The Ultimate Fighter Season 10

The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights is the tenth installment of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)-produced reality television series The Ultimate Fighter. In a press conference following UFC 98, Dana White announced that filming for the season would begin on June 1, 2009. The season debuted on Spike TV on September 16, 2009, following UFC Fight Night 19.

The UFC and Spike TV held an open casting call at The Marriott Seattle Airport Hotel in Seattle, Washington on April 6, 2009. The casting called for mixed-martial artists in the middleweight, light-heavyweight, and heavyweight divisions. On the day of tryouts, 250 potential fighters appeared including UFC fighters, International Fight League fighters, and former National Football League football players.As with the previous season, all applicants were required to have a professional MMA record.

This season did not feature an elimination round as have the past few seasons. All competitors invited to Las Vegas for the show's taping participated in the entire season.

Cast

 

The Ultimate Fighter - Season 10 cast

Coaches

Fighters

(In order in which they were picked)

Others

Episodes

Episode 1: Size Does Matter
  • Only 15 fighters are lined up until Dana White introduces Kimbo Slice.
  • The fighters divide up and train separately with Evans and Jackson for evaluations.
  • White flips a coin. The winner of the coin toss chooses to either pick the first fighter or decide the first 2 match ups. The winning fighter's team must win both fights to keep control of the fight match ups.
  • Evans wins the coin toss and decides to pick the first fighter. The teams are then chosen.
  • Quinton Jackson announces the first fight match up: Jon Madsen vs Abe Wagner
  • Dana White announces matches will consist of two five-minute rounds. If, at the end of the second round, the judges score the match a draw, the match will go to a third sudden victory round.
  • Madsen immediately takes Wagner to the ground, utilizing his wrestling skills. Wagner is unable to get up for the majority of the match. One of Madsen's blows opens up a huge gash on the upper right forehead of Wagner which bleeds uncontrollably. Dana White later says that this was the bloodiest Ultimate Fighter match that has ever taken place.
  • At the start of round two, Wagner goes in to tap hands with Madsen, a common act of good sportsmanship among UFC athletes. Madsen appears to go in for the hand tap, but instead goes for another take-down as Wagner has his hand out.
  • Towards the end of the second round, Quinton Jackson walks away from the octagon in frustration as Abe Wagner is continually taken down by Jon Madsen.
Episode 2: All About Survival
  • Roy Nelson has a discussion with Rashad Evans and the Team Rashad coaches about his attitude and whether Nelson really wants to train with the team.
  • Quinton Jackson announces the next match up: James McSweeney vs Wes Shivers
  • Team Rashad goes past their allotted training time into Team Rampage's training time. Jackson approaches Evans and jokingly asks the team to leave.
  • During the match, James McSweeney delivers repeated leg kicks to Wes Shivers, who relies mainly on two punch combinations.
  • A groin kick by Shivers stops the fight briefly.
  • At one point McSweeney is able to get Shivers into a guillotine, but is unable to choke him out.
  • Towards the middle of the second round, both McSweeney and Shivers are noticeably exhausted and taking "breathers" during their fight: dropping their guard, putting their hands on their knees, etc.
  • After two rounds James McSweeney defeats Wes Shivers by majority decision.
  • Rashad Evans announces the next match up: Roy Nelson vs Kimbo Slice.
  • Evans jokingly refers to Slice as, "the big black buck with the greasy beard."


Finale

The finale will be held on December 5, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada.