5 best seasons in the history of The Ultimate Fighter

#4 Season 3: Team Ortiz vs. Team Shamrock

The rivalry between Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock drove TUF 3 to success

The dynamic between the coaches on TUF is often key to the success of a season; a weak coaching rivalry can easily break a season while a strong one can make it. In the case of 2006’s TUF 3, the coaching rivalry on offer between bitter enemies Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock was jaw-dropping at times, but it only complimented what was truly a fantastic reality show.

Sure, the cast wasn’t all that strong – only Michael Bisping, Matt Hamill and Ed Herman really made any waves in the UFC proper – but they all had loud personalities – from the brash Brit in Bisping to the hyperactive Solomon Hutcherson and the clean freak Rory Singer. And the fights were pretty good too, the standout being the Middleweight semi-final between Kalib Starnes and Kendall Grove.

There was also a piece of classic reality TV idiocy on offer as Team Ortiz’s Noah Inhofer decided to abandon the competition despite making the semi-finals because he received a letter from his girlfriend suggesting he might’ve been cheating on her. With who is anyone’s guess – Bisping? – but the reaction to this was hilarious, to say the least. Apparently, he went on to marry her though, so maybe he made the right decision.

At the end of the day, TUF 3 simply had the perfect mix of reality show drama and in-cage action needed to make a great season for the viewers. Who could ever forget the famous scene that saw Shamrock promise to “smash Tito’s little head”? This was fantastic entertainment.