It appears that Shane Carwin’s coaching staff is complete for the upcoming American season of The Ultimate Fighter.TUF 16, which will feature 170-pound welterweights this season, will be coached by newly minted rivals Carwin and Roy Nelson. Nelson is a…
It appears that Shane Carwin‘s coaching staff is complete for the upcoming American season of The Ultimate Fighter.
TUF 16, which will feature 170-pound welterweights this season, will be coached by newly minted rivals Carwin and Roy Nelson. Nelson is a former TUF winner, which makes this much more interesting for the one-time contender of the show.
Carwin’s staff consists of several coaches. His “lead” instructor will be Trevor Wittman, who currently runs Grudge Training Center, home to the former interim heavyweight champion.
In terms of specialty coaches, Carwin has hired UFC heavyweight Pat Barry as a striking coach. The former K-1 level kickboxer is well known for having some of the heaviest leg kicks in MMA.
Newly crowned Strikeforce welterweight king Nate Marquardt, who trains at Grudge, has also been brought on as a coach. It is assumed that he will be a jiu-jitsu instructor, as he holds the rank of black belt.
For wrestling, in addition to Carwin, Leister Bowling has been brought on board to share his vast experience with the sport. Bowling is a three-time All-American in wrestling, as well as a four-time NAIA Central Region champion at the University of Southern Colorado and Dana College.
Bowling is no stranger to the sport of MMA, as he does hold one amateur MMA fight, which came back in 2005. The sport must have not been for him, as he now is a full-time wrestling coach.
Finally, Carwin chose Loren Landlow to handle the physical therapy and sports performance aspect of the team. Landlow is a former football player who has worked closely with Carwin in the past.
In addition to the announcement of his team, Carwin bashed several potential candidates that Nelson is rumored to have contacted.
The first of which is Victor Conte, the man connected with distributing steroids to some of Major League Baseball’s biggest stars. Though clean and operating legitimately now, Carwin still made it a point to point out his legal past.
Also, former Olympian Kurt Angle was mentioned by Carwin as a possible coach. Though Angle is a legitimate wrestling legend, Carwin pointed out his several brush-ups with the law, which include several DUIs.
The feud is heating up and the pieces are falling into place. What do you think of Carwin’s coaching staff? Sound off below!
“You think that’s funny? This motherfucker on my left THINKS HE’S A WELTERWEIGHT!”
Finding someone who still gets excited about The Ultimate Fighter is a lot like watching a guy wearing a gi or a Luchador mask in a cage fight: It’s a throwback to the days when our sport was arguably more pure and definitely more innocent. It’s oddly refreshing, incredibly confusing and somewhat disturbing, all at the same time. It’s the type of encounter that you’ll look back on a few months from now and say something like “Remember when we went to that event in the middle of nowhere and they let a guy compete wearing a Psicosis mask?” (Come on, stranger things have happened) or “Remember that night at The Korova when we met that guy who was all about TUF Live?”
That being said, TUF 16 actually looks like it has some promise. At the very least, head coaches Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin should provide some entertaining antics and some original trash talk. The fact that the two were originally set to fight each other at UFC 125 is a nice touch, too. And earlier today, Shane Carwin told MMAJunkie.com that UFC Heavyweight and one of MMA’s most recognizable personalities Pat Barry will be a part of his TUF 16 coaching staff.
If anything else, Carwin and company should be able to revolutionize the TUF coaches ribbing, which, let’s face it, has become pretty stale, predictable and disturbing throughout the history of the show. Looking over the rest of his coaching staff, his fighters will have one hell of a coaching staff to learn from. They’re listed for you after the jump.
“You think that’s funny? This motherfucker on my left THINKS HE’S A WELTERWEIGHT!”
Finding someone who still gets excited about The Ultimate Fighter is a lot like watching a guy wearing a gi or a Luchador mask in a cage fight: It’s a throwback to the days when our sport was arguably more pure and definitely more innocent. It’s oddly refreshing, incredibly confusing and somewhat disturbing, all at the same time. It’s the type of encounter that you’ll look back on a few months from now and say something like “Remember when we went to that event in the middle of nowhere and they let a guy compete wearing a Psicosis mask?” (Come on, stranger things have happened) or “Remember that night at The Korova when we met that guy who was all about TUF Live?”
That being said, TUF 16 actually looks like it has some promise. At the very least, head coaches Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin should provide some entertaining antics and some original trash talk. The fact that the two were originally set to fight each other at UFC 125 is a nice touch, too. And earlier today, Shane Carwin told MMAJunkie.com that UFC Heavyweight and one of MMA’s most recognizable personalities Pat Barry will be a part of his TUF 16 coaching staff.
If anything else, Carwin and company should be able to revolutionize the TUF coaches ribbing, which, let’s face it, has become pretty stale, predictable and disturbing throughout the history of the show. Looking over the rest of his coaching staff, his fighters will have one hell of a coaching staff to learn from. They’re listed for you after the jump.
Trevor Wittman: One of MMA’s most respected striking coaches, Wittman is the head coach at Grudge Training Center, which is located just outside of Denver, Colorado. Some of his pupils include Brendan Schaub, Duane Ludwig, Nate Marquardt and, of course, Shane Carwin. While he’s one of the most cheerful guys in MMA, he won’t hesitate to call out one of his fighters over their bitchassness.
Nate Marquardt: Former UFC middleweight contender, current Strikeforce Welterweight Champion. He’s coming off of a dominant performance over Tyron Woodley that won him the gold at Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Kennedy earlier this month.
Pat Barry: Come on, like you don’t know…
Leister Bowling: Wrestling coach at Grudge Training Center, extremely decorated amateur wrestler. His accomplishments include 3x Colorado state wrestling champion, Colorado career/season record holder for most wins (154), pins (131) and takedowns (785), 3x NAIA All-American, 4x Central Regional Champion, 4x Great Plains Athletic Conference Champion, 2005 National Runner-Up, and the 2004 Central Regional Outstanding Wrestler.
Loren Landow: Sports performance coach. Has worked with 400 professional athletes, including athletes in the NFL, NHL, MLB, UFC, WNBA and Olympic medalists.
That’s an impressive list of coaches. While we don’t have any word on who Roy Nelson’s coaches will be, we have to imagine he’ll bring in a killer jiu-jitsu specialist. And we won’t hold our breathe on Mike Dolche.
So, does this raise your interest levels for the next season of TUF?
(If you were a guest on that gay Indian party bus and want to share your story, please e-mail [email protected].)
Thanks to everyone who submitted stories for today’s crowd-sourced edition of the CagePotato Roundtable. We’ve selected 12 tales from the pile — ranging from drama to comedy to horror — and we’ll begin with a story that comes to us from an actual pro fighter, involving one of MMA’s greatest out-of-the-cage rivalries…
Sal Woods
A few years ago I fought on the Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields card. While at weigh-ins I was obviously star-struck from being at Al Hrabosky’s with a room full of legends and badasses. The only guy I had the balls to say what’s up to was Nick Diaz. He was completely cool and super polite, he said hi and introduced himself to the entire table (my cornermen, shaking each one’s hand). We were just shooting the shit about how it was my first time on a big card and that I was fighting T-Wood. I was thinking this dude is nothing like the interviews I have watched.
All of a sudden he looks over and sees Joe Riggs and almost flips shit, starts telling his corner guys “there’s that little bitch right there!” Looks over a crowd of people and called Riggs a punk bitch. Then Gil and someone else walked him away/cooled him down. Proved that if Nick doesn’t like you and fights you he may fight you again in the hospital and almost again at completely different fight’s weigh-in!
Noah “Jewjifshoe” Ferreira
You guys all remember Dan Barrera from TUF 6, right? Well I met him during a math class in the Fall of 2011 and it was one of the weirdest experiences I’ve ever had.
(If you were a guest on that gay Indian party bus and want to share your story, please e-mail [email protected].)
Thanks to everyone who submitted stories for today’s crowd-sourced edition of the CagePotato Roundtable. We’ve selected 12 tales from the pile — ranging from drama to comedy to horror — and we’ll begin with a story that comes to us from an actual pro fighter, involving one of MMA’s greatest out-of-the-cage rivalries…
Sal Woods
A few years ago I fought on the Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields card. While at weigh-ins I was obviously star-struck from being at Al Hrabosky’s with a room full of legends and badasses. The only guy I had the balls to say what’s up to was Nick Diaz. He was completely cool and super polite, he said hi and introduced himself to the entire table (my cornermen, shaking each one’s hand). We were just shooting the shit about how it was my first time on a big card and that I was fighting T-Wood. I was thinking this dude is nothing like the interviews I have watched.
All of a sudden he looks over and sees Joe Riggs and almost flips shit, starts telling his corner guys “there’s that little bitch right there!” Looks over a crowd of people and called Riggs a punk bitch. Then Gil and someone else walked him away/cooled him down. Proved that if Nick doesn’t like you and fights you he may fight you again in the hospital and almost again at completely different fight’s weigh-in!
Noah “Jewjifshoe” Ferreira
You guys all remember Dan Barrera from TUF 6, right? Well I met him during a math class in the Fall of 2011 and it was one of the weirdest experiences I’ve ever had.
There was a guy across the room in my math class who kept talking and interrupting the class, mumbling things about The Ultimate Fighter. I couldn’t help but think that I had seen him somewhere before. The guy got up and said something like, “Sorry to interrupt your class, I’m here for my cousin to get notes, his girl is pregnant. Thanks. Ultimate Fighter, UFC, peace.” Then he left and we thought it was over. But in the same way that an obsessive ex-boyfriend keeps popping up in closets and dressing rooms long after the breakup, Mr. Barrera was not willing to let this end. When we went into the computer lab to continue the class, there he was.
He was speaking with different people, who were mostly trying to ignore his ramblings. I, however, felt like a moth being drawn to his glowing beam of crazy. So I asked him what he was talking about and he pulled up a picture on one of the computers showing Dan Barrera weighing in for a fight. “Oh shit, you’re Dan Barrera. Yeah, you fought Ben Saunders.” To which he replied, ”Yeah and I beat him too, I put this hand through his face.”
Sure, I remember him getting a good shot in on Saunders, but Barrera would have us believe he easily won that fight. That is obviously not true, Saunders beat him…twice. Once during the show and once at the finale. Of course, when a mentally unstable, possibly cracked up pro fighter says something like that, I figured I should just let it slide. I find truth and reason don’t mean much to a deranged person.
Then he handed me a magazine article which featured him dressed as a cowboy, looking like he was ready to participate in a rodeo. As any normal person would do, Barrera asked me to read it aloud to the class. After graciously declining, he decided to read it instead, knowing the wisdom was too great NOT to share.
As he did so, I just had to wonder why this guy was crashing a college math class. Why is he showing pictures of himself on the Internet and reading aloud a magazine article featuring himself? I knew Dan was a little nutty from watching TUF, but squirrel shit has nothing on this guy.
Once the article was finished, it was time to leave us all with something really important to think about. Getting into preach mode, he actually pulled a Bible out of his pocket and said (to the best of my memory):
Do you see this? This is the word, it’s the word of our savior. How manyletters does law have in it? Who knows that? How many letters does law havein it? Don’t be scared. *writes “law” on the white board* It has three lettersin it. How many letters does God have? Don’t be scared, it has threeletters. You see? God made the law and his word is law. Now how many linesdoes an ‘A’ have? It has 3 lines. What’s three times three?…
That’s about all I can remember before the teacher came in and asked him to leave. I hope Mr. Barrera was on some good coke or meth, because honestly, if he’s like that sober he is not of this world.
Anytime I feel as though I’m losing my grips on reality, I just remember this experience and feel as though everything will be ok. Perhaps that was the true wisdom of Mr. Barrera. Thank you sir, you have helped change one person’s life for the better.
Derek C.
My brother and I were in Vancouver for UFC 115. Being from Winnipeg, we checked into our hotel downtown. The lady who checked us in said her husband was in charge of the hotel where all the fighters were staying and tipped us off on its location. (Thanks check-in lady!).
As soon as we got to the hotel we spotted Chuck’s trainer John Hackleman so we knew we were in the right spot. Moments later we ran into the Iceman himself so we were pretty stoked already. Then we saw Jon Fitch standing by himself checking in. And we continued to let him stand by himself because it’s Jon Fitch so who fuckin’ cares?
Walking back outside we recognized a chubby Asian dude but couldn’t quite figure out who it was. That is until it dawned on us, he wasn’t Asian at all but Diego Sanchez. Being a big fan of his we asked if we could get a picture with him. If you look at the picture, it is literally three seconds after Diego whispered in my ear, “Yo, I’m in Canada, land
of the good shit. You got any chronic you can hook me up with?” Being from Canada of course we did.
But it was back at our hotel. He said come back and we’d blaze up in his hotel room before he had to make some club appearance. Getting baked with the Diego sounded rad to us so we made the short trek and back. When we got there though he said he had to get going. But we gave him a joint or two anyways seeing as he was all chubby and still depressed from the beatdown BJ gave him months earlier. Maybe we didn’t get high with the Nightmare, but we were happy to hook him up with the best shit in the world
Fight Chix was started by Elisabeth and I back in 2006. I was doing design work for a company called STATS — we developed a statistical system like Fight Metric (before Fight Metric) and used it with the IFL. So I headed up that project and Elisabeth and I also used the networking as a spring board to launch Fight Chix.
Well it was May 19, 2007, and we were at the hotel bar in Hoffman Estates by the Sears Center. We were enjoying some drinks with Bas Rutten and Tiffany Fallon. Typically hanging out with Bas at a bar is an event unto itself, but this evening the focus was on a former champion who has recently lost his belt to Randy Couture. Elisabeth excused herself to use the ladies room and returned to the table PISSED. On her way back, Tim Sylvia was sitting with his feet up on a chair and blocked Elisabeth’s path back to our group. He was also with a group of fighters from the Miletich camp.
Tim looked up and said “So what is this Fight Chix thing” to which Elisabeth replied “It’s my clothing line. It’s for female fighters and fans of MMA.” Tim kinda laughed and responded with “Well that’s dumb, why would you start a clothing line for women, when its not a woman’s sport?” Several of Tim’s friends kinda laughed and Elisabeth stood her ground. “Really Tim? So there are no mothers, wives, sisters, or girlfriends that support you when you go into the cage? There aren’t fighters like Tara Larosa, Roxanne Modafferi or Julie Kedzie who train and compete just as hard? And if it wasn’t for women, you wouldn’t be here, now would you Tim?! Are we done here?!”
And Elisabeth walked back to our table as the Miletich camp cheered in a “you just got served” kinda way for Elisabeth. The result of this encounter was absolutely no bad blood for Tim Sylvia or anyone in his camp. It really lit a fire that still burns today, to be the best MMA Lifestyle brand out there for female fans and fighters. We know Tim isworking hard to get back in the UFC and we wish him well — and we thank him for his comment that was the gasoline on the fire of success.
Mike Osso
My friend’s wife works at NBC and became friends with Dana from seeing him in the building. He got her free tickets to UFC 128 in Newark since she was pregnant and her husband (my friend) are UFC enthusiasts. We didn’t know where we would be sitting until we got to the arena and picked up our tickets. Turns out they were great — 20 feet away from the cage, second row in the arena. The only better seats were the few rows of folding chairs set up on the floor. Our seats were directly behind who I now know was Tiki Ghosn. I have no direct pics of him from fear of him punching me in the face, but I do have pics from the night and other UFC fighters who came into our seating area because it was so close. The following story is 100% true and can be verified by the three other people with me.
So me, my friend, his wife, and her friend get to the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, and pick up our reserved VIP tickets that Dana White was kind enough to set aside for us. We get there early, as people are starting to fill up the arena. We sit behind this bald man with a weird beard, all alone, who no one pays attention to. We all love the UFC and this was our first event, and were like little children on Christmas spitting out all our UFC knowledge and excitement for the night. The undercard fights are starting, and there she is, Arianny Celeste, holding the ring card 25 feet in front of me. Me and my friend go nuts, as I yell out, “OMG! It’s Arianny, she’s so fucking hot, she’s dated so many UFC fighters, what a slut.”
Then, the bald man with the weird beard turns around, looks at me, and says “You should watch what you say, that’s my girlfriend.” I just get mad that this guy says this to me, so I respond “Oh yea, and who the hell are you?”, not thinking that this is a UFC fighter, since I have been a fan for about five years and have never seen him. Tiki responds “How long have you been a fan of the UFC?” I say, “About five years, why?” He says, “Well then you wouldn’t know me” and turns around.
I am now pissed that he stops talking so I jump on my Blackberry and google “Arianny Celeste’s boyfriend,” and the first choice that comes up on Google is “Arianny dating ufc fighter Troy Burkham” [Ed. note: He means Josh Burkman] so I tap Tiki on the shoulder and say “Hey man, are you Troy Burkham?” This seemed to infuriate him, and he responds “No, I’m Tiki Ghosn.” I laugh, and say, oh ok sorry man then I Googled him and saw that he used to be a UFC fighter. I then proceeded to say, “Hey man, I’m sorry” again and he said “Yeah, yeah, no problem” in a pissed off tone.
Me and my group had an awkward silence for the next couple minutes as we did not want to anger an old UFC fighter, but by the time the next fight came on we were loud and crazy again. Nothing else was said the rest of the night, except every time a fighter that came into the crowd or that I saw would come into view I’d yell out “OMG it’s…….” just to let him know I was a UFC fan, and I did know almost all past and present relevant fighters. The real highlight of the trip was getting my Jon Jones Form shirt autographed by Rashad Evans before they were really beefing, I still have it hanging in my room. Hope you enjoyed my story about how I almost got into a fight with an ex UFC fighter for calling his girlfriend a slut lol.
David Nadeau I got to roll with Shane Carwin while training BJJ in Boulder. I use the term “roll” loosely, of course. He passed my butterfly guard in a heartbeat, crushed me in side position, and laughed a little. I apologized for wasting his time.
[Ed. note: Short, sweet, and to the point. Cool story, bro.]
On the next page: A brutal cockblocking by Bas Rutten, an unexpected staredown with Chuck Liddell, and Viva Hate’s tale of black-on-black crime at the Boston Fan Expo.
With the recent announcement that Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin have been named as the coaches for the next installment of The Ultimate Fighter series, the MMA universe immediately launched into a full-blow orgasmic ticker-tape parade complete with tons of flying confetti and a marching band belting out death metal tunes. Once I heard the news, it was as if my life instantaneously turned into a beer commercial and the entire Potato Nation was invited. There was a rad pool-party, barbeque, a plethora of hotties, endless alcohol, and an overall quest for fun.
Well . . . . . actually, none of that happened. In fact, when word spread that Nelson and Carwin would helm the next season of TUF, it was officially filed under “WTF?” Judging from the comment section, most of the CP brethren didn’t care for the choices either. TUF is coming off a season that saw the ratings dip lower than they ever had, which could partially be blamed on the move to FX and the dreaded Friday night time slot. Regardless of the variables for the ratings drop, something drastic needs to be done, but is anybody really convinced that Carwin and Nelson are the answer to TUF’s slow and painful demise? Let’s start from the beginning and take a look back to see if this runaway train can be coaxed back onto the main rail.
The Season That Started it All
The inaugural season of TUF featured future Hall of Famers Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture as the competing coaches who would go mano y mano at the PPV after the season finale. For fans of the UFC, that was good enough for most to initially tune in for the Fertitta-funded experiment. It still remains the best crop of young talent and personalities to ever grace the show; future stars like Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar, Josh Koscheck, Chris Leben, Diego Sanchez, Mike Swick, Kenny Florian, and Nate Quarry were all complete unknowns vying for stardom in a fledgling sport. You mix in the whole “fatherless bastard” angle and the show was off and running even before the awe-inspiring climax between (pre TRT) FoGrif and The American Psycho. Even before that, we were treated to the greatest speech of all time that has since been condensed into a few words. “Do you wanna be a fighter?” Though there were other memorable moments from the seasons that followed, Zuffa should have quit while they were ahead because it would never be this good again. The unrefined personification of immature talent, undeniable aspirations and gonzo-sized balls oozed from the boob tube during every episode.
With the recent announcement that Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin have been named as the coaches for the next installment of The Ultimate Fighter series, the MMA universe immediately launched into a full-blow orgasmic ticker-tape parade complete with tons of flying confetti and a marching band belting out death metal tunes. Once I heard the news, it was as if my life instantaneously turned into a beer commercial and the entire Potato Nation was invited. There was a rad pool-party, barbeque, a plethora of hotties, endless alcohol, and an overall quest for fun.
Well . . . . . actually, none of that happened. In fact, when word spread that Nelson and Carwin would helm the next season of TUF, it was officially filed under “WTF?” Judging from the comment section, most of the CP brethren didn’t care for the choices either. TUF is coming off a season that saw the ratings dip lower than they ever had, which could partially be blamed on the move to FX and the dreaded Friday night time slot. Regardless of the variables for the ratings drop, something drastic needs to be done, but is anybody really convinced that Carwin and Nelson are the answer to TUF’s slow and painful demise? Let’s start from the beginning and take a look back to see if this runaway train can be coaxed back onto the main rail.
The Season That Started it All
The inaugural season of TUF featured future Hall of Famers Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture as the competing coaches who would go mano y mano at the PPV after the season finale. For fans of the UFC, that was good enough for most to initially tune in for the Fertitta-funded experiment. It still remains the best crop of young talent and personalities to ever grace the show; future stars like Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar, Josh Koscheck, Chris Leben, Diego Sanchez, Mike Swick, Kenny Florian, and Nate Quarry were all complete unknowns vying for stardom in a fledgling sport. You mix in the whole “fatherless bastard” angle and the show was off and running even before the awe-inspiring climax between (pre TRT) FoGrif and The American Psycho. Even before that, we were treated to the greatest speech of all time that has since been condensed into a few words. “Do you wanna be a fighter?” Though there were other memorable moments from the seasons that followed, Zuffa should have quit while they were ahead because it would never be this good again. The unrefined personification of immature talent, undeniable aspirations and gonzo-sized balls oozed from the boob tube during every episode.
Season 2
Season 2 saw Rich Franklin coach opposite Matt Hughes, and since both men competed at different weight classes, they were obviously not going to fight at the conclusion of the season. This was a prime example of the UFC throwing shit against the wall to see if it would stick by parading two somewhat charismatic champions in front of the camera with hopes of gathering ratings/fans for the upcoming UFC 56 PPV. Although it was undoubtedly a less thrilling season than that of its predecessor, it did introduce to another future light heavyweight champion in Rashad Evans, who won the contract competing as a heavyweight, as well as such names as Joe Stevenson, Melvin Guillard, and future pound-for-pound punching bag GOAT Keith Jardine. And if not for Jardine, the worldmay have never learned that “The Dean of Mean” would make no sense if his last name was Johnson, a valuable take home indeed.
Season 3
Season 3 is one of my personal favorites because of the preconceived notions about coaches: Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock. Tito was working the crap out of “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” gimmick and wore the black hat pretty damn well even though he desperately wanted to be accepted by everyone. On the other hand, Shamrock was the MMA legend who competed in the very first UFC tournament and was the founder of his own training facility – The Lion’s Den. Shamrock was supposed to be the more seasoned coach, but chose to bring in weight lifting specialists and opted to rewatch videos of his UFC fights instead of training during an infamous episode, among other baffling decisions. Tito, conversely, came across as a guy that was genuinely committed to making his team better fighters through technique (believe it or not) and some crazy conditioning drills involving piggyback rides and vacant floors of Las Vegas hotels. In the end, Tito TKO’d Ken in just over a minute and Michael Bisping began his quest to piss off everybody around the world en route to winning the LHW contract.
Season 4 – The Comeback
Season 4 came upon us with the familiar sound of a giant turd smacking against a cinder block divider. Luckily for the UFC, a Ram-Manesque New Yorker with a perfectly timed overhand right came along and the dookie kind of stuck. I am not exactly sure who came up with the idea of bringing back washed up fighters mixed with a few coulda-shoulda guys coupled with a blend of has-beens and never-weres, but I am certain it must have sounded phenomenal during the pitch meeting. This was the only other season that featured an abundance of talent (albeit fleeting talent) like the first season. Shonie Carter, Patrick Côté, Matt Serra, Travis Lutter, Jorge Rivera, Pete Sell, *cough convicted rapist *cough* Jeremy Jackson, Scott Smith, Din Thomas, Mikey Burnett, and (everybody’s favorite) Chris Lytle. All of these guys were waaaaaay professional for any of the usual drama to become too much of an issue, aside from Shonie’s batshit craziness, that is. There were no head coaches but instead guest coaches, and all the fighters shared instructors Mark DellaGrotte as their striking guru and Marc Laimon as the perceived submission specialist. Season highlights include a goggled Burnett self-concussing himself while running through some sheet rock (forgetting that code requires studs every 16 inches), Serra calling Laimon a pussy for never stepping into the real world of fighting and of course . . . . . this. After the season there would be a fundamental plummet to mediocrity.
Season 5, or, the Aforementioned Plummet to Mediocrity
Season 5 was back to a basic grudge match between BJ Penn and Jens Pulver. The session would have been pretty tense if Pulver actually won his “welcome back to the UFC” fight months prior. Instead, Jens got KTFO by a wild-eyed nobody (at the time) named Joe Lauzon. How do you remedy this issue? Make Lauzon a participant during the season and have BJ make the guys raise their hands if they did NOT want to be on Pulver’s team. We were also introduced to the unrefined, yet potent, skills of Nate Diaz (along with his brotherly inspired “Fuck You” demeanor towards Karo Parisyan) and some Ping-Pong skills that would make Forrest Gump puke. So, basically the entire thing resembled a trash can fire without the Doo Wop.
On the next page: Disgusting pranks, trans-Atlantic rivalry, and a pugilist named Slice.
The Ultimate Fighter 16 begins in September, and the coaches will be none other than Shane Carwin and Roy Nelson. Oh yeah, there are also 32 welterweights vying for the coveted “six-figure contract” and that extremely dated plaque that decl…
The Ultimate Fighter 16 begins in September, and the coaches will be none other than Shane Carwin and Roy Nelson.
Oh yeah, there are also 32 welterweights vying for the coveted “six-figure contract” and that extremely dated plaque that declares them The Ultimate Fighter. But that’s secondary.
After 16 seasons of TUF, the format is a tad played out, to put it kindly.
A bunch of young guys with a lot of bad tattoos and dreams of fighting glory leave behind their lives, wives, girlfriends, kids and jobs to live and train together for a few months. As they do this, television cameras capture their inner children and the inevitable tomfoolery that results from putting young men with a lot of testosterone together in an awesome house stocked with liquor.
It was certainly a winning formula for a reality television series. But it got old about eight seasons ago.
Now, rather than being a show about finding the next great fighter, it’s become a platform to promote the coach’s fight.
There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but let’s call a spade a spade here.
It’s a win/win situation. The ratings may be down, but they’re still good enough to justify its existence. And if a great fighter emerges from it, that’s just an added bonus.
As it stands, the show hasn’t produced a title challenger since Season 5, but you never know. The big prize, though, is the promotional value for the fight between the coaches at the season’s conclusion.
However, there lurks a TUF curse that is seldom spoken of. Over the past four seasons, only one coach’s fight has come to fruition, due to injuries. Hopefully this time is different, because Nelson and Carwin are not only perfect as opposing coaches—they’re also going to put on a great fight.
Carwin and Nelson are diametric personalities. Nelson is the affable clown, the overweight fighter who embraces and plays into the persona by rubbing his belly and sporting a bushy beard and a very impressive mullet.
Carwin is more straight-laced, chiseled and clean-cut. He even holds a day job as a civil engineer. And he will speak out when he disagrees with the negativity he so despises, as he did when he denounced Brock Lesnar after his UFC 100 win over Frank Mir for antics he considered disrespectful, then turned around and defended Lesnar upon learning that he had diverticulitis.
When you look at Roy Nelson, you think, “This is a guy I want to go out for beer and wings with.” When you look at Shane Carwin, you think, “This is a guy I want running something important.”
These two were originally scheduled to fight at UFC 125, but Carwin suffered a neck injury that required surgery. They even partook in a minor tweet war after Nelson learned that Carwin was named in an old steroid investigation.
No charges were ever filed in that case, but that didn’t defuse the bomb Nelson set off by going where he did.
This is all likely to surface again as the season begins. Carwin will attack Nelson’s weight. Nelson will call Carwin a “juicehead.” It’ll be great entertainment for a show that is desperately lacking.
Then they will fight, and say what you will about Nelson, but the guy can thump. He takes a beating better than anyone, and his overhand right commands respect. If Carwin is fully recovered from the back surgery that has sidelined him for the past year, he remains one of the most ferocious heavyweights in the sport.
However, at 37 years old with two major surgeries involving the neck and back over the past few years, it’s not unreasonable to assume he may not return as the sheer terror he once was.
But that is exactly what will make this a great, competitive battle.
Let’s be honest—Carwin at full force would demolish Nelson. With the playing field a little more even, this has the potential to be a phenomenal fight that should mask a very ordinary season of a show way past its expiration date.
Last week’s news that UFC heavyweights Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin had been selected as opposing coaches for the next installment of The Ultimate Fighter surprised many fans around the world.It’s not that Nelson and Carwin are terrible choices as coach…
Last week’s news that UFC heavyweights Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin had been selected as opposing coaches for the next installment of The Ultimate Fighter surprised many fans around the world.
It’s not that Nelson and Carwin are terrible choices as coaches, because they aren’t. Carwin isn’t the most bombastic personality on the UFC roster, choosing instead to allow his sledgehammer-like fists to do his talking for him. But Nelson makes up for whatever Carwin lacks in oratorial entertainment value.
The surprise, at least from my perspective, was due to Nelson’s not-so-great relationship with Dana White. Those of you who have followed Nelson’s career since he came to the UFC know that White isn’t “Big Country’s” biggest fan, and that’s putting it mildly. The UFC president doesn’t like the way Nelson looks, and he’s not too keen on Nelson’s joking nature, either.
Carwin seems to fall into the same boat as White. The former UFC interim heavyweight champion took to his personal website to issue a shot at Nelson’s clowning ways:
I am going to be representing for the REAL Country folk. The people that know life is about providing for your family through hard work… I know Roy likes to be the UFC’s Jester but he better know this is not a joke for me.
He can keep striving for being average, I am pushing myself and those around me to find the American Dream. The dream that comes from lots of hard work and sacrifice, no gimmicks necessary.
Carwin’s comments should come as no surprise, at least to those of you who follow the plus-sized men on Twitter. The pair have engaged in a war of words—or tweets, to be more accurate—for quite some time now.
It’s clear that Carwin has little regard for Nelson’s proclivity for being the UFC’s “court jester,” as Carwin so accurately termed it.
But here’s the million-dollar question: Will the personal rivalry between the two make for entertaining television? In seasons past, there have been plenty of ready-made personality conflicts between coaches that just didn’t create intriguing, must-watch TV.
Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos were a perfect example. Lesnar, likely due to all of the horrific medical issues he’d just gone through, left the WWE-style Lesnar at home. He and Dos Santos were friendly for the most part, and it led to a disappointing season of the show.
On the flip side, we saw the same type of personality traits in Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans, with Jackson constantly cracking jokes and Evans taking his coaching job as seriously as anyone who has ever done it. That pairing led to the biggest non-title fight PPV in UFC history, so clearly there is something to it.
Will the ultra-serious Carwin and the joking, fun-loving Nelson create an interesting personality conflict? It remains to be seen. But given the brief preview of their rivalry we’ve been given via Twitter, I believe things will work out nicely in the end.
It appears that Shane Carwin‘s coaching staff is complete for the upcoming American season of The Ultimate Fighter.
