'The Ultimate Fighter 8' to begin taping mid-May

Dmac · 04-12-2008, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MMAFighting

'The Ultimate Fighter 8' to begin taping mid-May

"The Ultimate Fighter 8," which will focus on lightweights and light heavyweights, will begin taping in mid-May and is slated to premiere Dec. 17, according to the Boston Herald.

On Thursday, the UFC and Spike TV held an open casting call at the Sheraton Boston Hotel. UFC President Dana White, "The Ultimate Fighter" Executive Producer Craig Piligian, and the Senior Vice President of Spike TV's Sports and Specials Brian Diamond were in attendance to oversee the tryouts.

Contestants selected from the tryouts will be invited to Las Vegas next week along with other fighters the UFC will personally invite. The final sixteen contestants will be determined from there.

Sometimes I think that Dana has no fucking clue, I have the opinion that he is a smart man a lot of the time but with things like this it does start to turn. The UFC do not need anymore LW or LHW fighters, that is pretty fucking apparent, why don't they try to focus on their weaker divisions like HW and MW?

Twist of Suffy · 04-12-2008, 01:38 PM

And they just did lightweights in season 5 they haven't done heavyweights since Season 2 and you could have guys that aren't from the division do the coaching and it would help a very struggling heavyweight division...

Dmac · 04-12-2008, 01:40 PM

Exactimundo... as I was saying DREAM has just started up, they have only had 1 show and they have a MUCH stronger HW division that the UFC.

Sir Nicky Talent · 04-12-2008, 01:41 PM

The Heavyweights are leaving and getting injured. But, Dana sees LHW as the biggest draw to the company.

Dmac · 04-12-2008, 01:45 PM

They are... but he has enough of them, he doesn't need more, where as the HW division is on the verge of death.

da one enigma · 04-12-2008, 04:18 PM

I'd hardly say the Heavyweight division on the verge of death. It's been in much worse shape before like when Sylvia and Arlovski were pretty much the only names.

Let's ignore Couture since he's variable and take into account the heavyweights that the UFC has: Big Nog, Vera, Werdum, Mir, Lesnar, Gonzaga, Herring, Kongo, and Arlovski and the UFC are open to renewing a contract. It's still a solid division, but that doesn't mean it could do without help. I just think it's ridiculous to say it's on the verge of death.

Dana either needs to sign Fedor and try and get Randy back or start building some stars via TUF and hope they don't drop to LHW.

Dmac · 04-12-2008, 04:31 PM

Umm you know Arlovski isn't UFC now doe, Gonzaga is inconsistent, as is Werdum and Vera should move to LHW.

da one enigma · 04-12-2008, 08:43 PM

-Arlovski hasn't signed a contract with anyone else if I'm not mistaken, so he's still open to coming back to the UFC. The rest is speculation.
-Vera and Werdum moving down to LHW is a matter of opinion, and just because they "should" doesn't mean they will.
-Gonzaga being inconsistent has nothing to do with him being a recognizable talent that was in a championship fight and can still probably draw value for a fight.
-Still leaves plenty of talent in a viable division that's far from being on the verge of death.

Dmac · 04-12-2008, 08:47 PM

I admit, verge of death was a bit strong, but the division is still not good. Now you are defending your statement on Arlovski when you, yourself made a huge list of why he should have left.

'The Ultimate Fighter 8' to begin taping mid-May

This is a discussion on 'The Ultimate Fighter 8' to begin taping mid-May within the MMA - Mixed Martial Arts forums, part of the Sports Forums category; Originally Posted by MMAFighting 'The Ultimate Fighter 8' to begin taping mid-May "The Ultimate Fighter 8," which will focus on ...