By: Matthew Kimura

The President of the UFC, Dana White, starts things off by hyping up the Lightweight Division. I'm pumped about this season. The lightweights are known for their explosiveness, and usually they don't quit unless they're grounded into hamburger. White says that there are a few changes for this season:


Only one contract will be given out. Traditionally, The Ultimate Fighter featured eight fighters from two different weight classes. Since the lightweights are the only ones featured on this season, there will only be one contract given out.
The coaches will fight each other in the season finale, live on Spike TV.

Who are the coaches?


BJ Penn

Height/Weight: 5'9/170

Record: 10-4-1

BJ Penn, also known as "The Prodigy", is a former UFC Welterweight Champion, having beaten the legendary Matt Hughes some ways back before walking away from the UFC. Overall he's pretty well rounded. He can slug it out with a good majority of the fighters in his weight class, but he's better known for his submissions, which is attributed to his extensive training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Random fact about Penn: He was stripped of his Welterweight Championship because he walked away from it all. Just got up on his horse and quit.


What would happen if I fought Penn? I'm a submission guy, too, but not anywhere near as good as him. He'd break my arm in a cocaine addicted heartbeat.


Jens "Little Evil" Pulver

Height/Weight: 5'7/150

Record: 21-7-1

Jens "Little Pulver is a fighter in the lightweight division, and is a former UFC Lightweight Champion. In the UFC, Pulver tore it up with a 7 fight unbeaten streak (he started with 1 draw, and then 6 wins�his most recent win coming by decision against BJ Penn) until he met up with Joe Lauzon, where he lost by knockout back in September 2006. Don't let that fool you, though. Pulver is one of the best lightweight fighters in the world. You fight him...and you fight a guy that's known for his heavy hands and good wrestling. Random fact about Pulver: His dad was a professional horse jockey.


What would happen if I fought Pulver? I have 50 pounds on him, but that's not saying much. He'd probably drop me, and quick.


One thing to remember about the coaches is that they've fought before. Penn was heavily favored to beat Pulver for the UFC Lightweight Championship a few years back. He won the first couple of rounds, and then Pulver pounded Penn out the rest of the fight and took the decision.

FIGHTER EVALUATION

Dana White talked with both Penn and Pulver and told them that although there are some bad vibes between the two of them, they're on the show to help the other fighters, not to put themselves over. Both of them nodded and said that they understood. After that, it was time for the coaches to evaluate the fighters�separately.


Pulver was picked first to evaluate the fighters. He said that he didn't plan on barking in everyone's ear. He just wanted to see how far he could push them (striking drills, grappling drills, cardio). By the end of it, the guys were completely whooped, but Pulver was happy. He noted that they came in shape, and because of that, the picking would be very difficult.


Penn came in next and immediately observed that the guys were still extremely tired. He figured that Pulver may have tired the guys out on purpose, so he couldn't get a good evaluation out of the fighters. After a decent workout, Penn cut it short because he didn't want to overwork anyone on the first day.


The next day all of the fighters and both coaches met up with Dana White in the training facility. In order to determine which coach would get to pick first, White flipped a coin.


Pulver won the toss, but was given a choice: Pick the first fighter, or pick the first fight. He chose to pick the first fight, which meant that Penn got to choose the first fighter. Instead of just making a pick, he asked for those fighters that wanted nothing to do with Team Pulver to raise their hand. Out of the sixteen, ten raised their hand. Penn laughed and said that he enjoyed getting Pulver riled up. Pulver's response?


"I think he was trying to get everybody to raise their hand to make me look like a dumbass."


Yeah. I reckon so.


Here are the teams, regardless of who wanted to go where:

(In no particular order)

Team Penn

Greg Maynard

Gabe Ruediger

Joe Lauzon

Andy Wang

Rob Emerson

Allen Berube

Matt Wiman

Noah Thomas

Team Pulver

Corey Hill

Nate Diaz

Marlon Sims

Cole Miller

Wayne Weems

Manuel Gamburyan

Brian Geraghty

Brandon Melendez



After the fighters were picked, both teams seemed pretty pumped up on the ride home. Corey Hill seemed exceptionally excited, and had his eyes set on fighting the first fight against Gabe Ruediger. Ruediger came on to the show 25 pounds overweight�he weighed 175 and could only fight at 150. I'm smelling another Bobby Southworth story (he lost 20 pounds in 24 hours)...well not smelling, "hoping" is a better word.

Penn commented that 25 pounds in two days isn't impossible, but it's pretty hard. Ruediger said that he'd have to change his eating habits drastically to ensure that he made weight if he had to fight first. Unfortunately for him he kept gaining weight little by little. He got frustrated and actually broke down in tears.


Picture this...a grown man...a bruiser...someone who enjoys fighting...crying because of his weight. Fellow teammate Rob Emerson said that it sounded more like a girl's problem than anything. I laughed at that one. His teammates remained supportive of him, though.


FIGHT SELECTION

For the first fight, Pulver had a hard time making a decision as all of his fighters raised their hands like preschoolers and said "Ooh! Pick me! Pick me!" It looked to be a pretty hard decision for the coach.


Both teams lined up at the training facility and waited for the official fight announcement. Ruediger looked worried. Pulver stepped forward and announced that the fight would be: Cole Miller (Team Pulver) v. Allen Berube (Team Penn).


Miller talked a lot of trash about his upcoming fight, and it made me scratch my head because he looked a little too girly to be in an octagon. He's been in the fight game for three and a half years and seems to be pretty well rounded. He wanted the first fight because he wanted to set the tone for the show.


Berube, on the other hand, looked pretty rough with bruises on his face and a five o'clock shadow. He loves to slug it out, and is also a solid grappler. Something that made me roll my eyes: Berube started fighting to promote his restaurants. How sickening is that?


THE FIGHT

Miller started things right away throwing a high kick, but missed. Whenever he tried to get in close, Berube threw a few lefts. For a short while both fighters just felt each other out with the standup. Miller missed with three head kicks in a row, and then Berube took him down. Miller countered with a guillotine choke. Berube escaped it, but was trapped in Miller's guard. Miller went for a kimura, and then slowly transitioned to a triangle choke. He clamped it on tight, too, and made Berube tap out.


Miller didn't really dominate the fight, but he kept the pace going the way he wanted it. As soon as the fight went to the ground, Berube looked really uncomfortable. And Cole Miller, if you happen to read this...I take back the girly statement. Please don't kill me.


Winner: Cole Miller via triangle choke. Chalk one up for Team Pulver.

The Ultimate Fighter