genetic, dude. I’ve been training cardio for the last ten years, hard. It’s genetic. You got a guy like Cain Velasquez who just don’t get tired. He can just train all day. Even a guy like Koscheck…I don’t think there’s anything I’m not doing that other guys are doing. I have a lot better punching power than those guys. And I think I’m faster, I have more fast-twitch. I know I can beat them both in a race. But in a longer duration, those guys can keep going, and that’s one of the things that separates us…It seems like a lot of the Mexican guys have real good cardio, throughout history and in the UFC. Diego Sanchez has great cardio, Cain Velasquez, a ton of guys. I don’t know what it is, man, but I do the best with what I got."

(Image courtesy of ItalianSweatshop.com. If you decide to click that link, be advised that the "music off" button is in the upper-left corner.) 

After dropping his UFC return fight to Amir Sadollah at UFC 106, Phil Baroni (13-12, 3-6 UFC) was slated to come back as a middleweight against John Salter at UFC 118 — but a training injury changed his plans. According to MMA Junkie, Baroni has been re-scheduled to appear at UFC 125 on January 1st against TUF 11 semifinalist Brad Tavares (5-0, 1-0 UFC).

Tavares, who was eliminated on the show by eventual winner Court McGee, returned at the TUF 11 finale and scored a decision win against Seth Baczynski. Now he has a chance to make his name off a struggling veteran, while Baroni can keep his career alive by whipping the 22-year-old Hawaiian. The New York Bad Ass hasn’t tasted victory since outpointing Olaf Alfonso at a Palace Fighting Championship event in September 2008, and it’s a pretty safe bet that if Baroni loses to a barely-established upstart like Tavares, it’ll be the end of his current stint with the UFC. Can Baroni stage another career comeback, or will he catch one of these?

(Video courtesy YouTube/oKAINo)

Nick Ring will likely never get away from the insinuations that he is gay (not that there is anything wrong with that), even though he  has a girlfriend and he and several of his teammates on the show have stated on numerous occasions that he put on the somewhat feminine persona while he was on The Ultimate Fighter to screw with homophobic superheel, Jamie Yager.

In Ring’s defense, he’s taking the rumors like a champ (no homo) and rolling with the punches.

Here’s what he said about the act on his Heavy.com recap of the episode that started the snowball rolling:

"So here I am, it’s late and I am now happy and feeling good about my massage. My lower back is feeling good and it is definitely thanking me and I go to the washroom to brush my teeth and get ready for bed and McCray and Yager decide it is time for them gang up on me and "have a talk".

From their bedroom, McCray loudly asks me a loaded question that goes a little bit like "Hey Ring, Why would you get a massage from a dude at 3 AM?" I knew exactly where he was trying to go with this one so I thought fuck it – I’ll play, so I answered "because I’m a big queer".

They started laughing hard in disbelief at my remark, and I walked into their room and leaned my shoulder up against the doorway while I flossed my teeth.
I knew that my reply would likely take most of the wind out of their sails but being the couple of Neanderthals they are, they relented by saying that I’m standing gay and tried telling me that I need to change my posture blah blah blah. I just thought it was funny so just poured it on more until they dropped it…

You already know that Court McGee vs. Kris McCray will be the co-headliner at next Saturday’s TUF 11 Finale show (Spike TV, 9 p.m. ET/PT), and we also told you that Rich Attonito won the "who gets to kick Jamie Yager’s ass" sweepstakes. So who else will join them at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas? Spike has confirmed the following bouts for the event…

Josh Bryant vs. Kyle Noke: No, Bryant won’t be facing off with fellow semi-finalist Brad Tavares in a third-place match. Instead, he has drawn Kyle Noke, the Australian veteran who was upset by Kris McCray in the TUF 11 quarterfinals.

Brad Tavares vs. Seth Baczynski: You see what they did there? Tavares and Baczynski get to have a rematch after their quarterfinal match ended abruptly via soccer kick disqualification.

(The conclusion of the Tavares/McGee semi-final battle. Props: WWELegendKillerV1)

The two-hour last-actual-episode of TUF 11 begins with Tito Ortiz being whitewashed out of the production. Rich Franklin is slotted into the opening credits. His poster replaces Tito’s in the gym. Ace signs the bout agreement to fight Chuck Liddell. It’s almost as if Tito…never existed.
 
Rich was under the impression that he was just coming by to promote his fight with Chuck; he didn’t know Tito was completely off the show, and that he’d have to help Kris McCray train for his semi-final fight against Josh Bryant. Dana White calls up a few notables from the Xtreme Couture camp to help out as assistant coaches: Forrest Griffin, Gray Maynard, and Tyson Griffin. The guys help Kris with wrestling techniques, and Kris is surprised at how smooth the transition is.

It takes some getting used to for Chuck, though: "I go from fighting a guy I hate, to fighting one of the nicest guys in MMA." But when the time comes, he’ll be ready to rumble. 

(If you’re wondering why Tito has his jersey tucked in, it’s because he has to go out to dinner after this.)

Tomorrow night marks the last episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Liddell vs. Team Ortiz before the finale show, featuring both of TUF 11‘s semi-final matches. By now, most of the season’s early standouts — Nick Ring, Kyacey Uscola, Jamie Yager — have fallen by the wayside, and we’re left with four guys who scrapped their way to the semis through effective strategies and unbelievable toughness. It’s still anybody’s game, so let’s take a close look at who’s left…

BRAD TAVARES (Team Liddell)

Pro record: 4-0, all wins by stoppage
TUF record: 3-0
How he got here: The dynamic Team Tompkins product knocked out Jordan Smith in less than a minute to make it into the house, then outworked James Hammortree to win a three-round decision. His quarterfinal match against Seth Baczynski started out well until Baczynski soccer-kicked him in the face and was disqualified.
Odds of winning the show: 4-1. Though he’s a little unseasoned, Tavares is the only fighter in the group who never seemed like an underdog. He’s well-rounded, aggressive, and always exciting to watch. In this semi-final field, his success will depend on his ability to defend takedowns and avoid being smothered.

(Gif of Tavares getting kicked in the "chest," courtesy of smoogy.)

Kris McCray vs. Kyle Noke. Brad Tavares vs. Seth Baczynski. Tito Ortiz vs. Everyone’s Patience. Last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter was a wall-to-wall struggle. Here’s what happened.

After Team Liddell’s Court McGee became the first TUF 11 semi-finalist, following his submission of James Hammortree, it’s time for two more quarterfinal matches. First up is Kris McCray vs. Kyle Noke, two guys who used to be training partners. Dana White cares not for your personal relationships: "One of the things I want these guys to learn early? There are no friends in the UFC."

Tito Ortiz might be looking at neck surgery. There’s a disc pressing on his spinal cord, which is causing numbness in his legs and daily headaches, among other symptoms. He’s not going to let Chuck beat him because he wasn’t 100%. Instead of fighting injured and jeopardizing his health, he wants to get this taken care of. It’s basically the same story we heard last week from Nick Ring, who by the way, is out of the competition for one day and already has a full-on Freddie Mercury ‘stache.

Noke has two inches in height, 4.5 inches in reach, and a hell of a lot more fights under his belt than McCray. It’s time to bang.

(Chris Haseman would be proud.)

In last night’s episode of Coaches Who Won’t Fight Each Other 11, Team Punishment suffers another setback when Dana "Angel of Death" White comes in and tells Chris Camozzi that he has to leave the competition because of a fractured jaw. Bummer, brah. And so, Tito has to replace his last pick with a guy who got beaten in the preliminary round. After weighing his options, he calls back Seth Baczynski, who lost to Court McGee but showed heart in the process.

Team Liddell’s Charles Blanchard has an advanced degree in giving back-rubs to other dudes. A rub-down given to Team Ortiz’s Nick Ring at 2 a.m. opens up the ridicule floodgates from Jamie Yager, who busts Ring’s balls about the massage and the fruity way he leans against a bathroom door. Yager simply won’t be happy until all his teammates hate him. Later, an altercation in practice leads to Yager calling Ring a "bitch." Ring is ready to throw down, but Tito cools everybody out and explains that they’ll all have to help each other if one of them hopes to win this thing. By contrast, Team Liddell is "Happy Camp," according to John Hackleman.