If you were home last Friday night, chances are you have no social life caught the debut episode of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 15, which kicked off its "live" season via the FX Channel on March 9, 2012.
Under the tutelage of bantamweight rivals and reality show coaches Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber, fans got two slam-bang hours of action-packed elimination fights with some fairly interesting results.
If you watched TUF 15 because Kimbo Slice told you to, then you saw Dakota Cochrane get outed then ousted, while Jon Tuck lost a spot in the house -- while nearly losing his ability to walk upright.
So much for putting your best foot forward.
That kind of thing can happen when you only get one round to prove your mettle. Two rounds are for wieners but bonus checks aren't, as Dana White was rewarding the finishers in what was widely perceived as an under-produced broadcast.
This time, the focus is on the fights, not the glitz and glamor of network television.
So now that the smoke has cleared and you've brought yourself up to speed with our live results and post-TUF recap, here's a look ahead at this week's episode and what to expect going forward.
See you on the other side.
After 32 lightweight hopefuls made their best case for UFC stardom, only 16 remained. Here's who's getting a shot at a "six-figure contract" and Octagon infamy:
Joe Proctor (7-1)
Cristiano Marcello (12-3)
Sam Sicilia (10-0)
Chris Tickle (7-4)
Andy Ogle (8-1)
Vinc Pichel (6-0)
John Cofer (7-1)
Chris Saunders (9-2)
James Vick (4-0)
Michael Chiesa (7-0)
Mike Rio (8-1)
Justin Lawrence (3-0)
Daron Cruickshank (10-2)
Jeremy Larsen (8-2)
Al Iaquinta (5-1)
Myles Jury (9-0)
It's difficult to judge which of the above fighters are going to make some noise this season when all you have is one round to judge them on. That's why our resident numbers cruncher, Kevin Haggerty, was kind enough to assemble the TUF 15 power rankings (here) to give you something to chew on.
So, what's to come this Friday night, March 16?
Probably lots of arguing between Cruz and Faber. They face off for "The Dominator's" belt at UFC 148 later this summer but until then, they'll have to concentrate on picking teams, which is likely to be the focal point of this week's episode.
Along with another live fight.
So before you head into another TUF 15 offering, take our refresher course with live results here, then get The General's thoughts on everything that went down right here. Of course you can also get more details on Dakota Cochrane's loss to James Vick right here and see Jon Tuck's digital salute over here.
All the TUF 15 news that's fit to print by clicking here.