Is a pleasant surprise. It's been much better than the recent few series, and one of the surprising things is some of these girls can really fight. I'd never even heard of any of them before. Recent TUFs have been shit, with very mediocre fighters, and very tepid fighters. Fighting not to lose, rather than fighting to win. No balls or gusto. These girls are mostly real fighters though, who take it seriously and train hard. Not random jocks who decided to give MMA a go for the hell of it, or want to be on TV. Not only are these girls generally skilled, but most of them go for it. It's a shame they are too small and too female to pack much power, that's their main flaw. Who do you guys think is going to win? It seems obvious the final is going to be Carla Vs Rose, and I think Rose wins. Carla can obviously wrestle, but she's too 1 dimensional. Her gameplan is takedown, and if that fails, go for another takedown, and if that fails, go for another takedown, etc etc. Rose is dynamic and vicious, I think she'll be too much for Carla. Oh and the sheer bitchiness of a house full of girls has been amusing too ::
I haven't watched an episode of TUF in forever. Like you said, the talent level has been weak. The focus also tends to be more on the fighters making asses of themselves than anything else, or at least that's how the last several seasons I watched were. The first few seasons, especially the first, they really focused on how hard it was to be a fighter and how much work went into it. But the show quickly became 'The Real World' or some nonsense like that. Also, it's just been done too many times where it's the same old same old. I think they need to totally revamp the show and maybe take the house out of the equation altogether. TFK
Agree MWS. I'm not sure why exactly but this season has been entertaining. It is the same worn format but it's been fun to watch this season. After the semi final, I can help but be extremely impressed with Rose. She has a little Ronda Rousey in her. Every second she's in the cage, she is looking to end the fight. And where have you ever seen a fighter win via Kumura in back to back fights. 3 fights and 3 submission is a solid run. I think Rose might pull off the upset and beat Carla. Carla's wrestling is top notch but I don't think being on the ground with Rose is a good idea. And the funny thing is that Rose has a striking background. Hell, her boyfriend is Pat Barry.
Honestly, I think that would be the worst move possible, taking the house out of the equation. That's what puts this head and shoulders over the boxing reality shows imo, or at least a big part of it. It's what makes it intense. A certain intensity brews when you're sharing a house with people you're going to fight, you get friendships, hatred, backstabbing, etc etc. It's fun, as long as the talent level is there of course, and the fights are good. I think all they really need to do is recruit not only as good a fighters as possible, but serious fighters. Fighters who train hard, and are going to get in the cage and do their utmost to win. And also have a good balance between house time, training time, and fighting.
Agreed, same format but much better than recent seasons. Partly the novelty of the first all girl house I guess, and partly like I said, the girls are good. They are fast and aggressive and more skilled than I expected. What's interesting, is Pettis and Melendez were two of the most boring coaches ever, but the season is still good. About Rose, yep, you can't help but like a fighter like that. She is a true fighter, the kind of people they need on TUF. She's hyper aggressive. The way she came straight out and tore into Joanne Calderwood was very impressive, and the submissions too. Especially given she's one of the least experienced girls in the house, with only 3 fights. I have to admit, Carla is a lot better than I gave her credit for, and in the semi finals she probably impressed me a bit more than Rose. Mainly because she looked like a 100% boring wrestler, who just wrestled, but the boxed the absolute shit out of Jessica, and Jessica's boxing looked pretty solid against Lisa and that frumpy Irish girl, Aisleen. I was very surprised about that. She has no power, and isn't even overly fast or anything, but she showed excellent timing, accuracy, and movement. I thought the Carla Vs Rose staredown was fucking hilarious btw. Carla looked like this tiny, old, beat up Latin Grandma, and Rose looks about 12 ::
Damn that was impressive. Little old 5'1 Latina Grandma Carla won easily. She schooled the fight out of Rose in one round. By round 2 it was obvious Rose didn't think she could win, and was just going through the motions, and looking a bit confused. It was fucking hilarious watching her between rounds 2 and 3, looking gormless, lost and confused while her team tried to give her a pep talk, and it was clear not a word was getting through :: Rose is a classic front runner. She is fast and flashy, and is highly confident when she's winning, but she had her will sapped remarkably quickly by Carla and basically gave up and quit mentally. Carla is excellent, probably the best all round female MMA fighter I've ever seen.
REED's THOROUGHLY Enjoyed this Season of TUF... Sure, the Women are More EMOTIONAL, but they Take their Craft More SERIOUSLY Too...But That's the Case in Pretty Much EVERY Sport REED Fancies...Even the Free Spirited Party Girl, Felice Herrig, was MUCH More Focused than the Chris Leben's, Josh Koscheck's and Junie Browning's of the World Were, in their TUF Appearances...There Seems to ALWAYS Be a TUF Shit Stirrer More Concerned w/Getting DRUNK Every Night, but there WASN'T This Season... The Idea of Creating a Division & Crowning a CHAMPION in a Season was Pretty Cool Too... Haven't Seen the Finale Yet, but REED Isn't Surprised to Hear Carla Won w/Out Much Fuss....UNLIKE Ronda Rousey, Rose's Tough Talk LACKED Sincerity...Ronda Rousey is TRULY a Combative, Confrontational BITCH...Whereas Rose is an Undoubtedly TALENTED Fighter, who MASKS her Insecurities via FORCED Confidence... Also, REED Can't Put his Finger On it, but There's an Undeniable LEGITIMACY to Women's MMA, that ESCAPES Women's Boxing... REED:mj:
I agree about Carla. The thing that is most impressive to me is that her boxing is refined for someone with a deep wrestling background. She can lead, she can counter and her timing makes her remarkably effective against chicks with a reach advantage. She also has a surreal calm about her in the cage. Rose was bouncing around like a hyperactive kid while Carla stood expressionless like a serial killer internally deciding whether to strangle or stab his next victim. She is going to be tough for anyone in that weight class to beat. Oddly, the next best fighter on the show was the chick Carla beat in the semis. And Carla made her look average.
Just Caught the Replay Tonight... VERY Impressive Display by Carla, Especially Considering Rose was Subbing EVERYBODY in her Path, Otherwise...Carla was DWARFED by just about Every Opponent, the Entire TUF Season, yet her Class Prevailed...She Withstood a YEAR Layoff, the Pressure of Being the # 1 Seed AND the Reinstatement of Tecia Torres... Even Though her Strength is WRESTLING, Carla NEVER Looks Out of her Element, No Matter Where the Natural Flow of the Fight Takes Her...She's a TOUGH Little Broad To, as Rose Came @ her HARD Early Doors, Looking to IMPOSE Her Size on Carla & Landing a Handful of Kicks, Punches & Knees... Carla Took her Down w/Relative Ease & WHIPPED Rose's Ass when She had her on the Ground...Rose Basically Laid There & ALLOWED Carla the RNC...She was Clearly a Beaten, BROKEN Fighter... Good Shit... REED:mj:
This season didn't do it for me. In fact, I still have 4 or 5 shows before the finals to watch. Not as high on the talent level as mws. The fighters looked fine, but really no different than any other girl getting televised these days. I'm not really sure how to bring life into TUF, but it's gotten pretty stale, imo. I'll still watch them because it's still decent tv, but there hasn't been anything memorable for a while. It's like Survivor that way.
First paragraph, absolutely, that's what I was getting at, and part of what impressed me. These were real fighters who trained hard and took it seriously, even the scrubbier girls in the house took it fairly seriously, more than their male counterparts. And the second bolded line, I very much agree. You know me, I love boxing even more than MMA, but I've never been impressed with one single female boxer, or female boxing match. There's something about MMA that girls obviously take too far more than boxing, it looks more of a natural fit than female boxing.
Haha, good post. Yeah, Carla's acute calmness is bizarre, slightly surreal and unnerving. I was joking about it on the show, on her way to the ring she looks like she's strolling down the hall to make a cup of tea, not on her way to a professional fight. And yeah, Jessica is good and her boxing is very solid by MMA standards, yet Carla made her look like a borderline scrub. I was very, very impressed with that. Her timing, accuracy and movement were are all excellent. How often do you see someone with a 4 inch height disadvantage and big reach disadvantage boxing the shit out of someone from the outside?
