New to TUF, need advice on watching which one!

[dhanson52]

first season was my favorite.

 

[Solidseifer]

Start at season one.

 

[BrazilianDude]

Bisping vs Miller is very good in terms of talent.

 

[orangecuse]

1, 5 & 14 were really good with good talent. Season 7 hasn't been mentioned but it's worth a watch. Tons of great fights.

 

[TheMax]

Part of this depends on what you want to see or what you like in a "reality" show. You've given us a lot of that, so we can help.

A lot of the earlier shows focused on the elimination aspect of the show and the interpersonal relationships - more "Big Brother" except with fighting. Newer shows were about the training first and the in-house stuff later.

• Season 1 is a must-watch. If for nothing else than to see the original format of the show (challenges, getting kicked out of the house) and the now famous Griffin/Bonnar story.
• Season 2 is also very good. Still the old format and a LOT of faces that went on to fight in a lot of fights. It's much more important as a look at Franklin and Hughes - two HOF guys you get to see in a different light.
• Season 3 still has good fighters, and has the Shamrock/Ortiz drama, but doesn't give us anything "new" to see.
• If you skip season 3, Season 4 offers you the glory that is Shonie Carter. It's a lot of good fighters, but you can probably just watch the fights in season 4 -- not the show.
• A lot of people suggest watching 5, but again, the spark isn't there from a marathon catch-up standpoint. If you're interested in Penn/Pulver, watch. If you're not, watch the fights.
• I honestly believe 6, and 7 to be completely forgettable.
• 8 is amusing for Junie's antics and the competition in Light Heavyweight. Watch.
• 9 - US/UK is similarly forgettable.
• 10 - Heavyweights - is a must watch. See the whole Nelson, Kimbo, Schaub and Mitrione, Simms, McSweeny story. Watch Rampage and Rashad argue
• 11 I find forgettable, despite a few good fighters and good coaches. It's a season, but nothing just jumps out from it.
• 12 has a few more interesting fights, but this depends on if you want to see Bruce Leroy or you think a McKenzitine is interesting.
• 13 is an interesting look at Lesnar, more so than the fighters.
• 14 offers some GREAT fighters at smaller weights and a good look at two interesting coaches (although I suppose that has a lot to do with how you feel about Miller).
• 15/Live wasn't that good. Interesting as an experiment, but otherwise not worth much.
  16/Carwin/Nelson suffers a bit from the series being stale.
• 17/Jones/Sonnen and the new format, plus good fighters (or fighters made to look good - time will tell) make it a must watch.

I guess what I'm saying is:

Watch 1 and 2, plus 4 if you like the format of 1 and 2.
Watch the freakshow that is 8 and heavyweights in 10.
Watch 14 and 17 for everything.
Watch a few more if you care about the coaches (13, 5).

 

[ONLYDEATHISREAL]

The first season is pretty good! It started it all!

 

[Thai Otoshi]

If nothing else, watch the most recent, TUF 17, dead last.

After that huge jump in quality, it's hard to go back and watch prior seasons of TUF.

 

[Rough Neck]

1 just to see how it first used to be. Next season after would be 5. After than I'd go with 7 then 8.

 

[The Editing]

5 is the one to watch. Season 1 is eh to me. They used to have up all the fights/episodes. That site gone?

Edit: Guess its still on UFC.com. Watch it there.

 

[Fists of Fire]

5 and 1 are the best by far. Season 5 is currently re-airing on fuel.

8 is worth mentioning too.

 

[Nerdslayer]

The latest season is good stuff.

 

[MC King]

Part of this depends on what you want to see or what you like in a "reality" show. You've given us a lot of that, so we can help.

A lot of the earlier shows focused on the elimination aspect of the show and the interpersonal relationships - more "Big Brother" except with fighting. Newer shows were about the training first and the in-house stuff later.

• Season 1 is a must-watch. If for nothing else than to see the original format of the show (challenges, getting kicked out of the house) and the now famous Griffin/Bonnar story.
• Season 2 is also very good. Still the old format and a LOT of faces that went on to fight in a lot of fights. It's much more important as a look at Franklin and Hughes - two HOF guys you get to see in a different light.
• Season 3 still has good fighters, and has the Shamrock/Ortiz drama, but doesn't give us anything "new" to see.
• If you skip season 3, Season 4 offers you the glory that is Shonie Carter. It's a lot of good fighters, but you can probably just watch the fights in season 4 -- not the show.
• A lot of people suggest watching 5, but again, the spark isn't there from a marathon catch-up standpoint. If you're interested in Penn/Pulver, watch. If you're not, watch the fights.
• I honestly believe 6, and 7 to be completely forgettable.
• 8 is amusing for Junie's antics and the competition in Light Heavyweight. Watch.
• 9 - US/UK is similarly forgettable.
• 10 - Heavyweights - is a must watch. See the whole Nelson, Kimbo, Schaub and Mitrione, Simms, McSweeny story. Watch Rampage and Rashad argue
• 11 I find forgettable, despite a few good fighters and good coaches. It's a season, but nothing just jumps out from it.
• 12 has a few more interesting fights, but this depends on if you want to see Bruce Leroy or you think a McKenzitine is interesting.
• 13 is an interesting look at Lesnar, more so than the fighters.
• 14 offers some GREAT fighters at smaller weights and a good look at two interesting coaches (although I suppose that has a lot to do with how you feel about Miller).
• 15/Live wasn't that good. Interesting as an experiment, but otherwise not worth much.
  16/Carwin/Nelson suffers a bit from the series being stale.
• 17/Jones/Sonnen and the new format, plus good fighters (or fighters made to look good - time will tell) make it a must watch.

I guess what I'm saying is:

Watch 1 and 2, plus 4 if you like the format of 1 and 2.
Watch the freakshow that is 8 and heavyweights in 10.
Watch 14 and 17 for everything.
Watch a few more if you care about the coaches (13, 5).

Thank you very much for your effort , you completely erased all the questions I had in my mind. Cheers

 

[EndlessCritic]

I don't know why people don't like 15.

Episode 1 had 16 fucking fights to get into the house.

We had arguably the greatest fight in TUF history in Iaquinta/Jury.

Brutal KO's in Vick/Cruickshank, Iaquinta/Ogle, and Lawrence/Marcello, not counting the prelim fights.

And an all around crazy story for Chiesa.

 

[Nola213]

Season 4 had Serra, Lights Out Lytle, Cote, Rivera, Lutter, Scott Smith, Clementi, etc.

Wait..so Serra goes from fighting on TUF season 4, to coaching TUF season 6 opposite Hughes? That's gotta be the quickest anyone ever went from contestant to coach.

Sorry, The earliest TUF I watched was like 6. I remeber Serra coaching vs Hughes. Since then I've seen more seasons than I've missed the last one was much better although 16 wasn't that bad. (I remember Junie's antics annoying me). I watched all of the Hendo/Bisping season #?(not too bad) the coaches fight was climactic of course; Rampage/Rashad (terrible, alot of fake fighting between the coaches seemed staged), Lesnar/JDS(terrible), and Carwin/Nelson(terrible). Some pieces of others too which were decent or bad alot of hit and miss.

This past season was way better, I like this format, stop with the house hijinks and be real, not little kids. But "Wanting to Bang" is ok too. Jizz in someones food though...not f'in cool at all!To me I'd get kicked out of the house just to Hospitalize the dude , if they tried that one me.

I realized Nelson wen't from TUF fighter to TUF coach also. But not in two seasons, but now I'm realizing theres alot of guys who went from contestant to coach. I'm gonna have to check some TUF History and see how many times this happened. Quickly Rashad, and Bisping also come to mind also as former contestants then coaches, not to mention Bisping coached twice. Koschek was a contestant too no? Then coached opposite GSP (that season is a must see for any GSP fan imo).

But yea if I was gonna start watching for the first time now. I'd start at Season 1. That's the way I am with books, movies, video games. I'll always go back and read/ orplay through from the start just because..., maybe it's a lil OCD.

 

[bjjwar]

Allright will try season 4 and 5 out, if it doesn't live up to the expectations (not that it won't ^^) , season 12 it is for GSP!



hahaha how come?

Wow i thought season 4 was awful with the UFC rejects coming back and the worse production ever.They brought guys like Shonie Carter and Mike that looked like they were 60,fights were really bad and notjing happened in the house.

Season 1 is great with lots of great fighters like Kos,Florian,Sanchez,Griffin,Bonnar,Swick etc

Season 5 is great.

Season 8 is funny with Lawlor knocking out Kaplan in the bathroom and Dana calling Nover the next GSP/Anderson Silva the whole time and the coaches were Nog and Mir.

Season 10 is funny,Page and Rashad going at it all the time.

Season 14 is really great with great talent and Bisping and Miller pranking each other.

Some of the rest are cool but nothing special.But DON'T watch the season with lesnar and JDS or Carwin vs Nelson if you like great fights.

 

[Minnja]

Season 7 is highly underrated imo.

I haven't watched all the TUF seasons (probably about half of them) but that is definitely one of the best in terms of entertaining fights and interesting fighters. Was the first season to introduce a fight to get into the house.

 

[EndlessCritic]

Wait..so Serra goes from fighting on TUF season 4, to coaching TUF season 6 opposite Hughes? That's gotta be the quickest anyone ever went from contestant to coach.

Yes because the stipulation of season 4 was if you won you got an immediate title shot. They were expecting GSP to smash Serra and then have GSP and Hughes coach season 6.

 

[TheMax]

Thank you very much for your effort , you completely erased all the questions I had in my mind. Cheers

You're welcome.

I'm obviously out-voted on season 5, but different strokes for different folks...

 

[Wariowokecancel]

Kos vs GSP "Motorboat that ass"

 

[ravifreitas]

1, 2, 5, 10, 12, 14 and 15. Also the first TUF Brazil