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A Dose of Reality
by Bachir Ayoub, Team IronLife.com Staff Writer
There have been many opinions circulating around the MMA community about peoples’ feelings towards the UFC’s new endeavor, the Ultimate Fighter, and now here is mine. I am thrilled with the ratings and the exposure that the show gives to the sport while highlighting the grueling training that goes into being a fighter. I’m not going to start pointing out the good without airing some of my grievances with the show (and speaking as a Canadian, I’ll give you three guesses as to where I’m going to start). Now in the immortal words of Big John McCarthy, lets get is on!
The people who unearthed the hidden gem of the great white north, Jason Thacker, should be hired as consultants for every unsolved murder case in North America. I, like most Canadian viewers, have never heard of Thacker and are baffled as to why the hell this guy was selected. Denis Kang on his worst day would beat Jason Thacker like a disobedient stepchild. The 1988 alternate for the Canadian Gymnastics team and county wrestling champ (note that there are no county championships in Canada) seemed infinitely qualified to deserve a shot at contract, but for some odd reason was sent home only in his second appearance on the show. Now as god awful as Jason Thacker’s performance was, there was some good that came out of the whole experiment. My respect for Randy Couture tripled when I saw how good of a person he was on top of being one of the greatest fighters of all time. His pep talk that persuaded Thacker to stay made appreciate the fact that Randy is an ambassador for MMA and his impact on the sport reaches far beyond the octagon. Also I feel it is important to mention Bobby Southworth’s positive influence on Thacker, and the class he showed in making sure that Thacker had some dignity while exiting the gym while still trying to forget the spritzed remains of Chris Leben on his body. I may come off sounding like a keyboard warrior, but any person that was willing to tuck tail and walk away from an opportunity before it even began to get tough, an opportunity that I would gladly drop everything I was doing to take, has zero respect from my end. Now that I have vented a little me show some praise to the people involved in the show.
Now while channel surfing a few months ago I stumbled across a show called, Fight School. To give you an idea of what the show is like, imagine the Ultimate Fighter only much lamer. For starters the fighters on the show were only disciplined in one art, like Karate or Kickboxing, and had to compete in semi-contact sparring before the eyes of three Sifu’s and a former student of Bruce Lee. The show was entertaining because it showed some old school training that has been outdated for sometime now and only practiced in ultra-traditional dojos, but it still lacked. Now while reading me ramble on you might say what’s the point? Good question and here it is, while watching the show I asked myself, “Wouldn’t it be sweet if the UFC did a show like this only better?” So as I stumbled out of bed and was making my rounds on MMA websites, I read an article about the UFC’s intentions to make a reality show. Now before you think I’m fishing for credit or better yet a cheque from Zuffa, I’m not. I was just amazed that Zuffa and Spike TV decided to take such a risk. I gotta be honest I see nothing but good coming from this show.
Now not everyone has been as receptive to the show as the MMA community and I. On a recent episode of the Best Damn Sports Show Period, the two hosts decided to bash the show. Now you might ask yourself how much the opinion of a washed up baller and a person who has seen Rosanne naked should have on the show and the sport. You would be correct in assuming that it wouldn’t. I could care less about the negative energy streaming through my television that night, and judging by the ratings, a million plus people also tuned out while to morons talked about a subject they knew little about.
People should give Dana White and everyone at Zuffa our support from now till the day they decide they don’t want it anymore. They took a gamble and from all early indications it looks like it has paid off. The show has made me look forward to training because I truly feel that the exposure that MMA has desperately needed has finally arrived, and as a result a misunderstood sport that I have been involved in will get the respect it deserves. If the Ultimate Fighter keeps pulling in the same ratings that it currently is, I don’t see how networks can still refuse to put MMA on their schedules. So to everyone involved in the show and the fighters that are putting their asses on the line to make it entertaining, I can’t think of anything to say other than thank you!
* Article by Bachir Ayoub, Team IronLife.com Staff Writer.
* Back to This Issue's Frontpage
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