Hello and welcome to my inaugural blog here on StarTribune.com. This is a fantastic time for Mixed Martial Arts aka "Ultimate Fighting" in the State of Minnesota. I look forward to bringing you news and analysis in the upcoming months as a bevy of fighters are putting Minnesota on the map as one of the best places to train and fight in the country.

Unfortunately last night was disappointing for Minnesota fight fans as Hopkins resident and former Augsburg wrestler Zak Jensen fell in defeat to Texas fighter Darrill Schoonover on UFC's reality TV show The Ultimate Fighter.

The last two weeks of TV have not been kind to Jensen. Every reality show needs drama, and for this season of The Ultimate Fighter, Jensen is in the unfortunate position of being the guy the producers have cast in the role of clown to entertain the audience.

One has to remember while watching TUF that this is just a TV show edited for our entertainment, and 5 second clips of guys like Wes Sims accusing Jensen of sniffing his shorts for the cameras does not actually make it true.

As Jensen wrote on his Yahoo Sports blog last week about Sims accusing him of leaving a "family of Jensen's" in the shower: "I don't know why but all I can say is Wes was quoted saying he never lets the truth get in the way of a good story. That's all this was; it was a story that Wes thought up and he went with it. Rest assured, it wasn't the last story Wes tried to tell about me."

Despite how they depict him on the show, for Jensen to step up on national television and face a guy who is 10-0 takes a lot of heart. While he may be painted as a fool for the audience, people locally have nothing but good things to say about the man.

The problem for a guy like Jensen is that it can be very difficult to find quality opponents in the Heavyweight division on the local level. Six of his seven wins come over opponents with a combined record of just 17-14, and the seventh guy's record was an impressive 7 wins and 29 loses. Two of his three loses, on the other hand, are to former UFC veterans, including fighting Ultimate Fighter season two finalist Brad Imes in just his third fight. Not many people would step up and fight a guy like Imes after only two fights, but Jensen did it.

For some reason, while there is a plethora for quality fighters in the small divisions, quality big guys just don't go into MMA like the smaller guys do. One needs only look at the first time UFC did a heavyweight tournament on TUF in season two to see how much trouble they have coming up with quality heavyweights. That season was won by Rashad Evans, a man who had beef up to be considered a heavyweight and has always fought at 205 pounds ever since. UFC has the pick of the litter when it comes to fighters, and even they struggled to get 8 quality "heavyweights" for their show.

The other unfortunate thing for Jensen is that he got stuck on a bad team. As important as fighting quality opponents is, having quality trainers is just as important. Who knows how things would have worked out if Jensen had ended up on Team Rashad, with a world-class trainer like Greg Jackson and a NCAA division one champion wrestler like Mike van Arsdale helping him out.

If UFC retains Jensen after the end of this season, he'll have the opportunity to step up his game against a much higher quality of fighter than he has faced so far. Hopefully then he'll really get a chance to shine.

News and Notes:

St Paul heavyweight Brett "The Grim" Rogers (10-0), who fights the world's best heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko live on Channel 4 in two weeks (Saturday, November 4), will be appearing on the Matt Thomas Show on AM 1500 KSTP tomorrow night (Friday October 23) at 7:10 p.m.

Brock Lensar returns to the Octagon on Saturday, November 21st in what could be his toughest challenge yet, facing off against NCAA division II heavyweight wrestling champion Shane Carwin. Carwin is 11-0 in MMA and 3-0 in the UFC. I will be writing more about the fight as we get close to the event, so don't forget to check back.

Former UFC Fighter and Augsburg wrestler Roger Huerta has been taken under the wing of actor Mickey Rourke, according to this week's issue of The Wrestling Observer. Dave Meltzer reported that Rourke has set up Huerta with his acting coach.

The next meeting of the Minnesota Combative Sports Commission is Tuesday, October 27th at the Schwan Center in Blaine at 7 p.m. The agenda includes updates on a set policy for official's fees, an update on the ethics policy, a report from the credentialing committee regarding training and testing of MMA officials and discussion of amateur rules compared to pro rules and the rules governing fights taking place in a cage versus those taking place in a ring. I will be there and will include a report in my blog next week.