Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Previously on TUF, shoulder surgery knocked McKinney out of wildcard contention. Fearing another loss, Tito pushed his team to their limits (to the chagrin of some). And finally, Bryant was able to defeat a quickly gassed McCray via decision to give Team Liddell yet another win.

Team Ortiz is a little down due to McCray’s loss. According to Uscola, McCray looked sloppy and lays much of the blame on Tito. In his eyes, Tito is working them too hard, they are being overtrained and not given enough rest.

Over at the Liddell camp, their esteemed coach finally returns and is happy to hear of Bryant’s win. He’s also happy to see the progress his remaining fighters (McGee and Henley) have made. His hopes are to go 6-1.

At the house, McCray disagrees that Tito is overtraining them. Yager agrees that they should not be pointing fingers and is proud of McCray for doing his “dizzle.” As far as he’s concerned, he’s doing a great job. Hammortree is also in the same camp. Yes, they’re being pushed, but it’s not bad. To the contrary, it’s good for them. Ring agrees, even calling it a vacation.

Tito has gotten wind of Uscola’s little mutiny, and decides to call a team meeting. He calls Uscola out, making the good point that one bad apple can spoil the bunch. I will give Tito that much – he may be a (insert a few choice words), personally, but he is a good coach.

And then we have the coaches challenge!! My favorite part of the season (and apparently Dana’s too!). What better challenge for two such hateful coaches than dodgeball! The first team to 3 wins gets the money.

Game #1 starts off rip roaring, guys picking each other off left and right. Chuck is seriously gunning the ball. Next thing you know, it’s just Tito vs Chuck+2. Team Liddell wins.

Game #2 goes the same route, and in the end it’s Tito vs Chuck. Tito gets popped. Liddell up 2-0.

Game #3 finally gets down to just Chuck and Tito again. They’re chucking (pun intended) balls back and forth and finally Chuck nails him. Team Liddell gets the $10K and bragging rights. I don’t think Chuck will EVER get tired of beating Tito.

Back at the gym, the guys are gathered for Chuck’s fight announcement. It will be Court McGee vs. Nick Ring (who promptly gives McGee the “oh no you didn’t” finger – yikes). Up until now, Dana has questioned Chuck’s decisions. But considering his record, Dana is no longer questioning him. Maybe there’s something he knows about McGee that we don’t?

Ring is a good kicker, so Chuck warns McGee to either check them or step into them. McGee seems to have his head on straight and how to avoid getting sub’d. Even Hackleman is impressed with him, particularly his speed and stamina.

At the house, McGee is talking about his past drug and alcohol addictions – how he nearly died, the crazy situations he got into and how he changed his life. He wouldn’t rather be anywhere else.

At Team Ortiz training, Hammortree is sparring with McCray. McCray locks up with him and goes to take him down. Suddenly Hammortree goes down and is literally screaming in pain that his back is on fire and there is tingling down his leg. The medics strap him to a board and away he goes into an ambulance. And there go Hammortree’s wildcard chances…

Later that night, Ring talks about his trials and tribulations. After having had knee surgery, he’s happy to have been able to get back to fighting condition. With excellent BJJ as well as kickboxing, Tito sees Ring winning via submission. Although he was Tito’s first pick, he handles the pressure well.

Back from the hospital, Hammortree feels thankful that everything is okay with his back. Chances are that he just twisted the wrong way. He does have swelling but he will heal.

Once again, it’s the battle of the favorite vs. the underdog. Team Liddell is behind McGee, while those on Team Ortiz talk like Ring is the second coming of Jesus. Uscola has already given the win to Ring via armbar.

FIGHT DAY

ROUND 1
McGee strikes first with a solid jab to the face but Ring counters with a straight leg kick. McGee charges and takes Ring down easily. In Ring’s guard, McGee is working to advance, but Ring won’t let him. Not much progress and they are back up. Both attempt body kicks that are checked. Nice head kick from McGee. Both look a little unsure. Several unanswered kicks from Ring. McGee answeres with a combo and they clinch in the center. They both throw repeated knees that connect. Back apart, McGee is more the aggressor and goes for another takedown. Ring splays and gets his arms around McGee’s neck in a reverse choke. He can’t get it in, but he spins around to take McGee’s back. McGee goes fetal, but then ends up on his back. Ring is in half-guard looking for side control. Both are taking shots, but not doing much damage. Ring ends up in his guard, but again, is not doing much. They simply exchange elbow after elbow as the round ends.

ROUND 2
McGee goes in first, but fakes. Ring is the first to connect with a leg kick. And the two begin exchanging leg kicks. McGee changes it up with a jab that throws Ring off. Every time Ring throws a kick, so does McGee. But Ring keeps with the inside leg kicks, as per Tito. McGee is no schlub though, landing quite a few jabs to the face. Ring reaches in for a takedown and McGee pops him straight in the face. Ring backs up and McGee aggresses to the clinch. McGee lands several more solid jabs and crosses. Now Ring is fighting back less, throwing fewer kicks. McGee goes for the takedown, but Ring defends it. They clinch and McGee lands a few knees, followed by an overhand. Ring keeps going forward, but gets smacked every time he does. Ring finally throws a head kick but it’s checked. They hook up, with Ring throwing knees. McGee looks like he wants to take Ring down, but he pushes him against the cage instead. Still clinching, they circle, but do nothing. Solid leg kick from Ring. The round ends with McGee chasing and peppering Ring with shots.

Another Round 3??? I wouldn’t be surprised!

Yager is running his mouth at Chuck, claiming that it’s all about takedowns and aggression and that Ring controlled the pace of the fight. The way Chuck saw it, Ring did control and win the first round, but that McGee won the second.

Judge #1: 20-18 Ring
Judge #2: 19-19
Judge #3: 20-18 Ring

Winner: Nick Ring via Majority Decision

I have to agree with Chuck – how did they give Ring the 2nd round? Even Dana questioned it! But, Dana makes a good point – this is exactly why you don’t leave the fight in the hands of the judges.

Chuck starts exchanging words with Dana, like he can do something about it. He continues his rampage into the back as all coaches do. But at least McGee takes the loss in stride.

Next Week: Ring advances into the quarters, but a nagging injury may get in the way. Joe Henley takes on Seth Baczynski. And the wait is over – the wildcard is announced!

Previously on TUF, Camozzi was sent packing due to a broken jaw, setting up a comeback for Seth Baczynski. Tensions rose between Jamie Yager and his teammates on Team Ortiz. And Team Liddell went 2-0 after Brad Tavares came out on top after 3 rounds with James Hammortree.

Tonight, there is a lot of talk about the Tavares/Hammortree battle. The two were pretty even throughout most of the fight, each winning a round. Tavares managed to pull out the third round. But the biggest surprise came from Yager rooting for Tavares – Ring takes this personally and tries to talk to Yager (but really, it did seem to go in one ear and out the other. We shall see) about his loyalties. Even though they’re not all on the same team, Tavares, Yager, Noke and McCray (“The Minority Report” as Yager dubbed them) claim to “rep” each other. Ring goes on to share these sentiments with several other guys who, to put it nicely, just don’t like Yager.

The next day, Chuck makes the next fight selection in which Rich Attonito will take on Kyacey Uscola. From the comments of their teammates, it sounds like it will be fairly evenly matched.

At Team Ortiz training, Tito is getting to know Uscola. As it turns out, his longtime girlfriend is pregnant with his son who is due to be born during the course of the show. He’ll miss it, but he knows he’s there to provide for his child’s future. Tito is impressed all around with Uscola, with his striking and his takedowns particularly, but feels he still needs preparation. He doesn’t want to put any extra pressure on Kyacey, but they need the win.

Attonito trains with American Top Team and is looked upon very highly by the coaches. He has a solid skill set – good wrestling, good takedowns. Chuck’s expectation is that Attonito will be able to take Uscola down easily and beat him down to get the win. Unfortunately for Attonito, Chuck had prior commitments that happen to fall at this same time and therefore he will miss the fight. Rampage? Is that you???

Back at the house, there’s a lot of yelling and screaming. Apparently, Uscola’s shirt went missing and it was suspected that Yager was the thief. McCray finally found it, but that didn’t stop a lot of heated words from being exchanged between Uscola and Yager. I couldn’t really decipher it all between the constant bleeping, but there is definitely no love lost between these two.

Ortiz is chatting with Yager about what’s bothering him, which reignites the fight with Uscola. It seems as though Yager is this season’s Junie Browning. At least McKinney has come to the realization that there is really no reason to argue with someone like that – someone who won’t listen anyway. As it turns out, Yager did not “steal” the shirts from the coaches as Uscola thought, but Uscola still won’t apologize.

Attonito shares pictures of his wife with Yager, and talks about the heart and the motivation he needs to be where he is. Awww, and who said fighters can’t be lovers too?

FIGHT DAY

Round 1
After what seems like hours of dancing, Uscola finally strikes. Attonito counters with a nice overhand. Both are very tentative. Attonito delivers a nice combo. Uscola responds with some nice jabs. Attonito connects with an uppercut. Uscola falls back and Attonito pounces with endless hammerfists. Uscola can’t regain himself and keeps rolling around to escape. Uscola gives up his back which Attonito tries to mount while still pounding away. Attonito tries to get his legs around but can’t . Back on their feet, they clinch against the fence. Attonito grabs Uscola by the upper body and literally slams him on his head. Attonito just continues to punish Uscola on the ground. Somehow Uscola manages to reverse and he is on top of Attonito with side control but all he does is lay there catching his breath. Neither is advancing. Attonito rolls and is on all fours when Uscola starts with the knees. The first lands to the chest, but then he unleashes a nasty knee that connects with his head. Ref Rosenthal jumps in, and Uscola leaps up thinking he won! Rosenthal has to explain to him that it was an illegal knee, as Attonito is lying on the ground like a fish. They assess Attonito and Rosenthal decides that he can’t continue, calling it a DQ.

Winner: Rich Attonito via DQ

From the start, Dana was impressed with Attonito (and rightfully so). Uscola was merely surviving the entire round. Then the knee heard round the world happened…how could Tito and Uscola think that didn’t hit him in the face??? Both are pissed, calling it bull, etc. Tito says Uscola’s chance was “taken away from him” – uh, no, he lost his chance. Uscola says he no longer has respect for Attonito (as if it was his decision?). Bottom-line (even by Dana’s own admission), the fight was one-sided anyway. Rich was winning until the illegal knee.

Later that evening, it is found that after a visit to the hospital, Attonito’s hand is broken and will need surgery. Uscola is hoping they will advance him in his spot.

With Chuck up 3-0, he chooses Charlie Blanchard to fight Jamie Yager. Chuck expects Blanchard to pull out a KO, and Tito sees an easy win. Tito declares that if they lose again, he’ll kill himself (*sigh* one can only hope!).

Liddell likes Blanchard’s standup, but Blanchard is worried about Yager’s kicks and aggressiveness. Blanchard does not seem entirely confident.

Yager on the other hand, is told by Tito to be the example for the team and to cut the BS. He claims to be so defensive because of the way he grew up – he came from nothing. But that’s not who he “really is.” In order to win the fight, Tito says he must not stop moving – circle constantly and defend takedowns. Calls it an easy win.

Uscola’s hope: that Yager’s jaw gets broken. Hey, it’ll keep him from running his mouth ?

Yager says his height will definitely be his big advantage – yeah, ask Stefan Struve how that worked out for him

FIGHT DAY

(It’s 5 of…. Hmmm…)

Round 1
Some dancing and Yager aggresses first. Lots of circling and Yager is jabbing the air. Blanchard shoots, Yager sprawls and still ends up pinned against the fence. Blanchard tries to slam him, but Yager defends it well. Nearly as soon as they’re back on their feet, Yager lands a huge nasty right that drops Blanchard. Blanchard turtles up; Yager unleashes a flurry of hammerfists and pounds Blanchard into submission.

Winner: Jamie Yager via TKO

Team Ortiz is chomping at the bit now that they have control. Suddenly they’re all “rah rah teamwork”. Yeah, he’s still a d-bag.

Next week: Tito makes his first fight pick. The guys start speculating the wild card choices, but an injury takes one loser out of the running.