The Flog!

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 Finale had Court McGee fighting Kris McCray for the title.  Prior to the main event, we had Jamie Yager fighting Rich Attonito to TKO with the win going to Attonito. Spencer Fisher fought Dennis Siver with Siver doing unusual kicks to the face and winning by unanimous decision.  Chris Leben fought Aaron Simpson with round 1 going to Simpson accomplishing huge take downs. By round 2, Simpson was gassed and Leben much fresher. Leben won by TKO. 

Keith Jardine then fought Matt Hammill. Jardine changed stances, switched from striking to kicks, looked fantastic. Round 3 had Hammill plodding, with hands low. He attempted take downs late in the match, but had limited success as Jardine avoided the ground. Hammill won by majority decision, mostly due to an inadvertent eye poke which caused injury in round 2; this resulted in a point being taken away from Jardine.

Kris McCray came into the finale undefeated at 6-0 and Court McGee was 10-1. From the beginning of round 1, McGee dominated the match. He achieved single and double leg take downs, none huge (unlike Aaron Simpson’s take downs against Chris Leben), but all effective. After the TDs in round one, McGee applied some ground and pound.

Round 2 had McGee in full mount trying a choke. McCray flipped over with McGee on his back, but still managed to get up. McGee then did a double leg take down. While on McCray’s back, near the fence, McGee got one hook in, unable to get the other in due the proximity of the fence. He stretched McCray’s leg out with his own leg and worked on a rear naked choke until tap out.

Court McGee is the new Ultimate Fighter.

ayjay

June 23, 2010

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 Episode 10 brought us Rich Franklin and pals Forrest Griffin, Grey Maynard and Tyson Griffin to work with Kris McCray in his semi-final bout. The coaches analyzed McCray’s techniques and tapered his training before the match.

In the first match-up, we had Court McGee versus Brad Tavares. Tavares stated that he expected Court to try to take him down. Instead, he planned to stop the take down attempt and win by standing  with a straight right knock-out. Joe Henle said that McGee had better wrestling and better jiu jitsu than Tavares.

Their fight went to three rounds with round three being the most interesting: McGee tagged Tavares, who almost went down. Tavares then threw a knee to McGee’s face. Tavares was successful with his kicks but got tagged again and again. McGee used te guruma(which he’d used previously) to do a big take down. He was then on Tavares’s back with an instant body lock. He used a  rear naked choke and choked Tavares out.

Dana White went up to Tavares afterward and was very complimentary, saying this match was worthy of a final fight in The Ultimate Fighter.

The second match-up of this episode was between Kris McCray and Josh Bryant. The semi-finals are three rounds, so this went the distance, but had it been a two round fight, there would have been no third round. Josh Bryant was quite hesitant in the first two rounds. He was taken down and at the receiving end of many strikes. He attempted single leg take downs, but was unsuccessful. He seemed also not to be able to find his reach. McCray, on the other hand, followed the direction of his coaches to the letter.

Round three, though, had Bryant rocking McCray with a counter and then an uppercut. He then countered with leg kicks and strikes. After a  failed Superman punch by Bryant, McCray tried a take down. McCray spent most of this round with rubber arms and was actually wobbly. 

The decision went to McCray.

The final will be between Court McGee and Kris McCray.

The Ultimate Fighter is on Spike on Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. EST.

ayjay

June 16, 2010

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 Episode 9 showed Jamie Yager’s fight against Josh Bryant. Wrestler Bryant went into the fight undefeated. He stated that he likes to get inside and throw punches from there. His game plan was to hit Yager first and take him down.

Yager’s background is jiu jitsu, and at 6′2″  he had a substantial height advantage. Kyacey Uscola commented that Yager had good punches, good kicks and talent and speed.

Despite the height advantage which Yager had, both men had the same reach.

Round 1 had Yager coming in fast, but Bryant tagged him. Yager then attempted a head kick and succeeded with his other kicks. Bryant caught Yager’s leg and tried a take down and then clipped Yager again. Yager hit the ground and Bryant was in his guard.

Round 2 began with Yager’s kicks again. As with round 1, Bryant caught a leg and Yager went down with Bryant to his side. After some elbows by Bryant, Yager fence-climbed; then Bryant attempted a front guillotine. Yager’s hands were extremely low as Bryant threw strikes. They then leaned against each other, both exhausted. When, later on,  they were on the ground, Bryant in side control, Bryant applied ground and pound and then attempted ude garami.

The fight was to go to a third round, but Yager refused to answer the bell for the round despite Ortiz’s saying many times,”Don’t quit! Don’t quit!”. Yager had sustained some muscle damage to his neck.

Ortiz walked out after the match and was subsequently fired from the coaching position by Dana White. Since Ortiz couldn’t/wouldn’t fight Liddell due to his back injury, White wanted a coach who would fight. Rich Franklin was then introduced to the team as their new coach.

ayjay

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 is on Spike Wednesdays at 10 p.m. EST.

June 8, 2010

Episode 8 of The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 had friends Kyle Noke and Kris McCray fighting.

Ortizsaid that Noke was the better fighter, McCray being just a young guy, presumably lacking experience.

In fact, we felt McCray dominated the entire match. It went to three rounds, but could easily have ended in two. McCray had many take downs,  including a huge one in round two and tried a guillotine in round 1. Noke attempted a Kimura in rounds 1 and 3 and a rear guillotine in round 2, none successful. After the take downs, McCray did some ground and pound, but mainly showed his control over Noke. Decision to McCray.

Dana White said afterward that Noke needed to work on his wrestling “big time”.

The next match was between Seth Baczynski and Brad Tavares. Round one began with Baczynski rushing for a single leg take down attempt and then succeeding with a ko soto gari. He then had Tavares in a body lock from the back. They rolled a bit and applied strikes. Baczynski tried but lost a rear guillotine and the body triangle.

Baczynski then attempted a juji gatame from the ground. Tavares picked Baczynski up twice and dropped him. While striking, Tavares slipped and, his knees still on the ground, Baczynski kicked a soccer-like kick to Tavares’s head. Disqualification.

Ortiz was determined that the kick was to the chest, but on instant replay, Tavares was kicked to the head.

In addition to the fights, we had Ortiz backing out of the fight with Liddell due to spinal injuries which require surgery.

ayjay

June 2, 2010

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 is on Spike at 10 p.m. E.S.T. Wednesdays.

Episode 7 of The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 covered lots of ground. Right off, we had the Wild Card fight between Kyacey Uscola and Kris McCray, both fighters having lost in their previous matches.

Since both men were from Ortiz’s team, Ortiz said he would sit on the sidelines and “let the better man win”. McCray felt he was the underdog and Uscola talked about taking his opponent’s head off.

Round 1 had the men trading kicks and strikes. One of Uscola’s kicks was to McCray’s knee and looked painful. McCray took Uscola down twice  and Uscola achieved one take down. Very little time was spent on the ground although near the end of the round McCray controlled Uscola’s back and applied some elbows.

Round 2 began with McCray taking Uscola down and while in side control he applied a Kimura (ude garami) for tap out.

Ortiz looked a bit surprised at the outcome.

The quarterfinal fight announcements were made by Dana White. In addition, Nick Ring told White that he could not continue due to his torn ACL, which required surgery. White told the men in the house that he would be picking a replacement. Hammortree immediately went to White and told him that he wanted to fight. Joe Henle, unfortunately, was too slow to say anything and missed out.

The next fight, a quarterfinal, was between Hammortree and Court McGee. Hammortree said that McGee was one of the most well-rounded and tough guys in the house. He also said that he would let his hands go a bit more than the previous fight.

Round one began with McGee catching Hammortree’s leg and, while on his back, took Hammortree down. Hammortree eventually rushed McGee, but got taken down again. While standing, they traded strikes and kicks. McGee attempted a variety of techniques, including a rear kick. He took Hammortree to the floor and was in side control at the buzzer.

Round two began and ended quickly by Hammortree’s rushing McGee and exposing his neck. McGee put him in a standing front naked choke (guillotine) for tap out.

White said that McGee looks better every time he goes out there. He certainly controlled Hammortree and deserved the win.

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 is on Spike on Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. EST.

ayjay

May 20, 2010

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 had its last preliminary fight. Joe Henle fought against Seth Baczynski. Henle is relatively new to MMA, having only been professional for six months, with not much experience striking . Liddell said that he had the right attitude and that Henle wanted to show people what he could do. Henle has trained in MMA for seven years and won all his previous fights by submission.

Baczynski has been given a second chance in this season having been brought back due to McKinley’s shoulder injury. Court McGee said that Baczynski has good hands.

Although Henle was the shorter of the two, he had a four inch reach advantage over Baczynski.

Round one began with Henle rushing Baczynski to take him down, ending in Baczynski’s open guard. He accomplished a second take down after which Seth attempted a front guillotine (hadaka jime). Henle stayed in the submission attempt for a long time, fighting it, and then passed to north/south. Henle then tried the anaconda on Seth and was very close to achieving it, causing Seth to turn purple for  a while. Henle then grapevined Baczynski and rolled, losing the grapevine and ending on the bottom with Seth in his guard. Baczynski then applied ground and pound.

Round two began with Baczynski trying a flying knee, but Henle connected with his own knee. Baczynski got his own take down. After some manoeuvring, Henle grapevined Baczynski, but he was too high up on the body and Seth rolled  out of it. Later on in the round, Baczynski tried a rear naked choke (hadaka jime), but it was far too loose to be effective.

Round three was the deciding round. Henle was exhausted and completely dominated by Baczynski. He spent most of the round on the bottom and could not accomplish anything from there. When he was on top, he was competent and had more skills than Baczynski.

The decision went to Baczynski. Dana White said that he was surprised at Henle’s abilities and thought that Baczynski was a far better fighter in his previous match. Liddell stated that for Henle’s limited professional experience, he did very well.

The Wild Card Announcement followed the fight. Kyacey Uscola is to fight Kris McCray. The winner of their fight gets back in to the mix. In addition, since Rich Attonito is unable to fight with his broken hand, Court McGee can continue to the next round.

This season of The Ultimate Fighter has far more injuries than previous seasons: we have a broken jaw, resulting in the fighter’s elimination, a broken hand, a shoulder injury requiring surgery and, in this episode, a knee with ligaments requiring surgery – Nick Ring’s. During training, Ring’s knee gave out, a not uncommon occurrence for him. Ortiz manoeuvred Ring’s knee and the whole thing wiggled. The next episode promised someone else’s injury would cause another elimination. Is Ring out as well?

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 is on Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. EST on Spike.

ayjay

May 16, 2010

In the training room of The Ultimate Fighter, above a doorway, is a huge quote stating, “Never Leave It in the Hands of the Judges”. The fight this episode proved why White always says this, that is, win by submission or TKO or knock out, do not leave it to judges’ decisions.

Court McGee fought Nick Ring to decision, going two rounds. In our household, two of three of us, thought the fight should have gone to a third round, whereas the third member thought that the judges made the right decision.

McGee is a wrestler with ground skills and Ring is a stand up guy with ground skills. McGee said he loves hitting and getting hit. Liddell said that Ring was a good kicker and wanted his guy, McGee, to stay either all the way out or all the way in to avoid the kicks. One of Liddell’s coaches said that McGee could be matched with anyone. Ring was Ortiz’s first choice.

Although Ring is 3″ taller than McGee, McGee had a 4″ reach advantage.

During Ortiz’s training session, Hammortree injured his back and was taken to hospital. He had injured a disk and had swelling rather than a major back problem, which they had initially worried about.

Round one began with McGee striking, kicking and taking Ring down, ending in Ring’s half guard.  Ring scored with kicks and, in the clinch, with knees.

McGee tried a take down by shooting for a leg, but was stuffed, eventually ending on the bottom in Ring’s half guard. Some ground and pound followed, but most was ineffectual, until he used elbows.

Round two started with Ring connecting with a leg kick and then a head kick. McGee went after Ring with a flurry of strikes including uppercuts. While in the clinch, McGee used knees. McGee then had a flurry of strikes again with most uppercuts connecting as well as kicks of his own.

Ring’s jabs made contact, but his hands were very low, perhaps due to fatigue. When separated after the clinch, McGee attacked with multiple strikes again.

So, two of the three of us gave round 1 to Ring and 2 to McGee. The judges, though, gave the fight to Ring by majority decision. Liddell went a bit nuts at the loss and looked as though he were going to go after White. White thought that the fight should have gone to a third round as well.

What the judges see may not be what you see.

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 is on Spike on Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m.

ayjay

May 12, 2010

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 Episode 5 had Ortiz picking the fighters, since his team member, Jamie Yager, won the last fight. He chose Kris McCray from his own team to fight Josh Bryant from Liddell’s. McCray had an undefeated record of 9-0 as an amateur and 5-0 as a professional. Bryant also was undefeated at 10-0 going into this fight.

Liddell said Bryant was a tough, great fighter, although one of the housemates said Bryant was not the fighting type. One of Liddell’s coaches told Bryant to punch and feint. Although Bryant has a longer reach than McCray, as with most of Liddell’s team, he is shorter than Ortiz’s team member. Once again Liddell would miss the actual bout due to conflicting schedules.

This match-up seemed even during round 1, with both men attempting take downs. McCray was more efficient and successful at the take downs than Bryant, although when Bryant managed the TD, he tried a rear naked choke ( hadaka jime) on McCray.

The men switched positions and stood up, leaning against the fence and each other and did nothing for about half a minute. They were totally gassed. During the break, both corners were trying to get their guys to breathe.

In round two, the men were once again leaning against each other. Bryant got a take down, trapped McCray’s arm between his legs and attempted a Kimura (ude garami).

When standing again, Bryant swung wide shots and had a huge take down, totally controlling McCray.

McCray stood up and got his own TD by swinging Bryant’s body around and ended in Bryant’s guard. Bryant applied elbows from the bottom.

Round three had the men leaning against each other again. Bryant tried a TD with a leg pick and then threw a couple of strikes. McCray threw a knee and then tried the leg pick himself. After the referee split them up, Bryant threw some punches and McCray sort of fell. Bryant had side control and then was on McCray’s back, trying a rear naked again, but very slowly, enabling McCray to move the hand away.

Unanimous decision in Bryant’s favour. This time around, Ortiz did not rip doors off hinges. His only comments were regarding McCray’s cardio. During the training sessions, Ortiz had the men working extremely hard and he felt there was nothing else he could have done to make McCray’s cardio any better.

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 is on Spike on Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. EST.

ayjay

May 5, 2010

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 Episode 4 seemed to revolve around one fighter, Kyacey Uscola. Not only was Uscola chosen to fight Liddell’s Rich Attonito, but he was also involved in a major row with Jamie Yager in the house.

Ortiz said that Uscola had good take downs, good take down defense and good submissions. He expected Uscola to continue striking, defend against take downs and get up right away afterward. One of Uscola’s teammates mentioned that Uscola had a good double (which I assume means double leg take down).

Attonito, per Liddell, was a good wrestler, had good shots and good take downs. Due to prior commitments, Liddell would be missing this fight, though.

Before the fight aired, Uscola accused Yager of theft of a shirt. After much cursing on both parts and further arguing in front of Ortiz, it was determined that Yager had had permission to take a “Team Punishment” shirt and had not stolen it. Uscola refused to apologize for the accusation.

Round one of the match between Attonito and Uscola: They began by trading strikes with Attonito succeeding in hitting Uscola sufficiently for Uscola to go to the ground. Some ground and pound followed by Attonito. Then Attonito picked Uscola up and threw him to the ground head first. Quite a frightening take down.

Uscola attempted a Kimura (ude garami), but Attonito flipped over to be on the bottom, causing Uscola to lose the arm bar grip.

Uscola had some side control, threw elbows to Attonito’s gut and when Attonito still had a knee on the mat, applied knees to Attonito’s chest and face. The referee stopped the match immediately.

Attonito was awarded the win by disqualification on Uscola’s part. Amazingly, Uscola spoke to the camera saying that he didn’t respect Attonito as a fighter, when Uscola had performed the illegal and quite dangerous techniques.

Ortiz stomped out of the fight area, ripping a door off the hinges.

Attonito may have won the fight, but he is out of the competition having broken his hand so severely he might require surgery.

The second fight of the episode was between Uscola’s nemesis, Yager, and Charlie Blanchard, from Liddell’s team.

Liddell thought that Blanchard would come out aggressively, that he had great take downs and high kicks and, when on top during ground fighting, Yager would have a hard time getting Blanchard off.

Ortiz said Yager had to circle, circle, circle, throw shots, cover his head and avoid take downs. He thought that this would be an easy win for Yager. Yager, himself, said that he felt he had superior striking. In fact, Yager is five inches taller and had a five inch reach advantage on Blanchard.

Round one began with a take down attempt by Blanchard and then another, with Yager sprawling well to avoid them. Yager did a Superman punch and Blanchard was down. TKO referee stoppage.  

The Ultimate Fighter is on Spike at 10:00 p.m. EST on Wednesdays.

Click here to go to TUF11 Eps. 1 & 2.

Click here to go to TUF11 Ep. 3.

ayjay

April 22, 2010

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 Episode 3 had at least one surprise: Chris Camozzi was sent home, having sustained a slight fracture of the jaw during his elimination fight. Dana White was pre-empting a broken jaw by Camozzi’s elimination. Tito Ortiz was then given the opportunity to pick a guy from the eliminated men to come back. He chose Seth Baczynski.

This episode’s fight was between Brad Tavares (Liddell’s team) and James Hammortree (Ortiz’s team).Yager felt that Tavares was going to win by knock out, while Nick Ring guessed that Hammortree would win by TKO in the second round.

Hammortree, nicknamed “The Sledge”, has a record for the fastest KO in Florida – five seconds. Ortiz was looking for a take down by Hammortree and ground and pound. One of Liddell’s coaches said that Tavares will be “a force to be reckoned with in the UFC”.

Hammortree was the bigger of the two men, two inches taller with a two inch reach advantage. His record was 5 and 1 coming into this fight, whereas Tavares’s record was 4 and 0.

Round one began with a failed take down attempt by Hammortree, Tavares threw his opponent with harai goshiand ended up on Hammortree’s back. He then tried a rear naked choke which failed. Hammortree flipped over and was in Tavares’s half guard.

Tavares used the fence to get up, after which Hammortree tried a take down ending on the bottom again with Tavares on his back. Ortiz kept yelling for Hammortree to get “up, up, up”. Hammortree again managed to get in Tavares’s half guard and then side, but there was a huge gap between their bodies and Tavares was up.

Round two had Hammortree rushing Tavares to the fence. Tavares pushed Hammortree and ended in Hammortree’s guard. Tavares applied a knee to Hammortree’s face. While on the ground Tavares was on his knees with Hammortree on his back. He used the fence to stand up, but Hammortree took him down. While on the bottom, Tavares tried a Kimura (ude garami) for some time. At the bell, Hammortree was in Tavares’s guard and butterfly guard.

The Sudden Victory round began with Tavares’s striking. Hammortree attempted a take down which was stuffed and then Tavares rolled into Hammortree’s half guard. Hammortree applied elbows and achieved full mount. Tavares immediately rolled over and was in control.

While bent over, Hammortree tried a take down; Tavares was holding Hammortree’s arm trying ude garami sporadically.

Unanimous decision in Tavares’s favour.

My thoughts: If Hammortree were a striker (witness his record in Florida), why was he trying so hard to defeat Tavares on the ground? Hammortree was jumping from one technique and position to another very quickly, not giving himself the opportunity to establish control.

Tavares deserved the win. His techniques were solid and competent.

Click here to go to TUF11 Episodes 1 & 2.

Click here to go to TUF11 Ep. 4.

ayjay

April 20, 2010