The Ultimate Fighter has been a huge source of talent for the UFC over the years. Great fighers like Rashad Evans, Forrest Griffin, War Machine (personal favorite), and Michael Bisping have been introduced to fight fans through the reality show. Other fighters, like Matt Mitrione, Ryan Bader, and Court McGee, are slowly coming on the radar as well.

Well, before UFC moves over the basic cable HBO FX Network we are treated to a final season of the TUF on Spike. After basically three shitty seasons, including that awful heavyweights season, we finally got some decent fights out of the premiere episode, with the bantamweights and featherweights duking it out. The coaches are Michael Bisping, and Jason “Mayhem” Miller but the chances of them actually fighting are not too good, given the show’s recent track record.

There were some good fights on the two-hour premiere episode and without giving out any spoilers I encourage you to check it out here.

But first, let us both endure this god awful press release from UFC about their crappy show:

That changes this season. Because the featherweights and bantamweights have been flying (Editor’s note: ho, ho, ho!) under the radar until this year, there has been plenty of top talent that hasn’t made the transition to the big stage of the UFC. The pay scale between the bottom of the WEC and the top of, say, Tachi Palace was roughly the same, so fighters were content to stick around the indie leagues and hone their craft. That all changed with the inclusion of the two weight classes in the UFC earlier this year. The pay might not be much better, but the exposure is exponentially greater.

Suddenly, the UFC is the place to be for lower-weight fighters looking to make a name for themselves.

The Ultimate Fighter 14 will give a much-needed shot in the arm to the UFC featherweight and bantamweight ranks, and coaches Jason “Mayhem” Miller and Michael Bisping will provide the kind of ludicrous fireworks that make for great television entertainment. I expect a lot from this season, and I think it will deliver in spades.

Best fights:

MATT JAGGERS vs. TJ DILLASHAW (135): Dillashaw is a Team Alpha Male member, and he’s also HeavyMMA’s exclusive Ultimate Fighter blogger for this season. We’ll have TJ on Heavy each Thursday discussion the previous night’s episode of the show, so stay tuned for that. Dillashaw fights almost exactly like a cross between Urijah Faber and Joseph Benavidez. Dillashaw wins this one by pounding Jaggers out at the end of the first round. The bell rings, but Jaggers is obviously out and the fight is called. TJ Dillashaw d. Matt Jaggers via TKO, round 1

STEVEN SILER vs. MICAH MILLER (145): Miller is the brother of Cole Miller and was considered to be one of the featherweight favorites going into the house. Siler put an end to that one, submitting him in the third round. Steven Siler d. Micah Miller via submission, round 3

BRIAN PEARMAN vs. AKIRA CORRASANI: Corrasani says he is an artist that entertains people with his brutal style. That’s neat. He certainly did that here, drilling Pearman with a ton of punches and then knocking him out. Pearman has one hell of a chin. Akira Corrasani d. Brian Pearman via TKO, round 1

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