After watching the season finale and analyzing the fighters from this season, it’s actually pretty easy to determine the winners and losers from season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter. In this article, I’m going to focus on the losers from this season. Now, by losers I don’t mean those who actually lost fights but more like those who didn’t come out in the best light or whose reputation as a fighter took a hit.
Now, in any other season I’d talk about the coaching / coaches, matchmaking, house issues or fighter attitudes. This season however things went down a little different. Sure, everyone’s talking about Ronda Rousey’s attitude towards Miesha Tate during this season. Was she gracious in defeat? No. Was she cordial towards Tate? No. Did she act professionally at all times? No. But you know what she was? She was real, after watching the entire season I felt that all we saw was the real Ronda Rousey, warts and all, and I expected nothing less. She was honest in the fact that she did not like Tate, never hid it, never backed off from it, never softened her stance on that. I’ll talk more about the Ronda – Miesha relationship in another article.
Going back to what will define season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter, it seems Dana White’s #1 pet peeve is topping the list. That’s right, MAKING WEIGHT is what the losers from this season are going to be remembered for. It’s also the reason they are going to be forgotten pretty fast since it’s going to be a long, bumpy, rocky, uphill climb of a road to get back into the UFC for these fighters, if they ever do. While normally making it to the house and having a couple of good fights, win or lose, in the season usually guarantees at least one or two future fights on a televised UFC fight card (including prelims), not making weight during the season does just the opposite. Unless you have personality up the wazoo (a la Michael Bisping or Chael Sonnen), you are not making it back to the UFC if you can’t make weight while on a show giving you the professional opportunity of a lifetime.
So without further ado, let’s meet season 18’s LOSERS:
CODY BOLLINGER
Hello Cody, goodbye Cody. You seemed so nice, so ready, so prepared. Cody looked like a really nice guy that had a chance to go all the way. I liked his attitude and thought his fight against Anthony Gutierrez would be an interesting one. With Anthony walking and talking like he was already in the finals I was looking forward to seeing him in action (and this being the final men’s battle of the quarter-finals just gave Anthony more time to talk and talk, and eat and eat). However when the time for the weigh-ins came, I was surprised twice. First by the fact that Anthony was able to make weight despite being shown to be eating constantly, then I was surprised again when Cody was unable to make weight and broke down mentally in the process. That led to his dismissal from the competition, after having to explain his reason for leaving in front of his housemates.
ANTHONY GUTIERREZ
Anthony says he was ready to fight. He was ready for the next step in his career. He’s shown eating and eating like a college athlete who gets the benefit of youth and the metabolism that comes with it (for some at least). Then Cody goes ahead and gives him a free pass to the next round by not making weight. The big surprise for me was that he WAS able to make weight despite showing no desire to plan out a strategy to cut weight or eat more controlled. This made me think that maybe it was just the editing that made him look like he was always eating. I mean he did make weight and was ready for his fight, his opponent wasn’t. So Anthony was given the option to fight, but he’d have to cut weight a second time in the same week. Not looking forward to the (physically and mentally) draining process of making weight again, Anthony took his free pass with a smile and nobody can blame him (although Ronda didn’t look too happy or proud about it).
Now he’s a semi-finalist. He’s fresh, uninjured and had a clear path to the finals and that $100k contract… and then what does Anthony do, he goes ahead and pulls a Cody. Wow. Amazing. So apparently it wasn’t creative editing. That first round pass just gave Anthony enough rope to hang his UFC career with. Guess we won’t be seeing you for… well forever. At least not in the UFC. Besides not making weight being one of the worst sins an MMA fighter can do in Dana White’s organization, not making weight AFTER your previous opponent didn’t make weight and got kicked out, well, that’s just some kind of special on your part Anthony.
So, what do you guys think? Are Cody and Anthony the losers of this season of The Ultimate Fighter or do you have anyone else in mind? COMMENT BELOW!!!
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