The season opener was a special 90 minute episode and featured a ton of great stuff. Dana’s been saying (as we heard at Ultimate Fight Night about ten times) that Season 3 is the best yet, and with Tito/Ken tension, entertaining fighters, and new rules for the competition, it seems that, so far, he’s correct in this assertion.
The Background
The show opens with Dana briefly recapping the careers of Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz and their history with each other. It began when Tito defeated Guy Mezger and, post-fight, flipped off the Lion’s Den fighters. Ken freaked out (you know how he hates being disrespected), and it led to a fight between the two at UFC 40. In the pre-fight build-up, Ken delivered his infamous “I’m going to beat you into the living death,” line, Tito laughed hysterically, Ken kicked a chair that nearly knocked Dana White in the face and we were all amused. You want that on YouTube? Tito won their fight.
The Coaches and Fighters Arrive
Ken showed up at the gym first. Dana went on and on about how he was “seriously concerned” about Tito and Ken getting into it on the show, pre-PPV. Both Tito and Ken assured him that they knew this season was about the fighters and that they were going to do what was best for their teams. Tito says his rivalry with Ken is “as real as it gets,” and Ken assured us that there would be fighting if he feels he’s disrespected by Tito during the course of the show.
At their first face-to-face meeting in the gym, Ken and Tito stand close to each other, shake hands, and act civil. Tito says that he’ll respect Ken until the end of the show. Ken’s completely freaked out by Tito’s respectful comments and general serenity and says in the interview segments that he doesn’t trust him. Ken and Tito were stuck in the gym for about an hour together waiting for the fighters to show up, and they neither spoke to nor looked at one another for the duration of the wait. Dana says that, though he orchestrated this whole season, he’d “rather eat poison and jump off a roof than do season 3.”
When the fighters arrived at their house, Kristian said, “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to live through the bad art.” And it is bad art. All over the walls, in every conceivable location.
Training
First, Ken trains with the light heavyweights. Ken says Jesse Forbes will do well, and that Kristian is the dark horse, as he has the “most ability” of the fighters, a lot of experience, but questionable conditioning. Kristian comments in an interview segment that based on Ken’s training methods (involving sandbags and platforms), he’d rather be on Tito’s team. Bisping also comments that Ken’s sandbag technique is not the smartest way to evaluate the fighters’ abilities.
Tito trains with the middleweights. The coaches get to pick their own training assistants. Tito has chosen Dean Lister to help his team with jiu-jitsu, which is an excellent decision on his part. Tito says he really likes Rory Singer and Ed Herman. Tito remarks that Ed was hard to take down during training, and that he wants to pick him for his team. Herman says he hopes Tito picks him.
Fighters at Home
Alcohol was prohibited in Season 2. No longer. The first thing they do is get drunk, and Kendall is the instigator. Initially, the Brits don’t want to get involved. Kendall goads them on and they cave in out of “politeness.” Ross, Kendall, Mike Nickels, and Michael Bisping keep drinking. Bisping says, “Just for the record, I don’t agree with all of this tomfoolery!” amidst a beer-spraying, bottle-throwing fiasco. Kendall falls asleep first and Mike Nickels does, in fact (as indicated in the video interviews on spiketv.com), try to shave off his eyebrow, while Bisping and Ross hold him down. Bisping taunts the drunken, passed-out Kendall with “Where’s your mount escapes!?” and it is gold. Nickels inadvertently cuts Kendall’s eyelid during the process, and Kendall bleeds all over his sheets overnight. In the morning, Kendall seems relatively cool about it, but says that “vengeance is sweet.” And something about hating those motherf*ckers.
Training, Part II
Ken trains with the middleweights. We don’t get any evaluations from Ken on the fighters, as we did with the light heavyweights, but Ed Herman says that Kalib Starnes impresses him and he thinks it’ll be the two of them in the finals. Stine and Herman are mutually impressed with each other, but Ed maintains that he’s the top dog of the 205’ers.
Tito trains with the light heavyweights and makes it clear to us that he is looking for a “star” and not a great fighter. Tito takes a liking to Matt Hamill because of his willingness to learn. Hamill insisted upon hitting the mat with Dean Lister again and again, expressing unhappiness with his performance. Hamill’s only been training for a few months, and is primarily a wrestler. Tito has harsh words during the video interview for Kristian: “Whining and crying, you sound like one of my ex-girlfriends. Kid, suck it up, you’re going to be an ultimate fighter.”
Fighters at Home
Everyone has trouble understanding the accents of Bisping and Ross. The British housemates try to do American accents. They’ve got to be the best part of the show so far. Interestingly enough, nobody is talking to Hamill, or we’re not seeing it yet.
Team Selection!
Bisping wants on Tito’s team. Tito says his main objective is to beat Ken Shamrock, so he has to pick the best team.
A commercial break happens here. This is notable, because, where I live, a commercial ran for Chael Sonnen‘s real estate company. Come to Portland, buy a house from Chael Sonnen! He’s shown smiling a lot, wearing suits, fixing his collar, and closing deals. He wasn’t shown at UFN 4 beating Trevor Prangley, but that’s what he did. Good job, Chael. Sell those houses. Beat those Prangleys.
Back from commercial, Dana White flips a coin, and Tito gets first pick. Tito is really proud of his coin-flip win over Shamrock, and says so. Tito’s first pick is Matt Hamill. Matt says that when Tito picked him first, he felt like he really could win the contract and be the champ.
Ken says that when Tito got to pick first, his strategy went into “matchup mode,” where he would pick a fighter who he thinks can beat the fighter Tito picked. Ken picks Jesse Forbes. This is a list of the rest of the picks in order.
Tito: Rory Singer (it’s interesting to note that Rory trains with Forrest. Tito is fighting Forrest soon.)
Ken: Kalib Starnes
Tito: Michael Bisping
Ken: Kristian Rotharmel
Tito: Kendall Groves
Ken: Solomon Hutcherson
Tito: Noah Inhafer
Ken: Mike Nickels
Tito: Mike Stine
Ken: Ed Herman
Tito: Josh Haynes
Ken: Ross Pointon
Tito: Danny Abaddi
Ken: Tait Fletcher
Ed Herman, myself, and the rest of the internet MMA world are a little baffled as to why Ed wasn’t Tito’s first, or, hell, third pick. Or his pick at all. Ed went on at length about how Mike Stine was “prettier” than he was, and implied that maybe that’s why Tito picked him first. In any case, Ed “Short Fuse” Herman makes it clear that he now wants nothing to do with Tito and is prepared to beat his team.
Ross: “I’m glad I got picked last, it pisses me off. I need to be pissed off.” Ed can’t wait to fight.
Team Training
Tito says he’s going to sweat and cry with his fighters and not be a standoffish coach. Bisping says that, in spite of what he’s read on the internet, Tito is “genuinely a nice guy and fantastic coach.” Tito dubs his team “Team Punishment” and they all do seem very close and in-tune with each other, even this early on.
Ken admits his weakness in jiu-jitsu. Interestingly enough, in spite of this weakness, his assistant coach is a nutritionist who specializes in body building and is not a jiu-jitsu trainer. GENIUS. Herman and Nickels and the entire universe question this decision, and Herman, especially, looks at the bodybuilder guy like he’s an alien every time he opens his mouth. Ken’s team has no special title. They don’t even call themselves “Team Shamrock.” They just do their little hand-thing and say, “Let’s just say ‘team,’ on three.”
The Competition
Dana explains the changes in the competition. There will be no challenges. A coin toss will determine who gets to pick the first elimination fight, and from then on, the winner of the fight’s team will determine the next fight. Stephan Bonnar, on spiketv.com’s He Said/He Said, says of this: “Aww no! No more randy right guard challenges!!! We are gonna lose a lot of gay fans without guys mud wrestling each other in their underwear. Good going!!” I say mud wrestling, at least, should be a part of each season. Maybe even each week. And I’m not even gay.
In addition to the new coin-toss-no-challenges rule, to avoid having some fighters getting to the semifinals without ever fighting, each fighter will fight, and, if he wins, he will be in the semi-finals. This is a much better strategy. We won’t have some guys fighting three times while other guys don’t fight at all, and we’ll get to see everyone display their game before the end of the season.
The first coin toss determines that Shamrock has control. He’s very satisfied to have control of “the hammer,” as he says, and says his strategy is to put his strongest against Tito’s weakest and start eliminating from the bottom up.
The matchup Ken picks is Kalib Starnes (Team Shamrock Middleweight) vs. Mike Stine (Team Ortiz Middleweight).
The Fight
Tito’s pre-fight “Real Men Cry, You’re a Fucking Pussy If You Don’t Fucking Cry” pep talk to Mike Stine is the highlight of the show, featuring such statements as “Dude, I cry all the time. I cry when I got to the movies, I cry when I talk to my parents, I cry before fights. It’s emotions, man. Everybody’s human.” and “We’re fighters, man. If we were back in caveman days, we’d be providing for the families.” Chicks dig that shit. Don’t let ’em lie. Tito’s not coming across as an asshole at all on the show. He’s showing genuine concern and care for his fighters and their training. He seems like a great guy.
Stine wants to hit Starnes. Starnes wants to slam Stine, ground and pound and maybe submit him. Stine says, “I’m gonna do it the Stine-way. I’m gonna play him like a piano.” Shelly groans and stares blankly at the television.
Starnes has a maple-leaf shaved into his hair. Shelly groans and stares blankly at the television.
The fight begins. An exhibition fight of two five-minute rounds.
The first thing Mike Stine does is pull guard, in spite of being told explicitly not to do that. Starnes lifts Stine off the mat, and later slams him back down, takes his back, and punches him until Stine makes squeaking noises of pain and John McCarthy stops the fight. It takes about two and a half minutes, total, and Stine is completely dominated. The winner is Kalib Starnes, Team Shamrock, and Mike Stine is eliminated. Mike Stine cries post-fight. Team Shamrock keeps “the hammer” and will choose the next fight as well. Mike Stine’s exit video as well as some clips from the show (drinking, the fight, evaluations) are up at the spiketv.com TUF3 site.
The Teams
Team Ortiz
Middleweights: Danny Abaddi, Rory Singer, Kendall Groves.
Light Heavyweights: Matt Hamill, Michael Bisping, Josh Haynes, Noah Inhafer.
Team Shamrock
Middleweights: Kalib Starnes, Solomon Hutcherson, Ross Pointon, Ed Herman,
Light Heavyweights: Kristian Rotharmel, Tait Fletcher, Jesse Forbes, Mike Nickels.
