The Ultimate Fighter Season 3

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Contents

Background

The Ultimate Fighter Season 3 (aka The Ultimate Fighter 3 or TUF 3) is the third season of the reality TV show, "The Ultimate Fighter". It premiered on Spike TV on April 6, 2006 after the conclusion of UFC Fight Night 4.

The show featured 8 middleweight (185 lbs.) and 8 light 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 heated rivals Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock.

The finale was broadcast live on Spike TV on June 24th, 2006 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 Kenny Florian vs. Sam Stout.

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

Cast

Fighters

Team Ortiz:

Team Shamrock:


Coaches and Trainers

  • Team Ortiz: Tito Ortiz (Head Coach), Dean Lister (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Coach), Saul Soliz (Kickboxing Coach)
  • Team Shamrock: Ken Shamrock (Head Coach), Roman Pollock (Boxing Coach), Dan Freeman (Nutrition/Strength Coach)

Host

Format

Choosing Teams

The Ultimate Fighter format got a major overhaul in season 3, however the process for picking teams remained virtually the same. A two-day evaluation period was held before the team selections where the fighters got given a chance to look at the fighters' skill set.

Differing from the previous two seasons however, there were no fighter eliminations by coaches as a result of a team selections.

Picking the Fights

The major overhaul in TUF 3's format came in the way fights were chosen. The "challenge" concept was abandoned and instead replaced with a system where a coin toss at the team selections decided would decide which team gained control over the first match-up. From there control of matchmaking was granted to the team that won the last fight.

Tournament Structure

TUF 3 featured for the first time a structured 8-man tournament where each fighter had to fight once before reaching the semi-finals. This new system meant that no fighter had to might multiple times in the preliminary stages while another fighter could make it to the semi-finals without having fought.

Fight Results

Episode 1

  • Coaches Ortiz and Shamrock select their teams and Shamrock wins the toss to gain control of the first match-up.
  • Shamrock selects Kalib Starnes to fight Mike Stine. Starnes defeats Stine via TKO at 2.10 of round 1.

Episode 2

  • Still in control of matchmaking duties, Shamrock selects Jesse Forbes to face Noah Inhofer. Inhofer submits Forbes via submission (arm bar) at 2.35 of round 1 to give Team Ortiz control.

Episode 3

  • Now in control, Ortiz selects Kendall Grove to face Ross Pointon. Grove submits Pointon via submission (rear-naked choke) at 3.35 of round 1 to keep Ortiz in control.

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

  • Ortiz chooses Josh Haynes to face Tait Fletcher for this episodes match-up. The fight does not take place however, as first round victor, Noah Inhofer receives a letter from home from his girlfriend who thinks he might be cheating on her. Inhofer decides to leave the show to go home and a fighter is brought back in his place but the audience is not shown his face.

Episode 7

  • Jesse Forbes is back for Noah Inhofer and takes his place in the semi-finals.
  • The Haynes vs. Fletcher fight that was selected in Episode 6 by Ortiz takes place and Haynes takes the fight by split decision after 2 rounds to move into the semis.

Episode 8

  • Control becomes redundant as the last middleweight match-up between Ed Herman vs. Danny Abbadi is automatically selected. Herman defeats Abbadi via submission (arm bar) at 4.14 of round 1.

Episode 9

  • The last light heavyweight quarter final match-up takes place as Matt Hamill unanimously decisions Mike Nickels over two rounds to move into the semi-finals.

Episode 10

  • Matt Hamill is eliminated from the competition due to injury.
  • A long process to decide Hamills replacement ensues with Nickels ineligible due to a broken nose sustained in the Hamill fight. Both Fletcher and Rothaermel turn down the fight and it is left up to Ross Pointon to move up a weight class.
  • In the first middleweight semi-final match-up, Kendall Grove defeats Kalib Starnes via verbal submission (rib injury) at .30 of round 3.

Episode 11

  • In the final middleweight semi-final, Ed Herman defeats Rory Singer via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2.31 of round 2 to advance to the face Grove in the final.

Episode 12

  • In the first light heavyweight semi-final, Josh Haynes defeats Jesse Forbes via submission (standing guillotine choke) to move onto the final.
  • In the final light heavyweight semi-final, Michael Bisping defeats Ross Pointon via submission (strikes) at 2.13 of round 1.

The Ultimate Fighter 3 Finale

  • In the middleweight final, Grove and Herman fought to a very close, entertaining decision that was unanimously awarded to Kendall Grove. Kendall Grove is declared The Ultimate Fighter 3 middleweight tournament winner with Dana White also awarding Ed Herman a six figure contract.
  • In the light heavyweight final, Michael Bisping defeats Josh Haynes via TKO at 4.14 of round 2 to be declared the Ultimate Fighter 3 light heavyweight tournament winner.

Ratings

The Ultimate Fighter 3 drew an average weekly viewership rating of 1.69 with a 2.9 rating in the Male 18-34 demographic.

TUF Chronology

Preceded by: The Ultimate Fighter Season 2

Followed by: The Ultimate Fighter 4: The Comeback

External Links

--Sam Cupitt 09:03, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

Retrieved from "http://wiki.cagepotato.com/index.php/The_Ultimate_Fighter_Season_3"