The Ultimate Fighter 19 - Discussion, Rumors and Results

[Keithlewis]

Courtesy: Dan Downes, UFC.com


The episode starts with a quick rehash of last week’s fight. In case you missed it, Daniel Spohn took a unanimous decision victory over Todd Monaghan in what we’ll call, “less than exciting,” fashion. The housemates are discussing the fight in the kitchen, and Daniel Spohn defends his performance, calling it “smart.” The fighters don’t have full training camps for the fights and the only goal is to win the finals. When that day comes, you can lay it all on the line. Until then, you have to do what’s necessary to keep yourself healthy and able to continue in the tournament. Matt Van Buren doesn’t fully subscribe to Spohn’s strategy and warns about crossing the fine line into “boring” fight territory. Patrick Walsh agrees with Spohn’s strategy and says, “I would’ve done the same thing.” He criticizes Todd for only wanting to “stand and bang,” and not preparing himself for a full mixed martial arts fight. Walsh actually expresses this sentiment to Monaghan during practice one day, and Todd does not take it very well.

From there we shift focus to this week’s fight between Tim Williams and Dhiego Lima. Having lost the first two fights this season, Frankie Edgar is starting to feel the pressure. He doesn’t like losing, and desperately wants the momentum to shift. He doesn’t think that he’s being out-coached. Rather, he attributes the two fight losing streak to Team Penn getting the better end of the match-ups. Luckily for him this week he has a fight he would have made himself. Besides an upset Todd Monaghan, Patrick Walsh has another problem on his hands. He herniated a disc in his back a couple years ago and it still flares up from time to time. The timing couldn’t be worse and he’s relegated to doing cardio on the Airdyne bike.

They’re not slowing down at all on the Team Penn side. The whole team is really pushing themselves, and we hear assistant coach Mark Coleman telling them “I want to see someone throw up.” Coach Penn wants the entire team ready for a fight and he’s driving them hard. Unlike the problems on Team Edgar, everything seems to going smoothly despite the intense pace. When asked about Tim Williams’s chances, BJ does not shy back from his prediction. He calls Tim the best guy on the team and even picks him as his top choice to win the tournament.

We cut back to the house and learn more about Tim’s background. The overarching theme is that he knows the benefits of second chances. At the age of 18, he was driving drunk and crashed his car without wearing a seatbelt. Fortunately, no one was hurt severely, but he took that event as a sign to clean up his act. When he tried out for season 17 of The Ultimate Fighter, he lost to Dylan Andrews and never made it into the house. All his life experiences have toughened him up and made him a better person. W later learn that Williams was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm right before he was set to make his professional debut (against Chris Weidman of all people). After successful surgery he wouldn't let that deter him rom MMA dreams. Whether professionally, legally or medically, Tim Williams has been given second chances in life and he takes advantage of these opportunities. As for his fight style, the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu brown belt describes himself as a “grinder” who doesn't rest at all. He even runs extra miles and does up to 500 situps a day.

As Tim Williams grinds away to become the next Ultimate Fighter, Matt Van Buren continues to grind housemate’s gears. Nicknamed “gutter” a lot of the other fighters dislike Van Buren because he “says a lot of dumb things.” Corey Anderson puts it a bit more politely and says that he “rubs people the wrong way.” Van Buren’s number one target appears to be Irishman Chris Fields. After the two exchange insults about each other’s accents (Van Buren has a southern drawl) a challenge is thrown down. Van Buren calls out Fields and tells him that they should be the ones to fight next.

Back on the Team Edgar side we hear from Dhiego. He moved to Atlanta at the age of 12 from Brazil and didn’t know a word of English. Growing up, he loved martial arts movies and watched them with his brother and current Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima. He remembers watching an old PRIDE fight between Wanderlei SIlva and Rampage Jackson and getting hooked on MMA. Frankie says that Dhiego “can do it all.” As far as the game plan goes, Frankie characterizes Tim’s standup as average. Also, despite Tim’s BJJ background, Frankie thinks he struggles when put on his back. He wants Dhiego to soften Tim up on the feet and then take him down.

Back at the house Dhiego makes the foolish decision of asking the other fighters to help him name his yet to be born daughter. Let’s hope he fights smarter than that, because it’s fight time!

ROUND ONE

Tim strikes first and connects with a heavy right hand. Dhiego starts to retreat, but Tim keeps the pressure on. He moves in for a takedown and the two are grappling against the fence. Dhiego defends, and Tim tries to soften him up with knees to the leg. They eventually take their toll and Tim brings the fight to the ground. After securing side mount, he throws elbows. Dhiego creates a little space to take half guard, but can’t make it back to his feet. Tim drops a couple more elbows and Dhiego gives up his back. Tim slides one hook in and then secures both with about 1:30 remaining in the round. Realizing he can’t finish the choke, he takes a leg out and starts punching. Then in the last 30 seconds he attempts the choke again. Dhiego survives to see the end of the round, but he was controlled the entire time.

ROUND TWO

Tim comes out hard again and continues to walk Dhiego down. Lima lands a couple solid counter punches, but Tim walks through them. Knowing he needs to turn it up, Dhiego rushes in, but gets too close and gives up the takedown. Unlike the first round, he’s able gets back to his feet and takes the center of the Octagon. Tim shoots for another takedown, but Dhiego sprawls and blocks the finish. Tim keeps pushing and the two are back against the fence. Dhiego reverses position, breaks the clinch and separates. He’s finally starting to find his range and lands some strikes. Tim answers back with a superman punch and clinches up. He drops for another double leg, but is stopped once more. Dheigo must have found a second wind because as soon as he sprawls he instantly transitions to Tim’s back. The change of pace catches Tim off guard and the choke is deep. He taps out with 1:24 remaining.

Team Edgar celebrates their first win of the season as Team Penn sits in stunned silence. Frankie knows that it was a close fight. He gives props to Tim for coming out hard. That coupled with the fact that, “Lima did pretty much everything we told him not to do,” made the first round a clear loss. Dhiego knew this and says that he used it for motivation to push through the second round. All he could think in his head was, “I gotta finish.” The best way to describe BJ Penn’s reaction is “bummed out.” He blames the loss on Tim tiring out. He knows that Tim was in excellent shape, though, so he hypothesizes that the fatigue may be due to him not getting enough rest. Perhaps those grueling training sessions had something to do with it.

Back in the Team Edgar locker room, Matt Van Buren pushes for his fight against Chris Fields, but Frankie turns him down because, “It’s not what we planned.” The announcement comes and it will be Team Edgar’s Corey Anderson against Team Penn’s Josh Clark.

We close out with a sneak peek into next week’s episode. What effect will scaling back have on Team Penn’s performance? Can Corey Anderson even things up? Does Team Edgar decide to bury Matt Van Buren in the woods when they go out on their hike? Find out this and more next week on The Ultimate Fighter!

[Keithlewis]

Courtesy: Dan Downes, UFC.com



The show opens with Corey Anderson and Josh Clark discussing their upcoming fight with their respective teammates. A former professional boxer, Josh thinks his experience and striking make him a bad matchup for the Team Edgar wrestler. Corey may only have four MMA fights, but he’s not lacking confidence. He talks about how he “doesn’t know his own power,” and how he doesn’t just beat opponents -- he hurts them.

We cut to a Team Penn training session where the coaching staff is rethinking their regimen. Tim Williams’s loss last week has caused BJ Penn to reexamine how he’s been pushing the team during practice. Why did the person with the best cardio on the team tire out after only one round? The conclusion he’s come to is that the fighters haven’t been resting enough. He knows that some of the guys have been doing extra work at the house, and tells them to stop it. Daniel Spohn admits that it’s hard for the fighters to reduce their output, but the coaching staff has made a smart decision.

The team decides to take evening practice off, and it just so happens to be Halloween night. Instead of worrying about armbars and sparring, they worry about how to carve jack-o-lanterns. Mike King also worries about how to put on the right undergarments to match his female nurse outfit. The Team Edgar van pulls up, and Matt Van Buren wastes no time calling out Team Penn for their lack of work ethic. These complaints continue on to the next day when Frankie takes the team out to Mount Charleston for an afternoon hike. Frankie says it’s a good idea to get the guys out of the house, but Dhiego Lima wonders why they’re climbing a mountain on their off day.

We cut to another Team Penn session and learn more about their game plan for Josh. A classic “striker vs. grappler” matchup, BJ knows that Josh has to watch out for the takedown. As long as Josh can avoid going to the ground, they expect him to KO Corey on the feet. Besides the takedown, the Team Penn staff worries about Josh’s ability to handle the pressure. Josh has confidence issues, and BJ sees how this affects him during training. “I see signs of brilliance, and then I see other things.” These “other things” are Josh getting submitted and pushed around during contact drills.

Back at the house, a bunch of the fighters are sitting around the kitchen table discussing the all the different MMA skill sets. Roger Zapata tries to explain to Corey that “wrestling is simple.” Eddie Gordon calls it, “The dumbest thing that I’ve heard in my time in the house,” while Corey takes it much more personally. He’s been wrestling since the age of 3 and dedicated so much of his life to the sport. To have someone call it simple feels like the ultimate insult.

A D-III standout that begrudgingly picked up MMA because of Ben Askren’s persistence, the 24 year old still has a lot to learn. He’s only been training in MMA for 7 months and Coach Edgar mentions about that Corey is still trying to figure out a lot about the sport. Frankie also calls him “a machine” and says the key to victory will be to push the pace. As long as he can put Josh on his back, it’ll be an easy fight. We’ll see how easy it’ll truly be, because it’s fight time!

ROUND ONE

Josh takes the center of the cage and starts letting his hands go. He’s flowing well, but nothing solid really connects. Corey has enough of this and attempts his first takedown only 30 seconds into the fight. Josh somersaults to create a scramble, but winds up against the fence. Corey easily puts Josh on the mat, but inexplicably lets him back to his feet. They’re striking again, and Josh connects on a hard uppercut. Corey tries to close the distance, but Josh hits him with another counter cross. Corey doesn’t appear dazed, but more punches are starting to find their way around his defense. Josh continues to throw haymakers and use his footwork to avoid Corey’s advances. Around 1:15 mark, Corey finally gets his hands on Josh and takes him down. This time he doesn’t let Josh back up and starts working from half guard. He scores some short punches and even pins one of Josh’s arms down. Josh gets his arm free and rolls through for a leg lock. He can’t finish the submission, but he uses it to get back to his feet. They trade jabs, and Josh tries to sneak a knee through. Corey grabs it, hits a single leg and finishes the round in dominant top position.

ROUND TWO

Corey starts the round with another single leg attempt, but Josh circles away and finds the mark with a low kick. Corey charges forward, grabs another knee attempt and scores another takedown. Josh has his guard and works for angles, but Corey stifles any chances for a submission. Corey can’t generate any offense either, and the ref soon stands them up. Josh restarts with a flurry, but loses his balance after a kick attempt. Corey pounces on the opportunity and moves to top position. Josh fails at another leg lock, and can’t even use the attack to get back to his feet. With less than 30 seconds to go, Corey takes Josh’s back, starts punching and secures full mount. He brings the ground and pound and Josh shells up into full survival mode. The fight is on the verge of being stopped, but the Josh is saved by the bell.

Two judges give the fight to Corey and one has it tied 19-19. Corey Anderson wins by majority decision. BJ says that the first round was close, but, “Corey took over round two.” Frankie doesn’t think the fight was close at all, and calls the whole thing “one-sided.” Dana White blames Josh for running out of gas and, “having absolutely zero takedown defense.”

We move to the fight announcement and it will be Team Edgar’s Ian Stephens against the last pick and wrestling simplifier Roger Zapata. Frankie calls Ian a “strong wrestler,” and better athlete than Roger. He predicts an easy takedown and ground and pound victory. BJ knows that everyone expects Roger to lose easily, but they shouldn’t count him out just yet. Next week’s sneak peek shows that The Prodigy may not be too far off.

Can Matt Hughes fix Roger’s wrestling in time? Does Ian Stephens live up to expectations? Why is their fight so controversial? Find out this and more next week on The Ultimate Fighter!

[Keithlewis]

[Keithlewis]

Courtesy: Dan Downes, UFC.com



This week’s episode gets right to business setting up the fight between Ian Stephens and Roger Zapata. Team Edgar’s first pick, Ian Stephens is a strong wrestler and heavy favorite. On the other side, team Penn’s Roger Zapata was the last pick and not too many people are giving him a chance. Even his own coach BJ Penn admits that the deck is stacked against Roger. The Prodigy isn’t willing to just lay down, though, and we later see that he brings in a special guest to help.

Back at the house, we learn a little more about Ian’s path to The Ultimate Fighter. Sitting around the fire at the house, Ian discusses losing his father at the age of six. A tragic accident, his father suffered a fatal electrocution while working on an air conditioner installation. He also talks about how this event shaped his approach to athletics, and has given him the drive to succeed even with the odds stacked against him. It’s been 19 years since his father’s death. Now that he’s competing on the 19th season of TUF, he thinks that maybe the stars have aligned.

As far as strategy is concerned, Coach Edgar wants Ian to get Roger to the ground. Once he has the takedown, Frankie wants Ian to use his ground and pound. This will cause Roger to give up his back and Ian can lock up the rear naked choke. Ian has slightly different plans, however. Since Roger expects the takedown to come, Ian is going to use a lot of feints. When Roger bites on the fake shot, Ian will deliver a knockout overhand right.

Roger may have to worry about Ian’s right hand, but he has other things on his mind. He had to leave his newborn baby and wife to come on the show, and he’s constantly thinking about them. He admits that he tries to forget about them and focus on the show, but it’s “impossible.” Instead of viewing that as a weakness, Roger says that this attitude has given him strength. Instead of fighting like he has nothing to lose, now he fights harder and stronger to make it home and see his wife and daughter.

Regardless of the result of the fight, Roger will return home a better wrestler. Why? BJ Penn’s has a secret training weapon. Former UFC champion and MMA legend Matt Hughes shows up to help the team with their grappling. They may have been opponents in the Octagon, but Hughes tells us that after retiring he’s maintained a close relationship with BJ Penn because their personalities are so similar. Hughes drills Roger on how to get off the cage and shows him some defensive techniques. Roger tells us that the time with Hughes has given him to huge improvements in his wrestling ability. Will it be enough? We’re about to find out because it’s fight time!

ROUND ONE

The two touch gloves and Ian opens with a couple hard kicks. Roger works from a southpaw stance, and plays it careful in the opening moments. Ian attempts his first takedown 45 seconds into the frame and pushes Roger against the fence. Ian fights for position and transitions to a belly to back slam. He immediately takes back mount and tries to secure his hooks. He has to reposition his legs, though, and Roger uses that opportunity to make it back to his feet. As Roger works for a kimura, Ian takes him back to the mat. Roger throws some short elbows and referee Steve Mazzagatti tells him to be careful about the angles. Ian is able to repeatedly take Roger down, but can’t seem to garner any offense. Even though he’s in less than ideal positions, Roger continues to punch, elbow and do damage to his opponent. Roger finally takes top position in the closing moments of the round, but only 8 seconds remain.

ROUND TWO

Ian opens the round with the takedown feint to right cross he told us about in the lead up. The strike puts Roger off balance and Ian easily converts another takedown. He takes Roger’s back again and spends the rest of the round trying to fight for the rear naked choke. Ian doggedly pursues the submission, but Roger’s defense is too solid. Unfortunately, it’s not good enough. He’s avoiding the tap out, but he’s completely stuck and can’t seem to get out of the position. Roger finally stands up with 30 seconds remaining in the round, but Ian frustrates him from that position, too.

The judges come back with the scorecards, and Dana White is visibly pleased. We’re heading to sudden victory!

ROUND THREE

Ian shoots without hesitation. Roger stops it initially, but Ian continues to drive through and finish. Rogers stands up, but he’s immediately back down on the canvas. Roger positions himself to get some space and drops repeated hammerfists and elbows. Much like the first round, referee Mazzagatti deems the elbows illegal and stops the fight to deduct one point from Roger. This is the point when thinks start to get a little bit tense. Assistant coach Mark Coleman can be seen in the background losing his mind. Dana White disagrees with the call so much that he has to walk away from the rest of the fight and head to his office. Roger tries to plead with Mazzagatti, but to no avail.

After the restart, Roger just doesn’t have anything left. As BJ puts it, “[the deduction] took the wind out of his sails. Ian succeeds on a takedown, takes Roger’s back and spends the rest of the round working for a choke that never comes.

Before the scores are read, the coaches and Dana recap the action. Dana calls Ian a “human blanket,” and it shouldn’t be taken as a compliment. He also credits Roger consistently trying to do damage, and criticizes the referee for the point deduction. Cathal Pendred gives us a breakdown of the 12-6 elbow rule, and the video evidence would seem to support Dana’s conclusion.

The decision is read and Roger Zapata wins.

The whole gym erupts with a mixture of anger and surprise. Dana sends everyone to their respective locker rooms before things become too heated and looks for an explanation. We later hear that one judge scored the round 10-8 for Ian and the two others gave the round to Roger. With the point deduction, this means that it was a 9-9 round. Since there are no draws on the show, they picked who they thought won the entire fight. That happened to be Roger Zapata, and he took the unlikely victory.

Confused? Well so is everyone else. As the shock and disbelief settles in, we see that next week’s fight will be feature Team Penn’s #1 pick Anton Berzin and Team Edgar’s Patrick Walsh.

Ian Stephens may not have closure, but this episode does. How does the controversial decision affect team dynamics? Can Patrick Walsh bring the momentum back to Team Edgar? Should Roger Zapata go buy a lottery ticket? Find out this and more next week on The Ultimate Fighter!

[Keithlewis]

Courtesy: Dan Downes, UFC.com



After Roger Zapata’s controversial win last week over Ian Stephens, the tension inside the house is at it’s peak. We open inside the kitchen and the awkwardness is palpable even through the television set. Besides the loss itself, Team Edgar’s anger with Team Penn derives from the fact that the Prodigy’s fighters act like they deserved the victory. Team Penn stands by their fighter and thinks that the judges made the right call. They invoke the unified Stockton rules and resort to the “Look at Ian’s face!” argument as proof of Roger’s deservedness.

While last week’s result still stings, we move on to this week’s fight between Patrick Walsh and Anton Berzin. Walsh (aka “Fat Pat”) is a wrestler that knows he’s in for a tough test against Team Penn’s #1 pick. He doesn’t mind the challenge, though. Why? Because he’s a Boston guy. The son of a commercial fisherman, he knows about hard work. Not one to lay and pray, Walsh says that he’s “always looking for the finish.” He models his fighting style to that of UFC legend and Team Penn assistant coach Mark Coleman. As far as Coach Edgar is concerned, that’s the perfect strategy to have. If last week has taught him anything, it’s that you can’t just sit in the same position for the duration of the round (even if that happens to be a dominant position). Takedowns mixed with some ground and pound will be the keys to victory.

Back on the Team Penn side, Anton Berzin takes a page out of Myles Jury’s playbook of humble arrogance. When asked about how he sees his fight going, he responds, “I don’t want to sound cocky, but I’m going to knock him out.” He may not understand the meaning of the word cocky, but Berzin has good reasons for his confidence. In all of his professional or amateur fights, he’s never gone to decision. Instead of over-thinking his game plan, Anton states that, “now is not the time to try anything.” He wants to keep doing what has gotten him to this point and worry about new things later.

This attitude becomes readily apparent when he’s hitting pads with assistant coach (and former trainer to Chuck Liddell) John Hackleman. As Hackleman tries to show him some new technique, Anton keeps stopping and correcting him. BJ understands that Anton has had success before, but the young fighter’s insistence on not listening to the coaches creates some tension. BJ suggests that maybe Anton should, “listen to [his] coach every once in a while.”

Back at the house, all the fighters are watching a UFC card, and a disagreement over a referee’s decision ignites the powder keg. Matt Van Buren kicks things off by commenting that apparently judges AND referees don’t know what they’re doing in this sport. This results in each team yelling at one another and rehashing last week’s controversy. Chris Fields and Eddie Gordon then engage in an ontological argument concerning what a majority draw truly means. Mark Coleman just sits by and watches. “These guys are caged lions. I expected it sooner...this is awesome!”

We put the philosophical disagreements on hold for the good ol’ fashioned caged kind. It’s fight time!

ROUND ONE

The two touch gloves and Patrick wastes no time getting in Anton’s face. He swings hard and uses that momentum to engage the clinch. Anton absorbs the attack and hits a trip takedown. He immediately takes Patrick’s back and starts to lock up a rear naked choke. Patrick fights it off, returns to his feet and Anton takes the hooks out. Anton then shifts to a front headlock and snaps Patrick back to the ground. He can’t advance position, and the tow reset in the center.

Patrick moves right back into the clinch and elevates Anton with a huge hip toss. Working from side mount, Patrick starts punch, but Anton makes it to his knees and then back to his feet. They both sneak some punches in from the clinch. Anton connects on a big uppercut, but Patrick keeps charging forward. He goes for another toss, but Anton reads this one and takes the back again. Patrick doesn’t waste any time scrambling and finds separation with less than a minute to go. They exchange a few more strikes and Patrick closes out the round with a single leg takedown.

ROUND TWO

Patrick continues to swing big and move forward. Anton counters and rebuffs the first takedown attempt. Anton gets the better end of the striking exchanges, but mistimes a body kick. Patrick grabs the leg and slams Anton to the mat. Patrick then spends the rest of the round in top position. Learning from Ian Stephen’s mistakes from last week, Patrick keeps punching and brings the ground and pound he promised earlier. Anton is able to create a scramble later and even attempt an armbar, but Patrick moves right back to half guard and punches until the bell rings. The judges have the scorecards tied and we’re heading to sudden victory!

ROUND THREE

Patrick walks forward with his hands at his waist. The punches find their mark, and he follows up with another slam takedown. He’s back in half guard and maintains the same attack from the second round. Anton just has nowhere to go, and he doesn’t even appear to have the energy to move back to his feet. Anton just holds on tight and takes Walsh’s punches. We see the Team Penn coaching stuff, and they are quiet. Nothing they say can get through to their fighter. Anton finally shows a spark with 25 seconds remaining, but Patrick puts him right back in place.

There’s not controversy this week as Patrick Walsh takes the decision. Frankie Edgar admits that he was worried when Anton took Patrick’s back in the first, but it all worked out for the best. BJ calls Patrick’s big hip toss the turning point of the fight. That move, “took the wind out of Anton’s sails.” Later in the locker room Anton confesses that he gassed out. BJ Penn is tempted to say, “I told you so,” and criticizes Anton for not listening to the coaching staff. We move to the fight announcement and it will be Team Edgar’s Eddie Gordon vs. Team Penn’s Mike King.

Things wrap up with a sneak peek into next week’s episode. Who wins the coach’s challenge? Can Eddie Gordon back up all his big talk? What other philosophical treatises will arise? Find out this and more next week on The Ultimate Fighter!

[Keithlewis]

Courtesy: Dan Downes, UFC.com



We immediately get down to business and examine this week’s fight between Mike King and Eddie Gordon. Never one to mince words, Eddie tells the production staff to, “Bring out the body bags.” He says that the fight will be a one sided whooping, and he plans on dominating from start to finish. Mike is a bit more measured in his assessment. He admits that Eddie does have the physical advantage, but feels that his technical prowess will give him the victory.

Besides worrying about Eddie’s power, back at the house Mike also worries about Eddie’s dirty dishes. He calls Eddie and the rest of Team Edgar “children” for the way that they throw their dirty dishes all over the place. He’s visibly upset at the mess and Josh Clark explains the anger by telling us that Mike is the team chef and hates working in a dirty kitchen. Eddie responds that Mike should clean the dishes because that’s the job for the “woman of the house.”

Besides revealing his inner pre-WWII gender ideals, we learn some more from Gordon. A former college football player, his road to MMA started at UFC 101. While watching one of the fights, he thought, “I could do that.” Along with some help from friend Chris Weidman, he began training and never looked back. In order to deliver the one sided beating he promised, he’ll have to avoid the takedown. To prevent that, Frankie has Eddie drill defense and counter attacks off the fence. Not only will this negate the takedown, it will also limit Mike’s clinch attacks.

We then switch gears and focus on Team Penn’s Mike King. He discusses meeting his longtime girlfriend and how she saved him from a difficult time in his life. Another ex-football player, he clashes with the coaches with regards to strategy. Mike wants to move on the feet a lot and wear down Eddie before taking him out. BJ Penn, Mark Coleman and the rest of the coaching staff have different ideas. They want Mike to take the fight to the ground. BJ tells us, “[Mike] told me he wanted to knock Eddie Gordon out and I strongly advise against that.” Penn’s reasoning is basically Eddie can knock Mike out and Mike can’t do the same. The coaches debate whether or not to push Mike harder follow their plan, but they decide against it. Ultimately, they believe that Mike will do the right thing when fight time comes.

We’ll have to hold off to see if Team Penn’s faith in Mike is misplaced because next up is the coach’s challenge. As BJ and Frankie walk up, they see two kayaks sitting in the water. Frankie isn’t too happy to see that he has to compete in a water sport with a Hawaiian, but the $10,000 cash reward gives a little extra incentive to win. The two coaches will have to navigate a number of buoys and the first one to cross wins.

BJ takes an early lead, but the start is sloppy for both of them. Once they get situated, Frankie takes off and pulls ahead. He has some troubles navigating around the buoys, though, and BJ uses that opening to take the lead. It’s a lead he doesn’t relinquish and the Prodigy pulls ahead to win the cash prize and bragging rights. BJ applauds Frankie for being a tough competitor and tells him not to feel bad for losing a kayak race because, “This is how my ancestors got to Hawaii.” There’s not enough time to go to ancestry.com and verify. It’s fight time!

ROUND ONE

Eddie hit a jab to start the round. Mike kicks, and Eddie answers back with a stiff right hand. Eddie attacks the body and head with his punches while Mike struggles to find his range. He tries to switch things up with a jump knee, but Eddie grabs it and blocks the offensive attack. They brake apart and Mike tries to force the clinch. Eddie avoids the attack and circle back to the middle just like they drilled. With two minutes remaining, Mike finally kicks it into another gear and finds his mark. He closes the range, connects with a flurry and dives for a single leg. Eddie defends and takes the middle. Mike won’t be denied and rushes right back in and locks up the clinch. He connects with a few knees and they break apart again. As time runs out, Eddie swings a huge haymaker that misses.

ROUND TWO

Eddie’s jab finds its mark in the opening moments. He continues to avoid the clinch, control the middle of the Octagon and beat the Mike to the punch. Mike finally lands a solid strike, but it’s a low blow. They restart, but there’s another foul less than a minute later when Eddie pokes Mike in the eye. It’s a deep gouge that eventually closes Mike’s eye, but Mike decides to continue. With only one working eye, Mike is eager to bring the fight to the ground. He shoots repeatedly, but Eddie sprawls and refuses to go down. Mike eventually gets Eddie down with a belly to belly suplex. Unfortunately the success is only momentary as Eddie gets back to his feet. Mike’s sense of urgency is evident and he continues to rush in for the takedown. With less than 10 seconds left, Eddie drops for a guillotine and time expires.

The corners look to the judges table and it looks like we’re heading to a sudden victory round!

ROUND THREE

After spending the first minute circling around searching for an opening, Mike shoots in again. Eddie defends, but Mike pushes the fight to the cage. They break apart, and Mike shoots in again, Eddie grabs a font headlock and scores a couple solid knees. After another eye poke stoppage (this time it was Mike’s fault), Mike appears to have drastically slowed down. Every takedown attempt has been stifled and Eddie continues to land punches. In the closing moments of the round, Mike starts swinging big and busts out another flying knee. The scorecards come back and Eddie takes it by unanimous decision. Frankie calls it an evenly matched fight, but Dana says, “I saw nothing from either guy that they can take it to the next level.” On the bright side, he does give Mike credit for pushing through the nasty eye poke. Inside the Team Penn locker room, Mark Coleman gives Mike the same kudos. “Way to suck it up,” he tells his fighter. Mike just smiles and says, “Yeah, [expletive] it.”


We cut to the fight announcement and it will be the grudge match between Chris Fields and Matt Van Buren. Will they finally settle their differences in the Octagon? Can Team Penn get some momentum back? Do Hawaiian historians confront BJ Penn? Find out this and more next week on The Ultimate Fighter!

[Keithlewis]

Courtesy: Dan Downes, UFC.com



The episode opens with Matt Van Buren chomping at the bit to get his hands on Chris Fields in the show’s final preliminary round fight. He tells us his teammates that he wants to “smash” Fields and rattles off a number of reasons why. He says that Fields talks too much and acts like he’s smarter than everybody else. Matt sums up his feelings basically as, “[Chis] is a turd.”

We then cut to the turd in question as Chris talks about his motivations for fighting. The grudge match against Matt may be one thing, but he competes for the opportunity to provide a nicer life for his wife. His commitment to the sport is something that his coach BJ Penn has recognized ever since Chris’s fight to get into the house. The Irishman’s determination and heart impressed the Prodigy, and he expects great things. Having said that, BJ realizes that it won’t be an easy task. Matt has the reach advantage, so Chris will have to change up his normal style. He’ll have to push Matt up against the fence and make it a brawl. Chris doesn’t see the situation as quit so dire and calls the fight his to lose.

Next, the remaining fighters head out to a local Harley Davidson retailer to design their own personal motorcycle which will be awarded to the winner of this season. TUF 15 champion Michael Chiesa is there to give a little guidance and talk about how much he enjoys cruising on his Harley. Matt Van Buren is harassing a worker about bike size, but the highlight of the experience has to be seeing BJ Penn walk out in a pair of leather chaps.

Van Buren then takes some time away from bothering retail workers to talk about his upbringing. Growing up in southeast Virginia, he says that he was raised in a blue collar neighborhood with good, strong parents. Despite that, he had a lot of friends who started to get into drugs. In the last few years alone, he’s lost six friends to overdoses. Resisting the allure of drugs, confidence isn’t a problem for Matt. He considers himself a true mixed martial artist and believes he has the advantage in every facet. He credits this confidence to training at Alliance MMA in San Diego with UFC veterans such as Brandon Vera, Joey Beltran and Chris Leben. Weigh-ins go on without incident, there’s a little more trash talk and it’s fight time!

ROUND ONE

Chris front kicks, but Matt walks right through it. They two clinch against the fence and exchange knees. Chris fights for underhooks and finally reverses position. It’s short lived, though, as Matt takes it back. The Alliance MMA product throws a lot of knees, but none of them seem to land flush. They break and Matt takes the initiative with the hands. After a few strikes he moves in for a single leg that fails. He tries again for another takedown and the two fighters lock up the clinch. They stall, and the ref breaks them apart with just over a minute to go. About 30 seconds later, Van Buren finally converts on a takedown. There’s not enough time to advance position and the round ends.

ROUND TWO

Matt kicks and shoots right away for the takedown. Chris initially defends, but Matt’s persistence pays off. Chris is on the ground briefly and returns to his feet. Shortly after, Chris returns the favor with a takedown of his own. He moves for a d’arce choke, but Matt uses the opening to escape. They two exchange punches on the feet, and Chris lands the first significant strikes of the fight. A hook, cross combo connects and Matt looks dazed. Chris foolishly rushes in and gives Matt the opportunity to clinch him up and stall. Chris pulls guard hoping to land a miracle guillotine, but Matt pulls his head out and starts the ground and pound. Chris makes it back to his feet with less than a minute to go, but Matt plants him back on the ground. The round ends with Van Buren in control.

The judges score the fight 20-18, 19-19 and 20-18 for Matt Van Buren who takes home the majority decision. There’s not much time for celebration because Dana White is extremely unhappy. In the recap of the fight, he has a few choice words for the fighters. “Nothing [expletive] happened,” he states matter of factly. “Nothing interesting or exciting happened. I feel like his is the season of guys that don’t give a [expletive].”

Normally this is the part of the season where Dana calls in the remaining semifinalists to ask them who they’d like to fight and why. Not this time around. He calls each guy in to give them a bit of a tongue lashing and decides that he’ll choose the fights himself. he calls all the guys together and the semifinals will be:

Eddie Gordon vs. Cathal Pendred
Corey Anderson vs. Patrick Walsh
Dhiego Lima vs. Roger Zapata
Matt Van Buren vs. Daniel Spohn

The episode closes with a preview into next week. Do the fighters take Dana’s criticism to heart? Can Eddie Gordon defeat the next Irish hope? How many drunk naked guys will there be? Find out this and more next week on The Ultimate Fighter!

[Keithlewis]