Line of the Week:
“Boobs” – Artist Frank Cho (Liberty Meadows) on what he brings to the table for the new monthly series “Mighty Avengers”. Speaking of comics former Nexus editor Ben Morse wrote TONS of articles in the latest issue of Wizard, so check it out.
The Ultimate Fighter 4: The Comeback
We’re not actually recapping The Ultimate Fighter (a.k.a. TUF) here in the TV section. Instead, we at Inside Pulse have left things in the capable hands of Sick, Shelly, and Trent over in IP Sports. BUT (and you knew there was a but) Sick has his hands full being a new dad, Shelly’s busy moving and Trent is just getting ready for the new season, so who better than your reality guy (I watch scripted shows. Honest) to give you the rundown on the show.
If you’re not familiar with the TUF format, it follows as such:
– There are a total of sixteen fighters, eight to a weight class. This season, we have Middleweights (171-185 lbs) and Welterweights (156-170 lbs)
– Fighters will live in the same house until they are eliminated from competition.
– In previous seasons, fighters were part of two different “teams”. This season, there are no teams – it’s every man for themselves in what amounts to an 8-man single elimination tournament.
– In previous seasons, the teams each had a coach. In this season, the coaches are instead called “advisors”.
– The final two in each weight class will fight live for a “six-figure” UFC contract on Spike TV. The current rumour is that the main event will be Tito Ortiz beating the crap out of Ken Shamrock for the third time.
– All fights prior to the final are classified as “sparring” bouts, so they don’t count towards a fighter’s W/L record.
The Middleweights
Patrick Cote (8W – 3L – 0D)
Patrick is from Quebec. He’s 0-3 in the UFC, losing to Tito Ortiz, Joe Doerksen and Chris Leben. Presumably he’s trained with Georges St. Pierre before, so he may have a leg up on the competition.
Edwin “Babyface” Dewees (34W – 9L – 0D – 1NC)
Edwin hails from Arizona, and he’s 0-2 in the UFC, losing to Rich Franklin and Chris Leben.
Travis Lutter (8W – 3L – 0D)
Travis fights out of Dallas, and he’s 1-2 in the UFC, with a knockout win over Marvin Eastman and losses to Trevor Prangley and Matt Lindland.
Charles “Chainsaw” McCarthy (9W – 4L – 0D)
Charles fights out of Miami, and you’ve seen him many times on UFC Unleashed in his only UFC appearance. He faced David Loiseau, and lost by TKO via a spinning back kick/flying knee combo, as seen here.
Jorge “El Conquistador” Rivera (13W – 5L – 0D)
Jorge might be the most experienced fighter in the Octagon, having fought five times in the UFC with a record of 2-3. And one of his other wins came at the expense of fellow Middleweight Travis Lutter.
Pete “Drago” Sell (7W – 1L – 0D)
Pete is 1-1 in the UFC, with his only loss at the hands of Nate Quarry. Actually, with only one loss, how can he be considered as comig back from anything?
Gideon Ray (13W – 4L – 1D)
Ray is associated with former UFC champion Keith Hackney. I have no idea what that means. What I do know is that he’s 0-2 in the Octagon, losing to David Loiseau, and more imfamously, to Mike Swick in 22 seconds.
Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith (9W – 2L – 0D)
Again, this is kind of a weird one, as Scott has fought only once in the UFC, losing to David Terrell. Then again, he lost to Tait Fletcher as well, so… yeah.
(Note: The Rev’s personal nemesis and gosh-darn knowledgable MMA guy Lei Tong has corrected me – Smith actually beat Tait Fletcher. So we go from a big “ugh” to a big “eh”.)
The Welterweights
Mikey “The Eastside Assassin” Burnett (5W – 2L – 0D)
Now this is a true comeback. Mikey looks like he’s been out of MMA since 1999, and the world of MMA has changed a lot since then. His record in the UFC is 2-1, but it will be interesting to see how he does against people that have been actively fighting in the new millenium.
“Mr. International” Shonie Carter (34W – 15L – 6D – 1NC)
Shonie is another longtime UFC veteran, but unlike Mikey Burnett he’s kept on fighting. He’s 2-2 in the UFC, and over the course of his career he’s ammassed wins over castmates Matt Serra and Chris Lytle, and a loss to Jeremy Jackson.
Rich “No Love” Clementi (23W – 10L – 1D)
Rich has fought exactly once in the UFC, a loss to Yves Edwards back in 2003. He’s actually a lightweight, but he’s moving up in order to get back into the UFC. We’ll see how he does against some bigger guys.
Jeremy “Scorpion” Jackson (8W – 4L – 0D)
Jeremy’s another guy who’s fought only once in the UFC, a loss to Nick Diaz. Actually, it’s kind of interesting, but 25% of his fights (and half his losses) have been against Diaz. And given that Diaz’ hasn’t exactly been on a hot streak since, I guess you do qualify for a comeback.
Chris “Lights Out” Lytle (21W – 12L – 5D)
Chris is 2-4 in the UFC, having first fought in the Octagon in 2000, and more recently in 2005, losing to Karo Parisyan and Joe Riggs – no shame there. We’ll see if those losses have taught him anything.
Matt “The Terror” Serra (5W – 4L – 0D)
Matt at this point is probably better known as the trainer of Luke Cummo, TUF2 finalist, but he’s a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu who trained with Renzo Gracie. He also trains middleweight Pete Sell, which should be interesting. Matt’s truly a UFC veteran, as all but one of his professional fights have been in the Octagon. Two of those losses came to castmates Din Thomas (split decision) and Shonie Carter (KO).
“Secret Weapon” Pete Spratt (14W – 7L – 0D)
Pete is another guy who has fought some of his castmates before – in this case, Chris Lytle and Rich Clementi. Given how many fights those two have been in, it’s not that surprising. Pete’s 2-2 in the UFC, with losses coming to Carlos Newton and Josh Koscheck (probably the best welterweight prospect in the UFC right now). Of late he seems to have a .500 W/L record, so we’ll see if he can break that trend here.
Din “Dinyero” Thomas (17W – 6L – 0D)
Din is 2-2 in the UFC, and may be the only competitor to be returning after a win in the Octagon. He’s another 155lb fighter moving up, but we’ve seen lightweights beat up on heavier opponents before.
The Advisors
Randy “The Natural” Couture
Randy has been a champion in both the Heavyweight and Light-HEavyweight divisions of the UFC. He’s probably best remembered for his trilogy of fights with Chuck Liddell, and for spanking Tito Ortiz during a title fight. Randy’s got a wrestling background, and his fighting style is ground and pound. He’s also the UFC’s most recent Hall of Fame inductee, and the idol of one of the other advsiors…
Georges “Rush” St. Pierre
George is one of the Top 5 welterweights in the world, and is currently the number one contender for the UFC Welterweight title held by Matt Hughes. He’s also from Quebec, and speaks heavily accented English, so it’s gonna be fun to see how the fighters adjust to that. I don’t know that he’s got a true fighting specialty, but he’s a great Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter, and we’ve seen him incorporate some karate into his stand-up, so I think the fighters will learn a lot from him.
Mark Dellagrotte is a Muay Thai boxer/instructor, who has trained former TUF fighters Kenny Florian and Stephan Bonnar, as well as TUF 4 fighter Jorge Rivera. He’s supposedly really good, so we’ll see how well he works with the fighters as far as standup goes.
Images and research from:
Sherdog
Wikipedia
IP Linkage:
Mathan hooks you up with Bea Arthur.
Matt is pissed off at Todd McFarlane. But not as much as Tony Twist was.
Farah goes to Gilroy.
The Week… In Hindsight:
‘Canadian Idol’
Canada has finally wised up and given Brandon Jones the boot. Chad “Cheddar” Doucette could be next, but I think for him it really comes down to how well he performs. I’m kind of surprised to see Eva in the bottom three, but just about everyone visits there at some point, and it could be a wakeup call for her fans to, you know, VOTE. Now the question is, will Brandon’s fans now gravitate towards another less talented guy, or will they cooperate and vote for someone who can sing, like Rob, Craig, Steffi, Ashley or Eva?
‘Hell’s Kitchen’ (4.8/8, 2nd)
I’m not sure that even Virginia knows what she wants to do at this point, but Heather or Keith had better not screw up or Ramsey’s favourite chef will be in the finals. BTW the challenge was a joke, and clearly designed so that Keith wouldn’t win.
‘Treasure Hunters’ (3.1/5, 4th)
Less historical inaccuracies this week I think, and a trek back to France for the teams. Miss USA got the boot, which means that there is exactly one girl left in this competition – Sam. Just kidding, it’s Brooke, but Sam can be a real wuss at times, and big props to the Genius for making it through that climb.
‘Rock Star: Supernova’ (3.9/6, 3rd)
‘The One’
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
Lance Bass
So Lance Bass is gay, and noone cares because really, nobody cares about Lance Bass. But of course this ties into reality television because he’s in a “stable” relationship with Reichen Lehmkuhl, former Amazing Race winner. Yep, nothing more stable than a relationship with another pseudo-celebrity. I hope that Lance notes that Reichen and Chip’s “marriage” dissolved shortly after winning the million.
BTW, I’m not against gay marriage, but I do think that this particular time it was a gimmick to help get Reichen and Chip into the Race. And hey, they won, so good on ’em, I guess.
That’s it for this week.
