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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: , , , , , , , , ,

The Ultimate Fighter: Season 13 Episode 6: “Mean Streak”

May 4, 2011 By

Previously on TUF, Len Bentley had a solid performance in his loss to McGillivray, so when Brock gave his team a tongue-lashing, Bentley refused to sit and listen to it. Then Coach Lew’s tough-love tactics rubbed Junior the wrong way, causing some team tension. Then Clay Harvison wins a tough decision, but his broken pinky makes the win bitter sweet. Coming up tonight, 2 fights that are absolute wars; plus the wildcard is announced. (Ooohh….)

After Mick’s loss, Junior is trying to make him feel better by telling him that losses happen. But right away Lew contradicts him, telling Mick that it is their job to fight and to win. JDS turns to him with a WTF look and is like, hey, who asked you??

At Lesnar’s team practicing, we find that Clay is likely to be out, which hurts their team’s shot at winning. And then to dump a bucket of salt on that wound, Len begins rolling around on the mat, grasping at his knee and yelping in pain. Lesnar’s ready to just roll over and give up.

In the hospital, Clay learns that he has not actually broken his pinky, but merely dislocated it. That gives him hope. After learning this, he looks up to see Len rolling up in his wheelchair. Len describes what he felt to the doctor, who upon inspection of his knee, alleviates his fears and assures him that his ACL is intact. Broken bones? Torn ACL? Show ending. A couple dislocations? No problem :)

Trouble in paradise is brewing on Team Dos Santos. JDS learns that Lew has gone to visit the guys at the house, without telling him. JDS approaches the other coach, asking about what else he doesn’t know and learns that, more or less, Lew has been undermining him and has had this bad attitude from day one. This is very upsetting to JDS who walks off toward Lew.

Junior pulls Lew aside to speak to him alone. Lew claims that he told Junior that he wanted to go to the house, but Junior claims there must have been some confusion. With a mix of anger, frustration and sadness, he tells Lew he’s no longer needed and to go home. You tell ‘em, Junior!

Clay and Len return from the hospital and fill Lesnar in with their great news. Lesnar is relieved and hopeful that his 2 best still have a shot. Later, with control regained by Team Lesnar, Brock chooses Tony Ferguson to fight Justin Edwards, which pits wrestler versus wrestler. And in the final preliminary fight, that leaves Chuck O’Neil to fight Zach Davis.

To Lesnar, Tony is the likely winner. Not only has he been working and training with Lesnar and his coaches, but he has also been working out on his own. He describes his footwork as all over the place, which will make him hard to catch. A self-described gym rat, Ferguson says that this is his passion. Winning is the only option.

Justin, however, realizes that he shouldn’t even be here. Being that he was brought in as an alternate, he understands that the coaches didn’t get to see him in the evals and don’t kow what to expect from him. He has a helluva lot to prove. But to him, he’s a monster in the cage with a a huge heart.

At the house, the guys talk about missing Coach Lew, but they also get that it is Team Dos Santos, not Team Lew. Just hope it doesn’t affect their shot at winning.

FIGHT DAY

(Tony shows up for the fight in a shirt and tie. Hmmm. Very original. I think I like it.)

ROUND 1
Immediately, Edwards comes out swinging in a flurry, not allowing Ferguson to defend or gather himself. He finally lets up, but it’s not long before Edwards is peppering him again. Ferguson keeps trying to get away while going in for the occasional shot. Finally the pace slows and the 2 begin some more even exchanges. Ferguson lands a couple straight arms to Edwards’s face. After a left/right combo from Ferguson, Edwards shoots and stumbles for a takedown but fails to get Ferguson down. They continue the standup fight, but both are being more selective. Ferguson lands a nice right that connects with Edwards’s ear. Edwards lands a leg kick, but Ferguson returns the favor. Both are eating shots to the face and head. Edwards finally shoots at Ferguson’s waist and gets Ferguson down with a slam. In his guard, he can’t do much. Instead Ferguson is landing elbows. He backs off, and with the opening, Ferguson lands a hell kick to the chin that drops Edwards like a sack of rocks. As soon as he hits the mat, Ferguson pounces to finish but he’s stopped.

Winner: Tony Ferguson via Knock-Out

FINALLY! It’s nice to see two guys lay it all on the line and go out there with the confidence to win it.

At the house, goofy Chuck enjoys making everyone laugh, but once he’s training or fighting, he’s cold steel; all business baby. Lesnar says he’s well-rounded, but in particular, he’s great on the ground. He can certainly hold his own on the mat.

Zach seems to also be Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky, but he’s also more competitive. He promises that his desire to win is greater than anyone else’s. And Junior backs this up, saying that he just loves to fight. You would never guess that by looking at him!

FIGHT DAY

ROUND 1
Almost immediately Davis shoots for and gets the takedown, but just as fast O’Neill’s arms around his neck looking for a choke. They both scramble for control, but it doesn’t last and they are quickly back on their feet. In the clinch, Davis sneaks up some knees. O’Neill reverses control and latches onto Davis knee looking to pull him down. It’s a failed attempt. Within seconds, Davis manages to get O’Neill down and is in his guard. Davis can’t do much, but O’Neill lands a few elbows. Davis backs up off him and O’Neill looks to replay T’s big up-kick, but doesn’t make it happen. Davis allows O’Neill to get up, but in a blink O’Neill has Davis on his back. While peppering him with elbows, Davis pulls O’Neill’s head down, looking for a potential triangle. After some struggling to position it, he gets the leg over and locked down and O’Neill taps.

Winner: Zach Davis via Submission (Triangle)

Dana makes a good point – a war doesn’t have to be fought on their feet, these two fought a war on the ground and made it entertaining. Despite Dana telling Chuck how impressive he was, Chuck is mad at himself

Now that the prelims are over, Dana asks the coaches (JDS-4; Lesnar-3) to pick the wildcards. All 3 unanimously agree that Justin Edwards deserves the shot, and they tell him so…unfortunately, with a 90-day suspension (which we can only assume was due to being knocked out) from the commission, he will not be allowed to fight. Wow, that sucks.

So then they call in every single asking why they should pick them for the wildcard. They are not wowed by anyone’s answers. No one lays it out saying that no one wants the fight more than them. Bummer.

What’s weirdest is that, unlike ANY previous season, neither Brock nor Junior are blindly pushing for their guys. And not only that, they actually have a conversation calmly, really discussing who is the best pick! Wow, go figure! This should be the precedent by which all future seasons are set!

So when Dana makes the announcement, they have decided that Javier Torres of Team Dos Santos will take on Team Lesnar’s Chuck O’Neil.

Next week: Len expresses his discontent with not being picked for the wildcard, and confronts Brock. Then Brock and Junior hit the grid iron for the Coaches’ Challenge. And both wildcard picks try to avenge their losses to prove they were not flukes. Finally, the first quarterfinal matchups are announced.

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

The Ultimate Fighter: Season 13 Episode 5: “Wow Me”

April 27, 2011 By

Previously on The Ultimate Fighter, Assistant Coach Lew overstepped his bounds, forcing Junior to put him in his place. Team Lesnar suspected Chris Cope of spying for the other team. Team Dos Santos earned their third win when Ramsey Nijem pulled off a rear naked choke over Charlie Rader. And after the fight, Brock lashed out at his team for their lackluster performances. Will someone rise above and become the Ultimate?

As Chris is getting treated for his post-fight injuries, Brock lashes out at the boys for looking like chicken shit (again). Len storms out, proclaiming that he fought his heart out making a good point that Brock wasn’t even there for his fight (though he did lose). However, Brock couldn’t care less. He’s just being honest – using his own loss to Cain Velasquez as a prime example. He blamed no one but himself. Clay commends Brock for trying to light a fire under them, trying to get them take the damn bull by the horns and just TAKE IT. All the man wants is someone to “Wow” him. Len just feels like he got robbed by the judges – doesn’t he realize that he shouldn’t have left it in their hands? Back at the house, Len is STILL going on and on about Brock’s name-calling, whining that Brock needs to grow up (so says the one who is still whining…).

At the fight announcement JDS picks his own Mick Bowman to take on Team Lesnar’s Clay Harvison. This is a big fight for Team Lesnar as they need it to regain control and for a morale boost.

At training, Junior is getting frustrated with Coach Lew. Lew, brought in for his wrestling, is trying to teach Mick a little of everything…boxing, BJJ, etc. Junior’s like, “Um, hey, this is my team.” There’s a good reason that Junior’s the coach and Lew’s not.

On Clay’s side, he’s not going underestimate Mick’s toughness. He knows he’s a brawler, but he’s not afraid to step in with him and throw down. At training, they work his jabbing and his combos to counter whatever Mick has. As they’re strategizing, Clay looks over and sees Cope staring them down. Immediately he thinks Chris is a narc and discusses with theory with Charlie. Mr. Toughguy then starts ranting about how he’ll drag Chris into the street and kick his ass right there in Vegas and how he’s been known to break the law. Sorry, kid, but chances are if you have to brag about it, you’re so full of it that your eyes are brown.

The show returns showing someone writing in the sand “Chris Cope Double Agent.” The perpetrator isn’t shown, but Chris and friends discover it. Chris denies it and brings it up to everyone ‘round the fire. He puts it out there and wants to know who thinks he’s playing both sides. No one really fesses up, but some admit to their doubts. Chris promises that his word is good and that he’s a man of integrity. The guys claim to believe him and thank him for his honesty.

But no sooner do they “believe” him that they’re back upstairs trashing him. They all think that it must’ve been someone on Team Dos Santos that wrote in the sand, and if that’s the case, Chris must be a double agent. So much for giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Moments later, Chris comes up all smiles and flat out accuses Tony of being the writer. Tony denies it, despite Chris’s claim that #1 – Tony has written in the sand before and #2 – The handwriting matches up. Chris pushes and pushes, causing Tony to take huge offense to being called a liar. The Team starts to wonder if this is Chris’s guilty conscience talking. Chris and Tony eventually kiss and make up and move on.

The sand bit becomes the topic of conversation for Team Dos Santos also. Apparently, it was the handiwork of Mick – not because Chris is feeding them his team’s info, but because Chris is always lurking around them, seemingly trying to collect info not dispense it. Duh…

FIGHT DAY

ROUND 1
Right out of the gate both are swinging big. Harvison is more offensive and lands a couple combos. They start being pickier with their offense and choose what they throw more hesitantly. Harvison lands a solid right and left. Bowman shoots for a takedown, but Harvison reverses it and gets Bowman on his back. From his feet, Harvison lands a couple solid bombs, but Bowman counters with some big up-kicks. Harvison falls onto Bowman, allowing Bowman to grab onto Harvison’s arm looking for an armbar. Harvison wiggles out and they are both up on their feet. Back to standing, they exchange several combos, and Harvison sneaks in a couple big knees. Harvison charges Bowman and pins him against the fence where he alternates between knees and body shots. They separate but Harvison is still on the offensive pelting Bowman with combo after combo. Back against the cage, Harvison retains control but Bowman spins out and lands a nasty elbow to Harvison’s temple. Harvison then spins into control and attempts but misses the very same elbow. In the center, they’re throwing bombs again, and Bowman connects a straight jab that snaps Harvison’s neck back but he takes it. They exchange a few knees, but the round ends with a failed double from Bowman.
(Definitely giving that round to Harvison – he controlled the round, landed more shots and was the aggressor)

ROUND 2
Bowman charges first with a leg kick but doesn’t connect. Harvison retaliates with a jab/kick combo that sends Bowman flying backwards. Harvison charges at him, peppering him with jabs and they clinch. They alternate control but neither does much. Back at center, they go tit for tat – combo for combo, kick for kick, but Harvison lands more shots than Bowman does. Harvison slips as a goes for a takedown, but Bowman doesn’t take advantage. The exchanges continue but both are slowing down. Finally, Bowman lands a leg kick and a jab that surprise Harvison. But Harvison returns the favor. However, Harvison seems to be less offensive than previously. Harvison is backing up more and allowing Bowman to take shots. Bowman looks for the takedown but settles for the clinch. He sneaks in some head shots and some knees as the round ends.
(I would’ve given the round to Bowman, but apparently the judges saw differently).

Winner: Clay Harvison via Decision

Clay was completely dominant in the first round, but a kick that hurt his right hand threw him off in the second round. It was like a switch went off and allowed Mick to take over Round 2.

After the fight, Mick is beside himself with disappointment, no matter how many times Junior tells him to keep his head up.

In Clay’s corner, he’s proud of his win, but the joy is cut short when the gloves come off and he discovers that his pinky is not only broken, but the bone has come through the skin! Off to the hospital he goes to get it reset and casted. Sorry, buddy, you’re out. And despite this ending Clay’s tenure on TUF, Brock is proud. *insert eye roll*

Next week: Injuries plague Brock’s fighters. The conflict between JDS and Lew comes to a head. And we get the last to preliminary fights. Plus, the wildcard is announced.

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