The Ultimate Fighter 2 was the second season of the mixed martial arts reality television series The Ultimate Fighter. The season featured a heavyweight and a welterweight division, with 9 fighters initially in each division. The UFC coaches for this season were welterweight and middleweight champions Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin. Season 1 coach and former UFC champion Randy Couture hosted and designed the team challenge segments, which if won would allow the winning team to pair a fighter from their team against another in elimination matches. The finale aired on November 5, 2005, and it set a ratings record for the UFC with a 2.0 overall rating. Although released on DVD in 2005, it has been set for re-release on September 18, 2007.
Cast[]
Coaches[]
- Matt Hughes, Team Hughes coach
- Rich Franklin, Team Franklin coach
Fighters[]
- Listed as originally assigned.
- Team Hughes
- Team Franklin
- Unassigned
- Kenny Stevens, Kerry Schall, Eli Joslin.
- Von Flue replaced Josh Burkman after Burkman was unable to continue due to injuries suffered in his fight with Melvin Guillard
Others[]
- Hosts: Dana White, Randy Couture
- Narrator: Mike Rowe
Episodes[]
Episode 1: A New Crop (Original Air Date: 22 August 2005)
- Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin are introduced as the new coaches.
- Heavyweight Kerry Schall is eliminated due to a knee injury.
- Eli Joslin chooses to leave the show, citing his reasons as not being able to handle the camera environment at the house.
- Kenny Stevens is chosen as the weakest welterweight and calls out Sammy Morgan to fight.
- Stevens forfeits his match saying he will not be able to make weight for the fight.
Episode 2: The Teams Are Picked (Original Air Date: 29 August 2005)
- Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin choose their teams.
- Team Hughes wins the welterweight challenge.
- Josh Burkman defeats Melvin Guillard by unanimous decision after three rounds.
Episode 3: No Pain, No Grain (Original Air Date: 5 September 2005)
- Josh Burkman is forced to leave the competition after breaking his arm in the match with Melvin Guillard.
- Rob MacDonald complains about his shoulder which he claims he injured very badly, His constant complaining upsets Team Hughes especially Matt Hughes.
- Jason Von Flue joins the show to replace Burkman.
- Team Hughes wins the heavyweight challenge.
- Brad Imes defeats Rob MacDonald with a submission by triangle choke at 4:07 of the first round.
Episode 4: Strategy (Original Air Date: 12 September 2005)
- Team Franklin wins the welterweight challenge.
- Joe Stevenson defeats Marcus Davis when Marcus taps out from elbow strikes at 4:10 of the first round.
Episode 5: Leave It In The Octagon (Original Air Date: 19 September 2005)
- Team Hughes wins the heavyweight challenge.
- Rashad Evans defeats Tom Murphy by unanimous decision after three rounds; Rashad causes controversy by "showboating" (dancing around in the octagon) at various stages of the fight, much to the chagrin of opposing coach Matt Hughes. Dana White states that this was one of the more boring fights he has seen.
Episode 6: Slugfest (Original Air Date: 26 September 2005)
- Matt Hughes expresses disgust at Rashad's actions in the octagon during the previous episode.
- Team Hughes wins the welterweight scarecrow challenge after Team Franklin forfeits to save their fighters.
- Jason Von Flue defeats Jorge Gurgel by unanimous decision after three rounds.
Episode 7: No Respect (Original Air Date: 3 October 2005)
- Matt Hughes does not seem to care about Jason Von Flue winning his fight with Jorge Gurgel and is even playing cards in the locker room while the doctors look at Jason Von Flue. Matt Hughes says in an interview that even if Jason had lost he would not have cared or considered it a lost.
- Team Franklin wins the heavyweight mud wrestling challenge.
- After receiving stitches from his fight, Jason Von Flue does not receive any congrats from Team Hughes when he returns to the house.
- Hughes sends Von Flue over to team Franklin for rebalancing.
- Seth Petruzelli wins a unanimous decision over Dan Christison.
Episode 8: Knees And Elbows (Original Air Date: 10 October 2005)
- Team Hughes wins the welterweight "Randy Says" challenge after Von Flue and Anthony Torres fail to obey Randy Couture's directions.
- Franklin sends Imes to team Hughes for rebalancing.
- Luke Cummo wins a unanimous decision over Anthony Torres.
Episode 9: Mental Game (Original Air Date: 17 October 2005)
- Team Hughes wins the heavyweight challenge resoundingly.
- Brad Imes is passed over for a fight due to a cut over his eye received in training; Mike Whitehead is chosen to fight instead.
- Rashad Evans defeats Mike Whitehead by unanimous decision after three rounds. The fight leaves Team Hughes, Matt Hughes and Dana White shocked due to Mike Whitehead's lackluster effort. Dana White says "He choked. To the point where there is 10 seconds left and he just stops fighting, I've never seen that."
Episode 10: Killer Instinct (Original Air Date: 24 October 2005)
- After losing his fight with Rashad Evans, Mike Whitehead tells his team that he's done fighting. Dana White asks Mike what happened because Mike was the favorite to win the whole thing and Mike simply replies "I guess i'm not a fighter."
- Jason Von Flue sustains a cut between the eyes in practice; Marcus Davis is brought back as an alternate in the case of Jason being unable to fight.
- The rest of the matches are set up by Dana White, Rich Franklin, and Matt Hughes with input from fighters; the matches are: Luke Cummo v. Sammy Morgan, Joe Stevenson v. Jason Von Flue, Seth Petruzelli v. Brad Imes, and Rashad Evans v. Keith Jardine.
- Luke Cummo defeats Sammy Morgan at 2:05 of the second round by knockout with a knee.
Episode 11: Heavyweight Semi-Final (Original Air Date: 31 October 2005)
- Rashad Evans defeats Keith Jardine by unanimous decision after three rounds.
Episode 12: Semi-Finals Countdown (Original Air Date: 1 November 2005)
- Jason Von Flue is cleared by the doctors to fight.
- Joe Stevenson defeats Jason Von Flue at 4:46 of Round 1 with an armbar submission. Luke Cummo and Joe Stevenson will face each other in the final for the UFC contract.
- In the second heavyweight semi-final, Brad Imes defeats Seth Petruzelli by split decision after three rounds; Petruzelli suffers extensive damage to his right ear.
- In an interesting note, even though Luke Cummo and Brad Imes were both the last picked for their respective divisions, they both made it to the Finals.
.
Finale[]
- Main article: The Ultimate Fighter 2 Finale
Episode 13: The Ultimate Fighter 2 Finale (Original Air Date: 5 November 2005)
- Welterweight bout: Template:Flag icon Joe Stevenson vs Template:Flag icon Luke Cummo
- Stevenson wins by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28), winning the TUF championship in the Welterweight division.
- Heavyweight bout: Template:Flag icon Rashad Evans vs Template:Flag icon Brad Imes
- Evans wins by a split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28) and wins a six figure contract, winning the TUF championship in the Heavyweight division.
Welterweight Bracket[]
| Semifinals | Finale | |||||||
Heavyweight Bracket[]
| Semifinals | Finale | |||||||
Legend
Template:Cnote
| Team Hughes | ||
| Team Franklin | ||
| Unanimous Decision | ||
| Split Decision | ||
| Submission | ||
| (Technical) Knockout |
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