The Ultimate Fighter Season 2

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Contents

Background

The Ultimate Fighter Season 2 (aka The Ultimate Fighter 2 or TUF 2) is the second season of the reality TV show, "The Ultimate Fighter". It premiered on Spike TV on August 22, 2005.

The show featured 8 welterweight (170 lbs.) and 8 heavyweight (205+ lbs.) mixed martial artists who were situated in a mansion outside of Las Vegas and forced to train and fight against one another as a part of two teams coached by Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin.

The finale was broadcast live on Spike TV on November 5th, 2005 and featured the finalists from each weight class facing off for the six figure UFC contract. The event was headlined by a main event of Diego Sanchez vs. Nick Diaz.

The show consisted of 12 taped episodes and the live finale.

Cast

Fighters

Team Hughes:

Team Franklin:

Unassigned:

Alternates:

Coaches

Hosts

Format

Choosing Teams

Teams were chosen slightly differently from the Ultimate Fighter 1. Fighters were still evaluated by the coaches over a two day period and still picked one by one however the change lay in that there was an odd number of fighters. The fighter left over in each weight class were then given the option of choosing they believed to be the weakest to fight onto the show.

This method became obsolete however when welterweight, Kenny Stevens, failed to make weight for his chosen fight against Sam Morgan and heavyweights Kerry Schall and Eli Joslin pulled out of the tournament with injury and anxiety respectively.

Picking the Fights

The way fights were picked once again changed from last season slightly. This time the right to choose a fight was based solely upon which team won that episode's challenge.

Tournament Structure

The tournament structure was kept the same for season 2. Elimination matches were held until there was four fighters left in each weight class. Just like the first season, there were fighters who made it to the semi finals without having been in a fight. These included, Keith Jardine (heavyweight) and Sam Morgan (welterweight).

However, due to uneven teams at the semi-final stage, final four match-ups were decided by fighter interviews with Dana White, Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin.

Fight Results

Episode 1

  • No fights this episode as teams were chosen by coaches. However, Eli Joslin and Kerry Schall were eliminated before teams were picked due to anxiety and injury respectively. Dan Christison stepped in to fill the 8th heavyweight space. Kenny Stevens failed to make weight for an elimination fight after not getting picked at team selections. He was also eliminated.

Episode 2

  • Team Hughes wins the welterweight challenge and they select Josh Burkman to face Melvin Guillard. Burkman defeats Guillard via unanimous decision but breaks his arm in the process and is eliminated from the show.

Episode 3

Episode 4

  • Team Franklin win the welterweight challenge and select Marcus Davis to face Joe Stevenson. Stevensen defeats Davis via submission (elbow strikes) at 4.10 of round 1.

Episode 5

  • Team Hughes wins the heavyweight challenge and selects Tom Murphy to face Rashad Evans. Evans defeats Murphy via unanimous decision after three rounds.

Episode 6

  • Team Hughes wins the welterweight challenge and selects Jason Von Flue to face Jorge Gurgel. Von Flue scores the upset and defeats Gurgel via unanimous decision after three rounds.

Episode 7

  • Team Franklin wins the heavyweight challenge and selects Seth Petruzelli to fight Dan Christison. Petruzelli defeats Christison via unanimous decision after three rounds.
  • Hughes sends Von Flue over to Franklin in an effort to balance out the teams.

Episode 8

  • Hughes wins the welterweight challenge and chooses Luke Cummo to fight Anthony Torres. Cummo defeats Torres via unanimous decision.
  • Imes is sent by Franklin to Team Hughes in order to balance out the teams.

Episode 9

  • Hughes wins the heavyweight challenge and selects Mike Whitehead to fight Rashad Evans. Evans pulls off the upset and defeats Whitehead via unanimous decision after three rounds.

Episode 10

  • In the first welterweight semi-final, Luke Cummo knocks out Sam Morgan with a knee at 2.05 of the second round to move onto the final.

Episode 11

  • In the first heavyweight semi-final, Rashad Evans defeats Keith Jardine via unanimous decision to move onto the heavyweight final.

Episode 12

  • In the second welterweight semi-final fight, Joe Stevenson defeats Von Flue via submission (arm bar) at 4.46 of round 1.
  • In the second heavyweight semi-final, Brad Imes split decisions Seth Petruzelli to meet Rashad in the finale.

The Ultimate Fighter 2 Finale

  • In the welterweight final, Luke Cummo put up a game effort before succumbing to the early season favourite, Joe Stevenson by close unanimous decision. Joe Stevenson is declared TUF 2 welterweight champion.
  • In the heavyweight final, Brad Imes and Rashad Evans went to war over three rounds in a fight that ended in a razor thin split decision victory for Rashad Evans. With the victory Evans became the most unlikeliest of Ultimate Fighter champions in the show's short history.

Ratings

The Ultimate Fighter 2 drew an average weekly viewership rating of 1.4 with a 2.5 rating in the Male 18-34 demographic.

The Ultimate Finale drew a solid rating of 2.0.

TUF Chronology

Preceded by: The Ultimate Fighter Season 1

Followed by: The Ultimate Fighter Season 3

External Links

--Sam Cupitt 06:50, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

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