The Ultimate Fighter 3: Meet the Coaches

News, Previews

THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER 3: MEET THE COACHES

The countdown has begun. We are just six weeks away from the debut of The Ultimate Fighter 3 on Spike TV. However, very little about TUF 3 has been revealed so far; other than the coaches and the premier date. One thing we know for sure is that you won’t have to look much further than TUF 3’s coaches if you’re looking for drama.

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“Huntington Beach” and “Bad Boy” do not belong together.

Tito Ortiz, “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy,” has a mixed martial arts record of 12-4-0. Ortiz is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, and was, at one time, the most popular fighter in Ultimate Fighting Championship. Known for his ego as much as his fighting skills, Ortiz has made himself a target since his debut at UFC 13, in 1997. His loss to Chuck Liddell at UFC 47 turned the tide, pushing Liddell into the spotlight. Ortiz left UFC less than a year later over a contract dispute. The Ultimate Fighter 3 marks the return of the biggest mouth in UFC history.

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“The World’s Most Awful Wrestler On The Mic”

“The World’s Most Dangerous Man” Ken Shamrock is a UFC Hall of Famer with a mixed martial arts record of 26-10-2. Shamrock has been a part of UFC since the very beginning at UFC 1, in 1993. In 1997 Shamrock left UFC for the World Wrestling Federation. Shamrock stayed with the WWF (now WWE) for three years. Shamrock returned to MMA in 2000, and has had eight fights since. He has only won three of those bouts. Many wonder if Shamrock, at 42 years old, still has what it takes. His most notable losses since his return were to Tito Ortiz at UFC 40, and to Rich Franklin at The Ultimate Fighter 1 finale.

Prior to Shamrock’s loss to Ortiz in 2002, a feud had already been in the works. Ortiz had consistently defeated members of Shamrock’s Lion’s Den. Defeating Shamrock himself was a tremendous victory for Ortiz, but he couldn’t let it end there. Ortiz has allowed his mouth to get the best of him, talking massive amounts of shit about Shamrock since UFC 40, while seemingly ducking a rematch. It looks as if Shamrock may finally have the opportunity to get his revenge after the conclusion of The Ultimate Fighter 3. Shamrock vs. Ortiz II looks like it could go down as soon as this fall.

It will be interesting to see how Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock are able to coexist as coaches, as well as how they perform their coaching duties. You can say what you want about either fighter, but both of them have a lot of pride. They will expect a lot from their teams, and I expect them both to be serious ball-busters. Both coaches are known for having huge egos, as well as plenty of skills. They are extremely competitive, which should make the weekly team challenges very interesting.

Ortiz and Shamrock have an interesting opportunity with The Ultimate Fighter. We’ve seen that the show can have a very positive affect on the coaches, as far as how they are perceived by the fans. However, no one quite like these two have been coaches before. Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell were both known for being nice guys prior to TUF 1, but the show certainly helped their popularity. Rich Franklin became very popular after winning the Middleweight title and becoming a coach for TUF 2. Matt Hughes is the only one that could be considered a bit of an asshole by the fans, but once again the show helped his popularity, and it gave fans a deeper insight into Hughes’ personality.

As exciting as the idea of Ortiz and Shamrock being coaches is, I just hope it doesn’t take away from the point of the show: the up-and-coming MMA fighters. A lot of people complained that TUF 2 didn’t live up to the drama of TUF 1. UFC President Dana White seems to have gone out of his way to make sure that this season will have some serious drama, but I would hate for the hostility between the TUF 3 coaches to overshadow the struggle that the fighters go through on a weekly basis.

The Ultimate Fighter 3 debuts on Spike TV at 11pm (EST) on April 6th. Inside Pulse will have weekly coverage of TUF 3, courtesy of our newest scribe Shelly, beginning on April 7th.

ULTIMATE FIGHT NIGHT LIVE

UFC’s latest installment of Ultimate Fight Night will air live on Spike TV on April 6th, beginning at 9pm (EST), leading up to the premiere of the Ultimate Fighter 3.

The full card has yet to be announced, but look for the following bouts.

  • Rashad Evans vs Sam Hogar
  • Luke Cummo vs Jason Von Flue
  • Josh Burkman vs TBA

UFC 59: REALITY CHECK PREVIEW

The following is the rumored card for UFC’s California debut.

  • Tito Ortiz vs Forrest Griffin
  • Tim Sylvia vs Andrei Arlovski
  • Joe Stevenson vs TBA
  • Gabriel Gonzaga vs Brad Imes
  • David Terrell vs Scott Smith
  • Trevor Prangley vs Chael Sonnen
  • Evan Tanner vs Jeremy Horn
  • Karo Parisyan vs Nick Thompson

UFC 59 will air live on pay-per-view on April 15th, at 10pm (EST), from the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, CA. The official card should be announced within the next few weeks.

UFC ON SPIKE TV AND PPV

Here is the upcoming schedule for weekly UFC programming.

Monday February 27th
Unleashed #122 on Spike TV

Saturday March 4th
UFC 58 on Pay-Per-View

March 6th
Unleashed #123 on Spike TV

March 13th
Unleashed #124 on Spike TV

March 20th
Unleashed #125 on Spike TV

April 6th
Ultimate Fight Night Live on Spike TV

April 15th
UFC 59 on Pay-Per-View

INK PLUG

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