The Ultimate Fighter 3 was the third season of the growing reality program that is gaining popularity with every season. In this season there are 16 fighters (8 middleweights and 8 light heavyweights), the coaches of The Ultimate Fighter 3 were former champion Tito Ortiz and UFC hall of famer Ken Shamrock, there hate for each other is well known. This series was also the first season where the fighters didn’t just come from North America as this time there is United Kingdom fighters Michael Bisping and Ross Pointon on the reality series. In this review I am going to give my thoughts on the fighters that made the semi finals, so that means the four middleweights & four light heavyweights that made it into the finals.

 Team Ortiz Rory Singer
Strangely Rory Singer is becoming a nurse so he is the neat freak in the house, the house is full of 16 fighters and Rory Singer is the one who cleans up all the mess. In his first fight against Solomon Hutcherson he gets into a smack talking contest with Solomon and although Solomon absolutely kicked his ass in the smack talking contest, Rory wins where it counts and knocked Solomon out. It was a pretty weak looking kick that knocked Solomon out but it doesn’t matter if you win ugly, winning is winning. In his second fight he wasn’t successful but he had glimpses against Ed “Short Fuse” Herman. For me Rory Singer is one of those guys that are pretty good but you just love to hate him, similar to Tim Sylvia. 

Kendall Grove
Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove is a lanky fighter and was the middleweight winner of the show. He was certainly not all about fighting as he plays tricks on other fighters and seems to be drinking a lot. He had a good friendship with Solomon Hutcherson and they would give hints and help on whoever one of their opponents were, they called themselves Team Dagger. Kendall’s first fight was against Ross Pointon he was much fitter than him and took him to the ground and defeated him via rear naked choke. His second fight was against Kalib Starnes and he had to work really hard for that win. The fight went an extra round and it was a pretty poor ending for a good fight, the ending came when Kalib said he couldn’t go any longer. Kendall had another extremely close fight against Ed “Short Fuse” Herman at the finale and he ended up winning the fight by a close but unanimous decision 29-28.  

Michael Bisping
Most UFC fans would know who Michael Bisping is; he is the light heavyweight winner of the ultimate fighter. He mostly got on with everyone in the house except for one fighter, Matt Hamill. Bisping thought that Hamill was getting special treatment by Tito Ortiz and Bisping also didn’t like Hamill’s aggression when they were training. After his pretty easy win over Kristian Rothaermel, Bisping was suppose to face of against Matt Hamill but because Matt had suffered an arm injury he was unable to fight so he had to fight a replacement which ended up being fellow UK fighter Ross Pointon. This looked like it was going to be a close fight but Bisping fought really well and defeated Ross by TKO with elbows, knees and punches. Bisping then at the finale beat Josh Haynes in his closest fight yet but Bisping was still able to win the fight by TKO in the second round. 

Josh Haynes
Josh Haynes was easily the biggest surprise in the competition, seeing as he was the last light heavyweight fighter picked for Team Ortiz and doesn’t look like a normal fighter as he has a bit of fat on him. Josh firstly defeated Tait Fletcher in his first fight which was slow to start of with but it turned out to be an enjoyable fight and Josh just won this fight by split decision. He was then going to fight Noah Inhofer in the semi finals but he had to leave so he fought Jess Forbes and finished of Jess early in the second round via guillotine choke. Josh got to the finale but was unable to defeat Michael Bisping and lost the fight by TKO. Josh wasn’t picked by anyone to get as far as he did but he surprised everyone and nearly went the whole way and won the UFC contract.  

Team Shamrock

 Ed Herman
Ed “Short Fuse” Herman was the runner up in the middleweight division but because he showed a lot of heart in his fight and it was very close, he was given a contract with the UFC. Ed was really angry from the beginning because Tito didn’t pick him and he picked the pretty boy Mike Stine in front of him. Every time Tito would pick a middleweight fight he would look straight at Ed to play with his mind. Ed’s first fight was against Danny Abaddi and Ed was the massive favorite to win. Straight away Ed was hit with a good right hand which woke him up a bit and from there on in, he was onto his game plan and mad short work of Danny and finished him in the first round. For Ed’s second fight against Rory Singer he had to work a lot harder and both fighters had a pretty big argument/dispute just before the fight. The fight was very entertaining to watch and it was a very close fight with Ed just holding of Rory Singer. In the Finale Ed had another great fight against Kendall Grove and you could tell how much it meant for him, he lost the fight but he was still granted the UFC contract. 

Ross Pointon
One of two Englishmen in this season of the ultimate fighter and although Ross didn’t win a fight but to be fair Ross did face both winners of the ultimate fighter. Ross was a very funny fighter, I don’t know if it was because he was drinking a lot or because of his accent, something about him just made me laugh. Ross started the competition of in the middleweight division and his first fight against Kendall Grove he had to cut 15 pounds overnight and by eating no carbohydrates at night and being in the sauna a while, he was surprisingly able to do it. In Ross’s first fight against Kendall Grove, Grove was just too big for Ross and Grove was a lot fitter. It looked liked Ross would be out for good after that fight but Ross was handed another chance after Matt Hamill was injured. Ross went up a division to fight fellow UK fighter Michael Bisping and in the early seconds Ross looked good against Bisping. That didn’t last long though as Ross was hit with a flying knee from Michael Bisping and then Bisping threw punches till the referee stopped it.  

Kalib Starnes
Kalib Starnes was chosen by Ken Shamrock to fight in the very first fight against Mike Stine. Mike Stine was the boxer who is thought to the other fighters as just a pretty fighter. Kalib killed him in the very first round and sent Mike Stine home in the very first fight in the series. In the semifinals he would face Kendall Grove and it was a very close fight which went to the third round but he couldn’t continue because he dislocated his rib. Kalib looked very good and if he hadn’t of hurt his rib he could have won the ultimate fighter. Kalib in my eyes was one of the best middleweights and it was unfortunate that he hurt his rib and couldn’t continue in the fight against Kendall Grove.  

Jesse Forbes
Jesse Forbes like Ross Pointon didn’t win a fight in the season but still managed to get into the semi finals. Jesse was 21 years old when he was fighting in this season and like 21 year olds do, he does do some stupid stuff in the house. Jesse annoyed Noah Inhofer in the house and popped Noah’s basketball which Tito had given to him. He faced Noah Inhofer in his first fight and fell into a lazy arm bar which cost him the fight. Noah Inhofer had to leave the house because there was problems with his girlfriend so Jesse was brought back in and faced Josh Haynes in the semi finals. Against Josh Haynes, Jesse looked good in the first round and Jesse had the round easily, a whole different story in the second round as Jesse had used all of his energy and fell tapped out to a lazy guillotine choke.

Review by Ryan Seymour

This show is available on a 5 disc DVD.

The Ultimate Fighter 3 features 16 fighters (8 light heavyweights and 8 middleweights) divided into two teams and coached by either Tito Ortiz or Ken Shamrock. Among the fighters are the UK’s Michael Bisping and Ross Pointon, the first two non North Americans to participate.

As usual, the fighters live and train together before squaring up to see who among them will win a six-figure UFC contract.

Fighters featured:

Mike Stine
Kendall Grove
Rory Singer
Danny Abbadi
Michael Bisping
Noah Inhofer
Josh Haynes
Matt Hamill
Kalib Starnes
Solomon Hutcherson
Ed Herman
Ross Pointon
Jesse Forbes
Kristian Rothaermel
Tait Fletcher
Mike Nickels

DVD Special Features include:
Finalist profiles
The best and worst of the TUF tryouts

Its available from all good UFC stockists and is on offer with www.fightdvd.co.uk for only £19.99