They are basically the same premise, reality shows that have two groups, various challenges, and a fight at the end of the show where the winner stays on and the loser is removed from the house. The final big winners will win various contracts. “The Contender” is for boxing and the “Ultimate Fighter” is for the UFC.
The differences between the two shows is quite interesting. The Contender is much more slickly produced. The fights are edited to look like movies: slo-mo shots panning over to crowd reactions to various punches while dramatic music is playing. Heartfelt stories about why the guys are competing. UF is much more raw and any musical background is likely to be hard-rock.
Personally I prefer the UF.
It’s amazing that these guys actually look forward to fights. I’d probably be soiling myself before each one. Maybe I’d let myself get beat up a couple of times if it meant I’d be able to walk away with a million bucks and never do it again, but jeez, the big prize these guys are fighting for is the chance to get beat up by even tougher guys on the professional circuit! It takes a special kind of person to have that sort of career.
“The Contender” actually has the same premise as Fox’s “The Next Great Champ” which is understandable since Fox ripped off the concept and rushed it on the air (where it bombed and was relegated to the purgatory of Fox Sports Channel).
I don’t watch The Contender but I did get hooked on Ultimate Fighter a few weeks in (I think they were down to 12) because I’m pretty much a sucker for shows that feature men hot men wandering about in various states of undress (see my thread a few weeks back on Oxygen’s “Mr Romance”). I’m surprised at the apparent lack of action in most of the fights. Based on the snippets of the pay-per-view ads I’ve seen I got the impression that the fights were much more violent. Maybe it’s a function of the fighters’ relative inexperience but a lot of the bouts seem like a lot of “crawl on top of them and toss off weak-looking punches to the back.” I’m glad Bobby Southworth and Josh Koschak (sp?) both lost and I only wish Southworth would have taken more damage during his fights. I hate both those guys.
Bobby’s back, at least back in the house, as an alternate after one of the other guys got cut and might not be able to fight in the finals. Or that’s what the status was last time I caught an episode, I might be a week behind.
Yeah, fill me in if you don’t mind! I figured I was at least a week behind since I missed Josh getting beat. You can box 'em (spoilers) if you want, doesn’t matter to me. Thanks.
Yeah right, pretend it’s about the hot guys. We know you’re just as bloodthirsty as the rest of us .
It’s true, the professional UFC fights can be much more violent. The inexperience of guys like Koschek really show. Once he got somebody on the ground, he didn’t know what to do. However, the professional fights can sometimes be slow too. Like American football, everything can seem bogged down then there is a sudden flurry of activity and somebody’s face gets mashed in.
Originally there weren’t round’s, they would just fight untill somebody was knocked out or tapped out. Those could get real slow as a grappler could be sitting on top of someone for 20 minutes to tire them out.
My wife and I watch The Contender weekly, and have been really enjoying it. They do a good job of displaying each persons individuality, and the fights are compelling.
[spoiler]Bobby Southworth came back into the house as an alternate in case Forrest couldn’t fight because of his eye cut. Forrest got clearance, though, so Bobby got his whiny lazy “drag me into the sauna so I can cut weight” ass sidelined. Forrest took out Sam in about 18 seconds (a little longer actually but Sam’s Machiavellian machinations didn’t last a full round). In the other heavyweight semi Mike was doing a pretty good job and probably would have submitted Stefan if the first round would have lasted another few seconds, but then with 2 seconds left in round 2 Stefan got an arm bar on Mike and Mike tapped.
And Diego took out Josh K the week before in a split decision, and Josh’s face was almost totally purple from the kicks. It was a thing of beauty.[/spoiler]
In looking at the site though I see Josh is on the undercard along with most of the rest of the cast.
When did I say the beatings weren’t part of it? Why do you think I watched pro wrestling for so many years?
I watch them both, but pretty much only for the fights at the end. UF could be the premise of a truly great show: something like MTV’s “The Real World” with catty namecalling and bitchy roomate fights, except at the end they have to get in a ring and beat the crap out of each other with some last-minute coaching by Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture.
I’ve been watching the Ultimate Fighter since I’m a MMA fan. I’m an ex-pro wrestling fan who got sick of the WWE(F) and was looking for something else. I’m never going back.
IMHO, the winners of the show better get to training with a real team like Team Quest and learn some skills so they can move to the next level because if they fought a UFC-level fighter they’d get crushed pretty quickly.
As a side note, Franklin is going to destroy Shamrock on Saturday.
I started watching “The Contender” but I’ve fallen behind on it. I have about 3 or 4 episodes on my TiVo. Once I start watching an episode, I enjoy it, especially the character development with the families. But before-hand, I just have this thing about “boxing” that makes me think it’ll be boring. It hasn’t been so far, but it makes it hard to start watching it.
I have a strong feeling that the fights I’ve seen so far (I think the first 3?) weren’t as close as they looked to be, but rather were edited to make them look like they were ties going into the final round. That’s the magic of showing an edited boxing match, I guess.
Ah, Spike is televising all 12 episodes of T U F 4-9-05 starting at 9AM EST according to UFC Site. And ALL of the defeated fighters from the series are scheduled to fight in un-televised undercard bouts. Looks like only 3 televised fights, and then a real PPV UFC next weekend.
Yeah. As much as I like Forrest, the way he wades in all loosey goosey on his opponents, he would probably get his ass handed to him by and experienced, tight, UFC opponent. One of the things I do like about him, however, is once he’s got the advantage, he doesn’t give it up. Many of these guys would get a good shot in, then back off. Forrest just keeps coming at them.
A question for the more experienced MMA’s. Why don’t we see more jab’s and combo’s like in boxing. Do they just not work in this format? I’ve seen lot’s of people lead in with strange uppercuts or haymakers.
Balduran, that’s just the inexperience of the fighters. Ideally, you could throw a right jab, left hook, right low kick or some jabs and a high kick. I’m a strong believer in using punching combos as set ups for the low/high kick. Especially against wrestlers. You can really kill their shooting power by chopping away at their legs.
All of the fighters need to improve their punching. While few MMA competitors have the power for a one-punch knockout, the ability to strike can be used a distraction leading to takedowns and/or submissions.
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