The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir
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Background
The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir (aka The Ultimate Fighter 8 or TUF 8) is the eighth season of the reality TV show, "The Ultimate Fighter". It premiered on Spike TV on September 17th, 2008 at the conclusion of UFC Fight Night 15.
The show featured 16 lightweight (155 lbs.) and 16 light heavyweight 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 top UFC fighters Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir.
The finale will be broadcast live on Spike TV on December 13th, 2008 and will feature the finalists from each weight division facing off for a six figure UFC contract. As of today, Monday, 29th of September 2008, no official main event has been lined up for the event.
Cast
Fighters
Team Nogueira:
- Lightweight: Phillipe Nover, Efrain Escudero, Rolando Delgado, John Polakowski
- Light Heavyweight: Ryan Bader, Jules Bruchez, Kyle Kingsbury, Shane Primm
Team Mir:
- Lightweight: Dave Kaplan, Junie Browning, Shane Nelson, George Roop
- Light Heavyweight: Vinny Magalhaes, Eliot Marshall, Tom Lawlor, Krzysztof Soszynski
Fighters Eliminated In Entry Round
- Lightweight: Jose Aguilar, Fernando Bernstein, Rolando Delgado**, Charles Diaz, Joe Duarte, Brandon Garner, Wesley Murch, Ido Pariente, Brian McLaughlin*
- Light Heavyweight: Antwain Britt*, Lance Evans, Jason Guida***, Ryan Jimmo, Kyle Kingsbury**, Ryan Lopez, Eric Magee, Sean O'Connell, Mike Stewart, Karn Grigoryan*,
* These fighters originally made it into the house but were eliminated due to injury.
** These fighters lost their entry bouts but replaced fighters that became injured before entering the house
*** Jason Guida failed to make weight for his preliminary bout and was replaced with Mike Stewart.
Coaches and Trainers
- Team Nogueira
- Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, head coach
- Daniel Valverde, assistant coach, Jiu-Jitsu
- Al "Stankie" Stankiewicz, assistant coach, stand up
- Team Mir
- Frank Mir, head coach
- Ken Hahn, assistant coach, stand up
- Robert Drysdale, assistant coach, Jiu-Jitsu
Host
Format
Choosing Teams
Choosing teams continued the formula from TUF 7 with fighters having to fight before they were eligible for team selection. The contestants' fights doubled as a skills evaluation for the coaches before they had to choose teams.
Apart from that, teams were selected one by one by the coaches in order of preference as per usual.
Picking the Fights
The way fights were chosen in TUF 8 reverted back to the system utilized in the third, fourth, fifth and seventh seasons of the Ultimate Fighter. A coin flip before team selections enabled the winner to either choose the first fight, or the first fighter. From there control of matchmaking duties went to the team who won the last fight
Tournament Structure
TUF 8 consisted of two 16 man tournaments for the first time in The Ultimate Fighter history. To earn the title of "The Ultimate Fighter" in their divsion a fighter would have to win a total of four times.
Fight Results
Episode 1
- All 32 fighters are introduced to this seasons coaches.
- Jason Guida fails to make weight and is replaced with Mike Stewart.
- Krzysztof Soszynski defeats Mike Stewart by strikes in round 1.
- Dave Kaplin defeats Fernando Bernstein with a rear naked choke in round 1.
- Phillipe Nover defeats Joe Duarte with a rear naked choke in the second round.
- Jules Bruchez defeats Eric Magee with a rear naked choke in the first round.
- Vinny Magalhaes defeats Lance Evans by submission due to a rib injury.
- Antwain Britt defeats Ryan Jimmo via majority decision.
- Brian McLaughlin moves into the house after a no contest result in his fight with Brandon Garner. Dana White judged that McLaughlin was more deserving after appearing to dominate the fight before an illegal knee by Garner halted the bout.
- Junie Browning defeats Jose Aguilar via TKO at the end round 1.
Episode 2
- John Polakowski defeats Wesley Murch via TKO (leg injury) in round 2.
- Shane Primm defeats Sean O'Connell with a rear naked choke in round 1.
- Efrain Escudero defeats Ido Pariente wait a rear naked choke in round 1.
- Tom Lawlor defeats Ryan Lopez with a rear naked choke in round 1.
- George Roop defeats Rolando Delgado by decision.
- Ryan Bader defeats Kyle Kingsbury via arm triangle choke in round 2.
- Shane Nelson defeats Charles Diaz via decision.
- Karn Grigoryan defeats Eliot Marshall via split decision.
- Marshall replaces Antwain Britt after Britt is eliminated due to a hand injury.
Episode 3
- Brian McLaughlin and Karn Grigoryan are eliminated from the competition due to fractured noses.
- Kyle Kingsbury replaces Grigoryan while Rolando Delgado replaces McLaughlin.
- Mir wins the toss and elects to pick the first fighter, leaving Nogueira to choose the first fight.
- Nogueira chooses Ryan Bader from his team to face Tom Lawlor from Team Mir.
- Bader defeats Lawlor via KO in round 1.
Episode 4
- Junie Browning is almost kicked off the show due to being a drunken prat but is given a second chance due to his ratings appeal...
- Still in control, Nogueira chooses Efrain Escudero to face Shane Nelson.
- Escudero defeats Nelson via triangle choke in round 2.
Episode 5
- Browning is almost kicked off the show again after causing a ruckus in the cage after the Escudero fight, but is given a reprieve due to the above stated reasons.
- Nogueira chooses Shane Primm to face Eliot Marshall.
- Marshall defats Primm quickly with a rear naked choke, handing Mir control of match-ups.
Episode 6
- Mir, now in control, chooses Junie Browning to face Rolando Delgado.
- In a scrappy affair, Browning pulls off the split decision victory to move into the semi finals.
Episode 7
- Mir chooses Vinny Magalhaes to face Jules Bruchez in the next light heavyweight match-up.
- In a pretty poo fight, Magalhaes defeates Bruchez via arm bar submission in the first round.
Episode 8
- After some pissing and spluging in food which is later consumed, Mir elects Dave Kaplin to face Phillipe Nover.
- Nover destroys Kaplin via rear naked choke early in the first round.
Episode 9
- By the process of elimination the last match-ups in each weight class are announced.
- Krzysztof Soszynski faces Kyle Kingsbury and defeats him via arm bar in the first round.
Episode 10
- The final lightweight match-up is between John Polakowski and George Roop.
- Roop defeats Polakowski via decision after two rounds to move onto the semi-finals.
- After discussion with the fighters and the coaches, the semi final match-ups are made.
Episode 11
- In the first light heavyweight semi-final, Ryan Bader defeats Eliot Marshall via unanimous decision after three boring ass rounds.
- In the first lightweight semi-final, Phillipe Nover defeats George Roop via first round kimura.
Episode 12
- In the second light heavyweight semi-final, Vinny Magalhaes defeats Krzysztof Soszynski via first round arm bar to move on to face Ryan Bader at the finale.
- Junie Browning causes some last minute ruckus as he tries to get out of his fight with Efrain Escudero. Browning almost gets his wish after he throws a glass and a few punches at Shane Primm after a minor disagreement. Dana asks the rest of the fighters if Browning should be sent home but Efrain decides to beat Browning off.
- Efrain Escudero defeats Browning via second round D'Arce choke to move into the final against Phillipe Nover.
- At the finale, Ryan Bader defeated Vinny Magalhaes via TKO 2.18 into round 1. Bader dropped Magalhaes with a shot behind the ear before finishing him off with hammerfists on the ground. As a result, Bader was crowned TUF 8 light heavyweight champion.
- In the main event of the finale, Efrain Escudero surprised many with a unanimous decision victory over the more fancied Phillipe Nover. In a great fight, Efrain's superior wrestling came to the fore, stifling Nover's offense. Efrain was crowned the TUF 8 lightweight champion after the three hard fought, high paced rounds.
Ratings
Over 12 episodes, TUF 8 did an average household rating of 1.14 which puts it roughly alongside the past two seasons in popularity.
In the Male 18-34 demographic, the first 12 episodes did an overall rating of 1.5, which ties TUF 6 as the equal lowest in TUF history.
The first 12 episodes also drew an overall rating of 1.4 in the Male 18-49 demographic.
The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale drew an overall 1.3 rating with a an averaged 1.9 million viewers. These ratings were the second lowest for a TUF finale in the series history with only the TUF 4 Finale scoring a lower rating (1.1).
TUF Chronology
Preceded by: The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest
Followed by: The Ultimate Fighter: United States vs. United Kingdom
External Links
- Official website
- Spike TV's Ultimate Fighter page
- Ratings for The Ultimate Fighter by MMA Payout
- Ratings for The Ultimate Fighter Finales by MMA Payout
--Sam Cupitt 12:41, 29 September 2008 (UTC)
