The 17th main season of The Ultimate Fighter is already dead set on drawing a lot of eyeballs with coaches Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen, but Dana White hints at another star on the rise.
During a media lunch attended by the UFC president and Ronda Rousey, White hinted at an interesting competitor that was so violent, he had the rest of the TUF 17 house paralyzed in fear (via MMA Mania):
“We have a guy on this season of The Ultimate Fighter, every fight he’s in, someone goes to the hospital. The whole house is terrified of this guy. F—ing terrified. Everybody. I picked this fight, and this guy is lined up with the guy I’m telling you about, and the guy has a nervous breakdown in the house over the weekend. Has a f—ing nervous breakdown. Freaks out and has a nervous breakdown. This guy scared the living s— out of everyone. It’s awesome.”
This seems to corroborate with a quote from MMA Fighting’s Dave Doyle, who relayed that White mentioned one fighter on TUF 17 “who put all four of his opponents into the hospital” during the season.
If this mystery fighter made it through four men during the season, that seems to hint that he’s a finalist who will be heading to the Ultimate Fighter 17 finale showdown.
Typically, fighters on a normal season of TUF have to compete in three fights to get a shot at the show’s six-figure contract prize and free Harley Davidson motorcycle. That includes at least one qualifying fight to get into the house, a quarterfinal fight and an additional semifinal bout.
But if this fighter sent four men to the hospital, that either hints at an extra round or an unaired qualifying match. It wouldn’t involve a physical altercation outside of a cage, as the TUF rules explicitly state that fighters will be banned from the season if they attack each other outside competition—unless this fighter broke the rules late into the show.
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