TUF 5.1

Well, the new season is upon us, and I finally have something to watch on Thursdays from 10-11. Of course, the premiere episode actually aired on a night when NBC was showing their patented 'supersize' episodes of The Office, 30 Rock, Scrubs, Andy Barker and My Name is Earl, which meant that I was torn, but I shouldn't have that problem next week.

Just as the last iteration of The Ultimate Fighter featured the gimmick of fighters trying to make their way back into the show, this season's gimmick is that all the fighters are 155 lbers, as the UFC tries to bolster and promote their lightweight division. As a result, there is only one "six figure" (read $100,000) contract up for grabs, as opposed to two, and all the fighters know they could face any of the others before the season is over.

The show looks to be pretty entertaining, as all of the fighters are off their Ritalin in the house, making for some interesting interaction. As Dana puts it, "155-pounders are crazy motherfuckers." This could be really entertaining, but if it degrades into spaldingcide and "[insert fighter name here] is gay" fights, then I'll be disappointed.

It's a new house this season, as I'm sure the owners of the past houses have enjoyed the smashing of doors, bubble fights, and attempts to bust through a wall to the outside that have all been highlights of past seasons. One thing I did notice is that this new house not only has the pool table, but there appears to be a ping-pong table. Of course, still no television or computer, but at least they can play pub games. Still no word on whether there will alcohol available. Because that never causes problems.

BJ Penn and Jens Pulver are shown at the gym, where Dana does his 'we need to get along' speech before they pick their teams. What's great is they showed footage of the first Penn v Pulver fight from 2002. Man, Penn's head has gotten bigger since then. And I don't mean it in that metaphorical way where references to the size of one's head are used to suggest a sense of ego. I mean the dude's head has gotten bigger. If it was blue, I'd say he had eaten the "three-course-meal" gum after Mr. Wonka warned him not to.

The fighters all work out for Pulver in the morning, and Jens gets a good sense of what these guys are capable of in the ring. By the time Penn arrives for his chance to scope out the new guys, everyone is plum tuckered out. Did Pulver do this to prevent his rival from properly evaluating the fighters? Penn believes this is likely.

The show gets really entertaining when Dana brings everyone together for team selection. He flips the official TUF coin, this time giving the coin toss winner the choice of picking the first fighter, or the first fight. Pulver wins, and decides he wants to pick the fight, giving Penn the first choice of fighter.

Penn then throws down the gauntlet, telling the assembled fighters "If any of you here know for a complete fact that you want to be on my team and give me 100 percent, and you don’t want [anything] to do with Jens Pulver’s team, raise your hand." 10 guys raise their hands. This leads to some great banter between Pulver and Penn, with Dana trying to control the situation. Eventually the teams are decided, and everyone is off to the house to provide the drama and entertainment.

6'4" Corey Hill, Jens Pulver's first selection seems to really respond to the notion of "teams" taking his allegiance to Team Pulver quite seriously, smack talking anyone in a blue Team Penn jersey. As one of the other fighter puts it, "he put on a gold jersey, and turned into DMX." Corey then begins barking like a Ruff Ryders anthem.

We also learn that Team Penn's Gabe Ruediger has come to the show weighing 175 lbs. More importantly, he seems to be gaining weight. I think somebody is in a family way. Gabe's weight issues lead to him crying in front of his teammates.

Team Pulver chooses their fight, and instead of making Ruediger drop twenty pounds, they go with Cole Miller from Team Pulver v Eric Berube of Team Penn. Berube, aka 'Monster' owns a seafood restaurant, while Miller appears to be MMA's answer to Jack Evans. Miller has the experience, and expects to win quite handily. Berube even seems to accept this, as he admits that he was using MMA as a means to promote his restaurant.

Which he does. Berube put forth a valiant effort, but he just wasn't ready to make it to the big show. After first attempting a Kimura and a guillotine, Miller is finally able to catch Berube with a triangle choke, and Berube has to tap.

The Good

• I think the fighters have some personality, and that should make for good television. I'm particularly looking forward to seeing more from Corey Hill, Nate Diaz (Nick's little brother), and Joe Lauzon.
• The Penn/Pulver dynamic looks to be really interesting. They don't like each other, they're looking forward to fighting each other, but it seems much richer than the Ortiz/Shamrock relationship from TUF3.
• It was great watching Dana try to maintain control over the team selection. Constantly telling the two coaches to "shut the fuck up" while they presented their own ideas on how the teams should be selected was hilarious. If this keeps up, Dana could very well lose his mind by the end of the season.

The Bad

• Ruediger showing up 20 pounds overweight is not good. If things don't turn around in the next episode, Team Pulver should seriously consider picking him to fight, only because he won't be allowed to fight. And even if he does cut weight, I don't think he'll be well enough to compete.
• Dana, I'm begging you. Give the guys some entertainment. Maybe some books and magazines. A television with limited cable channels. A Sirius satellite radio. All the previous seasons have indicated that the house is as boring as watching a Best of Tim Sylvia tape. So give them something to keep them occupied. This doesn't mean that the drama will end. We could even get some good fights out of who gets to control the remote.

The Ugly

• The fight didn't start until 10:55. Not exactly surprising that the fight ended in the first round. This has been a major drawback to every previous season of TUF, and it appears that the producers still haven't clued in. If they swerve us just once, and start the fight at half past, only to see it end 1o seconds into the first round, then we won't know what to expect. Every fight needs to start by the 45 minute mark of the episode at the latest, ensuring that we don't know how long the fight will be. Plus, this will make it possible to fit in all the post-fight reflection after the fight.

All in all, TUF5.1 was a great start to the season. The fights might not be the best, but they'll still be better than anything Tim Sylvia is capable of. If we can avoid the mindless destruction of previous seasons, this one could be the best since Season 1.