10 Thoughts on “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 14 (Bisping vs. Miller) Episode 1

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10. This is easily the best collection of talent since the show’s first couple of seasons. The past couple seasons of the show had so many guys that you knew from watching them fight that they weren’t going to be long for the UFC … or that they’d be back once they got some seasoning under their belts. At least two guys from this show in each division are going to end up challenging for a title. It’s something anyone honestly couldn’t have said since Gray Maynard and the lightweights on Season 5.

9. Knockout, submission and fight of the season bonuses? That’s nice. You’re going to see guys go for broke and go for the finish instead of grinding out wins, which isn’t a bad thing.

8. Love the empty-arena fights to get into the training center as opposed to fighting in the training center. It made it feel like it was more of a privilege to step into the grounds of the training center than fighting to stay there. It also looked so much more impressive on television in that manner as it had better lighting, et al. If this was going to be the final season of the show as it stands then it began in one of the best ways possible.

7. Absolutely sickening knockout from Josh Ferguson. It wasn’t the first one that landed that impressed me; his finishing speed and followup with a handful of punches were impressive. It showed some real poise to measure and follow it up without exposing himself. His brother showed some insane toughness, too, before losing. This was a show filled with some sick knockouts overall, of course, but Ferguson’s might’ve been the best. Plenty of good ones to choose from, though.

6. Every major team and camp is represented on the show. I said before that it’s the best collection of talent but it’s also such a diverse group as well; the best fighters in the two smallest classes in the world of MMA aren’t just at Team Alpha Male. They’re scattered throughout and it’s kind of cool to see such a wide collection of talents and styles. Plenty of guys who were former WEC fighters and/or popped up on Shark Fights, Tachi Palace, et al, cards over the past couple years as well. Lots of experienced guys on this card from places other than the regional circuit.

5. Plenty of fighters stood out as this is a collection of some tremendously talented guys. Diego Brandao is an absolute animal. Dude looks scary and is my early pick to win it all. Marcus Brimage has to be the dark house in his division; I thought the fight was over when he gave up his back to the Hawaiian. What a way to fight back and change the fight with some vicious striking. His wrestling isn’t first rate but his hands are scary. Never underestimate the ability to end a fight with a handful of strikes if he has finishing power. Great stoppage by Mazzagatti on that one, as well, as it was at the exact right time. Tremendous grappling from Johnny Bedford against Carson Beebe, who has a bit of a pedigree in it. Beebe was a guy I thought would get into the house. Tateki Matsuda showed some massive heart in defeat to Dustin Pague, a contender for best fight on the show so far. If an injury happens Matsuda is easily the best fighter to step in for a replacement of the guys who lost and one of the few that went to decision. Once the edited fights started it was hard to get a handle on the overall quality of the winners/losers. Micah Miller is a dead ringer for his brother Cole Miller of Season 5 and had the best resume of anyone coming in. But he was the biggest upset victim of the night to Steven Siler, who looked like he pulled off a tremendous victory if not for the editing shrinking it down to highlights.

4. The one thing the show needs during the fights is commentary. You don’t need Rogan and Goldberg, though they couldn’t hurt, but one imagines you could get Frank Mir and Randy Couture (who both are Las Vegas residents) to provide more than just random comments from corner-men, Dana White and the fighters in charge to give it that final touches. They could throw in some biographical information as well as provide some insight into the fight. Just doesn’t feel the same without commentary and it stood out; these were some great fights and needed that extra touch.

3. Jason “Mayhem” Miller is totally going to get under Michael Bisping’s skin. So far he seems to be fairly nice but a bit annoying; there’s something there that is waiting to come out. You can tell he’s pushing Bisping’s buttons early to get a gauge on his personality in person as opposed to what he’s seen on television and heard. Miller seems like he has something awesome lined up to try and get the Brit to lose it in spectacular fashion. Henderson got under his skin because they were clashing personality types; Miller is doing so intentionally and I genuinely can’t wait to see if he can get Bisping to lose it like Ken Shamrock did on Season 3.

2. Having the entire fights, as opposed to some full and some carefully edited, gave the show a much stronger introduction. Any time you have a fight edited it doesn’t do it justice; the fight fan in me wants to see the full thing, no matter if it’s boring, if only to give it a complete feeling. You get a better feel for the fighters when you see whole fights as opposed to what an editor at Spike thought made for better television. Louis Gaudinot vs. Paul McVeigh was the beginning of edited fights, unfortunately, and despite it appearing to be a great fight, and 80 minutes into the show the fights became edited as opposed to in their entirety.

1. Dana White was right. An insane level of fights to get into the house and an insanely high level of talent fighting for their shot. It’s hard not to be excited for the rest of the season purely on the quality of the fighters alone. Since the show started doing fights to get into the house you’ve seen a higher quality of guys make it in when you look at it in terms of intensity.