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?

3. Matt Serra vs. Marc Laimon – Season 4

This was a verbal battle and one that cemented my love of Matt Serra. Honestly, I’m eagerly awaiting his video blog for his upcoming fight at UFC 119 because the entertainment it provides is better than most primetime programming on television these days.

The cast is given the opportunity to watch UFC 60, where Matt Hughes defeats Royce Gracie much to the chagrin of Serra, who has studied with the Gracies and earned his black belt under Renzo Gracie.

Laimon, a black belt under John Lewis who has never fought MMA, was serving as an instructor on the show. After UFC 60, he was voicing his thoughts on the fight with Hughes including saying that Gracie shouldn’t have fought. Serra took exception to Laimon’s comments, believing he was being disrespectful, and fired at the Cobra Kai leader.

The two went back-and-forth in a heated exchange, with Laimon defending his right to offer whatever comments he chooses. While he is certainly free to make whatever comments he wants, Laimon loses the war of words when he asks, “You can’t be an expert by watching something?”

Serra comes back with the best line in TUF history, maybe all-time history: “You’re like an expert swimmer who never got in the pool.”

2. Scott Smith vs. Pete Sell – Season 4 Finale

This was an actual fight from Season 4 and it was tremendous.

These two just stood in there banging away on each other, exchanging smiles and high-fives mid-fight. The bout moved to the second round, and Sell caught Smith with a left to the mid-section. Joe Rogan called it as a shot to the floating rib, some have called it a liver shot; either way, it obviously hurt like hell as Smith buckles over, wincing and grabbing at the impacted area.

As Sell charges in for the finish – KABLAMMO! – Smith shows why he is known as “Hands of Steel,” dropping “Drago” with a stiff right right on the button for what is still one of my favorite knockouts of all-time.

1.  Introducing Chris Leben

When every subsequent season features someone trying to steal the spotlight in some way, shape or form outside of the cage, they’re following in the footsteps of the original bad boy of The Ultimate Fighter, Chris Leben.

Thought he lost both of his fights during the season, Leben made an indelible impact on the program. It started with his peeing – sorry, spritzing – on Jason Thacker’s pillow while the Canadian was in the shower, and kept rolling as the booze kept flowing.

For every drunken rampage that has happened inside the TUF house since Season 1, nothing could ever compare to the mayhem that ensued when Josh Koscheck and Bobby Southworth sprayed Leben with a garden hose.

Two doors and a whack of skin from the knuckles on his left hand fell to “The Crippler” who has remained one of the most popular fighters in the UFC since the show.