TUF pranks won't stop and this is why..................

Frank Mir was on TapouT Live and he said "My wife thought that I said it was ok for them to do the pranks. The spike tv producers edit out the part where I asked the guys on my team 'why are you doing this?' (the pranks). The fighters on my team told me that the producers wants the pranks to happen. I wanted to confirm this with the spike tv producers of TUF. The spike tv producers of TUF told me and Noguiera to pretty much shut up, you guys are mma coaches, not reality tv producers. I kind of hinted at Nogueira 'hey, put it together. it's not what you want or I want. It's what the spike tv producers want.'"

it's always been about shock factor since the first or they would actually focus the show training techniques.
the most pathetic part of the show is you dont get an inside look at the coaches and their training techniques.
to see how they would develope skills and hone talent wouldnt hold much "shock" value to keep you coming back next week.

it's business... controversy brings veiwers which = commercial $$$$

it will only get worse it will never stop, they will have to top last year every time.

This is why I said it belonged on MTV with all of the other reality TV bullshit.

I saw part of that interview or one very similar. It was interesting when Mir commented on the itching powder incident and said 'where would they get itching powder from?.. It must have been from someone on the shows production team'. Pretty much proves the producers were complicit with the pranks and fooling around.
I think TUF's relevance to the UFC will keep on decreasing, if they keep making it after season 9. The undiscovered talent pool of elite fighters isn't that large. The first few seasons produced some great fighters but not too many since. It will just become a competition within itself and the interaction and disputes between fighters will be the only conceit left driving the show. The gimmick of US vs UK in the next TUF kinda proves that.

Hasn't produced great fighters since the first few seasons? I disagree with that.

So you're saying guys like Nate Diaz, Gray Maynard, Joe Lauzon, Mac Danzig, Ben Saunders, George Sotiropolous, Amir, CB Dollaway, Ryan Bader, Efrain Escudero, Vinny Magalhaes, Philipe Nover, etc.... aren't good fighters?

They might not be great right now, but shit man it takes time. These reality shows are recent.

Forrest wasn't LHW champ the first few months after he won the show... it takes a few years.

I just don't get this, "oh these TUFFERS arent so great anymore" line.... if anything these guys coming from TUF seasons 5, 6, 7, and 8 are showing a ton of potential to become champs or top contenders down the road someday.

Mitch Ciccarelli wrote:Hasn't produced great fighters since the first few seasons? I disagree with that.

So you're saying guys like Nate Diaz, Gray Maynard, Joe Lauzon, Mac Danzig, Ben Saunders, George Sotiropolous, Amir, CB Dollaway, Ryan Bader, Efrain Escudero, Vinny Magalhaes, Philipe Nover, etc.... aren't good fighters?

They might not be great right now, but shit man it takes time. These reality shows are recent.

Forrest wasn't LHW champ the first few months after he won the show... it takes a few years.

I just don't get this, "oh these TUFFERS arent so great anymore" line.... if anything these guys coming from TUF seasons 5, 6, 7, and 8 are showing a ton of potential to become champs or top contenders down the road someday.

exaaaaactly. you cannot compare the new to the old because the early group are now veterans while the new recent group are still green. just look at the first 3 seasons and just see how many nobodies were on there you forgot about. the recent bad fighters are still in your mind.

i'll take bader over hamill or even forrest, no lie.

Mitch Ciccarelli wrote:Hasn't produced great fighters since the first few seasons? I disagree with that.

So you're saying guys like Nate Diaz, Gray Maynard, Joe Lauzon, Mac Danzig, Ben Saunders, George Sotiropolous, Amir, CB Dollaway, Ryan Bader, Efrain Escudero, Vinny Magalhaes, Philipe Nover, etc.... aren't good fighters?

They might not be great right now, but shit man it takes time. These reality shows are recent.

Forrest wasn't LHW champ the first few months after he won the show... it takes a few years.

I just don't get this, "oh these TUFFERS arent so great anymore" line.... if anything these guys coming from TUF seasons 5, 6, 7, and 8 are showing a ton of potential to become champs or top contenders down the road someday.

Point taken, you're right about the amount of time taken to build status in the UFC. Do you think that there's a danger a serious fighter wanting to forge a career in the UFC might be put off joining TUF cos of the hi-jinks? Or would the opportunity be too hard to resist?
Of course the dynamic of the next series might be totally different with maybe less idiots like Junie Browning. I hope it doesn't get too jingoistic though with tired old clichés about the US or UK thrown around.

I think the USA vs. UK gimmick is a pretty decent idea actually.

Think about it. For TUF season 3, only a few people showed up to try out from the UK and only 2 made the cut... and only one of them is still in the UFC today.

This sport with it's fast growing popularity has generated more interest in other countries as well.

Now there are good fighters in the UK that nobody has ever heard of yet that potentially could become huge UFC stars one day. Instead of just taking 2 Uk'ers, they are putting together a whole team of UK fighters thus we will get to see just how good this unknown UK talent really is.


I think putting them up against a USA team is kinda a cool idea actually, but that's just my opinion.

Me being a proud American, will be rooting for the USA boys obviously!



Also I do think the pranks need to be enforced with rules again. Like with Junie, he assaulted people physically... that is suppose to be a no no on TUF but yet he managed to stay on. They can't let people do this anymore.

Pranks are one thing, but having a bunch of athletes fighting OUTSIDE of the ring and OUTSIDE of the training mats is going to seriously give the critics more ammo as far as "these guys are animals, evil human beings" or whatever the critics are saying nowadays lol.