“The Ultimate Fighter” returns Tuesday for a 29th season and after a three-year hiatus.
The long-running UFC reality competition has produced 10 future champions and a bevy of future superstars. One of those was Michael Bisping, who won Season 3 of the show at light heavyweight, then went on to become middleweight champion nearly 10 years later.
These days, Bisping is a fixture on UFC broadcasts as an analyst after announcing his retirement in 2018. He’s in the UFC Hall of Fame already, and when he hung up his gloves, he held the record (since surpassed) for the most fights in the UFC.
But when the MMA world at large first met him in 2006 on “TUF 3,” he still was a fresh-faced British import looking to make his mark on this side of the pond.
In the video above, take a look back at Bisping’s time in the “TUF” house during Season 3, including his TKO of Kristian Rothaermel, his prophetic finish of Ross Pointon, and his destruction of Josh Haynes in the live final to win the “TUF” crown. (As a bonus, you can hear coach Tito Ortiz talk about crying and relive Bisping’s annoyance with teammate Matt Hamill over his constant “Wooo!” habit.)