The Ultimate Fighter: Team Hughes vs. Team Serra
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Background
The Ultimate Fighter: Team Hughes vs. Team Serra (aka The Ultimate Fighter 6 or TUF 6) is the sixth season of the reality TV show, "The Ultimate Fighter". It premiered on Spike TV on September 19th, 2007.
The show featured 16 welterweight (170 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 Matt Serra and Matt Hughes.
The finale was broadcast live on Spike TV on December 8th, 2007 and featured the finalists facing off for the six figure UFC contract. The card was headlined by a lightweight bout between Roger Huerta and Clay Guida.
The show consisted of 12 taped episodes and the live finale.
Cast
Fighters
Team Serra:
- Welterweights: Joe Scarola, George Sotiropoulos, Matt Arroyo, Roman Mitichyan, Ben Saunders, Richie Hightower, John Kolosci, Troy Mandaloniz
Team Hughes:
- Welterweights: Mac Danzig, Dan Barrera, Blake Bowman, Tommy Speer, Jared Rollins, Billy Miles, Paul Georgieff, Dorian Price
Alternate
- Welterweight: Jon Koppenhaver
Coaches and Trainers
Team Serra:
- Matt Serra (Head Coach), Pete Sell (Assistant Coach), Ray Longo (Boxing Coach)
Team Hughes:
- Matt Hughes (Head Coach), Robbie Lawler (Assistant Coach), Marc Fiore, Matt Pena
Host
Format
Choosing Teams
Team selections remained exactly the same format as The Ultimate Fighter Season 5. Coaches would select fighters one by one after a skills evaluation.
Picking the Fights
Fights were chosen slightly differently this season with teams alternating between picks week to week with the fight result having no bearing on who chooses the next match-up. At the end of the preliminary round, the coach with the most wins would get to decide the quarter final match-ups.
Tournament Structure
TUF 6, just like TUF 5, featured a structured 16-man tournament. The tournament consisted of four elimination rounds where a fighter would have to win four times over the course of the show and the live finale to be declared the "Ultimate Fighter".
Fight Results
Episode 1
- Coaches Matt Serra and Matt Hughes pick their teams giving Hughes the right to choose the first fight.
- Team Serra's, Roman Mitichyan is found to have a fractured elbow and cannot continue in the show. He is replaced by alternate, Jon Koppenhaver.
- Team Hughes chooses first pick Mac Danzig to face Team Serra's first pick, Joey Scarola. Danzig defeats Scarola via submission (triangle choke) at 4.54 of the first round.
Episode 2
- It's Team Serra's turn to choose the episode's fight and they select Matt Arroyo to face Dorian Price. Arroyo submits Price via rear naked choke at 1.48 of round 1.
Episode 3
- Team Hughes selects Billy Miles to face John Kolosci. After scoring an early surprise takedown over the superior wrestler, John Kolosci returns to his feet where he latches onto a guillotine choke submission to force Miles' tap at 2.56 of round 1.
Episode 4
- Team Serra chooses Richie Hightower to face the inexperienced Blake Bowman. After trading early, Bowman suffers a severe knee injury that drops him to the mat. From there Hightower connects on a few punches that forces the referee's hand earning him the TKO victory at 0.48 of round 1.
Episode 5
- After finding out that a relative had just died at home, Paul Georgieff is given the oppurtunity to go home for the funeral provided he fights first, by Dana White. In light of the situation Hughes selects Georgieff to face Mandaloniz with the idea being that Georgieff will be superior on the ground.
- Georgieff finds success early on the ground, however once the fight returns on the feet he gets overly confident with his striking and Mandaloniz lands a huge punch that ends Georgieff's night at 2.39 of round 1.
Episode 6
- Team Serra choose Ben Saunders to face Dan Barrera. In a high quality fight, Saunders is awarded the majority decision victory after two rounds. Hughes is pissed and has now lost the oppurtunity to decide the quarter final match-ups.
Episode 7
- Hughes selects Jared Rollins to face George Sotiropoulos. George wins by knockout at 3.48 of round 1.
Episode 8
- The final preliminary match-up is Jon Koppenhaver vs. Tommy Speer. Koppenhaver managed to cut Speer early and nearly submit him with a rear naked choke however he eventually wears himself out and Speer is able to take the unanimous decision after two rounds to move onto the quarter final stage.
Episode 9
- Matt Serra chooses the quarter final match-ups albeit after an argument over him being disallowed the right to match Team Hughes fighters, Mac Danzig and Tommy Speer against each other.
- In the first quarter final match-up, Mac Danzig submits John Kolosci with a rear naked choke at 3.55 of round 1.
Episode 10
- In the next two quarter final match-ups, Matt Arroyo defeats Troy Mandaloniz via submission (arm bar) in the first round while George Sotiropoulos submits Richie Hightower with a kimura in the first round also.
Episode 11
- In the final quarter final match-up Tommy Speer escaped from some deep submission attempts from Ben Saunders before recording a unanimous decision victory.
Episode 12
- At the start of the episode Matt Arroyo injures his ribs in training. He pulls out of the competition and is replaced by John Kolosci after Koppenhaver, Hightower and Mandaloniz expressed no interest in the match-up.
- Kolosci puts in a slightly better performance the second time but the result remains the same as he is submitted by Danzig via rear naked choke in the first round.
- In a shock upset, Tommy Speer defeats George Sotiropoulos via KO in the first round. Speer poked Sotiroupolos in the eye early in the first round which left George clearly in distress and obviously affected his ability to see punches coming.
- In the final of the Ultimate Fighter 6 welterweight tournament, Mac Danzig submitted Tommy Speer via rear naked choke at 2.01 of the first round in a dominating performance. Mac Danzig earns the six figure contract with the UFC and the title of "The Ultimate Fighter".
Ratings
Ratings again once again dropped for this season with season scoring an overall ratings score of 1.12.
In the male 18-34 demographic, season 6 scored a rating of 1.5.
TUF Chronology
Preceded by: The Ultimate Fighter Season 5
Followed by: The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest
External Links
--Sam Cupitt 16:17, 27 September 2008 (UTC)
