The premiere of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season 10 on Spike TV last night left much to be desired for mixed martial arts (MMA) fans around the world. In the first and only preliminary bout of the night, Jon Madsen (1-0) pummeled Abe Wagner (6-1) for three long and bloody rounds while Wagner did absolutely nothing to at least block Madsen's punches. Even Wagner's coach, Rampage Jackson, repeatedly yelled ringside:"Abe, do something. Don't just sit there!"
In spite of Madsen's lack of MMA fighting experience, he was able to draw on his extensive highschool wrestling background by using the very same take-down technique over and over again. He did in fact defeat the current UFC Heavyweight Champion, Brock Lesnar, in a highschool wrestling match. This blast from the past should have alarmed Coach Jackson before he picked the the fighters for the first preliminary bout of the season.
Maybe Jackson did not do his homework. But he certainly did not count on Wagner going all limp throughout the entire fight. After Madson's first take-down of Wagner and the ensuing ground-and-pound, Jackson warned Wagner that he should watch out for that technique. Even if Wagner was not able to hear Jackson's advice, it would have been only natural fighter's instinct to anticipate the same attack and defend against it. Wagner should also have been able to use his MMA fighting experience and height advantage against Madsen in his stand-up game. Yet, against all odds, Madsen successfully repeated the exact same take-down with a dose of ground-and pound at least six times while Wagner remained lethargic.
UFC President, Dana White said:"This is the bloodiest UFC fight ever!"
This article appears in Dec 2-8, 2000.