TUF 13 Tryouts: A First Hand Account

“So you want to be a fucking fighter?” Some of the most famous words to come from the mouth of Dana White and a statement that drags hundreds of professional fighters, grapplers, and tough guys to Las Vegas every year for The Ultimate Fighter tryouts.

This year was middleweight and welterweight but the large majority (202 Welterweight, 96 Middleweight) happened to be welterweight. I as a writer have also ventured into many different gyms, my most recent being Gracie Barra Phoenix who is led by Mark Zee, and assisted by Daniel Madrid (6-2 MMA). Madrid attended the try outs this year after making it to the final selection of the US vs. UK season only to be sent home. Madrid believes it was because he possessed the stronger grappling and submission game than most the UK fighters and this would prohibit Team UK to succeed who consisted of mostly strikers.

Madrid gave MMA Valor the complete run down of what it takes to progress through a day at the Ultimate Fighter tryouts and describe it to all the fans, so maybe one day you could be the next Ultimate fighter!

The middleweight division was up first and since they had the smaller group of people the weight class finished tryouts quickly. Daniel weighed in at 189 pounds ready to impress the UFC for both weight classes that he has fought in. They broke up the participants into smaller groups of 20, Madrid being in the start of group three #48. Daniel saw many well-known fighters and coaches there, Louis Taylor and Andre Galvao being just two of the larger standouts.

Madrid came up to the table once his number was up and stood in front of Dana White, Joe Silva, and a few other judges he did not recognize. They told him he was going to perform a short grappling match and was told not to focus on submissions but position and transitions. They started from their knees and he went to work. Daniel worked on taking their advice and went through many different guards, transitions, and submission attempts that he held for no longer than 2 seconds each.  His competition was larger closer to 200lbs. and stronger but still not on Madrid’s level of grappling.

Madrid was then further advanced to the striking portion of the try outs where his coach Mario Velez stepped up to hold Thai pads for his demonstration. Madrid let out some nice combos of kicks and punches with a loud Thai warrior scream. After a few loud echoing strikes they called an abrupt stop to the abuse he was applying on the pads, it was judgment time. That’s when they called Mr. Madrid over to inform him that he was advanced to the interview and final portion of the try outs.

When he was in the interview section they told him that they have been interested in him since the UK season tryouts and were excited to see him back. They asked him why he wasn’t selected for the UK season and he proudly proclaimed that he would have submitted the whole UK team and the interviewers broke out in laughter. They told Madrid that they liked him and to “get the fuck out” and be ready to fight at Middleweight and Welterweight when he receives the call, which Madrid believes will come within a few weeks if he is selected.

That wraps up a long exhausting day for Daniel Madrid, we’d like to wish him the best of luck in all of his future fights and look forward to the possibility of seeing him on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter season 13.

Season 13 should begin filming in early January and premier later next year.

Tags: Dana White, Daniel Madrid, Gracie Barra, Middleweight, MMA, Tryouts, TUF 13, UFC, Ultimate Fighter, Welterweight

Category: Exclusive, Featured, MMA, UFC, Ultimate Fighter