Another season of The Ultimate Fighter is winding down, and tonight we'll learn the identity of the second finalist. Will it be Amir Sadollah or Matt Brown who will be facing Jesse Taylor? Or will Jesse even be around come fight time?
Last week Dana White, who always seems to know how to pique interest in his product, was seen watching a surveillance tape of someone who appeared to be trashing a limousine. Dana was heard saying that the individual would be off the finale and thrown out of the UFC. Was it Jesse he meant? Or did he mean one of the other fighters on the finale card?
Guess we'll find out soon enough.
Unfortunately, the fighters who were "one and done" sort of faded into the background during Season 7. In past seasons, there have been some real characters. Who can forget Shoney Carter and his Bedazzler? Or the various lover boys who bailed out of the series and squandered the opportunity of a lifetime to save a relationship. Wonder if those guys ever regretted throwing it all away and if their girlfriends realized what a sacrifice they'd made?
I missed not getting to know more about the Season 7 housemates. For instance, I'm still curious to know if Cale Yarbrough is related to the legendary NASCAR driver.
There were the usual drunken escapades, most of which centered around finalist Jesse Taylor, whose drinking approached a scary level.
One thing that happens every season is the house trashing. Personally, I find that appalling. I can't understand how adults can treat others' property with such disregard. You can bet they wouldn't do that at home. Somebody would hit them upside the head and make them clean it up.
The only real heel of the season seemed to be Jeremy May, who turned out to be an immature brat. May picked fights, especially with Jesse, for his own selfish, misguided reasons.
The pretty boy of the season was Dan Cramer. He wasn't conceited about it, and frequently joked about his looks. Cramer made it to the quarter finals, so he's the real deal. It would have been nice to see more of him.
I hope the next season will feature more of the fighters' personalities. It gives the show more depth, and when the hopefuls move on to UFC undercard matches, viewers know who they are and can pick favorites intelligently .
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Season 7 concludes this Saturday night with a 3-hour finale on Spike TV. In addition to the Season 7 Championship, matches for the live event from The Pearl at The Palms include:
- Evan Tanner vs. Kendall Grove (former TUF champ).
- Diego Sanchez (a Season 1 champ) vs. Luigi Fioravanti.
- Spencer Fisher vs. Jeremy Stephens.
- Josh Burkman (former TUF standout) vs. Dustin Hazelett.
- Marvin Eastman vs. Drew McFedries.
- Jeremy Horn vs. Dean Lister (former TUF trainer).
The show begins at 9:00 p.m. ET on Spike. Check local listings for time and channel.
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Thanks for reading and see ya next week.