By: The Ultimate Fighter Season 31 Contestant Cody “The Renegade” Gibson
Well, the first episode of the 31st season of The Ultimate Fighter is officially behind us now and I hope you all enjoyed episode one. The first episode needed to set up the season so it seemed to move quickly between introducing the coaches, team and match up selections, and then, what we all tune in for, a fight.
In the first real scene of the show, Dana introduced McGregor and Chandler as the coaches and then teams were selected. That day, and that initial scene, was the very first recorded scene of the show. None of the contestants knew how teams were going to be chosen, when we were going to fight, or really much of anything else. Production kept us in the dark for most of the lead up to the show.
McGregor won the coin flip and had to choose an entire block of fighters for his first pick. His choices included the prospect bantamweights, veteran bantamweights, prospect lightweights, and veteran lightweights. He chose the prospect lightweights, which should really come as no surprise considering his friend and teammate Lee Hammond, who he got on the show, was a part of that cohort. Chandler, then, received the veteran lightweights and got to choose which group of bantamweights were going to round out his team. He chose the veterans, myself included, and the stage was set for a season of TUF that was truly “Prospects v. Veterans”.
Before entering the house and beginning the show, I didn’t particularly have a preference as to who my coach would be. I remembered that McGregor hadn’t built a good reputation as a coach on his previous season, but, to be honest, I didn't really care that much where I landed. I was there with a mission. A purpose. And I was adamant that my focus would be to control what I could control, let the rest roll off my shoulders, and stay focused on the task at hand. In retrospect, knowing what I know now, I’m very thankful to have been chosen to be on Michael Chandler's team. I got to know Chandler, as well as the rest of the coaches he brought on with him, very well over the course of this season and I am a better fighter and person as a result of it. I have a lot of respect for them and am grateful to have had a coaching staff that really poured all of themselves into us as competitors. I’ve built lasting friendships and so watching it back, remembering how I was relatively impartial as to where I landed, and then knowing what I know now, was an interesting experience to have while watching tonight.
The next part of the episode got into the coaches evaluating the fighters at team practices, ranking them, and then matching everyone up for the quarter finals. Chandler told us not to pay attention to the rankings. He said they had matchups they liked and, when given the opportunity, would make picks based on the match ups they wanted. Still, being the 4th seeded fighter, whether it meant anything or not, didn’t really sit well with me. But I brushed it off and was matched up with Mando Guiterrez in the quarterfinals.
After team and match up selections, fighters piled in the vans and were taken to the TUF house to settle in. I’ve watched many seasons of TUF, and every year, without fail, I see guys running out of a van and into a house like school kids at a candy shop. I remember telling myself that I didn’t want to be “that guy” so I took my time. I was the last fighter to go into the house, and then I just walked around for 10-15 minutes looking at the layout. By the time I decided to find a bed, the selection was limited to a top bunk in a room next to the living room. A curtain was the only noise cancelation that existed. While I still stand firm in my belief that I didn’t want to run into the house like a giddy kid, in retrospect, I wish I would have snagged a better room/bed that first night. As the competition unfolded, and as you will see, my room (and bed) were probably the last ones left for a reason. Another thing that struck me while watching tonight was how nice the house looked. While it certainly did have all of the amenities you all saw, I remember it very differently. A house packed with sixteen fighters can get dirty very quickly. I’ll save some of the stories for later, but my memory of the TUF house isn’t quite as glamorous as the cribs style intro it got on tonight's episode. It was the same house, with just a lot more grime.
Watching the episode tonight was the first time I got to see Roosevelt vs. Nate. I won’t go into details, but the one weekly fight you see on each episode each week is not the same schedule that you go through while on the show. If you were fighting on the same night as others, you were in the back without an ability to watch the fights before yours and so I didn’t see a lot of the fights live. Obviously, I know the results, but being able to watch many of them for the first time with all of you is kind of a cool part of this whole thing to me.
A quick note on Roosevelt and Nate. Roosevelt is a G. A really good guy with a great heart who has lived a tough life. He’s a sharp shooter on the feet and a ninja on the ground. I built a really strong friendship with him throughout the course of this show and am excited to see him get to shine in tonight's episode. When the fight actually occurred, I hadn’t talked to Nate at all in the house yet. I remember being happy for Row but didn’t have any feelings about Nate and his defeat. Once we got back to the house, however, and seeing how tough Nate took it, I started to feel for him. As a fighter, you never want to go out without having the ability to show yourself out there. I’d imagine you would almost feel like you’ve had something stolen from you. I really started feeling bad for Nate and the experience he was going through. As the show progressed, Nate became a friend of mine as well. He’s a great man and a family man and a person who is strong in his convictions. I have a lot of respect for him and know that he’ll bounce back from this loss.
Well, that’s all I’ve got for you tonight. Thanks for watching the show, and, if you got this far, reading my rants as I reminisce on the experience with you all. Until next time,
-Cody Gibson
Follow Cody "The Renegade" Gibson on IG @ www.instagram.com/therenegade559/ on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/TheRenegade559?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
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