[Sacrelicious]

Anyone watching tonight? Actually pretty stoked for this season, and I say that as someone who has barely watched the show the last few years.

Get it on a half hour tape delay here, kind of sucks, but ah well.

[Thor4140]

48 minutes in and im ready to fall asleep.

[Sacrelicious]

God awful... WTF.

[Sato]

Dont remember the last tuf Ive seen and I dont care....but that jamaican black dude with his spinning back kicks was good.
I can see him lay down the ultimate KO that was mentioned in the previews. I wanna see that!

[Vaughany]

So Bigslow fought with one-arm and a fractured eye socket in the fight next week!...

TUF 17 lone Brit Luke Barnatt forced to borrow money from grandmother to follow UFC dream


By Gareth A Davies Boxing and MMA Last updated: January 23rd, 2013
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Cambridgeshire MMA fighter Luke Barnatt was an instant hit on the new TUF 17 series filmed in Las Vegas – first picked and first to fight

It was a dream start to Luke Barnatt's aspirations to get into the UFC, but he revealed to Telegraph Sport that he had fractured an orbital socket in his opening TUF fight, and that without his grandmother dipping into an inheritance fund, he would never have reached the TUF try-outs in Las Vegas in the first place.
The long, long middleweight from Cambridgeshire, all 6ft 6ins of him, was an instant hit on the TUF 17 series opener this week. Barnatt won his fight-off with American Nicholas Kohring to secure his passage to the fighter house in the televised sports reality series. His desire and physical conditioning were self-evident, as he was first pick, and will be first to fight off in next week's episode.
The new series has been fine-tuned, and has a more rounded feel, devoid of the 'frat house' atmosphere it has espoused of late. UFC lightheavyweight champion Jon Jones, and his bantering, charismatic rival Chael Sonnen, as coaches, have also brought a crossover feel to the show which, arguably, it has not enjoyed since the very early formats six years ago which created a raft of current stars for the UFC roster.
Barnatt revealed to Telegraph Sport yesterday that following his dream had meant borrowing money from his grandmother to get to the TUF try-outs in Las Vegas last October, with hundreds of other aspiring fighters, and he had gone there with a serious injury to his shoulder, and fought one-armed.
Despite that, he got down to the final 50 TUF aspirants, who were whittled down to 28 five weeks later.
He also disclosed that he had fractured the orbital socket when he fought Kohring, which featured on the opening TUF show.
Twenty-four-year-old Barnatt gave up a 9 to 5 office job four years ago to follow his dream of becoming a professional mixed martial artist. He went into the TUF series with a 5-0 record, having fought mainly on BAMMA, UCMMA and CWC cards in the UK.
"Luckily, I'm team-mates with John Maguire, who is in the UFC. Robbie Olivier, who manages John and I, had responded to Joe Silva, the UFC matchmaker, about six weeks prior to the try-outs. We always thought it would be brilliant to be on The Ultimate Fighter. As soon as the opportunity came up, I had to find the cash," he explained to Telegraph Sport.
"I'm not the richest guy on the planet. So, I actually borrowed money from my grandmother and a friend which paid for my flights out to Vegas for the try-outs. It was hard to get there. I didn't really have any money to be honest. My gran Sheila gave me inheritance money from a fund left by grandfather, who passed away last year."
"I didn't want to bang on about it during the series, but I actually had separated the AC joint in my shoulder prior to the series when I went for the try-outs back in October. I'd even had to pull out of a BAMMA fight, but the TUF try-outs came through and I had to be there. I had one arm, went for it anyway, and luckily everything went right and I got picked."
Barnatt impressed enough to be shortlisted. "Now I'm on the show. When I look at it now, the events that happened and how I got there are pretty crazy and pretty unbelievable. To go all the way out to Vegas cost me £1500 on a whim, and it was the first time I'd tried to get on the show, so I was pleased with how it worked out. For example, it was Zak Cummings's seventh try-out. It was Josh Samman's fifth try-out, I think."
"I was extremely lucky to be there and I was just intent on enjoying every minute of it."
The presentation has changed, and Barnatt appreciated the mature feel to the show. "They've obviously put a lot of thought into it, and felt that TUF needed to change. It's a lot more emotional, and shot a lot more like a documentary," he added.
There were only potted highlights in the 2-hour opener which aired in the early hours of Jan 23 in the UK, and at primetime in the United States.
"I was a bit upset they didn't show the whole fight I was in. I know it went the two rounds, but I got told by a lot of the guys there, and
some of the coaches, plus Sonnen and Jones, that it was the most exciting fight with the most action. But I dominated the fight position-wise. It was a tough fight. He actually fractured my orbital socket."
"Where it shows the black eye, I'd fractured my orbital socket. It was no walk in the park. It was a tough, tough fight. I put it on him, and as Chael says, my cardio and constant work rate is what carried me through."
Then he was first picked. "I believe I must be the first Englishman to be picked first on The Ultimate Fighter. Ever. Surely ? I can't remember that on an American series. The fight must have been good for me to get first pick. But it was great to be picked first, and gave me a lot of confidence, definitely."
There was a major compliment, too, from Jones, the UFC 205lbs champion. "I've got my eye on him," said Jones after Barnatt's winning bout against Kohring.
"I was in Jon Jones's warm-up room, and he had some great coaches, John Woods, Frank Mir. I did my ground and pound warm-up, which I normally do on Nigel Burgess back at Tsunami Gym in the UK, and it's pretty vicious. John Woods held the pads, and I was elbowing him and all sorts and he was fine with it. I think I looked impressive in the warm-up, too," Barnatt explained.
"I spoke to Jon [Jones] afterwards and he said 'You're going to be in Team Jones' so I mentally prepared myself for that, and then I got picked first by Sonnen, so I felt really good. I think Jones was always going to pick Clint Hester first, because they got on really well, but it was great to have both coaches show so much interest."
Then – Barnatt was picked first to fight, against Gilbert Smith, a powerful striker who is 9 inches shorter. "Winning my fight, being the first pick, then the first fight pick, put me straight in there. I think they picked it tactically because I was one of the heaviest guys there, and even though it will be shown a week later, what you don't see is that my fight was actually four days later."
We will have to wait until next Wednesday to witness Barnatt's progress.
TUF 17 WILL AIR EVERY TUESDAY NIGHT-WEDNESDAY MORNING ON ESPN IN THE UK.

[Vaughany]

I quite liked how it was produced. Much better then previous ones were they show the whole fight

[PunisherIND]

I quite liked how it was produced. Much better then previous ones were they show the whole fight

Agreed. Production was much improved.

I'll be rooting for urijah hall. From my home town.

[Thor4140]

it picked up after the first half but i didn't like how they cutup a lot of fights.

[BIGDAY]

I think it's a promising cast. Of course the first episode only had what they wanted you to see. So I hope cardio isn't an issue and we are in for some good fights.