Monday, April 11, 2005

The ultimate beat down

The season finale of The Ultimate Fighter was fantastic.
As popular as The Contender is, The Ultimate Fighter is much, much better. On one hand, The Contender, starring by Sly Stallone and Sugar Ray Leonard and produced by Mark Burnett (Survivor) is a very slick boxing reality contest. It is extremely produced to maximize it's dramatic effect. The fights are over edited and cut down to about a minute.
The Ultimate Fighter feels more like MTV's The Real World. It feels more real. The people seem more real. The fights are way more brutal.
The season finale of The Ultimate Fighter made for some of the best television I've seen in a long time. I would rate it at the TOP of the reality TV spectrum, and also at the top of the sports spectrum as well. The finale featured 2 final battles between the top competitors of the 2 weight classes. The highlight was easily the bloody contest between Stephen Bonnar, and Forrest Griffin. It was a good ole fashioned slugg-o-rama. These guys really beat the shit out of each other. I was on the edge of my seat. At the end, the fight was so exciting, both fighters were awarded a six-figure contracts to fight on the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
After that, the legend Ken Shamrock took on some tough guy named Richardson. Shamrock got his ass beat down. Inexplicably, he slipped twice giving Richardson the opportunity to mount and beat Shamrock's face in. Shamrock's professional fighting days should be over. Today's fighters, all of whom, are influenced by Shamrock, have officially exceeded him in fighting skills.
Being a huge fan of the "mixed-martial-arts" or what I call, "Ass-kicking," I'm stoked to see these dudes beat each other up in the future.

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