5 best seasons in the history of The Ultimate Fighter

#2 Season 14: Team Bisping vs. Team Mayhem

Using 'Mayhem' Miller as a coach helped to make TUF 14 a truly crazy season

By 2011 and the 14th season of TUF, the blueprint for making a season watchable had been written. Essentially, you needed a strong coaching rivalry, a bunch of charismatic but skilled fighters, and a couple of psychopaths thrown in for good measure. TUF 14 – the first season to feature the newly introduced Featherweight and Bantamweight classes – had all that and then some.

As soon as Michael Bisping and Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller were confirmed as the coaches, it was clear that something special was probably ahead. And sure enough, despite having no previous rivalry, within a few episodes, it was clear that the two men shared a healthy dislike – a dislike that came to a head in a shoving match halfway through the season. And their rivalry instantly boiled over into their teams, too.

There was the post-weigh-in brawl between Dustin Neace and Akira Corrassani – a brawl which somehow went completely unpunished by the usually strict Dana White, accusations towards Mayhem’s John Dodson of acting as a mole for Bisping, and wild Brazilian Diego Brandao almost breaking his hand after punching a wall due to some wind-up tactics from Mayhem.

The best thing on show here, though? Undoubtedly the fights. The cast was perfectly matched and made for some incredibly exciting fights and savage finishes and produced a bunch of high-level future UFC stars including contenders like Dodson, Brandao and Dennis Bermudez – and even a champion in TJ Dillashaw.

Overall, TUF 14 revived a flagging show which had been struggling after a handful of weaker seasons. It was simply great entertainment from start to finish.