5 of the craziest pranks in the history of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF)

#2. Chris Leben “spritzes” on Jason Thacker’s bed (TUF 1)

Chris Leben became notorious during the first season of TUF after a crude prank

When TUF's inaugural season began back in 2005, nobody was really sure quite what to expect. But when the fighters were plied with alcohol on their first night inside the TUF house, we were quickly given a taste of what was to come with one of the show’s all-time most outrageous pranks.

All of the fighters in the house appeared to be at least a little drunk, but middleweight Chris Leben in particular was completely hammered, talking trash and bragging about his fighting skills to anyone who would listen.

TUF or “18 drunk and Pregnant”? 😂 wtfff pic.twitter.com/Ot2wdL9cgT

— Chris Leben (@ChrisLebenMMA) June 25, 2021

Most notably, ‘The Crippler’ felt that a number of the fighters on the show alongside him simply didn’t belong. In particular, he aimed this taunt at Canada’s Jason Thacker, who was admittedly very inexperienced with no professional fights to his name.

Thacker was christened ‘Strange Brew’, but giving the Canadian a derogatory nickname was not enough for Leben. And so while Thacker showered in the early hours of the morning, ‘The Crippler’ took things further and urinated onto his bed.

Leben tried to claim that he hadn’t completely urinated, stating that he’d merely ‘spritzed’ on his teammate’s bedclothes, but it didn’t make the moment any less shocking or disrespectful.

In the end, Thacker’s effort in training earned him a little more respect from his castmates, even if his fighting skills didn’t, but no fans of TUF would ever forget what was the first crazy prank in the history of the series.

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#1. Tom Lawlor urinates into fruit – and Kyle Kingsbury takes things further (TUF 8)

Cult favourite Tom Lawlor was involved in arguably the craziest prank in TUF history

2008’s TUF 8, coached by Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, remains arguably the most infamous season of the UFC’s long-running reality show.

This reputation was triggered largely by the presence of Junie Browning, a bad-tempered lightweight who caused numerous confrontations and even outright fights in the house, and generally came off as less than professional.

Throwback to #tuf8 with @effyescudero and @ryanbader. What a season! #greatpeople #dec2008 #theUltimateFighter... https://t.co/CeI5tL3Hvp

— Phillipe Nover (@PhillipeNover) January 2, 2016

However, the craziest prank of the season did not involve Browning and instead saw Tom Lawlor and Kyle Kingsbury involved in some genuinely disgusting antics.

Essentially, the issue began when Lawlor discovered that the fruit platter he’d been ordering every day had instead been eaten by members of Team Nogueira. And so anticipating that they’d do it again, ‘Filthy Tom’ decided to prank them – by urinating on the fruit.

The likes of Ryan Bader and Efrain Escudero subsequently scoffed the fruit, and were left gagging when they found out exactly what had been done to it beforehand.

Worse was to come, though. Team Nogueira’s Phillipe Nover was having similar issues with Team Mir stealing his sushi, and so inspired by Lawlor, Kingsbury went a step further by ejaculating into the Japanese dish.

Sure enough, David Kaplan then consumed the sushi, and when he was told what Kingsbury had done, he understandably did not take the prank well at all. ‘Diamond Dave’ even threatened to retaliate with “fecal matter,” but thankfully didn’t follow through with it.

Still, this prank remains the craziest – and most disgusting – in TUF history. Thankfully, nothing has really come close!