Return of the Fist: The Ultimate Fighter 3

This past Thursday was the return of my favorite reality show of all time- The Ultimate Fighter 3 (TUF 3), (my second fave being the short lived Combat Missions). For those not familiar with TUF3 premise:

This is the true story,
of 16 mixed martial artists,
picked to live in a house,
train together and have their lives taped,
to find out what happens,
when people stop being polite,
and start getting real...by beating the ever lovin' piss out of each other.

The sport is mixed martial arts. The fighters, composed of two weight classes, are divided into two teams, each trained under the guidance of a professional UFC fighter, and pitted against on another in a one to one fight each week. This season brings on board Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz as coaches, two seasoned fighting professionals with no love lost between them, which should make for some great drama. The prize for the last fighter standing? A six figure contract to fight in the UFC.

The TUF3 coaches. Anyone want a Rice Krispie treat?

Coming off of last season (TUF2), where the talent pool paled in comparision to season 1, this year's talent looks promising. An added improvement to the show this year will be the removal of 'challenges,' which were quirky physical events that each team would compete against the other to determine who would have the power to decide which fighter would fight whom next. Part of the competition's strategy is to have the control to pick your team's superior fighter against the other's weaker fighter, although this strategy anything but foolproof.
This created a loophole where more than one fighter could fight more than once, while others would not fight at all, sneaking by into the semi-finals. This sucked when you saw that they weren't very good and should have gotten their beat down a long time ago. Another change for the better is a rule requiring each fighter to fight once, so no more free rides. To secure control of deciding who fights whom next, you simply have to win your fight. Earn it in the octagon bitch.

The jury is still out on whether the blatant product placements for Right Guard Xtreme deodorant or XYience nutrition powder will be back this season. None were seen after the first episode, which is reassuring. Hopefully they can keep that streak up. Please don't sell-out, commercials are there for a reason.