The Ultimate Fighter 17: Team Jones v Team Sonnen

[Crimson Azure]

Starts mid Jan.

Like always the coaches are talking up how great the season is going to see. At least they seem to be interested in the show, Nelson couldn't have been less interested.

 

[RU_]

Going to be a good series in my opinion. I wonder if Jones is any good at teaching though. :L

 

[BradWCE]

Going to be a good series in my opinion. I wonder if Jones is any good at teaching though. :L

I think he's brought in some good coaches to help out. He'll probably let them work with the fighters quite a bit. Not sure how good he'll be as a coach but he'll have enough help that it won't matter too much.

It's Sonnen, CA

 

[the_interloper]

Does anyone know when this starts and what channel? I tried Google but it all seems too hard to find! FWIW Sonnen will be a great coach, he's done it for years (even over training for himself by reading his book).

EDIT: Just found it's on 6.30 on Sunday night on FX, I'm pumped!

 

[Crimson Azure]

Has anyone seen the ads during recent UFC events for the 'TUF Hooters parties' they are having in the US every Tuesday when it airs?

 

[Jay C]

Has anyone seen the ads during recent UFC events for the 'TUF Hooters parties' they are having in the US every Tuesday when it airs?

Yeah wish they would have something like that over here.

Why is TUF being shown on a Sunday night when it airs on Tuesday in the US?

Looks like I will be looking for a torrent.

 

[alfy!]

Torrent of the first ep is out. First 30 minutes are decent, with a very nice opening.

 

[Guy Threepwood]

Torrent of the first ep is out. First 30 minutes are decent, with a very nice opening.

(Highlight to reveal spoilers)

I thought the whole first episode was pretty good Alfy. Some pretty good fights, some great one liners (Dana talking about the guy having strangled a few people earlier today made me laugh) and a bit of background on each of the fighters which gives you a chance to connect to them. There looks to be some pretty decent fighters in the season, Hester and Hall looked great in their fights while Barnatt and Sammon (despite seeming to be a complete douche) looked pretty good too. The first fight will be interesting. I think despite being the first overall pick, Barnatt might struggle with the wrestling of Smith. Will be interesting to see if he can live up to the hype.

Who's everyone's pick for the "monster" that Dana's been talking about nobody wanting to face? He's said in the previews to the series that a guy nearly has a nervous breakdown when he's picked to fight someone and that there is one of the nastiest knockouts he's ever seen in combat sports. I'm thinking the two will be related (ie the "monster" scores the big KO in the first round in the house and everyone wants to avoid him the rest of the way) and think it might be Hester.

 

[red+black]

 

[Nickos66]

never really got into watching these series's but the 1st eps are always half decent. A torrent was created for the 1st ep yesterday but it was 2.9GB so I thought i'd wait til later. Apparently there's a 700MB copy now available for torrenting.

 

[RU_]

Watched it last night and enjoyed it, some absolute machines in this season.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

I'm thinking the monster could be Zak Cummings, who scored the knockout with the nothing short hook. His opponents face was messed after two shots, predict Hendricks style. Hester would be second, Hall would the third most likely. For reference Uriah Hall's two loses so far are a TKO vs Weidman and a decision to Phillioppou, could be the real deal.

 

[Guy Threepwood]

never really got into watching these series's but the 1st eps are always half decent. A torrent was created for the 1st ep yesterday but it was 2.9GB so I thought i'd wait til later. Apparently there's a 700MB copy now available for torrenting.

Yep, found the 700mb one last night. Get involved, looks like it'll be a good season.

I'm thinking the monster could be Zak Cummings, who scored the knockout with the nothing short hook. His opponents face was messed after two shots, predict Hendricks style. Hester would be second, Hall would the third most likely. For reference Uriah Hall's two loses so far are a TKO vs Weidman and a decision to Phillioppou, could be the real deal.

Cummings did look good in his fight, but it's hard to look bad when you win in about 7 seconds. Looking at his resume though, he has a number of well known guys on there so it could well be a good shout.

Had heard that about Hall too and seem to recall that the Phillipou fight went to a split decision, which considering his recent form is pretty impressive. The best thing is that this monster could well be one of probably 5 or 6 guys which should make for great viewing this season.

 

[Jay C]

I watched the first episode today and I thought it was great.

Focusing on the families of the fighters was a great idea and gave you a reason to care about how they performed. Having the families at the fights also gave the bouts an atmosphere, something that was servilely lacking in previous seasons.

Jones & Sonnen actually look like they can coach too which is another positive.

 

[Guy Threepwood]

Good win by Barnatt, but Smith appeared to psych himself out of that fight well before it started. Was not impressed with Samman and Bubba's ambush as that only served to make things worse. If they weren't behind the match up, keep it to themselves and try to help the guy pull out the win so that you can get the match up you want in the next round. Barnatt did well though... I thought last week that Smith's wrestling might have been too much for him, but despite having two fundamental things wrong with his wrestling (being lanky and Brittish), he matched Smith pretty well for the most part there. The finish was a thing of beauty... patiently waited for Smith to finish his flurry and placed the perfect knee on his jaw.

So next week is the week with the massive KO and Hall is fighting Cella. Can't say that Cella looked good at all in his first fight, so I think that Hall will be the guy with the big KO (my tip is from a knee off an attempted take down as the appeared to show Jones saying "finish it") and will likely be the guy that Dana has been talking about in the lead up to the show. Can't wait to see what happens.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

Thought the fight was rubbish, well placed knee, but I think that KO was equal parts a quality strike and Smith being gassed/wanting out.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

I think its actually clever editting.



When referenced to the monster, at the end Uriah says "I'm terrifed, we all are". Could also be clever editting though.

 

[Nickos66]

I didn't take that clip as Uriah referencing anything, rather a generic statement about the journey through the series.

There's some pics floating around with Kevin Casey in the back of the ambulance, whether that's next week or not I doubt it, for the notable reason that he's not scheduled to fight next week.

They'll probably continue building this ambulance thing throughout the entire season.

 

[Guy Threepwood]

When referenced to the monster, at the end Uriah says "I'm terrifed, we all are". Could also be clever editting though.

Hall actually said that in the lead up to his first fight on the show, so I don't think that's a reference to the monster.

I didn't take that clip as Uriah referencing anything, rather a generic statement about the journey through the series.

There's some pics floating around with Kevin Casey in the back of the ambulance, whether that's next week or not I doubt it, for the notable reason that he's not scheduled to fight next week.

They'll probably continue building this ambulance thing throughout the entire season.

Kinda wish you hadn't brought up the Casey thing as I had to check if it's true or not.

 

[Jay C]

I would hate to be fighting as part of Team Jones, their team is a mess with people talking crap about each other, no positivity etc.

I'm actually predicting Team Darkside to do what Jones wanted to do and take a clean sweep of all the fights.

 

[alfy!]

I would hate to be fighting as part of Team Jones, their team is a mess with people talking crap about each other, no positivity etc.

Meh, that was just for this week. They have some sick coaches, I'm sure they'll be fine.

 

[alfy!]

Every guy from this season is fighting in the UFC (re: Dana), I think that says a lot on the quality of the fights coming.

 

[Sharks On A Plane]

What I don't get is what those clowns were even trying to achieve by confronting Smith about how unprepared he was.

I mean, the fight pick had already been made, I don't really think Jones could have come out and said "Sorry everyone, I made a mistake and want to change the match-up."

Samman appears to be the early front-runner for biggest douche of the season.

 

[Guy Threepwood]

Agreed. I really hope Samman gets his comeuppance before the season is over, either in the form of a nasty KO or a sub. His "are you ready" call in his first fight before delivering some very average GnP was ordinary and him planning who everyone should fight instead of relying on the coaches to decide that just screams sh*t bloke.

 

[BradWCE]

What I don't get is what those clowns were even trying to achieve by confronting Smith about how unprepared he was.

I mean, the fight pick had already been made, I don't really think Jones could have come out and said "Sorry everyone, I made a mistake and want to change the match-up."

Samman appears to be the early front-runner for biggest douche of the season.

Spot on, it was ridiculous and stupid. We've seen you training and we think you're not ready, but you better win so that we retain fight selection. Very motivational

If someone was watching TUF for the first time they'd have thought that there was a rule that if the fighters on a team aren't happy with the fight selection they can change it themselves.

The first two episodes were really good. So far it's been a lot better than the last US TUF. With the hype around this monster that everyone's afraid of and the vicious KO coming up it looks like it's only going to get better.