The Ultimate Fighter 6 - Episode One - First Results

December wasn’t soon enough for UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Serra and former champ Matt Hughes to get together and settle their differences in the Octagon, so the two 170-pound standouts decided to match wits as coaches on season six of The Ultimate Fighter.

And from the moment the two got together, the tension was evident more so on the side of Serra, who quickly let Hughes know that he was not going to be including his future opponent on his Christmas card list and that he was looking forward to beating him twice on the show and in the Octagon.

To do that, he would have to pick the right eight fighters to beat Hughes’ eight, and after two hour evaluations by each coach, the teams were chosen. Serra, who won the initial coin toss, chose one of his students, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt Joe Scarola. Hughes’ first pick was Dan Barrera, and when it was all said and done, the teams looked like this:

TEAM SERRA

Joe Scarola
George Sotiropoulos
Matt Arroyo
John Kolosci
Ben Saunders
Roman Mitichyan
Troy Mandaloniz
Richie Hightower

TEAM HUGHES

Dan Barrera
Mac Danzig
Tom Speer
Billy Miles
Jared Rollins
Paul Georgioff
Dorian Price
Blake Bowman

Since Serra had the first pick, Hughes was given the opportunity to make the first fight, but before the fight was chosen, Team Serra was forced to deal with the loss of Roman Mitichyan, who had to leave the show after he broke his elbow during evaluations.

Brought in to replace Mitchiyan was Jon Koppenhaver, but Koppenhaver wasn’t going to get called to fight first that task fell to Serra’s first pick, Joe Scarola, who was going to face PRIDE and WEC veteran Mac Danzig in the opening bout of the season.

It was a strategically brilliant move by Hughes, who looked to take the heart out of Serra by eliminating his top pick and his student.

Danzig would have to win the fight though, and he did, submitting Scarola with a triangle choke with only six seconds remaining in the opening round.

Team Hughes goes up 1-0, but in a new twist this season, the winning team does not retain control, which means that next week, Team Serra will choose which fight takes place. Needless to say, if the first episode is any indication, this should be a pretty interesting season of The Ultimate Fighter.

Source: www.prowrestling.com