One of my all-time favorite shows on television is “The Ultimate Fighter” and a brand new season starts Wednesday as Team GSP squares off against Team Koscheck. George St-Pierre is the reigning welterweight champion and is regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet.
He will coach against the No. 1 contender for his title in Josh Koscheck.
Like every season, the coaches will pick teams, compete against each other in coaching, and after the season is over they’ll square off in the octagon.
My favorite thing about this reality show is the trash talk between the coaches and even though GSP doesn’t do a whole lot of it, Koscheck will do enough for both men.
St-Pierre and Koscheck have already fought each other in 2007 and GSP got the decision victory.
The story of that fight was that Koscheck was known for his wrestling skills and GSP was known for his stand-up.
GSP showcased his wrestling skills in that fight by taking down Koscheck time after time.
Ever since then, GSP has been taking everybody to the mat in his division and has become one of the best wrestlers in MMA.
Koscheck admitted that he didn’t work on his wrestling for that fight and said that for their fight in December he will work on his wrestling day and night.
Koscheck will look to nullify GSP’s superior wrestling skills with his own wrestling skills and keep the fight standing.
But that fight is three to four months away; the focus now is to see who will become the next “ultimate fighter.”
If you’ve never seen the show before, it is a tournament format where the fighters live amongst each other in a house.
It’s sort of like “The Real World” on MTV, except when fighters have beef in the house, they can slug it out in the octagon.
The first couple of shows introduce 28 fighters that fight their way into the house.
The group will be cut in half by an immediate elimination round of fights, and the remaining 14 fighters will live in the house.
The coaches will then pick fighters to be on their team, and the two teams will compete against each other.
Some notable fighters on this season’s “Ultimate Fighter” are J.J. Ambrose, Jonathon Brooking, Mike Budnik, Nam Phan and Ariel Sexton.
Ambrose has an MMA record of 12-2 and trains at American Kickboxing Academy with guys like Mike Swick, Cain Velasquez, Jon Fitch and Koscheck.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out Koscheck’s first pick.
Brooking has an MMA record of 11-2 and has Clay Guida-like hair, therefore he’s automatically a crowd favorite.
Budnik is the oldest fighter in the house at 35 years old, but he has the most experience.
Budnik fought in World Extreme Cagefighting and submitted one of Dean Lister’s blackbelts in the organization.
Sexton and Phan are 28 and 27, respectively, and are of some of the favorites to win the show.
The show debuts Wednesday at 9 p.m. on Spike after an Ultimate Fight Night that is headlined by Nate Marquardt. If you’ve never seen Marquardt in action, watch the fight night at 7 p.m. and you will be in for a treat.
