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Although a spot on the UFC and Spike TV's hit reality series "The Ultimate Fighter" can include many perks — including instant fame, a long-term UFC contract, and lucrative sponsorship deals — the TV time does include a few drawbacks for its cast members.

One of the biggest is the snap judgments that fans make about a fighter's ability based on what they see on the TV show.

For example, take Kenny Florian, who dazzled in his UFC Fight Night 13 main event win over Joe Lauzon this past week. Florian first entered the UFC three years ago as a fairly one-dimensional fighter on the first season of "TUF." By relying primarily on elbow strikes to force stoppages due to cuts, the Bostonian made it all the way to the show's finals (where he lost to Diego Sanchez).

Since that time, though, Florian has moved down two weight classes to a more natural 155 pounds, and he's become one of the lightweight division's more well-rounded fighters. His improvement from fight to fight has been remarkable.

However, many fans are still quick to discount his improvement and his standing as a top contender simply because of the limited skills Florian displayed on "TUF."

Although the positives of the TV exposure far outweigh the negatives, Florian is proof that first impressions are the hardest to shake in MMA.

Combs wins CFC title

Tyler Combs (8-2), who trains out of Miamisburg, recently won the Courage Fighting Championship's lightweight title with a first-round knockout of Chris McDanials. The event took place March 22 in Terre Haute, Ind.

Combs will next fight in May at Dayton's Bushi Combat show. The hard-hitting 22-year-old has finished all but one of his victories via strikes, including a first-round submission (via strikes) at Bushi's debut show in January.

'TUF' report

Local fighter Prince Mclean, who trains in West Chester with Team Jorge Gurgel, was one of eight cast members eliminated from "The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest" during the show's debut episode this past week.

C.B. Dollaway (a former Ohio State wrestling champion), meanwhile, advanced to the next round with a TKO victory. Matt Brown and Luke Zachrich, who train out of Columbus and Cincinnati, respectively, fight during this week's round of preliminaries.

The show airs Wednesday at 10 p.m. on Spike TV.

Dann Stupp is editor-in-chief of MMAjunkie.com, a content partner site of Yahoo! Sports. Check out www.mmajunkie.com for the latest MMA news and rumors.

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