Issue 005

July 2005

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), World Extreme Cagefighting, Rumble on the Rock, Extreme Challenge, SuperBrawl, King of the Cage, International Fighting Championship, TKO… these are just some of the more noteworthy promotions continually running shows throughout the United States and Canada on a regular basis. And with the success of the UFC’s first foray into reality television with ‘The Ultimate Fighter’, they are all benefiting… but none of them more than the UFC itself.

Hot on the heels of the successful first season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’, the UFC has already worked out a new deal with SpikeTV, the station that carried season one. The big surprise? The new deal is for much more than the reality series. Yes, the new deal includes not one but two more seasons of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ series.

Not only that, but it also includes two live shows in 2005 (in addition to the season two finale) and four more live shows in 2006. The live shows will be full fight cards along the lines of the UFC’s current Pay Per View shows.

And if that weren’t enough, there is more. The new deal also

includes 26 episodes of a new series of one-hour shows that will be a sort of ‘Best of the UFC’, including fights from many of the UFC’s past events.

TUF: Season Two Coaches

Continuing down ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ road, it was decided that Matt Hughes would be one of the coaches on season two of the show. The second spot was filled in a sort of reality competition of its own. When Evan Tanner and Rich Franklin fought at UFC 53 (see our Fight Report on page 20 ) not only were they battling for Evan’s middleweight belt but for the second coaching slot. As fate would have it, Franklin won the fight and will now be coaching one of the teams alongside Hughes.

One of the harsher criticisms of the first season was the whacky non-fighting challenges that the competitors had to perform. In the hopes of increasing the quality and reality of the challenges for season two, the UFC has hired light heavyweight contender Randy Couture to create the new challenges. Couture wouldn’t say exactly what the new challenges would be, but he did hint that there would be a lot of wrestling involved.

The Big Kick-off in August

Season two of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ kicks off in the United States on August 22. The UFC is preparing to christen their second salvo into reality television with not one but two live shows. The first will be on August 6, live on SpikeTV; the second, another Pay Per View show, on August 20. 

The August 6 show, entitled ‘Ultimate Fight Night’, will feature a full eight- or nine-fight card. The focus of the card will be to build some of the fighters from the first season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’. The main event, however, will feature 7-time King of Pancrase Nathan Marquardt in his UFC debut against UFC middleweight contender Ivan Salaverry. Other fights on the card are rumoured to be Chris Leben vs Patrick Cote, Stephan Bonnar vs Sam Hoger, Kenny Florian vs Alex Karalexis, Josh Koscheck, Mike Swick, and more.

One of the biggest announcements at UFC 53 was the main

event of UFC 54: Boiling Point. The next Pay Per View will take place on August 20 at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The main event: Chuck Liddell will make the first defence of his light heavyweight championship against Jeremy Horn. The fight will actually be a rematch — Horn handed Liddell the first loss of his career, choking him out way back at UFC 19 more than six years ago.

Also confirmed for UFC 54 is another light heavyweight bout, the return of Randy Couture as he faces Mike van Arsdale. Speculation is that the card will also feature Frank Trigg vs Georges St. Pierre, Joe Riggs vs Matt Lindland, Diego Sanchez vs Dave Strasser, as well as fights for both Tim Sylvia and David Terrell.

It’s been a long time coming, but it looks like Mixed Martial Arts may finally be taking off. And this is only the beginning…