Ranking every season of The Ultimate Fighter from best to worst

PHILADELPHIA, CA - AUGUST 08: UFC fighter Kenny Florian (R) battles UFC fighter BJ Penn (L) during their Lightweight Championship fight at UFC 101: Declaration at the Wachovia Center on August 8, 2009 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, CA - AUGUST 08: UFC fighter Kenny Florian (R) battles UFC fighter BJ Penn (L) during their Lightweight Championship fight at UFC 101: Declaration at the Wachovia Center on August 8, 2009 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images)
(Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images) /

22. Season 17 – Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen

Sure, Jon Jones was arguably at his most controversial and popular, and Chael Sonnen was still relevant in the UFC as a title contender but just barely. It also featured the nastiest knockout in Ultimate Fighter history, when Uriah Hall KO’ed Adam Cella with a brutal spinning hook kick. That helped things some, but in retrospect, only two big names came from the show in Hall and Kelvin Gastelum. That’s not a sign of a strong season.

21. Season 7 – Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest

The show had two of its most popular stars in then-champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Forrest Griffin, as well as a few memorable moments. Namely, Matthew Riddle breaking a man’s face in a fight. The problem is C.B. Dollaway is the best fighter from the show, and even though Riddle is a bit WWE star at the moment, the accusations against him ruin whatever value that may give him for a list like this.

20. Season 28 – Heavy Hitters

It’s hard to give this season much credit for anything it did. It wasn’t very exciting fight-to-fight, which isn’t a huge deal if you get to watch a star ascend through the ranks, but Ben Sosoli might be the best bet to see anyone do anything from this season. It’s helped that Robert “Bobby Knuckles” Whittaker was one of the coaches. Everyone loves Whittaker, so that was a good get.