This season of The Ultimate Fighter has been by far, the worst in my opinion. It seems to me that the producers of the show are shifting from choosing skilled, unknown fighters to choosing fighters based on how they would appeal to viewers from an entertainment perspective. I think TUF is more about the antics and drama of 16 fighters living in a house, and more about promoting a fight between two coaches than it is about finding out who is the better fighter. However, this isn’t the subject of my blog today. I give the UFC the benefit of the doubt when it comes to TUF. I think that yes, being a reality show about MMA they need to draw in viewers whichever way they can, even if that means fulfilling some of the basic rules a show must follow to be considered “reality TV”. What I want to talk about today is what happened on the last episode of TUF before the live finale.
Jesse Taylor and Amir Sadollah were the two finalists set to fight at the live event on the 21st. At the end of the show, all the fighters are sent home, and Amir and Jesse will return to their respective fighting schools to keep training for their fight with each other in more or less 2 months (TUF is pre-recorded for those who don’t know). So instead of returning home to continue training, Jesse, in his infinite wisdom, decided to stay in Vegas for a bit and party. He got drunk, kicked out a limousine window and then ran in to a hotel on the strip and began terrorizing female guests and screaming “Do you know who I am, I am a UFC fighter!” to hotel security. To tell you the truth, I have always had a problem with Jesse. He is a nice guy but the man has no respect for the sport. Before his semi-final fight with Tim Credeur, all Jesse did was get completely hammered, eat a ton of pizza and junk food, and further destroy the house. With 3 hours sleep he fights and defeats Tim. I am not criticizing the win, Tim is a great fighter, and Jesse beat him. What I am criticizing however is his level of respect for the sport. A true athlete wouldn’t do that to himself before a fight. How is that in anyway taking what you are doing seriously? I see my friends, particularly friends who want to be involved in this sport, and I see how they conduct themselves, and how they treat their mind and body before a fight, or even before a training session. Thousands of guys would love to be in Jesse Taylor’s position. He is a finalist on The Ultimate Fighter. Basically one win away from being in the most prominent and well known fighting organization in the world, making good money. And Jesse Taylor gets drunk all the time, and I mean DRUNK, and still manages to make it to the top. Only to throw it away in the most embarrassing way possible.
Usually Dana White’s actions are love it or hate it with me. I don’t normally agree with somethings he does, yet he has come this far and I respect the guy big time and give him the credit he deserves. I do however agree with his decision to kick Jesse out of the UFC, 100%. Dana made a great point, if this guy acts like this now, how will he act when he is a UFC fighter, making money, and being in the public eye. Everyone seems to think that MMA fighters are dumb, violent guys who don’t know anything else but how to fight. And though I can say for sure that the stereotypes against MMA fighters are for the most part false, in some extreme cases, I can see why people think that. Dana has the image of an organization and the sport to protect. An organization that despite being prominent, is still young and very heavily under the public eye. Dana wants these guys to be seen for what they are, athletes. Each and every sport that has had to go through this period of validation. Jesse Taylor doesn’t quite fit the mold of an athlete just yet. Who knows, maybe this will scare him into cleaning up and if he does, he will do very well in the sport. But not now. It is a shame, however, this incident, gave C.B. Dollaway another chance to be the ultimate fighter. I guess we’ll see what happens.
