5 Best Ultimate Fighter Moments

The Top 5 Best Scenes from The Ultimate Fighter

With Season 12 set to debut tonight, I thought I’d share with you some of my favorite moments from the first 11 seasons of the show that has brought mixed martial arts into the living rooms of millions.

Before you start predicting which moment will make the top of the charts, let me assure you that it is not Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar’s seminal fight from the finale of Season 1. Nothing against those two or the importance of that fight, because it was and still is a massive moment in the history of the sport, but every list ever made about The Ultimate Fighter features that bout and there is nothing more I can say that hasn’t already been said.

Instead, let’s look back at some of the more candid and comical moments that have made The Ultimate Fighter a must-see spectacle for MMA fans and reality TV enthusiasts alike.

5. “Do You Wanna Be a @*$#ing Fighter?” – Dana White, Every Season

Dana White’s infamous speech, a version of which has been delivered every season since, either to the entire cast or an individual fighter, kicks off the list.

While the speech is vintage Dana White – what with the numerous F-bombs in a short amount of time – it’s also a very true decree about what it takes to be a fighter and the realities that come with it. As glamorous and awesome as you and I may think it looks, it’s still a job and you have to want it.

As Chris Leben said after hearing the speech, “If the President of the UFC can’t get you fired up…”

4. “Who Won? He Did?” – Solomon Hutcherson, Season 3

Hutcherson and Season 3 middleweight winner Kendall Grove formed Team Dagger, an alliance between the two to share information and just be boys long before Jamie Yager and company rolled out The Minority Report on Season 11.

Anyway, Hutcherson spent the better part of the season talking all kinds of junk, with much of it directed at Rory Singer. Admittedly, Singer is an odd cat and an easy target in a house full of alpha male, Type-A personalities. The two met in the quarterfinals, with Hutcherson detailing at length how he was going to pound on Singer and advance to join Grove in the semis. That didn’t happen.

Singer caught Hutcherson with a head kick early in Round 2 of their bout, dazing the Michael Strahan of MMA before finishing him with hammerfists on the ground. Then the awesomeness happened, as Hutcherson, sitting on a stool in the center of the cage being tended to by medical personal asks Ken Shamrock, “Who won?” and is disappointed when the answer is Singer.

When you’re rocking a stool in the center of the cage and the other guy is walking around throwing high-fives, do you really need to ask who won?