TUF Blogs: The Ultimate Fighters or The Ultimate Writers
We are now three episodes into the Ultimate Fighter and Dana said there would be some twists this season. Bringing on 32 fighters instead of the customary 16 was definitely different, but the second biggest twist I have noticed is that many of the fighters are now blogging about their experience on the Ultimate Fighter.
The first fighter I can recall blogging about his experience on the Ultimate Fighter show is Matt Serra. He did it for the fourth season or the comeback season, in which he became the Ultimate Fighter and earned the right to fight GSP. For the most part, I remember his blogs to be very entertaining and enjoyable, although I can’t for the life of me remember what site he blogged for. The UFC must have been entertained as well because they had Serra and Hughes both blog for UFC.com in season six.
This season I have noticed that at least half of the cast members have a blog out on the internet documenting their experiences on the show. This is the equivalent to all previous seasons combined. Of the eight blogs I came across, half are from Team Forrest and half from Team Rampage.
MMA Junkie kind of overdid it by having two fighters blog about this season with C.B. Dollaway and Luke Zachrich. At least both guys fought on different teams to give it a different perspective.
Matt Brown of Team Griffin and Dan Cramer of Team Rampage both landed gigs writing at MMA Weekly and UFC.com. Amir Sadalloh of Team Forrest landed a spot with the online version of the OC Register and Mike Dolce of Team Rampage is blogging for LoHud, which is also owned by a newspaper called the Journal News in New York. Brandon Sene of Team Rampage is blogging for Pramit Mohapatra’s new site Fight Ticker and Nick Klein of Team Forrest is blogging for his regional MMA website, Wisconsin Combat Sports.
At a time when I believed that blogging was on the decline, never before have MMA fans been given so much behind the scenes information. I have been regularly reading the Nick Klein and Brandon Sene blogs as I am a writer for Wisconsin Combat Sports and a regular at Fight Ticker. Needless to say both are excellent and talented writers. Here are some links to blogs from cast members:
(alphabetical order)
Matt Brown – Team Griffin – Blogs for MMA Weekly
Dan Cramer – Team Rampage – Blogs for UFC
Mike Dolce Blogs – Team Rampage – Blogs for Lo HUD
C.B. Dollaway – Team Rampage Blog – Blogs for MMA Junkie
Nick Klein Blogs – Team Griffin – Blogs for Wisconsin Combat Sports
Amir Sadalloh – Team Griffin – Blogs for OC Register
Brandon Sene – Team Rampage – Blogs for Fight Ticker
Luke Zachrich – Team Griffin Blog – Blogs for MMA Junkie
Here are the teams chosen in Episode 3
Team Rampage Jackson
C.B. Dollaway, Matt Riddle, Paul Bradley*, Daniel Cramer, Gerald Harris, Mike Dolce, Jesse May, and Brandon Sene. *Patrick Schultz replaces Paul Bradley.
Team Forrest Griffin
Tim Credeur, Amir Sadollah, Jesse Taylor, Matt Brown, Cale Yarbrough, Dante Rivera, Nick Klein, Luke Zachrich.
Nathan Schafer is a MMA writer for the regional website Wisconsin Combat Sports.
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Comments
Yes, blogging definitely
Yes, blogging definitely seems to be all the rage this season, maybe even a little excessively so. Very interesting to have so much perspective on the show, though, and most of the guys seem to do an excellent job with the writing. Thanks for the links...
Interesting analysis Nate. I
Interesting analysis Nate. I hadn't realized there were that many out there. I think it's great for the sport and for the show to showcase not only the fighting skills but the intelligence of these up-and-coming fighters. Brandon has been doing a great job here and I'm sure all the other guys have been as well.
that's so much stuff to
that's so much stuff to read!!!
Underboss MMAfia
Head of the West Coast Family
I think its great to get the
I think its great to get the fighters' takes on the show. Mac Danzig had a very entertaining blog for the OC Register last season. Check out some of his greatest hits here.
http://punch.freedomblogging.com/2007/12/06/mac-danzigs-greatest-hits/