(Jesse Taylor pisses his shorts on national television.)

Every Thursday morning, Team Rampage member Gerald Harris blogs his reactions to each new episode of The Ultimate Fighter 7 on CagePotato.com. Here’s what he had to say about last night’s ep, in which retard-strong (and retard-smart) Jesse Taylor pounded his way to victory, and Amir Sadollah and Matt Brown put on the best fight of the season.

***

By now everyone should know that Jesse Taylor is for real. He’s not the most exciting fighter in the world, but he’s solid and gets the job done. I can’t hate, because I respect winners and he’s also a Team Quest fighter so I was rooting for him. Dante just laid there and took a beating. He’s a veteran in the game and also a brown belt under Ricardo Almeida, so I assumed that he would catch Jesse, but Jesse just punched the [blank] out of him for two full rounds.

Now, let me get to the action! Matt Brown vs. Amir Sadollah was crazy. That’s a fight that people would pay money to watch. I think the first round could be given to Brown for the aggression and last second takedown. Amir seemed to pick up steam in the second round, took Matt down, punished him from the top, and eventually sunk in a triangle choke. I liked the fight because it wasn’t a sloppy slugfest. Brown has a great boxing background and Amir showed his Muay Thai and ground game with the strikes and sub finish. It’s crazy that the more you pressure him, he gets stronger and doesn’t fold — that’s the quality of a good fighter. I can say the same about Brown plus he was very humble in his loss and showed respect for his opponent.

(“The foulest stench is in the air / the funk of 40,000 years / And grisly ghouls from every tomb / are closing in to seal your doom.”)

Every Thursday morning, Team Rampage member Gerald Harris blogs his reactions to each new episode of The Ultimate Fighter 7 on CagePotato.com. Here’s what he had to say about last night’s ep, in which CB Dollaway got his first inevitable win and the quarterfinal matchups were announced.

***

Let me start by apologizing for not speaking on the Yarbrough-Schultz fight in last week’s blog. I was really going through some things — it’s hard to walk around knowing the outcome of the show and holding it from your friends and family. You’re drowned with questions and angry people wanting to know what happened, and also claiming to know the outcome. Last week was a shock to a lot of people close to me but not to many outside of that circle. I learned a lot from the experience and took the loss as motivation. I was also mistaken on my words threatening to hurt Amir after the bout. I was being very sarcastic and I’m very humble about the incident.

Now, it was no surprise that CB was fighting Nick Klein this week. The only surprise was “who the hell is Nick Klein?” Well, let me fill you in. Klein is a tough dude — we were actually respecting him a lot, because he was very quiet in the house. Quiet people are unpredictable and are usually hiding something…like talent. Klein had a lot of it and even earned the name “Killa Klein” for his random funny outbursts. I hate to use the word “underdog” on this show because we’re all at the bottom of the mountain trying to become UFC fighters. In this case even Klein felt like an underdog because of CB’s high profile and #1 pick status from Rampage.

Most of you already know about CB. I didn’t know much about him other than his great wrestling before the show, but I would soon find out about his grappling and Muay Thai skills. I thought that he was just another wrestler, but after training with him I noticed that he was well rounded. He hits hard as hell, has great subs, and he’s meaner than a muthaf*$#a when it’s time to fight. He has this alter ego called the “DOBERMAN” and I saw that as he entered the cage.

I wish I could embed this — but you’ll have to click the picture above to see a “leaked” clip from this Wednesday’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter, in which C.B. Dollaway playfully kicks Rampage during a training session, which spurs Rampage to take his pants off and challenge Dollaway to a submission grappling match. We’ll just say that he should have kept his pants on, and that Nick Klein is a dead man.

Speaking of The Ultimate Fighter 7, the undercard for the season finale (June 21st, live at 9 p.m. ET on SpikeTV) has been officially announced. Right now, the lineup looks like this:

Evan Tanner vs. Kendall Grove
Diego Sanchez vs. Luigi Fioravanti
[match between the show's two middleweight finalists]
Spencer Fisher vs. Jeremy Stephens
Josh Burkman vs. Dustin Hazelett
Marvin Eastman vs. Drew McFedries
Jeremy Horn vs. Dean Lister
Matt Arroyo vs. TBA?
Rob Yundt vs. TBA?

Other bouts featuring the show’s castmembers are also expected to be included in the three-hour telecast. I’ll sell my third testicle if Dollaway isn’t involved.

Another must-see: Remember that thing about Kimbo Slice presenting at the CMAs on Sunday? Well, it was even more awkward and uncomfortable than we thought it would be. Vid is after the jump…click if you dare.

From last night’s episode of TUF; props to MMATKO.

MMA Junkie reports that the UFC and SpikeTV are finalizing details for UFC Fight Night 14, which will take place on September 17th and will lead in to the season premiere of The Ultimate Fighter 8, which beings filming this month. Though no names have been announced yet, the UFC has already begun contacting fighters for UFN 14, which could possibly be held in Florida.

Speaking of TUF 8, the Las Vegas Review-Journal says that the fight between the season’s coaches — UFC interim heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir — will be held “probably on New Year’s weekend.” Oddly enough, nobody from the UFC has told Nogueira yet that he’ll definitely be fighting Mir in his first title defense. “Next week I will have a meeting with the UFC directors in order to find out everything about the reality show,” he said. “Maybe I’ll find about my next fight.”

Nogueira is currently assembling his team of assistant coaches for the show, and has already mentioned Amaury Bitteti and his twin brother Antonio Rogerio as guys you might see in Team Minotauro’s corner. We can only hope Nogueira’s partner at Ultimate MMA shows up once in a while to teach the TUF castmembers crazy shit like this:

(Sadollah about to get Harrisplexed.)

Every Thursday morning, Team Rampage member Gerald Harris blogs his reactions to each new episode of The Ultimate Fighter. And this was the one we’ve been waiting for — the night Gerald actually gets to fight. But despite his early domination against Amir Sadollah, things didn’t turn out the way he’d hoped. Read below for Gerald’s rundown of the fight and how he felt about it, and give him a shout at his MySpace page.

***

It’s 8:58 p.m. and I’m staring at the clock hoping that it doesn’t click to 9:00. I’m sitting on the couch with my friends because every Wednesday we get together to watch the show. It was cool for the first couple weeks, but this one was different — I wasn’t smiling as much and I wasn’t excited. No one noticed and things went on as they did in the past. I’m flooded with text messages, phone calls, and high fives from my friends when the fight picks are announced. The fight starts and people are sending texts, calls, and jumping up and down as I slam and strike Amir the entire first round. Then it happens — “Bam,” in a quick flash — the fight’s over. You talk about silence? No one said a word for about 15 minutes, my phone stopped ringing, and nobody even looked at me. I broke the silence by saying “I’m sorry that I let y’all down, but it’s not over.” They’ve all seen the show and the success of fighters who got a second chance or at least earned a career in the UFC.

Now, let me take you back a couple months before I got there. I trained my ass off, running miles in the morning, and never missed Team Quest practice unless it was an emergency. I dreamed about holding The Ultimate Fighter trophy as Dana handed it to me and joining the ranks of Stevenson, Griffin, Evans, and many others. I was also doing bad financially and could barely afford to support my family, so winning those fights would help me provide for them. I’m the father of two and that’s how I feed them; this is my life, and the only thing that I do to earn money. When I lost that fight I felt like I let everyone down, I didn’t earn money to feed my kids, and lost the chance to become the next Ultimate Fighter. Once I took a deep breath and talked to Rampage I realized that it was ok. I still have a future in the UFC and a possible second chance to get into the tournament. During the fight I injured my ankle and scratched my eye, but that healed in a few days — the doc cleared me as good to go.

(Technically, this picture wasn’t gay until the guy on the far right started dragging his pants down.)

In an interview with Rochester, Minnesota’s Post-Bulletin, Tommy Speer announced that he has been picked up by the WEC and expects to debut with the organization in August. The TUF 6 finalist — who was cut by the UFC after getting knocked-dead by Anthony Johnson at last month’s UFC Fight Night 13 — competed once before in the WEC, knocking out Sidney Silva at WEC 27 last May. Said Speer on his bounce from the UFC:

“I didn’t agree with it right away; it was depressing news. But now I know I lost to a great fighter, and he surprised me and everyone by how well he fought. I don’t think it’s too bad of a thing for me to be going to the WEC. There are great fighters there, too. I need to keep learning and working on my game, and the WEC is a great place to do that.

The WEC’s 170-pound division is certainly respectable, with names like Carlos Condit, Carlo Prater, John Alessio, and Brock Larson populating the roster, but it’s not nearly the threshing machine of the UFC’s welterweight class, and seems like a great place for Speer to develop while still maintaining a decent level of exposure. “The Farm Boy” intended to fight outside of the WEC before his August debut, but his training has been halted by an appropriately rural setback:

“The doctors at Mayo (Clinic) said I was bit by a brown recluse spider (on my calf), so I’m on antibiotics,” Speer said. “They said it might take a month to heal up. So I’m not training now, and I probably won’t be able to fight until August, because I’ll need some serious training time when I get back.”

Speer said he still intends to travel to Missouri to train with former UFC champion Matt Hughes at his gym, H.I.T. Squad, prior to his fights.

In other news…

Forrest Griffin really wants that animal, damn it. Props to Bloody Elbow. The full episode is after the jump, courtesy of MMAScraps.

Check out 1:53-2:04 for Mir’s literally tight-lipped response. Here’s the general rule: If a person can neither confirm nor deny something, they’re confirming it. We’ll just have to wait for a public announcement to see if we actually scooped the MMA blogosphere on this one…

(Props: MMAMania.)

(“Sic semper tyrannis, bitch!”)

Every Thursday morning, Team Rampage member Gerald Harris will be blogging his reactions to each new episode of The Ultimate Fighter 7 on CagePotato.com. Here’s what he had to say about last night’s ep, in which Jeremy May got his comeuppance and Team Rampage finally pulled out a win.

***

I don’t think too many people were surprised by the punishment dished out by Matt Brown. People ask me about him all the time — they think he’s a serial killer and mean as hell. To tell you the truth, I thought the same thing, but he’s actually one of the coolest dudes in the house. He opened up a lot about how fighting kept him alive and changed him in a positive way. He earned a lot of respect by doing that and whoopin’ ass in practice.

May definitely asked for it, but I gotta give it too him for coming out strong. The only thing that pissed me off is that the admitted to faking the knee injury. Now, if you don’t already know, I’m probably Jeremy’s only friend and I didn’t even know that. A lot of people were cautious of overtraining, but to sandbag is another story. The fight went well — it was all emotion, so they got tired pretty quick. But Brown had the better cardio and weathered the storm, then finished May with a kick to the nose. As bad as some people wanted to see Jeremy lose, I hated to see Team Forrest in control again.

(The “douche bag” in question.)

This morning, Team Rampage’s Gerald Harris said that Jeremy May “seems to get on everyone’s nerves except mine.” Get on everyone’s nerves? That might be the understatement of the week. Nearly the entire TUF 7 cast hate-hate-hates Jeremy, and said as much in interviews and blog posts that were published today. Here are some highlights; major props to MMAJunkie.

Brandon Sene: “Jeremy is one of those guys [who] just got under everyone’s skin. He’s so abrasive and cocky that in the situation we’re living in, with 16 fighters in a house and them all having strong personalities, it’s not easy to be the one guy everyone thinks is the egomaniac and a jerk. That’s really saying something… He was just saying unnecessary stuff. He was a pain in the ass the whole time we were there.”

C.B. Dollaway: “What can be said about Jeremy May that won’t offend my family and sponsors? This guy would spend countless hours talking about how he would demolish everyone in the house. I honestly think Jeremy is surprised that Anderson Silva is not calling him out. Team Rampage knows they need Jeremy as a training partner and for the sole purpose of gaining control. We want him to win his fights for this reason only. It would be fine if he got stomped for two rounds and pulled out a come-from-behind victory. Maybe a good whooping would humble him.

During the point of the show you saw in Wednesday’s episode, I was really learning to hate this guy, and I am usually a low-key, easy-to-get-along with person. I would be lying if I told you I did not feel like smashing him myself at times. After Matthew Riddle’s fight, I think our whole team was learning how big of an ass Jeremy really was. His comments to Matthew in the van ride back to the house about getting submitted by armbar were out of line. That was a great fight, and both fighters had nothing to be ashamed of…

Every Thursday morning, Team Rampage member Gerald Harris will be blogging his reactions to each new episode of The Ultimate Fighter 7 on CagePotato.com. Here’s what he had to say about last night’s ep, in which tensions rose between Jeremy May and Mike Brown, and Brandon Sene and Dante Rivera went head-to-head in a three-round war.

***

In case you didn’t notice, Matt Brown isn’t the happiest person in the house. If I had to pull a prank on someone, he would be the last one on the list. Matt seems like the type of person where you wake up in the middle of the night and he’s standing over you, in his underwear, sharpening a butcher knife. So, instead of possibly getting killed in my sleep I chose not to participate in the “lime juice” prank. That’s a national rule: You don’t put lime juice in a Southern man’s dip! Like midgets to amusement parks, gas prices to SUVs, or diarrhea to a track star in the 100-yard hurdles, those two things don’t go together. I actually like the fact that somebody caused some trouble, because we were pretty damn bored. You’ve probably heard that we don’t have any TVs, radio, magazines, books, internet access, phones, and worst of all, no women! Except for the ring girls — and we enjoyed every step they took around the ring. Every step.

The Brown-May incident kind of overshadowed the actual fight pick between Brandon Sene and Dante Rivera. There was no drama between those two, so we just wanted to win and get control. From an mma view, that was a pretty good fight. From a fan’s view, it could have been seen as boring because people like action — especially stand-up action. Sene was busy and could have won the fight if he had escaped more, but Dante maintained control and pulled off the victory. What people fail to realize is that when someone loses on the show, reality kicks in. Brandon had sold his car and had just moved into a house so he planned on making some money to support himself. His only hope now is that someone gets injured and he gets a second chance.

Reminder: A new episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest airs tonight at 10 p.m. on SpikeTV, and Team Rampage member Gerald Harris will be blogging his reactions to it right here tomorrow morning. To commemorate this occasion, here’s an outtake clip from episode three of Rampage laying down the law on his team’s jokesters following Mike Dolce’s loss to Jesse Taylor. Yes, that’s Gerald receiving the totally accidental bitchslap at the end.

(Yep, this again.)

A few weeks ago, FiveOuncesofPain reported that a former All-American wrestler named Paul Bradley — who was rumored to be a castmember for The Ultimate Fighter 7 — had just been signed to a fight contract by EliteXC. It didn’t mean all that much to us until this morning, when we realized, OMG, Paul Bradley is the dude who was just kicked out of the TUF house because of his cootie-neck! In a new interview on 5oz., Bradley gives his take on his TUF eviction, and his transition to the UFC’s biggest competitor. Some highlights:

Sam Caplan: Just to clarify, your condition is called Herpes Gladiatorum?
Paul Bradley: Yes, that’s right. There’s type I and type II. Type I is sexually transmitted and type II, which is what I had, is transferred from the skin. It’s basically a cold sore but I get it on my neck…

Like my college trainers say, in college wrestling you deal with this a ton because of the skin-to-skin contact. If you wrestle five years and don’t get it, you’re pretty lucky…

I went and saw a doctor that morning and he’s like, “Two days on these meds (the Valtrex) and you’ll be fine.” And I’m like, “Alright, great.” So I went back and then Dana brought in his close, personal friend and the guy is saying this and that about that I can still give it to someone, but that’s not how it works. It’s got to be broken out, which it was but two or three days on the medicine and it was going to be gone…it wasn’t going to happen again throughout the whole show — I can guarantee you that. Especially when I was taking that medicine every day.

Sam Caplan: So it was a pre-existing condition. Had you disclosed that when you submitted your medicals?
Paul Bradley: Well, I had submitted all of my medicals from college so I’m sure it was in there. But like I said, I can name a ton of fighters in that organization that have it right now. Of course I won’t (name them), but half of the guys are wrestlers and I can name a couple off the top of my head right now. A couple of them I keep in touch with and they couldn’t believe it. They couldn’t believe it because it is so common in amateur wrestling and in wrestling in general you hear about it all the time. It was no big deal in my wrestling room at Iowa. “I got the herps” today is what you would say and you’d have to sit out a few days and get your medicine and you’re good to go within two or three days.

I was just shocked when Dana said he had never seen anything like this because with jiu-jitsu, wrestling, or any sport with skin-to-skin contact, you can acquire it.

Bradley went on to say that he’s in talks to get on the undercard of EliteXC’s June 14 event in Hawaii, in the first of a potential three-fight deal. Hopefully, the bit of infamy he got from his appearance on TUF doesn’t hound him from the rest of his career. It’s not fun to be known as “the herpes guy”; we know, we went to high school. But hey, if you’re going to have an incurable disease, you’re going to want one that sounds as badass as Herpes Gladiatorum. Fun fact: “Herpes Gladiatorum” is the official name for the piece of music that plays in the UFC pay-per-view intros…

(Should’ve worn a neck-condom.)

With their elimination matches behind them, the 16 middleweight finalists moved into the TUF house on last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter 7. Before the hour was over, teams were picked, a herpes carrier was sent home, and the fighter who looks like a meathead Nicolas Cage was 10 G’s richer.

Quinton Jackson won the opening coin toss, meaning he could pick either the first fighter or the first fight. He insisted on first fighter rights and chose early standout C.B. Dollaway, while Forrest took impressive BJJ black belt Tim Credeur for the next pick. Rampage also chose Matthew Riddle, Paul Bradley, Daniel Cramer, Gerald Harris, Mike Dolce, Jesse May, and Brandon Sene, while Forrest got Amir Sadollah, Jesse Taylor, Matt Brown, Cale Yarbrough, Dante Rivera, Nick Klein and Luke Zachrich.

As Rampage was assessing his team’s injuries from the elimination matches, Paul Bradley’s hive-y, shingle-y neck (shown above) was brought to his attention. Bradley was sent to a dermatologist, who determined that the rash was a herpes strain that could potentially spread to the other fighters. After quarantining him on the treadmill for a day, Dana White calls him into his office with some bad news; because of the risk of transmission, he’d have to leave the house. Bradley doesn’t take it well, and breaks into tears talking about the wrestling coaching job he gave up to be there. But that’s the breaks, and he’s sent packing. Rampage doesn’t want to be around someone with “cooties on his neck.” Replacing Bradley will be Patrick Schultz, the elimination round non-standout who was previously choked out by Luke Zachrich.

Forrest chooses the first matchup: Jesse Taylor vs. Mike Dolce.

Here’s a fun fact: Matt Serra’s Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale match against Chris Lytle (11/11/06) was his sixth-consecutive pro fight to end in a decision. “The Terror” went 3-3 during that stretch, suffering notable losses to B.J. Penn and Karo Parisyan, but turned his career around by edging out Lytle in a split decision — in which two of the judges scored it 30-27 for Serra and the other scored it an equally plausible 30-27 for Lytle — and earning his title shot.

(Roger Huerta could be ending his fight-hiatus in August.)

Brief (but important) developments in the world of organized violence…

— MMAMadness has learned from a “very reliable source” that UFC lightweight Roger Huerta will return to the Octagon at UFC 87 (August 9th, Minneapolis), against a yet-unnamed opponent. Could this be related to Kenny Florian’s recent call-out of “El Matador”? If it’s not, Joe Silva can basically go eff himself.

— In his first TUF7 column for Fox Sports, Forrest Griffin reveals that all the fighters were instructed to show up at no heavier than 190 pounds; so that one dude who had to drop 17 in one day only has himself to blame. Also: “I noticed that for the first couple of days ‘Rampage’ was much more funny than me and I was upset by that.”

— Perhaps due to the controversy spurring from last week’s news coverage of kiddie MMA, legislators are seeking to ban children’s MMA competitions in Missouri, the only state where youth matches are allowed. The MO-based youth-MMA organization Freestyle Combat League already requires its fighters to wear head gear and shin guards, and prohibits strikes to the head of a grounded opponent. The head of the FCL, Nathan Orand, says he’ll also be adding chest and stomach protectors for fighters younger than 14, allowing referees to stop a match if they see the danger of a joint injury, and switching from a cage to a ring. Sounds safe enough for our daughter!

— This Portfolio article on Chuck Liddell-as-accountant is notable for the following metaphor: “When I’m watching pre-fight tapes, I’m collecting all my receipts on my opponents, accumulating data,” [Liddell] says. “Once I step into the cage, it’s April 15. Everything is due.”

— MMAJunkie just put up an article evaluating the UFC performance of the 100 fighters featured on the first six seasons of The Ultimate Fighter. Junkie’s rather downbeat assessment: “[O]nly about 20 percent could be generously credited as UFC stars, or even serious contenders in their weight classes…more than half of the “TUF” contestants were unequivocal flops in that they failed to last more than two or three fights with the organization, if even that long.”

— Our buddy Ariel at JarryPark was recently named Editor-in-Chief of MMARated.com (mazel tov, brotha), and just put up a great audio interview with Cung Le, in which the new Strikeforce middleweight champ discusses Frank Shamrock’s trash-talk and his current contract situation with Strikeforce.

— Have a friend you don’t mind getting uncomfortably close with? Then these 10 “Ultimate Fighting” Exercises might be for you…

UFC.com put up an entertaining and surprisingly frank rundown of the current career prospects of every castmember of The Ultimate Fighter 3. Michael Bisping is labeled “The Top Gun” for his star power and relative success in the Octagon, while Ed Herman and Matt Hamill are in the “A Win or Two Away” category and Kendall Grove lands in the “On the Bubble” group for his recent losses. No surprises there, but it’s interesting to read up on some of the UFC castoffs who you haven’t thought about since TUF‘s third season — the never-wills who make up the list’s “Off the Radar” category. Some highlights:

Noah Inhofer
UFC record – Never fought in the UFC
Do I need to even go here? A participant in one of the most bizarre incidents in TUF history when he left the house because he wasn’t allowed a call to his girlfriend. There aren’t too many certainties in this world, but I’d be willing to bet that Inhofer (1-1 since the show) won’t ever be setting foot in the Octagon after the way he left the show.

Solomon Hutcherson
UFC record 0-1
Along with buddy Kendall Grove, was one of the ‘Dagger’ twins on the show (Ed. note: Aw man, you remember how annoying that was? Dagger!), and he showed promise, but ultimately his chin was what let him down, both during the series when he was knocked out by Rory Singer, and in the TUF3 finale, when he drew a tough opponent in Luigi Fioravanti and was KOed again. Went 2-0 in two fights outside of the UFC in 2007.

Danny Abbadi
UFC record 0-2
A nice kid with heart, Abbadi just wasn’t ready for the UFC, and though he dropped to lightweight and went the distance with Jorge Gurgel at UFC 63 after being submitted by Kalib Starnes at middleweight at the TUF3 finale, it’s unlikely he’ll be back in the Octagon anytime soon, especially with a 1-2 record in small shows since the loss to Gurgel.

In reference to gash-face Ross Pointon, the article says “if Pointon’s talent matched his heart, he’d be Anderson Silva.” Right. And if your aunt had a dick she’d be your uncle.

(Mark Hunt is the undisputed king of getting punched in the face.)

— Tryouts for the eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter will kick off in Boston on April 10th. Expect lawts of wicked ahsome ahmbahs.

— Keita Nakamura took one of Rob Emerson’s toes in his eye, and now he has myodesopsia. “I see many bugs though they don’t exist…I can tell this is an unlucky year.”

— UFC 85 (June 7th, London) will feature a bout between lightweights Thiago Tavares and Matt Wiman, and may also feature a middleweight match between Nate Marquardt and Thales Leites.

— Mark Hunt and his titanium-reinforced chin will return to MMA competition in May.

— BET’s blingy MMA show The Iron Ring debuts next Tuesday. The press release is here: “Headlining the show is boxing champ Floyd Mayweather (with the assistance of hip-hop star Rick Ross) managing the Money Mayweather Boys, along with hip-hop heavyweights Ludacris and Nelly representing Team Luda and Team Nelly (respectively).” Do you really need to know anything else?

— Dana White threatens Les Moonves’s ass, then admits that Andrei Arlovski hasn’t been feeling the love.

— Despite troll-jobs to the contrary, Tito Ortiz is quite healthy and will still be competing at UFC 84.

The UFC recently allowed Las Vegas’s ABC affiliate to poke around the set of The Ultimate Fighter 7. Though an unusually reserved Rampage questioned the mental capacity of himself and his rival coach, Forrest Griffin was able to correctly use the word “curmudgeon.” You be the judge:

Update: The video embed went fubar. Watch it here. (Windows Media Player required)

(Coach Forrest Griffin, ready for war.)

When we first heard about the big changes Dana White had planned for the seventh season of The Ultimate Fighter, our minds raced. Would the Octagon Girls be living in the house? Would the coaches’ challenges be decided not by normal bowling, but by Cosmic Bowling? Would there be a revolutionary new pit-fighting surface?

No, nothing crazy like that. Instead, the first few couple episodes will just be a lot more action-packed. As MMA Junkie reports:

According to a source close to the show, “The Ultimate Fighter 7” will start with 32 cast members — not the usual 16 — and every one of them will have to fight as soon as the show begins. The 16 winners earn a spot in the house, and the 16 losers are sent packing for home…That’s a far cry from past seasons of the reality series, when the first fight of the season sometimes didn’t take place until a second or even third episode.

Of the rumored middleweight castmembers, two have Bowman-esque professional records of 0-0, which makes a little more sense given the new format — if they have talent, they’ll earn a bunk in the house, and if not, we get to see the inexperienced rubes get smashed right off the bat.

Dana White blew his load a little early over the weekend. Before his “big announcement” today, he let it slip at the end of The Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale that Forrest Griffin will be one of the coaches on The Ultimate Fighter 7. He also teased that he had “big plans” for UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the new year, leaving us to conclude that he’d be the other coach.

White also noted that the two coaches will fight each another when the TUF 7 series is completed. Shooting begins in January and will likely debut on SpikeTV in April 08. It will feature 16 up-and-coming Middleweight (185 pounds) fighters.

Although Rampage and Griffin are 205 pounds, they should have any problem coaching the middleweight contenders. At the very least, The Ultimate Fighter will get a shot of personality that it so desperately needs, and hopefully another chance to fill the void in the Middleweight division.

Hey CagePotato fans, this is Greg Clark from MMA Fever, I’ll be filling in for Ben as he recovers from his breast-reduction surgery, so let’s dive into The Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale shall we…

Ben Saunders vs. Dan Barrera

The first fight of the Spike TV televised card set the tone for the rest of the night: Brutal, nasty, and damn entertaining.

Saunders defeated Barrera in Episode 6 by majority decision, so this bout was a true grudge match for both fighters to showcase their talent to the UFC and its fans.

Ben Saunders started round 1 demonstrating his superior striking skills, complemented by his leg kicks from his 6’3″ frame that connected on Barrera at will.  The fight was filled with back-and-forth action, but Barrera, who had been coached by Matt Hughes, showed that he was way out of his league against the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist when the fight went to the ground.

At one point, Saunders had Barrera’s back and put him in a body lock which set up the rear naked choke attempt.  As both fighters were dripping with sweat, Barrera was able to escape the bout ending submission.  Saunders stuffed Barrera’s takedowns easily which appeared to be the only weapon he had during the fight.  He also dominated on the ground and clearly won rounds 1, 2 and 3 for the unanimous decision victory against the battle worn Barrera.

Ben Saunders def. Dan Barrera via unanimous decision

Next up: Rogan’s Matt Hughes interview