The third episode of The Ultimate Fighter season eleven aired last but the show has already been spoiled! Rival coaches Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz are not fighting at
UFC 115. Instead, Liddell will fight Rich Franklin.
Some of you may remember the rumors and reports that had
placed the former middleweight champion and Cincinnati native as the new opponent for
Liddell.
Wait a moment. Dana White said that wasn't true. Chuck Liddell told the press he was fighting Tito and Ortiz
said he was fighting Chuck. Were those lies?
If you mean deliberately telling falsehoods then yes, they
were lying. But why lie in the first place? Wouldn't it have been better to say "no comment" or "our
current plan is to have the coaches of the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter fight at UFC 115." Why deliberately tell a
falsehood?
The only reason that anyone has been able to muster for the
misinformation campaign was to protect the "spoil free" integrity of the
reality show. But that doesn't make any sense as the UFC spoiled the show themselves
with the announcement of Liddell vs. Franklin
when UFC 115's tickets went on sell. Why lie to "protect" two episodes of TUF?
Dana told Jim Rome that he was obligated to lie due to
reality show non-disclosure agreements. That doesn't make any sense as such legal
requirements do not force individuals to actively deceive the consumer base,
which White did. So what happens now?
Well, nothing really. Dana White loses credibility (not that
it matters to a lot of fans who take his word as gospel), people will still
watch TUF 11 and UFC 115 sold out in thirty minutes despite the change in main
events. Thank you Canada.
Thus we enter the third episode of The Ultimate Fighter knowing that at some point Tito Ortiz will
withdraw and Rich Franklin will take over. Actually, that sounds pretty
interesting. Maybe it would have been wise to let those rumors swirling instead
of taking a lying axe to the cherry tree.
At least Spike realizes the marketing potential and have
decided to give the Tito Ortiz storyline the "Kimbo" constant tease treatment.
That's exactly what happens as Dana White gathers the two teams together to
kick off Chris Camozzi of Team Punishment for having a busted jaw. That may be
harsh for a young fighter who earned his way into the house but this is the TUF.
If you come up lame they will put you down. Tito picks Seth Baczynski to
replace the injured Camozzi.
One of the downsides of The
Ultimate Fighter's format is that we instantly know what fights will be
short and what fights will be quick 15 minutes into an episode as they often
announce the fight at the beginning rather than the end of the episode. That's
what happens as Chuck picks Brad Tavares to fight James Hammortree.
After a weigh-in and a brief reminder that Jamie Yeager is
an asshole as he tries to punk Nick Ring in a sparring session it's on to the
fight at the 30 minute mark, which means the fight will go to a third "sudden
victory" round taking a lot of the mystery out of the bout.
Hammortree (note: could there be a better fighter name? How
about Inigo
Montoya!) and Tavares split rounds one and two
Brad Tavares wins the third round and the fight putting Team
Liddell up 2-0 while still in control.
