The Ultimate Fighter Season 13

The Ultimate Fighter: Team Lesnar vs. Team dos Santos is the thirteenth installment of the Ultimate Fighting Championship produced reality television series The Ultimate Fighter.

The UFC and Spike TV held open tryouts on November 4th, 2010, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The casting call went out for Welterweight and Middleweight fighters, however, all fighters will be in the welterweight division. All fighters applying and trying out for the show must have at least three professional fights and be at least 21 years of age. Notables who turned up to the tryouts included Karl Amoussou, Andre Galvao, and Zak Cummings.

It was confirmed during the Fight For The Troops 2 conference call that Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos would be the coaches for this season.

This season will not feature an elimination round like the two seasons before it, however, the "wild card" selections introduced in Season 11 will still be featured. The initial cast will also only be 14 rather than the usual 16, 28 or 32 in recent seasons.

Cast

Coaches

Team Lesnar

Brock Lesnar
Marty Morgan
Greg Nelson
Erik Paulson
Rodrigo Medeiros
Chris Manos
Matt Hughes (guest coach)

Team dos Santos

Junior dos Santos
Antonio Peinado (Batista)
Billy Scheibe
Luiz Dorea
Lew Polley

Fighters

(In order in which they were picked)

Team Lesnar

Len Bentley, Charlie Rader, Tony Ferguson, Clay Harvison, Chris Cope, Nordin Asrih, Chuck O'Neil (replaced Myles Jury who left in episode 1 with torn ACL)

Team dos Santos

Shamar Bailey, Ryan McGillivray, Javier Torres, Ramsey Nijem, Zach Davis, Mick Bowman, Justin Edwards (replaced Keon Caldwell who left in episode 2 for family reasons )

Name: Nordin Asrih Age: 32
Trains: Dusseldorf, Germany (Pride Gym)
MMA record: 16-5-1

Name: Shamar Bailey
Age: 28
Trains: Indianapolis, Ind. (Integrated Fighting Systems)
MMA record: 10-3

Name: Len Bentley
Age: 27
Trains: Olympia, Wash. (Victory Athletics)
MMA record: 9-4

Name: Michael "Mick" Bowman
Age: 26
Trains: Liverpool, England (Wolfslair)
MMA record: 7-2

Name: Keon Caldwell
Age: 26
Trains: Moultrie, Ga. (Team Reality)
MMA record: 8-1

Name: Chris Cope
Age: 28
Trains: San Diego, Calif. (Arena MMA)
MMA record: 4-1

Name: Zachary Davis
Age: 26
Trains: Rockville, Md. (Evolve/Team Lloyd Irvin)
MMA record: 4-1

Name: Anthony Ferguson
Age: 26
Trains: Ventura, Calif. (Knuckleheadz Boxing)
MMA record: 10-2

Name: Clay Harvison
Age: 30
Trains: Marietta, Ga. (X3 Sports)
MMA record: 6-1

Name: Myles Jury
Age: 22
Trains: San Diego, Calif. (Victory)
MMA record: 9-0

Name: Ryan McGillivray
Age: 24
Trains: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (Legends Training Centre)
MMA record: 11-4-1

Name: Ramsey Nijem
Age: 22
Trains: Orem, Utah (River Academy/The Pit)
MMA record: 4-1

Name: Charlie Rader
Age: 29
Trains: New Orleans, La. (Power MMA)
MMA record: 16-5

Name: Javier Torres
Age: 25
Trains: Las Vegas, Nev. (Team Tompkins)
MMA record: 3-0

Episodes

Episode 1: Something to Prove

Dana White welcomed 14 fighters to the UFC training facility and announced that all 14 would automatically get into the house. He also announced the return of the wildcard format.
The coaches for the season were introduced. They then went on to evaluate the fighters.
During the evaluations, Myles Jury got injured and was checked out by a doctor, who said that nothing was broken but wanted to do an MRI.
Both coaches met in Dana White's office to go through the fighter picks. The coin toss was won by Brock Lesnar, who chose to pick the first fighter leaving dos Santos with first choice of match-ups.
Myles Jury was told he had a torn ACL & was forced off the show. Dana White promised that he would get a second shot into the UFC after he heals up.
Dos Santos announced that Shamar Bailey will face Nordin Asrih.
Shamar Bailey defeated Nordin Asrih via unanimous decision after 2 rounds.

Episode 2: Suck It Up

Keon Caldwell struggled during an intense Team dos Santos training session and vomited. He told dos Santos that it was hard for him to be away from his family.
Brock Lesnar admitted that he expected to lose the first fight between his sixth pick, Nordin Asrih and Team dos Santos' top pick, Shamar Bailey.
Caldwell told dos Santos the next day that he wanted to go home. Dos Santos and later Dana White encourage to him to keep going. After initially agreeing to continue, Caldwell later changed his mind and left the show.
Dos Santos announced that Javier Torres would face Chris Cope.
Chris Cope defeated Javier Torres via unanimous decision after 3 rounds.

Episode 3: Chicken Salad

Brock Lesnar's "making chicken salad out of chickens**t" comment confused his team, but he recovered by telling his fighters they became chicken salad once they had made it onto the show, and he also told them to stay motivated.
Justin Edwards, a former Bellator fighter and 5-0 in his MMA career, arrived to replace Keon Caldwell on Team dos Santos.
Dos Santos' wrestling coach, Lew Polley, ran an intense training session that eventually resulted in Shamar Bailey being cut above the eye.
Lesnar announced that Len Bentley would face Ryan McGillivray.
Chris Cope was seen hanging out with Team dos Santos a lot, making the rest of Team Lesnar wonder what his motives were. Bentley seemed especially suspicious and asked Lesnar to talk to Cope, who told Bentley to calm down and fight.
Dissatisfied with Polley's training sessions, dos Santos reminded him that the competition is a team effort, not his own.
Four hours prior to weigh-in, McGillivray weighed 180 lb, so he cut the weight in 45 minutes with Polley and dos Santos in an Epsom salt bath. Both fighters weighed in at 170 lb.
Maurício "Shogun" Rua paid a visit to dos Santos in support of his team and to watch the fight cageside.
Lesnar was absent from the fight due to personal reasons.
Ryan McGillivray defeated Len Bentley via majority decision after 2 rounds.

Episode 4: A Bad Dream

Lesnar returned after leaving before the Len Bentley - Ryan McGillivray fight and congratulated Bentley on his efforts. Lesnar showed a commitment to getting wins from his four remaining fighters yet to compete: Charlie Rader, Tony Ferguson, Clay Harvison, and Chuck O'Neil.
Lesnar removed Harvison from a training session momentarily for looking distracted and not committed. He also was angry with Rader for the same reasons.
Dos Santos announced that Ramsey Nijem would face Charlie Rader.
Lesnar invited Matt Hughes as a guest instructor for wrestling techniques.
Ramsey Nijem defeated Charlie Rader via rear-naked choke at 3:31 of round 2.
Lesnar and O'Neil were visibly upset. Inside the dressing room, Lesnar began to scold the team, prompting Bentley to storm out of the room.

Episode 5: Wow Me

As Lesnar continued to scold his team after Charlie Rader's loss to Ramsey Nijem, Len Bentley came back into the room, and Lesnar questioned his toughness. He said that Chris Cope (the only Team Lesnar fighter to win his bout through four prelimary fights) is the only one that has impressed him so far.
Back at the house, Bentley continued to vent his frustration and showed his dislike of Lesnar.
Dos Santos announced that Mick Bowman would face Clay Harvison.
At a Team dos Santos training session, dos Santos was drilling boxing techniques when wrestling coach Lew Polley took over, leaving dos Santos unhappy with him.
As Harvison trained for his upcoming bout, he was annoyed that Cope was watching him. Harvison said in a confessional he knew "a shady person" when he saw one.
Someone wrote "Chris Cope Double Agent" in the sand in the zen garden. Cope asked his team whether they thought he was a spy or not, and most of the team said they had "suspicions". Later that night, Cope entered the team bedroom and blamed Tony Ferguson for the message in the sand, based on handwriting similarities. Things got heated and everyone was paranoid.
Bowman confessed to a few of his teammates that he wrote the message, saying "it was only meant to be a bit of fun". Ironically, his motive was that he sometimes thought that Cope was hanging around his team to bring information back to Team Lesnar.
Clay Harvison defeated Mick Bowman via unanimous decision after 2 rounds.
During the fight, Harvison had blocked a switch kick with his hand, breaking his pinky finger with the bone sticking out of the skin. His TUF stint was in jeopardy.

Episode 6: Mean Streak

During a sparring session, Len Bentley collapsed in pain holding his knee. Lesnar was bothered by the injuries his team was sustaining.
Harvison and Bentley were both at the hospital where they found that both their respective injuries were nothing too serious.
dos Santos discovered that Lew Polley tried to visit the fighters' house on his own which made him feel like Polley was overstepping his boundaries once again. Dos Santos asked fellow coach, Luiz Dorea, for advice. Following Dorea's advice, dos Santos decides to send Polley home.
Brock Lesnar announces the match-ups: Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Edwards and Chuck O'Neil vs. Zach Davis.
Tony Ferguson defeated Justin Edwards via knockout (up-kick) at 3:56 of round 1.
Zach Davis defeated Chuck O'Neil via submission (triangle choke) at 3:20 of round 1.
The wildcard match-ups are decided. Justin Edwards was picked, but was told that he cannot compete due to being suspended by the athletic commission.
The wildcard match-ups are announced: Javier Torres vs. Chuck O'Neil.

Episode 7: It's Just Good To Win

Len Bentley of Team Lesnar was confused about why he wasn't chosen for the wildcard match-up. He confronted Dana White about it but instead, asked for a rematch with Ryan McGillivray at the finale.
Shamar Bailey and Chris Cope got into a confrontation. Bailey stated that he was annoyed with Cope yelling "woo" and that he wanted to fight him.
Junior dos Santos defeats Brock Lesnar in the Coaches' Challenge which involved football drills. After winning, dos Santos gave his share of the cash prize with members of Team Lesnar excluding Brock himself.
Chuck O'Neil defeats Javier Torres via submission (d'arce choke) in round 2.
The quarter-finals matches are announced:

Ramsey Nijem vs. Clay Harvison
Shamar Bailey vs. Chris Cope
Zach Davis vs. Chuck O'Neil
Ryan McGillivray vs. Tony Ferguson

Episode 8: Shut Him Up

Shamar Bailey confided to his teammate about a back injury he had.
UFC middleweight, Brian Stann, arrived at the gym to give a pep-talk to the fighters.
Ramsey Nijem defeated Clay Harvison via submission (rear-naked choke) in round 1.
Chris Cope asked his teammate, Nordin Asrih, for advice on fighting Shamar Bailey.
Chris Cope defeated Shamar Bailey via unanimous decision after two rounds.

Episode 9: Then It Turned Ugly

Chuck O'Neil tried to share the $5000 he earned in his finish bonus, with his friend, Charlie Rader. It is revealed that Rader owes child support and hadn't seen his child in over a year.
Chuck O'Neil defeated Zach Davis via unanimous decision after two rounds.
Zach Davis returned to the house and reveals that he had suffered torn retinas in both his eyes. He said that the doctors have told him that he could no longer fight and that he would have to retire.
Tony Ferguson defeated Ryan McGillivray via TKO (punches) 0:46 in round 1
The semi-finals matches were announced:

Ramsey Nijem vs. Chris Cope
Tony Ferguson vs. Chuck O'Neil

Both teams joined together to party after the fights. Charlie Rader poured alcohol on Tony Ferguson as a joke, but Ferguson reacted badly. Both got into a heated confrontation which lead to Tony Ferguson mentioning Rader's problems involving his son. Members of both teams tried to break-up the fight. Ferguson left to cool off in the pool while the others comforted Rader inside, but when Ferguson came back, he started where he left off. The argument was finally settled but both teams were angered and disgusted by Ferguson's actions.

Episode 10: The Biggest Test

Tony Ferguson apologized to his team about his actions, but his team did not believe that his apology was sincere.
Ramsey Nijem defeated Chris Cope via TKO (punches) in round 2
Tony Ferguson defeated Chuck O'Neil via TKO (punches) in round 3
Following the conclusion of the episode, Brock Lesnar phoned Dana White to tell him that he had to pull out of his bout with Junior dos Santos at UFC 131. Dana went on to say that Lesnar would be replaced by Shane Carwin.

Finale

The finale was held on June 4, 2011, at The Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Welterweight bout: United States Ramsey Nijem vs. United States Tony Ferguson

Ferguson defeated Nijem via KO (punches) at 3:54 of round 1 to become the Season 13 Welterweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter.

Tournament bracket

Preliminary Round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Finale

Nordin Asrih

Shamar Bailey

Shamar Bailey

Chris Cope

Javier Torres

Chris Cope

Ramsey Nijem

TKO

Clay Harvison

Mick Bowman

Clay Harvison

Ramsey Nijem

SUB

Charlie Rader

Ramsey Nijem

SUB

Ramsey Nijem

Tony Ferguson

Len Bentley

Ryan McGillivray

Ryan McGillivray

Tony Ferguson

TKO

Tony Ferguson

Justin Edwards

Tony Ferguson

TKO

Chuck O'Neil

Zach Davis

SUB

Zach Davis

Chuck O'Neil

SUB

Javier Torres

Coaches Fight

UFC 131: Lesnar vs. Dos Santos was scheduled to be held on June 11, 2011 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for the UFC Heavyweight title eliminator.

On May 12, 2011, Dana White announced that Brock Lesnar had to pull out of the fight due a second bout of diverticulitis. Shane Carwin replaced him. See UFC 131.

The Ultimate Fighter Season 13

Cast

Coaches

Team Lesnar

Team dos Santos

Fighters

Episodes

Finale

Tournament bracket

Coaches Fight

Seasons