TUF 3: The worst season

After the 2005 NFL draft everyone wanted to shit on the Houston Texans. How can you take Mario Williams over Reggie Bush, Vince Young and Matt Leinert? Well three years later and it is looking like the Texans were right while everyone else on that list is a massive bust.

While the UFC doesn’t have a draft it does have The Ultimate Fighter and like the draft it takes several years to truly analyze how well that class was. Season three is quickly looking like the worse season in terms of talent production.

Only four fighters from TUF-3 are in the UFC still; Matt Hamill, Michael Bisping, Kendall Grove and Ed Herman. I would rank them in that order. First off let me say that Bisping is the protected poster boy for the U.K. and he lost that fight with Matt Hamill. It is true that Hamill has potential but right now he is pedestrian light heavyweight. He gets ranked as number one from this class due to his victory over Bisping.

After Bisping lost two fights in a row, ok just the one to Rashad Evans, he finally made a smart decision and dropped to middleweight, which earns him some points. However Bisping still hasn't fought anyone. Even in the season who did he defeat to win the contract, Josh Haynes. Haynes was just a brawler with a ton of heart not a great fighter. Basically Bisping is real big question mark. He defeated some mediocre talent at light heavyweight and never looked good then dropped to middleweight. Bisping’s first real test will be Chris Leben and its not like he is a top-ten middleweight.

Kendall Grove is the Reggie Bush of this class. Lots of athletic potential but just seems to disappoint time and time again I mean losing to Jorge Rivera come on. True it might be the marijuana and youth but hopefully he is turning a corner and will finally live up to his potential. The victory over recently deceased Evan Tanner made it appear that things were back on track for Grove.

Ed Herman, inconsistent, cocky, arrogant and may be on his way out of the UFC. He is 3-4 in the UFC and just lost a razor thin decision to Alan Belcher. Herman never lived up to his own hype or his camp in Team Quest.

Then there is the unspeakable, our namesake, Kalib Starnes. The fact that we created a website dedicated to our inane ramblings about MMA entitled Watch Kalib Run tells you all you need to know about Starnes’ career.

Once you compare season three to the first season of The Ultimate Fighter it is easy to see the disparity. Season one is the equivalent of the Steelers 1974 draft, with their first four picks they got four hall-of-famers, Lynn Swan, Jack Lambert, Mike Webster and John Stallworth. Season one of TUF produced, current light heavyweight champ Forrest Griffin, Diego Sanchez, Josh Kosscheck, Nate Quarry, Mike Swick, Chris Leben, Kenny Florian and Stephan Bonnar. Only time will tell with the other seasons of The Ultimate Fighter.