Are you down with T.U.F.?

The Ultimate Fighter may very well be the best reality series on television. I know for many of you, that's not saying much - but I've pretty much watched 'em all.

I've sat and watched the Amazing Races, Survivor, Big Brother, The Surreal Life - hell I even watched Flavour Flav go through a dozen gold diggers lookin for his next girl. The Ultimate Fighter on Spike however has so much more than any of those other shows can offer. Real drama.

There's nothing manufactured here. The show is, what it is. A group of young mixed martial arts fighters, training as members of two seperate teams and fighting for the right to earn a UFC contract. The fights are real. The back stories are real. The show is sick.

This is the third season of this show, and by far the best. On top of the fact that they have two of the biggest names in UFC history acting as team coaches (Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz), they have also tweaked the format of the show.

In past seasons there would be competitions between the teams, where the winning team would have the right to determine the next fight. Last season I remember a goofy scene where all the heavyweights got into a ring wearing socks, and each team tried to remove them from their opponents. Ya, not quite what I was hoping for. This season, the formula was simplified. Show the guys training, show them in the house bitchin' at each other, building heat - then let them fight. The winning team will get to decide the next fight. So simple. So effective. So freakin' cool.

This show has done for UFC what the WWE had hoped Tough Enough would do for them, but didn't. It has created a ton of new stars (that already have an emotional attachement to the fans who have seen them come up from nothing) and lured in new fans. Especially female fans! I can't tell you how many women I work with that constantly tell me they LOVE the UFC - and in part because they started watching T.U.F. On the flip side, the only Tough Enough participant still hanging around is Josh Matthews, as a backstage announcer. Each former winner has been released by the company. Maven, Nidia, Puder. All gone.

Now take a look at the UFC. About 80% of their current roster has been part of this show over the past two years. Forrest Griffin, Nathan Quarry, Chris Leben, Mike Swick, Stephan Bonnar, Alex Schoenauer, Diego Sanchez, Kenny Florian, Josh Koschek, Sam Hoger, Keith Jardine, Rashad Evans, Melvin Guillard, Brad Imes, Joe Stevenson, Josh Burkman, Sammy Morgan and more.

You may be thinking, ok sure, they added a bunch of jobbers to the roster. Not so! Our resident UFC expert at Tha "O" Show, Darkside said this about the T.U.F. alumuni, "Nathan Quarry has contended for the 185 title. Chris Leben and Mike Swick are STUDS, Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin are legitimate superstars. Diego Sanchez will be getting a title shot soon."

If you haven't caught any of these series, check Spike TV's listings in your area. The last two seasons they have run T.U.F. marathons leading up to the finale, which will be on Saturday, June 24th.

The middleweight and light heavyweight winners will be determined on a card headlined by a big fight between Kenny Florian and Sam Stout.

On July 8th, at UFC 61, "Bitter Rivals" - the two T.U.F. coaches will meet in a rematch that hasn't been all that highly anticipated by anyone other than Ken Shamrock. Ortiz beat the crap out of Kenny in their first fight, and all indications are that he will again. Shamrock claimed he was injured during their first fight, not properly prepared and that this fight will be very different. These two have made no secret about their general dislike for each other and this should be a hell of a performance.

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