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The Ultimate Fighter: Season 13 Episode 9: “Then It Turned Ugly”

May 25, 2011 By

Last week on TUF, Chris and Ramsey kicked off the quarterfinals with dominating wins. Tonight, the quarters are concluded when Chuck gets his rematch with Zach and Ryan takes on Tony. When there are only four left, Dana announces the semifinal picks. But the night is not free of drama when one fighter crosses the line in the house.

Zach finds a confidence boost in knowing that he’s already beaten the guy he’s about to fight. This time he plans to switch it up, trying to keep it standing to show that he’s got more schools. But Junior also wants him to showcase what he does well, Jiu Jitsu, by getting Chuck down and submitting him again.

Back at the house, Chuck is asked what he’s going to do with the $5K from his win. He says he wants to give some to Charlie (to help Charlie out to see the son he hasn’t seen in over a year) but Charlie doesn’t have the heart to take Chuck’s hard-earned money.

Brock is impressed with the 180 that Chuck has done since his initial loss to Zach. He wants to see that same Cold Steel fighter show up for this fighter. According to Brock, he’s improved greatly and thinks this fight could have a different outcome.

FIGHT DAY

ROUND 1
Both are swinging immediately. Both land short jabs. Zach goes for a head kick that grazes Chuck. But Chuck is much more offensive, swinging big and hard and connecting. Zach shoots and pins Chuck against the cage, landing several knees in the clinch. Chuck gets in a few knees of his own, but Zach is working for the takedown. Zach finally gets a leg, but can’t get Chuck down. He continues to work Chuck’s body but they are warned to progress. After being restarted, they exchange leg and body kicks, with Chuck landing a huge one. As they continue to exchange kicks, you can see a mouse forming over Zach’s left eye. Kick after kick and Chuck finally throws a right that puts Zach off balance. Zach recovers and charges Chuck backwards into the clinch. While Zach tries to pull Chuck’s leg down, Chuck pelts him with short jabs to the head. Zach backs off slightly, and is able to throw a solid head shot, but also allows Chuck to throw a big one or two. Zach ducks back down and Chuck tries to grab onto his neck for a choke, but Zach gets out. Zach backs up again and Chuck throws a bomb that rattles Zach. Zach stumbles back and Chuck comes at him hard, swinging relentlessly. Zach tries to cover and back up to get away and just as it looks like it might get stopped, he gets out of reach. Chuck catches up and tries to repeat as the bell rings.

ROUND 2
Swinging immediately, but Zach loses his balance and slips. Chuck jumps on him, and ends up in his guard but very quickly lets Zach up. Both are more tentative on their feet now with Zach throwing kicks in slow motion. Chuck comes at Zach with big straight arms, but Zach drops and shoots at Chuck’s waist, nearly getting him down. In the clinch, Zach drops and pulls Chuck down with him, but he can’t get him entirely into his guard. Refusing to stay on the ground, Chuck gets off and backs up. But Zach won’t give up, shooting on him again. Clinching, Zach is mostly just leaning on Chuck. Neither of them is doing much – a few weak knees or jabs. They are restarted and Chuck throws several unanswered combos. Chuck chops at Zach legs with solid kicks. Zach’s answers are half-hearted. Chuck continues to push, landing three times as many shots. Zach gives a last ditch effort at a takedown but fails. The round ends with both on their feet.

Winner: Chuck O’Neil via Decision

The last fight was so close, but this time Chuck brought it and really avenged himself. Dana says that Chuck might not be the best striker, the best wrestler, etc., but he is the toughest.

Zach is beside himself, punching doors on his way out. Chuck is just blown away – the kid went from alternate, to wild card, to semifinalist, all in a few weeks.

At Team Lesnar’s training session, Brock works with Tony on a gameplan. He hopes that Tony looks as good in the octagon as he has in training. He thinks Tony is a well-rounded guy, but he worries that he’s too “fancy” when in a dominant position.

Back in the house, Chuck gives props Zach for taking every bomb he threw. Everyone agrees that the kid’s got heart. Zach then returns from the eye doctor, where he has learned that he has torn the retinas in both eyes. They did immediate laser surgery in both eyes. While he didn’t lose any vision, the doctor has warned him that he cannot fight in the future because of the risk of permanent vision. When he tells Chuck, Chuck feels guilty and hugs him. Just when Zach was finally making something of his fight career, getting past being paid $100 to fight in parking lots, he has stop. Wow, that sucks.

As the “weakest link” on Team Dos Santos, Ryan is looking to use that as inspiration and prove everybody wrong. His daughter is who he’s doing it all for, and he just hopes that she understands that.

FIGHT DAY

ROUND 1
Ryan swings first but his jab is checked. Both are very tentative. Both throw combos that get checked or dodged. Ryan steps in for a right and Tony catches him with a left uppercut. At first Ryan seems okay, but then he stumbles backward into the fence. Tony pounces on him and unleashes a barrage of fists and the ref jumps in to stop it.

Winner: Tony Ferguson via KO

Ryan can’t even look at his daughter’s picture because he feels like he let her down. Junior advises him to keep going and never give up. He wants them to believe that whatever happens is meant to make us stronger. Now the pressure is on Ramsey to take the team to winner’s circle.

The guys are all gathered the next day to hear the semifinal fight announcement:

Ramsey vs. Chris – The #1 guy versus the guy who everyone keeps counting out.
Tony vs. Chuck – Yes, it’s teammate vs. teammate, but both see it as business only. Fireworks will ensue.

At the house, the celebration begins. Alcohol is flowing, the music is pumping and a good time is being had (stripper Ramsey makes his appearance, as usual). But it was all fun and games until it turned ugly. Before cutting to commercial, it looks like Chris pours a beer down Tony’s back. Tony chases him into the next room and jumps on him angrily. The last thing we hear is, “You like beer?!?”

We come back to hear Charlie laughing, but see Tony’s forearm in Charlie’s face. Charlie tries to calm Tony down, but his efforts are failing. Tony brings up Charlie’s son which is a low blow that really pushes Charlie to the edge. It takes most of the guys to keep them apart. Everyone is shocked to see this side of Tony, and it appears that everyone sides with Charlie on this one. However Tony doesn’t think he didn’t do anything wrong and once again it takes more than one person to keep Charlie from killing Tony. Chuck has suddenly found his motivation to beat Tony.

I really used to like Tony.

Next week: Tony faces the consequences of his actions, having burned every last bridge he had in the house. And the last four fighters face off in the semifinals.

Filed Under: News, Opinion, The Ultimate Fighter, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

The Ultimate Fighter: Season 13 Episode 7: “It’s Just Good to Win”

May 11, 2011 By

Previously on TUF, the prelims ended with exciting finishes from Tony Ferguson and Zach Davis. Len made his case to be the wild-card pick, but Brock didn’t back him up, citing his need to make excuses. Tonight, Chuck and Javier to fight to make that final spot while Junior and Brock hit the gridiron for the Coaches’ Challenge.

Right out of the gate, Len chases Dana down to plead his case. But Dana is like, “Too little, too late.” He points out that Len was not convincing when he called the guys back. If he had approached Dana two hours sooner, he’d have been in. Too bad, cry baby. And Brock reminds them all of this – that they EACH had their chance in their fight. They shouldn’t hang their heads, but hey, it was their own fault.

And Len does NOT let it go. He talks the ear off of anyone who will listen, claiming that 1) no one fought better, 2) no one else fought harder and 3) his fight wasn’t “finished”. To stir the pot, Len is told “why” the coaches didn’t choose him. Now he wants to confront Brock, claiming that he’s not afraid of someone who has fewer fights than him. (Um, you should be, buddy).

Javier is very glad to be getting a second chance. Back in training, it is clear that he is giving 100% and does not want this opportunity to be wasted.

Later, Len shows up at the gym to talk to Brock. Len was under the belief that Brock was behind him and was going to fight for him to be picked for the wild-card. He belittles Brock’s coaching skills, claiming that he only plays the coach role when the cameras are around. Then he strolls right on up to him and does not mince words. But Brock has an answer that he can’t dispute. Len’s knee is a risk. Dana had liked Len to fight, but he also wants someone who is healthy – and that’s not Len. What is Len’s response? Not a whole lot.

Brock questions Chuck’s motivations. While Len is pestering him about why he didn’t get picked, Chuck is sitting on the bike with an air of not caring a bit whether he fights or not. This gives Brock pause, making him wonder if he made the right choice. But in Chuck’s next interview, he claims to be anxious to take on Javier. We shall see….

In training Chuck for Javier, they choose to focus on the things that they felt were weakest from his first fight. Whereas before he seemed to ignore their coaching, this time he’s really listening to them and he’s doing what he’s told. This boosts Brock’s confidence in him.

Back at the house, we finally have some drama. Chris Cope has been screaming to wake people up from day 1. It has come to the point where Shamar can’t take it anymore and just has to say something, hoping to fight him to just shut the scream up once and for all. Chris sincerely apologizes and says he won’t do it in the house again. Really? That’s it?

It’s now time for the Coaches’ Challenge: Football! The teams show up at the local high school’s field (which just happened to have been attended by Dana, the Fertittas and their wives). The challenge is to complete a series of football obstacles and make it back the fastest. Winning coach gets $10K, their team gets $1,500 each.

And they’re off….both guys are making it through the obstacles pretty quickly, though Brock has an easier time with the tackling dummies. It’s the field goal that gives them both trouble, missing a couple shots each. Junior finally makes it and it’s on to the quarterback throw. Junior also does this first, then making it into the end zone to receive a pass. He runs it back easily, but high-tails it when he sees Brock not far behind him. As he celebrates with his team, he even displays a little end zone shuffle. Brock sums it up, “I think we both sucked, he just got a little luckier.” The nice guy that Junior is, he even gives a little of the money to his other coaches. Wow, has that ever been done in TUF history?

When the fun and games are over, it’s back to work for the weigh-ins. Dana assesses both guys – He felt that Javier looked like shit in his first fight, but since Junior has faith in him, so does he. Chuck, however, looked like a well-rounded fighter to Dana and he definitely has more confidence in him.

FIGHT DAY

ROUND 1
Feeling each other out, O’Neill is the first to strike, followed by a straight kick from Torres. O’Neill goes offensive, swinging back and pushing Torres back to the cage. In the clinch, O’Neill looks for a sweep and works hard to get Torres down. Torres gets control and lands some nice knees. O’Neill gets in a few as well. O’Neill now spins into control still looking for the takedown. Torres backs away and they exchange a few jabs. Torres connects and gets O’Neill backpedaling into the clinch again. The both struggle for control while O’Neill is obsessively trying to sweep Torres. In the meantime, Torres connects with several knees, one of which inadvertently lands in O’Neill’s groin. After a break, O’Neill comes at Torres with a head kick that is checked. O’Neill continues to be offensive with a pair of spinning back kicks. Finally Torres retaliates with a head kick of his own, but it falls short. They continue to exchange at the center, with O’Neill being more aggressive. He lands a nice leg kick and then a great body kick. O’Neill swings and misses, which sets Torres charging at him. Back against the cage, they both alternate with some knees. O’Neill sneaks a few shots to Torres’s head and this time Torres looks for the takedown. The round ends back in the clinch with O’Neill peppering Torres’s face.

ROUND 2
A straight jab from O’Neill starts the round. Both are tentative though, until O’Neill connects with a hard right followed by a big body kick. Torres not fighting back much. O’Neill lands a combo and finally Torres attacks. He pushes O’Neill back and gets him down with side control. O’Neill scrambles and Torres tries to take his back but O’Neill shakes him off. O’Neill returns the favor, taking Torres down. From his back, Torres tries to look for a triangle, but can’t. O’Neill tries to spin into side control but is stuck in Torres’s half guard. O’Neill lays on Torres, keeping his right arm pinned while getting in some body shots. O’Neill tries to get his leg out when Torres loosens up a bit and nearly mounts him but Torres latches back on. O’Neill climbs up on Torres and sneaks his arms up and around to look for the choke. He pulls tight and Torres quickly taps.

Winner: Chuck O’Neill via Submission (choke)

Finally, Chuck listened to Brock and it paid off in spades. He avenged his loss and avenged it well. While Javier liked to push up on his opponents to control them, Chuck had an answer for everything. He pushed right back.

Going into the finals, both teams have 4 wins. Dana decides who will fight who in the quarterfinals:

Clay vs. Ramsey (Tough guy vs. tougher guy)
Chris vs. Shamar (Grudge match)
Chuck vs. Zach (Rematch!)
Tony vs. Ryan (The guy who could win it all vs. the guy who came back from losing)

Next week: Brock and Junior are dead even going into the quarterfinals. First up will be the wrestler vs. the striker when Ramsey takes on Clay. In the same episode, Shamar will get his chance to shut Chris up once and for all.

Filed Under: News, Opinion, The Ultimate Fighter, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,