The Ultimate Fighter returns for its 14th and final season on Spike TV when the reality show kicks off Wednesday night.If the first episode is any indicator, the UFC pulled out all the stops for its swan song on the network that helped turn TUF from a …
The Ultimate Fighter returns for its 14th and final season on Spike TV when the reality show kicks off Wednesday night.
If the first episode is any indicator, the UFC pulled out all the stops for its swan song on the network that helped turn TUF from a freak-show oddity into a reality-television and organizational juggernaut.
This season revolves around eight featherweights and eight bantamweights, which makes it a double threat. Not only will we be treated to the usual storyline of competitors vying for a guaranteed UFC contract, but these mighty-mights will also be introducing many MMA fans to new weight classes.
Neither the 145-pound division (featherweight) nor the 135-pound version (bantamweight) are well known to the casual or UFC-or-bust fan, as they are recent additions to the sport’s elite organization. So perhaps it’s no accident that these scrappers seem to be further along in their mixed martial arts development than any of the previous casts.
Without giving too much away, you’ll want to catch the special, two-hour premiere because all 16 elimination bouts are featured (or at least given the highlight treatment) and there are at least four burners that you do not want to miss.
As an added bonus, we’ll have 16 tiny fighters in one house. I say the odds are good at least a quarter of them are toting around serious Napoleonic complexes, which is a little bit like having four smoldering matches in a keg of gun powder.
Actually, when you consider the coaches, you might have six such matches.
For all their warts—and both have more than their share—you cannot accuse either Michael Bisping or Jason Miller of being boring.
Both the Count and Mayhem Miller know how to grab the spotlight and provoke a reaction. Granted, they do so largely by embracing the black hat, but they have their likable moments as well…well, at least Mayhem does.
Add it all up and Season 14 should have in spades exactly what Season 13 lacked—sizzle inside the Octagon as well in the house.
So tune in tonight at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT for the first installment of TUF on Spike TV and follow along with Bleacher Report as we live blog all the mayhem (yep).
Enough is enough already. There are way too many people who are jumping all over Jake Shields because, God Forbid, he has lost two fights in a row. Never mind the fact that he won his previous 15 fights over a course of five years. During his 12-year c…
Enough is enough already. There are way too many people who are jumping all over Jake Shields because, God Forbid, he has lost two fights in a row. Never mind the fact that he won his previous 15 fights over a course of five years.
During his 12-year career Shields has defeated current Strikeforce Light Heavyweight champion Dan Henderson, current UFC No.1 Welterweight Contender Carlos Condit, Yushin Okami, Robbie Lawler, Martin Kampmann, Dave Menne, Mike Pyle, Nick Thompson, Jason Miller, Paul Daley and Hayato Sakurai. Not bad for a fighter with limited standup, and for someone considered an undersized middleweight.
There is no theory stating that because he achieved his success outside the UFC that it doesn’t mean as much. A win over Dan Henderson means a hell of a lot no matter what organization they fought in. Same thing can be said for many of his other victims. No one has ever accused Shields of being the most exciting fighter, but much more often than not, he was able to get the job done, no matter how high the odds were stacked against him.
Is it his fault that the UFC sold him as a World Beater who was going to be Georges St. Pierre’s toughest test ever? No, it was the UFC marketing machine doing what they do best when it comes to selling a fight. He may not have defeated GSP, but he did become the first fighter to win a round from him in a very long time.
People will actually point to his UFC debut against the always tough Kampmann. I don’t care who you are, but Kampmann is a tough first opponent for anyone. Combine a tough weight cut along with the nerves that come along with making your first trip inside the Octagon and it’s easy to see why he had a difficult time with Kampmann.
Going into his fight with Jake Ellenberger, a lot of people felt that this was a pitfall for Shields. He had nothing to gain but everything to lose against a fighter who was outside the top 10. Then with just three weeks left before the fight, Shields lost his father, best friend and manager all in one shot when Jack Shields passed away on August 29. Shields decided that his father would’ve wanted him to fight, but that in no way, shape or form means that he was able to block out the pain and not miss having his father in his corner come fight time.
Ellenberger is a very good fighter and is a force to be reckoned with, but Shields face said it all last night. He wasn’t all there and is probably regretting his decision to be a good company man and soldiering on despite carrying such a heavy heart. I would make these same excuses for any fighter under the same circumstances, doesn’t matter whether I liked them or not. If you’re a human being then it’s impossible not to be affected when suffering such a dramatic loss, especially when you are a fighter.
There are way too many of you who are either unfamiliar with Shields’ career or maybe you have yet to suffer a loss of that magnitude. Stop jumping on the bandwagon and form your own opinion. It is so apparent that too many writers are using the same cookie cutter article when it comes to Jake Shields. We are all grown men and there is no need to for any of us to borrow someone else’s opinion and change a few words to come up with a column.
Do the right thing and formulate your own opinions and write your own thoughts, it will get you much further and help expand your horizons a great deal.
Jason Miller made a stop on “The Late Show With Jimmy Fallon” last night ahead of Wednesday’s The Ultimate Fighter 14 premiere and among other things “Mayhem” shared his thoughts on how he would fare against Jason Statham and Jason Bourne.
Jason Miller made a stop on “The Late Show With Jimmy Fallon” last night ahead of Wednesday’s The Ultimate Fighter 14 premiere and among other things “Mayhem” shared his thoughts on how he would fare against Jason Statham and Jason Bourne.
Although he only talked briefly about TUF and his opposing coach Michael Bisping, the “Bully Beatdown” host did express his true dislike for “The Count” and said he’s looking forward to smashing him when they square off on December 3 at the show’s finale.
With the appearance, Miller joins the likes of UFC president Dana White, former UFC light heavyweight champ Rashad Evans, former UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar, who have all appeared on the late-night show. Current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and his next opponent, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson will be on Monday’s show.
Ultimate Fighter 14 coaches Michael Bisping and Jason Miller took shots at each other for over 30 minutes at a media call held yesterday to pump up the show. Here’s how the conversation ended (skip to the 35:28 mark to hear it):
Miller: [Bisping’s] coaching staff are a lot of guys that I trained with back in the day and [I] moved on because they weren’t up to par for what I needed. So that just goes to show you Mike’s level of coaching staff.
Bisping: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’d just like to elaborate that Jason brought a chiropractor as one of his staff. He refers to himself as a doctor, but we all know a chiropractor isn’t a doctor, and certainly isn’t an MMA coach. But good for crackin’ your back.
Ultimate Fighter 14 coaches Michael Bisping and Jason Miller took shots at each other for over 30 minutes at a media call held yesterday to pump up the show. Here’s how the conversation ended (skip to the 35:28 mark to hear it):
Miller: [Bisping’s] coaching staff are a lot of guys that I trained with back in the day and [I] moved on because they weren’t up to par for what I needed. So that just goes to show you Mike’s level of coaching staff.
Bisping: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’d just like to elaborate that Jason brought a chiropractor as one of his staff. He refers to himself as a doctor, but we all know a chiropractor isn’t a doctor, and certainly isn’t an MMA coach. But good for crackin’ your back.
Miller: My chiropractor actually helped train a few world champions, maybe you’ve heard, Randy Couture and this guy Dan Henderson. So he’s not just a chiropractor. We’re talking about Ryan Parsons, of course.
Bisping: He’s a chiropractor. He’s a gay chiropractor. [unintelligible] He’s most likely been taking it up…
Miller: I don’t think he’s gay, Mike. I mean, at least he’s bi because he has two kids.
Like any dumbass teenager, Michael Bisping just loves to throw the gay-bomb — and related insults — at folks he doesn’t care for. He called Chael Sonnen gay for referring to his fight against Brian Stann in comic-book terms, explained that he didn’t want to look like a faggot when he got some Vaseline in his eye at UFC 114, then called Jorge Rivera a faggot at the UFC 127 weigh-ins for the trifecta. Now, Ryan Parsons is gay, according to homosexuality-expert Michael Bisping.
If this is a reflection of Bisping’s maturity level, he probably didn’t do as well in his on-set verbal exchanges with Miller as he thought he did, and it’s a safe bet that you’ll be rooting against him (again!) by the end of the season. Seriously, I’m beginning to think that this is one of those “the lady doth protest too much” situations…
The 14th season of The Ultimate Fighter is set to debut a week from today, but this season’s fireworks have already started, mainly thanks to the antics of Jason “Mayhem” Miller.Bleacher Report was present for a media conference call held by the UFC to…
The 14th season of The Ultimate Fighter is set to debut a week from today, but this season’s fireworks have already started, mainly thanks to the antics of Jason “Mayhem” Miller.
Bleacher Report was present for a media conference call held by the UFC to promote the debut of the show.
The call felt less like a media event and more like watching (or listening) to a preview of the show since both Miller and his opposite, British star Michael Bisping, were at each other’s throats from the get-go.
“I’ll say this about Michael [Bisping],” started Miller, “he is a complex character, an individual that you could write many tomes of knowledge on.” Miller became more blunt and said, “As the season went on, I hated his guts.”
Miller then shifted his focus to what transpired during the filming of the show, saying “I definitely got under his skin, as you’ll see as the season plays out, he was quite mad…our personality clash put a damn good show on…we both have a strong personalty and they were bound to clash.”
According to Miller, it didn’t take long for the clash between him and Bisping to happen. “He fully proved himself to be a prick by week two,” he admitted.
After another series of verbal jabs in which Bisping stated that Miller was “annoying,” and “idiotic,” Miller retorted to his British opposite by saying “I think you’re way worse [of] an idiot than I am and I’m going to smash your face and choke you!”
The subject then moved onto the coaches that Bisping brought in to help train his team. Miller was not thrilled with the Brit’s choices. “His coaching staff are a lot of guys I’ve trained with back in the day and moved on because they weren’t up to par for what I needed. So that just goes to show you [Bisping’s] level of coaching staff,” Miller said.
This started a verbal scuffle in which Bisping criticized Miller for bringing on “a gay chiropractor” as one of the members of his coaching team.
When the dust settled after the conference, the only things the two adversaries could agree on were that this upcoming season would be one you don’t want to miss, and that they both hated one another. But, of course, Miller couldn’t agree with Bisping without being clever.
“We hate each other’s guts,” he said. But he then added “I can’t speak for [Bisping] because I can’t talk with that stupid accent.”
All of this trash-talk may seem controversial, but it will help the Ultimate Fighter escape the dreadful rut it’s been in for quite some time. Also, the men may dislike one another but do not harbor any ill will since as Miller eloquently put it, “there is a brotherhood among fighters, all of us.”
That brotherhood will be tested in the Ultimate Fighter house as well as in the finale on December 3, 2011, when Bisping and Miller finally meet one another.
It’s clear that Michael Bisping doesn’t enjoy being around or talking to Jason Miller.However, Bisping had to spend several weeks coaching opposite Miller while on the set of “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 14.Needless to say, the top 10-ranked Bisping i…
It’s clear that Michael Bisping doesn’t enjoy being around or talking to Jason Miller.
However, Bisping had to spend several weeks coaching opposite Miller while on the set of “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 14.
Needless to say, the top 10-ranked Bisping is pleased that filming is over and he can focus on their Dec. 3 matchup in Las Vegas.
“I find him very, very annoying and I know people on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ did and I was no different,” Bisping said today during a media call to promote TUF 14. “During the show I hated him and the end of the show I hated him and on December 3, I’m going to kick his {expletive} so it’s all good.”
Miller’s approach when stirring up Bisping was much different than the one Jorge Rivera used prior to being knocked out by Bisping earlier this year at UFC 127.
Rivera and his team made videos mocking Bisping that lit up the web and “The Count” didn’t think very highly of them.
However, Bisping says that Miller’s much different and that he’s just “idiotic.”
“Well, it all depends,” Bisping said. “Miller’s annoying, but for a completely different reason just because he’s idiotic. He just comes up with stupid {expletive} constantly. Rivera was different because it wasn’t just him, it was his entire team and they were cool, calm, and collected about it. They made videos, they did all kinds of stuff, and they crossed the line. They talked about my family and stuff like that, stuff that I really don’t want to go into and drag up again and even give Rivera the press. It takes a pretty low individual to do things like that.
“Jason’s not like that he’s just a bit idiotic as I said and he tries to wind me up a few times on the show as you’ll see. They were all very, very, very feeble attempts, you know, his mouth is definitely bigger than his brain. He tried a few things, you’ll see, they were very childish, and easy to overcome and get one over on him. So, yeah he didn’t wind me up to that extent.”
While Bisping admits that Miller did get on his nerves during the filming of the show, he also says that he didn’t need to think twice when accepting the position as coach on TUF 14.
“There was never any hesitation in accepting the role of coach,” Bisping said. “In my opinion, to be offered the role of coach on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ is very prestigious and I thank the UFC for the opportunity. So, I never contemplated whether I should take it, the reality is, is that there’s a downside. The downside is that it means almost 10 months out of the camp, which I like to stay active. It means taking the fight against Jason Miller, which with respect that probably doesn’t get me a title shot by beating him. So, those are the downsides.
“But obviously it’s a great opportunity and as I said it shows that the UFC holds me in high regards to be offered something like that. I never wondered for a second if I would take the job.”
With that being said, will a victory against Miller at the conclusion of the show place Bisping any closer toward a title shot?
Well, a win would place Bisping on a four-fight win streak and he feels that would place him at the top of the middleweight division.
“Well, maybe beating Miller is the guy because I’ve got a big (win) streak,” Bisping said. “I’ve only been beaten once at middleweight. I’ve been around the UFC for a long time, I’ve been beating tough guys consistently for a long time now. I feel like I’m going to get a title shot real, real soon. I’m still improving all the time, I’m dedicated, I work hard, and I feel that my time is now.
“I do get frustrated when I hear ‘Anderson Silva‘s wiped out the middleweight division’, he hasn’t wiped out the middleweight division, he’s got to fight me yet, and I feel like I match up very well with him. I’m not disrespecting Anderson, I think Anderson gladly so is regarded as the pound-for-pound best in the world and I’m a big fan of him. But I feel that I’ll give him a good fight and I feel I might show better against him than some of the other fighters he’s faced.
“So, yeah, hopefully I beat Miller and I do a good job, do it in style, who knows maybe that will get me the title shot. If not, I say definitely one more fight and I should get that shot pretty soon.”
In order to ensure that he’s fully prepared for Miller, Bisping is training in sunny California and while he’s not a hundred-percent sure if his entire camp will stay there, he won’t be taking “Mayhem” lightly in the lead-up to their December headliner.
“I think the plan is we’re going to do a month in California and a month somewhere else,” Bisping said. “A destination yet to be confirmed, but I’ve been taking the fight very seriously and I’ve had a very good fight camp. I’ve been bringing in some very good guys to help me prepare. The reality is, Jason is a tough fighter and I never, ever underestimate anybody and I’ll be training accordingly. The final pieces of the puzzle are just about to be getting put into place right now.
“I’ve been training out in California at the moment, but I’m still very, very much a part of the Wolfslair. The Wolfslair is kind of an international fighting gym now, obviously ‘Rampage’ is out of the States, Cheick Kongo is in the States, and we’re signing other guys that are from the States. Yeah, I’m based in California but who knows where the camps going to be right now.”
The Ultimate Fighter returns for its 14th and final season on Spike TV when the reality show kicks off Wednesday night.
