Issue 128
May 2015
MMA’s future changed forever when the finale of The Ultimate Fighter featured on Spike 10 years ago. But what really happened when the cameras weren’t rolling, and how do stars of the inaugural reality show feel about it today?
It was the most seminal moment in the history of mixed martial arts. When Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin, both battered and bloodied, stood either side of Herb Dean following the finale of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, the future of fight sports was changed forever.
Their light heavyweight final on April 9th 2005 was the thrilling conclusion of the reality show, later dubbed the UFC’s Trojan horse by president Dana White because of what it achieved for the fledgling promotion.
Almost through word of mouth alone, millions of viewers began to change the channel to Spike when they heard these two men were slugging it out live and for free on cable TV.
The noise from the crowd inside the Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas reached a crescendo as the future Hall of Famers left their hearts and souls in the Octagon. It was the perfect end to a successful first season and the perfect platform from which the promotion could begin its bid for world domination.
The rest, as they say, is history. The Ultimate Fighting Championship went from strength to strength, breaking gate-receipt records, setting pay-per-view milestones and promoting shows across the world for an ever-expanding army of rabid fans. But it all could have been so different.
The Ultimate Fighter was a gamble, pure and simple. The UFC was $40 million in the hole following four years of Zuffa ownership, during which owners Lorenzo Fertitta, Frank Fertitta III and White had tried to turn their baby into a successful enterprise. TUF was the last roll of the dice.
In an unprecedented move, the organization fronted the $10 million production cost to get its new reality show on the air. If they didn’t pull this off, the dream was over.
The fate of the sport’s biggest organization was put in the hands of a group of 16 men. They were touted as the best middleweights and light heavyweights in North America and they would compete for a spot in the UFC and a six-figure contract.
Of course, after 20 seasons, there’s not a single aspiring mixed martial arts champion who doesn’t know what to expect when they enter that house for six weeks. However, this group had little idea about what was to come and how their lives were about to change.
To commemorate the most significant occasion in MMA’s storied history, FO spoke with someof the stars of the first landmark season of TUF to find out...
WELCOME TO THE TUF HOUSE
As successful as The Ultimate Fighter turned out to be, there was no way Dana White and co. could have predicted its influence and success in the beginning. They didn’t even know what to expect from the fighters when they arrived.
White: “The first season of The Ultimate Fighter, we had no idea what was going to happen. We put the cameras in there and we just rolled.”
TUF 1 grappling coach Marc Laimon: “There were a lot of rumors going around that there was going to be a reality TV show. They wanted a good jiu-jitsu coach and they selected me. It was a pretty epic experience because that show got us to where we are today and spring-boarded the whole thing.”
Lodune Sincaid, Team Couture light heavyweight: “I love that we were all hand selected – there were no tryouts. No one really knew what they were getting into, including the production team. It was truly real, not scripted. The fights, the training, all of it.”
Team Liddell light heavyweight Sam Hoger: “At one point it was like a junior high dance, we were sitting in the van and nobody even wanted to look at each other. When we finally got to the house everyone started to loosen up. Everyone had guesses and speculation about how this was going to work out.”
Laimon: “With TUF 1 it was just crazy, you didn’t know what was going to happen, every day was different. It was a crazy experiment.”
White: “I can’t tell you how crazy that first season was. I was literally living at that gym. That television office became my office. I lived at that gym the eight weeks we filmed there.”
Hoger: “When we finally spoke to the film group they told us that we would have to only fight in the grand finale after we did all kinds of challenges and obstacle courses. At that point since no one was really eyeing fighting anyone, the mind-set was that this would be like the MTV shows where there are a bunch of challenges and at the end we would train and put on our best fights for the fans.”
DO YOU WANNA BE A F*****G FIGHTER?
For the 16 fighters on the show, becoming a fighter in the UFC was the ultimate goal, but first they had to fight. The home audience demanded it. Initially apprehensive about the plot change, the cast’s attitude prompted the now infamous, rabble-rousing speech from Dana White...
Hoger: “Somewhere in the second week, the producers came back with the review that the show won’t make it if we don’t fight. To many of us this was a huge bait and switch. We felt deceived on some level.
“I remember when the Fertittas and Dana came to the gym for his famous speech/temper tantrum. The (Fertittas’) investment rested in our hands because they dumped so much money into the UFC at this point that literally the cast of that show had the power to make or break them. When Dana got passionate everyone didn’t realize what they were looking at. This was Dana with his back against the wall.”
Swick: “We were true fighters to our core. Almost all the guys on that season were legit fighters and gave all for the sport in one way or another. No one was there for TV time or to play around. It was all passion.”
Couture: “Those guys weren’t there to be famous... They actually wanted a shot. They all wanted to be fighters and be in the UFC. That’s what separates those guys from subsequent seasons of TUF.”
Middleweight runner-up Kenny Florian: “Fighting in the Octagon for the very first time was very surreal and a special experience. It was surreal to have ‘Big’ John McCarthy come into my dressing room and tell me he was going to referee my fight.”
LIFE IN THE HOUSE
Put 16 testosterone-fueled athletes under one roof and there’s bound to be fireworks – even outside the Octagon. From the moment the cast arrived at the villa on the outskirts of Las Vegas, tensions began to run high. Pretty soon, the fighters would bicker over anything – including who got the best bits of the asparagus.
Hoger: “Diego was a self-centered child who behaved like a spoiled kid who never got his ass disciplined by his parents. A prime example of this was when Stephan ripped into him for being a greedy douche who ate all the food without consideration for anyone else.”
Middleweight tournament winner Diego Sanchez: “I was being genuine, I’m from Albuquerque, I had never tasted asparagus in my life. Randy Couture had said, ‘Eat the green stuff, it’s good for you’ and Helio and Rickson Gracie had advocated eating red meat, so that’s all I knew about dieting back then.
“Besides that I was eating rice crispy treats to try and stay up at 185lb. But it was a hilarious moment and the funniest part about it was that I didn’t even know what asparagus was, I was just like, ‘I’m not eating that again, it made my pee stink anyway!’”
Hoger: “It was hilarious when they finally had their fight about the asparagus heads and (Stephan) told Diego, ‘I may be your father.’ That was hilarious, because Diego is not a candidate to be the next spokesperson for MENSA, and he had no defense other than to sit there and look like a spoiled brat that was put in his place.”
Sanchez: “If I ever need a good laugh or a reminder of who I am I throw that clip on. I was ready to fight him right there, I was not going to back down to him. I felt like he was trying to bully me and I’m the last person who is going to be bullied, I don’t care if you’re Brock Lesnar or Cain Velasquez.”
BLAME IT ON THE BOOZE
Although hardcore fans tuned in for the fights, the casual viewer was drawn in by the drama from the house. And there was plenty of it – from Chris Leben’s late-night smashing spree to some antics that went unseen by the cameras. But there’s one thing you could practically guarantee: tranquility was nowhere to be found once the alcohol started pouring.
Sincaid: “The day I fought Bobby Southworth, I went to the hospital and got stitches. At that time, when you lost a fight you went to the other house. I went to a fitness gym to work out, noticed people staring at me, noticed I was bleeding from my stitches, left the gym, went out to a club in Vegas, stripped for a bachelorette party, got kicked out of the club, slept on a bench on the Strip, woke up in the morning and called Zuffa to come pick me up.”
Light heavyweight winner Forrest Griffin: “Probably one of the funniest things I remember about the show is the night we went out. I was in bed asleep – like the good boy I am who can handle his alcohol – and out of nowhere God starts yelling at me. Then I realize it’s not God at all. Chris Leben has smashed my door open and pieces of the door have fallen on me. He’s screaming about something but I don’t know what he’s screaming about. All I could think to say as I stand up as quick as I can is, ‘Hey man, these doors don’t have locks on them. You could’ve just opened it.’”
Swick: “After my fight with Bonnar, he went to take a shower and was in there for a really long time. We couldn’t figure out what he was doing and when he finally came out he was dirty and drunk, which was quite odd after a shower. As it turns out, he snuck out the small bathroom window and ran a very long way to a store and bought alcohol. He was a funny guy to live with.”
MIDDLEWEIGHT: FINAL
Despite all the drama, there were still fights to be had. When the dust settled, the last men standing at middleweight were Diego Sanchez and Kenny Florian. Though their fight is often forgotten, it was a pivotal moment in the careers of two of the UFC’s most beloved personalities.
Sanchez: “One thing a lot of people don’t know is that Kenny actually rang me leading up to the fight and said, ‘Hey man, do you think we could do this fight at 170lb? I think we could get them to set it up at that weight because we’re both welterweights.’ But I was just like, ‘No way man, I want to eat!’”
Florian: “I never showed up. The experience got the best of me because I was a nervous wreck. I lost that fight before I even got in the cage. I really think that was the difference. I became a victim of how big an opportunity it was and being in the finale of The Ultimate Fighter. I crumbled under the pressure.”
Sanchez: “It was probably the best performance of my career, beating Kenny the way I did, as he is an all-round legendary fighter. I think out of all the guys he’s faced he’s never been dominated like he was against me.”
Florian: “It was the loss coming off the TUF 1 finale against Diego Sanchez that made me realize I can’t go out like that. It was a huge learning experience which obviously changed my life forever.”
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT: FINAL
Then came what many regard as the most important fight in MMA history. Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar were seen as the evening’s supporting attraction, behind the main event between Rich Franklin and Ken Shamrock. But once they stood toe-to-toe for three rounds, there was no doubt which fight would make the headlines.
Light heavyweight runner-up Stephan Bonnar: “Before I fought Forrest, all the interviews I did I was like, ‘I just have this feeling that it’s going to be an amazing fight.’ I knew his cardio was crazy good and he was super tough. He wasn’t the type that would lay down when he was hurt.”
Griffin: “I knew he’d wrestled in high school, but he wasn’t a good wrestler and I wasn’t a good wrestler, so I thought it was a pretty even matchup. Going into the fight I just thought, ‘I’m going to win this fight.’ It was nothing more than that.”
Team Couture middleweight Chris Leben: “They just stood in front of each other and beat the crap out of one another. Just fireworks. Neither guy wanted to back down. It was amazing.”
Couture: “When you have ratings jumping during the course of a 15-minute fight from one million viewers to six million viewers that says something pretty spectacular is going on. There was no denying that.”
White: “It created a buzz about the UFC that people were talking about for months. And it catapulted us into our deal with Spike TV. And that’s why that fight is the single most important in UFC history.”
AFTERMATH
A decade has passed since the show hit TV screens, yet its effect on the UFC and MMA is still felt to this day. The cast of characters will endure as some of the most important figures in the growth of the UFC into the dominant force it is today...
Sanchez: “We all have each others’ backs to a certain extent. We all support each other if a TUF 1 guy is fighting. But whenever I see Kenny or hear his commentary on my fights I cant help but feel that he’s still a little mad that he wasn’t the ultimate fighter.”
Couture: “The UFC finally got somebody with the balls, frankly, in Spike TV to put our sport on television. It changed the landscape for all of us forever. When you start getting onto a million plus homes on a weekly basis with your sport that most people have misinterpretations of and you get to see what it takes… The dedication, the discipline, the technique and the tactics up close and personal. The whole experience from start to finish was something special.”
White: “The whole cast should be (in the UFC Hall of Fame). Even the Canadian Jason Thacker. Without the group of people that we had and the way the synergy worked and the way things went down... That season really launched everything.”
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
MMA fans still talk about the likes of Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar, Diego Sanchez and Kenny Florian to this day, but whatever happened to the other fighters who were on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter? FO investigated the fates of some of the cast members who didn’t quite make the big time
SAM HOGER
‘The Alaskan Assassin’ didn’t make many friends in the house. His housemates accused him of stealing their UFC merchandise, which he later returned. Hoger lost to eventual winner Forrest Griffin in the semifinal, but redeemed himself in the finale by taking a decision nod over Bobby Southworth.
He was then tasked with the unenviable schedule of fighting Stephan Bonnar, Rashad Evans and Lyoto Machida. He was bounced from the UFC after he lost to all three on points.
Hoger went 4-1 in smaller promotions before he retired in 2010. No longer competing, the 34-year-old picked up small roles in the TV revival of Dallas and 2013 boxing flick Grudge Match. He also coaches students at Hoger MMA in Houston, Texas.
LODUNE SINCAID
Getting knocked out by Bobby Southworth didn’t just give Lodune Sincaid a bad head, he claimed the unwanted accolade of being the first ever cast member to be eliminated by way of an actual fight. In the house, Sincaid was an entertaining character and drinking buddy of Chris Leben. ‘The Vanilla Gorilla’ won the WEC light heavyweight title, but lost it in his first defense to current Bellator middleweight Doug Marshall in 2006.
After a stint in rehab for alcohol abuse and mental health issues later that year, Sincaid got his life back on track. He fought on for three more years before he retired. He opened Vanilla Gorilla Fitness in Clearwater, Florida last October.
ALEX SCHOENAUER
Seen as a weak link by his peers on the show, the Argentinian was traded to Team Couture early in the competition. Team Liddell’s Forrest Griffin and Sam Hoger then argued over who would get to pick him off in the final preliminary fight. Griffin got his wish and made quick work of, defeating him by TKO in the first round. Following another quick defeat to Mike Swick in the finale, Schoenauer reconnected with TUF coach Randy Couture and found a home in the now-extinct IFL promotion.
Following his retirement in 2009, Schoenauer worked as a movie stuntman on films including Transformers: Age of Extinction and End of Watch.
ALEX KARALEXIS
Not even his pre-fight ritual of shaving all of his body hair could keep Karaelexis from a Diego Sanchez rear naked choke. During his UFC stint, he knocked out fellow cast member Josh Rafferty in the finale. He also became the first man to ever fall victim to the Von Flue choke, courtesy of the man himself, Jason Von Flue, at UFC Fight Night 3 back in 2006.
A native Bostonian, Karalexis was a firm favorite of Dana White and stayed with Zuffa. He spent most of the remainder of his career in the WEC.
Now retired, he lives in Scottsdale, Arizona where he works as a project manager for Jared Allen’s Home for Wounded Warriors.
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