The Flog!

UFC 105 Couture vs Vera was free on Spike on Saturday. I think that when the UFC is in Europe, few people order it in North America; you can get the results on the internet within seconds of the fight, so why pay big bucks to see it? 

The only fight that I want to comment on is the co-main event between Couture and Vera. Before that, though, I find it surprising that Bisping‘s bout against Denis Kang was not the other co-main event. Instead it was the match between Mike Swick and Dan Hardy. Granted, that was a very good fight, but I thought that Bisping was an MMA demi-god in the U.K. and thought of highly by the UFC despite his most recent loss.

Perhaps my having watched so many boring heavyweight matches recently in The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 TUF10 has clouded my view of fights, but Couture versus Vera bordered on sleep-making. It wasn’t Brandon Vera’s fault. It was all Couture’s. In order to stop Vera’s assaults, Couture squashed him against the cage time and time again. He managed to take Vera down in round 1, but Vera climbed up the fence almost immediately, just to be squashed again. The referee separated them several times during the bout as nothing was happening.

Mike Goldberg suggested that Couture’s rushing Vera and holding him at the fence was his wrestling background coming out. The wrestling I’ve seen has been on the ground, without a fence to aid you.

Vera tried knees and strikes when in the clinch as did Couture. Couture attempted take downs again in rounds 2 and 3. After one of the referee separations, Vera kicked Couture in the ribs twice which looked extremely painful. To avoid further damage, Couture did the clinch at the fence again.

Vera got his own take down in round 3 and had full mount, but Couture used the fence to climb up. The fight ended with nice exchanges. Unanimous decision in favour of Couture.

When Couture was interviewed post-fight, he said something about the fight not being too exciting. That really was an understatement. His technique made the fight deadly boring. It reminded me of a Bodog Fight from several years ago in which one guy held the other at the corner posts for the entire match. Couture expended all his energy on holding Vera against the fence. Where were all his ground techniques? Where were his stand up techniques? As much as I like watching MMA, this was not my idea of fun. Couture won because he controlled the fight by holding Vera in place.

ayjay

November 16, 2009

The last semi-final of The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 (TUF9) aired last night.  Frank Lester fought in the three-round semi against James Wilks, who had defeated Lester in a previous bout (Lester took a knee to the mouth and left several teeth, real and fake, in his mouth guard in that fight).

Dan Henderson stated that he felt that Lester knew he could do better than in the previous match-up; Lester said  that if “Henderson believes in me, then I believe in me.” Lester also talked about feeling far more calm in the octagon, having fought several times already. Henderson’s direction to Lester was to throw straight punches and more of them, Lester having a tendency to throw looping punches.

Wilks said he thought he was a technically better striker than Lester and better on the ground. Bisping‘s analysis of the previous fight was that the two men were close when on their feet, but on the ground, Wilks was better than Lester.

The funniest segment of the episode was the coin to the forehead scenario: the premise is that you push a coin strongly onto your forehead, such that it sticks to your skin. Then you hit the back of your head until the coin comes off. The higher the number of hits, the smarter you are. In reality, after you demonstrate the technique, you push it on your friend’s head and instead of leaving the coin there, you surreptitiously remove it, and your friend bashes himself on the head for a long time, sometimes never grasping that there is no coin there.

They tried the game on Bisping and he actually hit himself a goodly number of times, until he realized that there was no coin and he’d been had.

We did that years ago in a restaurant and it really is funny. Eventually you have to say something, though, as the guy does bash himself.

Round one: The two men traded strikes and kicks. Henderson kept yelling for Lester to jab and go first, not wait for Wilks to do something. In fact, most of the time, Lester did not follow direction.

Wilks had his left hand very low throughout most of the match and Bisping was yelling at him to raise his hand. Lester had a couple of strong jabs and Wilks attempted a  take down, which Lester stuffed.

While in the clinch, Lester connected strongly with a couple of strikes while Wilks kept trying for a take down.

Round 2: Lester came out with strong jabs, but Wilks had some huge kicks. Wilks then tried another take down, which Lester again stuffed. While in the clinch, Wilks tried knees to the head and short strikes.

Lester had a huge jab right down the center, but Wilks rocked Lester with a head kick. While tied up, Lester attempted a take down of his own, unsuccessfully. Wilks applied knees to the head and jabs.

Round 3: Lester came out breathing heavily. Wilks struck Lester with some hard punches and a knee to the head.

When in the clinch, Wilks used the knees again, although this time, Lester went down to the floor on his knees. Wilks followed suit with several more knee strikes until the referee stepped in for TKO.

Lester’s face was a mess after all those knees. Dana White paid him a great compliment by stating that Wilks was the better fighter, but Lester was one of the toughest. Lester had had four fights in thirty-four days and was just tired and worn out. He went into the fight with a black eye and probably numerous other injuries which weren’t visible or talked about.

The U.K. has three of the four fighters in the finale this Saturday, which Bisping gloated about. Damarques Johnson will be fighting James Wilks for the welterweight final and Ross Pearson will fight Andre Winner for the lightweight final.

Johnson seems to hate Wilks, the reasons for that being unclear, except for the fact that Wilks has lived in the U.S. for some years, training and teaching various martial arts and weaponry. Perhaps Johnson feels that Wilks should not have been allowed to compete for the U.K. team while living in the U.S.

After the finale, the next bout for TUF9 is the coaches’ fight in UFC 100. Henderson and Bisping will be one of the main events that night. Bisping feels that Henderson’s time is past and Henderson thinks Bisping is a douche bag, whatever that means to him. Certainly, Henderson was more mature during TUF9, but Bisping’s coaching style worked, with his team members becoming close to each other and to him. It’ll be interesting.

The UFC The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 (TUF9) finale is June 20, 2009 on Spike.

ayjay

June 18, 2009

The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 (TUF9) had its lightweight semi-finals last night. Andre Winner fought Cameron Dollar and Ross Pearson fought Jason Dent.

The first bout, between Winner and Dollar, had the potential to be excruciating for Dollar as he had a rib injury. Henderson‘s game plan was for Dollar to punch his way in, take Winner down and finish him off. During training, though, Dollar’s side was so sore, that his training was impacted. Henderson suggested that both his lightweights were going to win and it would be White‘s biggest nightmare, that of US versus US, instead of US versus UK, in the lightweight final.

During training, Winner worked on stand-up only and said he wanted to keep the fight boxing. A segment of the show dwelt on Winner’s tendency to thumb suck, something I didn’t know adults did. He was funny about it, somewhat embarrassed, and the other guys laughed about it, but were surprisingly tolerant.

Winner came into the match with a 9-2-1 record and stated that he had to pay the bills, so treated every fight as though it were the last fight. Dollar’s record was 4-1 going in. He believed that God wouldn’t have given him the chance to do this if he couldn’t handle it.

Round one began with a flurry of punches from Dollar and a take down attempt. Winner threw a big shot to Dollar’s chin, and connected, and then applied some knees.

Dollar tried for another take down at the fence, and eventually got it, but Winner rolled onto the top and then the bottom, putting Dollar into a triangle choke (sankaku jime). Dollar tried to stand with Winner’s legs wrapped around him, but finally tapped out.

Winner’s comment to the camera was that the stand-up guy won by submission. Since Dollar’s ground skills are good, Winner should be proud.

Ross Pearson was called a bulldog by the announcer and the title is apt: he’s solid, thick-necked, and keeps coming forward. Even during training, when he popped out his shoulder, he had Bisping yank it back into place and went straight back to training. Pearson said he was going to hit Dent with everything he had, hoping for a knock out.

Jason Dent’s previous matches were boring and his attitude in the house was very negative (although I don’t blame him for hating it – no television, radios, computers, phones, newspapers, and living in a confined space with fifteen other people who are not your friends OR family. Oh, and no contact with family or friends for the duration of the stay. There’s all the alcohol you could possibly drink, though.) Henderson said Dent had not yet shown what he was capable of.  Dent did say that he lost every match which had gone to decision, so he was looking for TKO.

Round 1 began with Dent’s kicking and Pearson’s striking. They ended at the fence in a clinch with Pearson’s kneeing Dent’s head, trying uppercuts, a big strike to the ribs (which caused Dent to buckle) and kicks. Pearson has a strong head kick which he used many times and, if they had not been blocked, would have resulted in a knock out.

Dent applied some heavy uppercuts, but Pearson’s tough. Pearson then answered with strikes to the body and face – many, many strikes which were unanswered by Dent.

Just before the end of the round, Dent connected a few times with head strikes.

Round 2: Dent tried some low leg kicks and strikes to the head. Pearson was very clever at the fence and timed his strikes to Dent such that they happened as Dent bounced off the fence, resulting in Dent’s getting hit each time he came off the fence.

Pearson managed a take down of his own, controlling Dent from guard, full, and half mount. After they stood up, Dent tried a take down with no success, so he did a butt flop. Pearson jumped on him and did some ground and pound here.

Round 3: Dent came out impressively with multiple strikes and kicks. Pearson replied with uppercuts and a rib/kidney shot to the same side which he hit the previous round. Pearson took Dent down at the fence and served elbows and heavy fists to Dent as Dent lay on the bottom.

Dent turned over and turtled and then went on his back again, with Pearson in his guard. Dent attempted armbars many times from the bottom, but was unsuccessful. Pearson controlled the match completely while on the ground.

Unanimous decision in Pearson’s favour.

Both fighters in the lightweight final are from the UK.

UFC‘s The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 (TUF9) is on Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. on Spike.

ayjay

June 11, 2009

Episode 9 of TUF9 completed the preliminary rounds. We finally had Dave Faulkner‘s match, but not with Jason Pierce (Dana White told Pierce that he wasn’t fighting in the previous episode). His opponent was Frank Lester who had been beaten in an earlier matchup. Lester’s talk with White about how much he wanted to fight was the deciding factor in his being chosen. White said that Lester was what a real fighter is – he doesn’t care about stitches, black eyes, a nose that hurts or missing teeth.

Lester had been beaten badly before – bruises on his face and his nose was most likely cracked. His teeth had been forcibly removed as well. When he tried to place his mouthguard in before practice, he found that his teeth were still in it.

Henderson‘s game plan for Lester was to go after Faulkner ”nice and easy” and then to do a takedown.

Bisping felt that Faulkner could “blow Lester out of the octagon”. Faulkner’s main problem was still the gag reflex when his mouthguard was in, so he went to a hypnotherapist to get over it. He was to feel safe and protected when the mouthguard was in place. Who knows if it worked; they had only one session.

Part of the episode revolved around confrontations between Henderson and Bisping and then Bisping and Damarques Johnson.

Henderson wanted to switch training times with the UK group so that he no longer had to get up early, something the US team had done for four weeks. Bisping had a fit and tried to use the next fight to decide. Henderson refused. The next morning Bisping and Co. were all training very early, having been told they had to change times.

The next altercation involved Bisping’s spraying water from his bottle in Johnson’s face as he walked by. Bisping thought, in error, that Johnson had said a “racist” remark about him during the coaches’ tennis challenge. In fact, it had been Cameron Dollar‘s comment and it wasn’t much of a remark to begin with (“whiter than a band-aid” to describe Bisping’s legs). Johnson was livid and had to walk it off. Bisping apologized but Johnson wasn’t having any of it.

Round 1 between Faulkner and Lester started with Lester’s keeping his distance. I’m sure he didn’t want to get hit in the face with all his injuries. He tried a head kick and Faulkner tried a take down and some flying fists. While in the clinch in the center of the octagon, both guys applied knees. Bisping was yelling for Faulkner to have his “hands tight” and left hand higher while Henderson shouted “jabs” to Lester a few dozen times. The fighters were often in the clinch at the fence, stalemated, doing very little. Henderson was constantly yelling “circle” to have Lester get away from the fence.

Faulkner managed one take down, but Lester used the fence to help him get up. He tried big looping strikes which did not connect.

Round 1 to Faulkner.

At the beginning of round 2, Faulkner spit out his mouthguard and walked backward with hands down. He was gassed. Lester did a head kick and went into the clinch. Faulkner applied some body shots and elbows while in the clinch.

Lester used strong combos while in the center, very heavy strikes, and then dragged Faulkner to the fence by the back of the neck. Faulkner was flat-footed and looked exhausted.

Although Lester had far more energy in this round that Faulkner, once again we had Henderson telling him to “circle” to get away from the fence while in the clinch. Both guys used knees here.

Round 2 went to Lester, but not so much that Lester won as that Faulkner lost. He actually walked away at one point, arms at his side and then bent forward from the waist to take a breath at about the four minute mark.

White announced that there would be the Sudden Victory round, but Faulkner refused to continue. Faulkner said that he enjoyed the match, no longer had anything to prove and no longer felt stressed. It actually sounded as though he was quitting MMA, as he talked about professional wrestling or horror movies.

Bisping, on the other hand, had his stress levels through the roof afterward, stomping out, kicking a door.

The semi-finals are next with four guys from each team competing.

The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 TUF9 is on Spike on Wednesdays at 10:00 EST. 

Click here to go to The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 Episode 1

Click here to go to The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 Episode 2

Click here to go to The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 Episode 3

Click here to go to The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 Episode 4

Click here to go to The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 Episode 5

Click here to go to The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 Episode 6

Click here to go to The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 Episode 7

Click here to go to The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 Episode 8

ayjay

May 27, 2009

For the second week in a row on UFC‘s The Ultimate Fighter TUF9, we had drama with the proposed Pierce and Faulkner match.

Pierce now had a staph infection on his leg, the infection having progressed from cellulitis. He spent the entire episode all wrapped up in a hoodie. When Dana White called him into a meeting, Pierce’s comments sounded as though he had a fever; he stated that his leg was sore and that one of the doctors suggested that he could get a bone infection if the leg were injured. White gave him a few days to decide whether he wanted to fight. Pierce’s responses to all White’s questions were in monotone.

This episode no longer mentioned Faulkner’s leg injury (in which he whacked his leg with a sledgehammer, causing a massive lump and infection). His problem during training was taking out his mouthguard: he has a strong gag reflex and can’t seem to function with the mouthguard in. Bisping said that the referee might deduct points for removing the mouthguard, so Faulkner would have to learn to deal with it.

In addition to his being ill, Pierce, a major complainer, had Henderson saying he had “negative energy”. Santino talked about Pierce as being the most negative guy in the house. In all the scenes, Pierce is all covered up, morose and grumpy-looking.

The fight of the night was between Jason Dent and Jeff Lawson. Lawson, according to Bisping, is fantastic on the ground, has great take downs and will submit his opponents quickly. Lawson has 21 wins by arm bar and joked that he would throw four or five punches, do a throw, and apply an arm bar. He also admitted that no one was going to get knocked out by him. His attitudes were lighthearted and refreshing. His main issue was that he had had bronchitis for the first nine days in the house, during which time he was unable to train at all. He wanted Dent to “lie down and let me get the arm bar”.

Dent, per Henderson, is “surprisingly technical” on his feet and the ground. Unfortunately, he “irritates” Henderson, is “tough to coach” because he doesn’t want to get better, to look at his weaknesses. When your coach says that you are tough to coach, you have problems.

Before the fight, Dana White called Pierce in again and told him that he wasn’t going to fight. What he wanted was a reaction from Pierce, an indication that he really wanted to fight, to please let him fight. Pierce looked upset afterward, but White’s feeling was that once Pierce got into the house, he realized he was not a fighter. Henderson said that if Pierce had fought, he would have lost.

The match between Dent and Lawson started out strongly: after a couple of leg kicks from Dent, Lawson threw Dent with harai makikomi, taking him to the ground. Lawson then tried what looked like a heel hook, but was unsuccessful. While in Dent’s guard, Lawson got on his feet and threw a number of punches. He then picked Dent up (Dent’s legs were wrapped around Lawson’s waist) and dropped him to his back (daki age).  Dent was on the bottom for almost the entire round.

Round 2 had Dent throw some leg kicks while Lawson looked exhausted, turtling a couple of times.  Lawson would bend forward from the waist, hands on legs, and then do something astounding like a flying knee.  He has lots of skills, but this was not to be his day. The match ended with Dent applying a rear naked choke on the ground, not even in a grapevine. Lawson tapped out very quickly despite the fact that the choke and the hold were weak.

The comments at the end of the episode blamed Lawson’s loss on the chest infection, which  impacted his cardio and gave the poor result. Dana White commented that the win was very weak. I would like to see Lawson when he is healthy: he has some strong throws and ground skills. His stand up needs work and he has problems with his posture when his legs are kicked (actually moves such that he is off-balance and the leg kicks hit harder), but he seems like a good guy who has potential.

Earlier in this episode Lawson, Faulkner and Amasinger entertained themselves and the other members of the UK team with professional wrestling skits complete with masks and donkey ears. Right at the bell for Round 1 someone on the UK team yelled, “Release the Hate!”, causing Lawson to look over and laugh. There’s a guy who is relaxed and happy to be doing what he’s there for.

The UFC‘s The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 TUF9 is on Spike on Wednesdays at 10 p.m.

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 1

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 2

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 3

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 4

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 5

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 6

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 7

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 9

ayjay

Last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 revolved around the coaches’ challenge, a tennis tournament, watching the training of Dave Faulkner (UK) and Jason Pierce (US) and the fight between Richie Whitson and Ross Pearson. So much of the hour dwelt on the training of Faulkner and Pierce that I assumed they were fighting in this episode.

Faulkner and Pierce have become buddies during their time on the show which could be a problem. Bisping said he felt that Faulkner could win against anyone in the house as did Faulkner himself.  During training, Bisping told Faulkner that even though the guys were friends, when they get into the octagon, Pierce was going to try to kill him. Bisping’s training sessions were hard exercises –  among them, silkworm, in which you worm your way along the mats on your side, pulling your arms and legs up toward your head and down toward your feet in order to move, and a dragging exercise, in which you pull your partner along the mats. Interestingly, these are exercises which we did with regularity at our old judo club years ago. They involve your moving yourself and others and are hard work.

Strangely, both these guys are injured in this episode: Pierce broke blood vessels in his foot during his preliminary elimination match, resulting in his not being able to kick with that leg. Henderson worried about Pierce’s “sore ankle against an ankle lock guy”. In the other camp, Bisping had the guys pounding a tractor tire with a sledgehammer, resulting in Faulkner’s whacking his own leg with the hammer, creating a giant, infected lump on his calf.

When learning that the US team was going to have a sparring session, Pierce started complaining. The sparring coach gave a pep talk to everyone, but Pierce walked out. The sparring coach said Pierce was a negative guy and pain in the neck. (He is one of the main complainers in the one-on-one sessions in front of the camera.)

The coaches’ challenge was a tennis tournament with the serving area being the entire opposite side since neither guy knew how to play tennis. Both coaches were terrible; however, Henderson won 6 to 2, earning 10K in cash for himself and $1500 for each team member. It was an ugly game on both parts.

After spending most of the hour on Faulkner and Pierce, we found that they were not fighting in this episode. Richie Whitson was going to fight against Ross Pearson. Whitson is a muay thai scrapper from Alaska who trains at Henderson’s club and knows all of the coaches well. Pearson is what Bisping called a “pitbull” who needs to “relax on the horsepower” a bit.

During the training session with Bisping, we saw Bisping throw Pearson with a beautiful hip throw and show him new moves to add to his abilities. Usually the coaches watch and critique, so it was exciting to see Bisping display his skills.

Round 1 between the lightweights started at eight minutes to eleven, so the match was going to be short. Whitson had Pearson in the clinch at the fence and attempted an elbow. Pearson managed to elude him and kneed Whitson in the face. Both guys tried really high kicks, neither of which landed. At one point Whitson was on his knees and Pearson stood up and punched Whitson, resulting in a point being taken away.

The rest of the round had Pearson taking Whitson down perhaps four times. Although they traded punches, the take downs were the deciding factor: Pearson got on Whitson’s back and achieved a straight arm bar (juji gatame) after a turnover. Tapout.

The Ultimate Fighter series certainly shows sides of people you wouldn’t ordinarily see. These guys can beat the pulp out of you and yet weep uncontrollably about missing family and wanting to go home (Dollar). Whitson had impetigo on his face several days before the match and Pierce (I think it was Pierce) went berserk spraying antiseptic everywhere, as though that would help. (Impetigo is a bacterial infection which is contagious and treated with antibiotics.)

The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 TUF9 is on Spike on Wednesdays at 10 p.m.

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 1

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 2

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 3

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 4

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 5

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 6

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 8

  Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 9

ayjay

May 14, 2009

Episode 6 of The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 (TUF9) eliminated a lightweight fighter and a welterweight.  Cameron Dollar was chosen to fight against Martin Stapleton for the lightweight fight.

Dollar’s background is in wrestling and his stand up is severely lacking, causing Henderson to be frustrated with Dollar’s stand up work. Dollar admitted that it wasn’t his forte and that he was really only keen on learning the grappling techniques. He also talked about his being very nervous before any fight and looked uncomfortable everywhere, including in the house. He looked afraid of Stapleton, even as Stapleton walked through the room. Henderson’s game plan for Dollar was to punch his way in and take Stapleton down.

Stapleton is a BJJ guy who is/was (?) in the Royal Marines. Bisping talked about him as being the best wrestler in the UK team, a good boxer, with excellent cardio, etc. Both Bisping’s and Stapleton’s attitudes assumed Stapleton to be the stronger fighter.

Round 1 had Stapleton attempting take downs until Dollar did his own with a nice harai goshi, by the fence. He eventually ended up on Stapleton’s back and with the fence on one side, got Stapleton in a grapevine and did a strong rear naked choke (hadaka jime).

Even though Dollar is an annoying, egomaniacal kid, he proved that his ground skills are good: he can take someone down, apply a solid choke and make him tap out.

During the break between fights, Bisping apologized to Amasinger for missing his fight. It seems he had severe jetlag and finally overslept. I know that sounds feeble, but I can appreciate the problem, having had it myself.

Fight number two was between Frank Lester and James Wilks. Lester came across throughout the episode as a nutbar: he cursed and swore his way through every conversation and ranted about Wilks, his disdain for him, and wanting to beat him, non-stop. Wilks has lived in California for some years while training and this seems to be the thorn in Lester’s side. Unfortunately, Lester’s attitude made him come across as immature and irrational. It’s just a fight - for television – not the end of the world.

Bisping thought Wilks could beat Lester in all areas of the game; Henderson spoke of Lester’s speed of punches.

Round 1 had both guys doing sporadic jabs (Lester side-stepped his way in circles and Wilks followed) and Wilks applied a front kick. Bisping kept yelling at Wilks to get his left hand up and jab and he did neither. Wilks eventually got side mount and had a loose yoko shiho gatame, with Bisping shouting something to get him to close the gaps.

Here’s where this fight got weird. In Dollar’s match against Stapleton, when Dollar made contact on the ground, he stuck to Stapleton like glue and got his win:  in this match, Wilks would try one technique after another, leaving gaping holes between himself and Lester, so that Lester would manage the escape and run off. Wilks would then chase after the guy and try again. At the fence, Wilks kneed Lester in the face, managed another take down and did a little ground and pound until the bell.

During the break, Lester said that his teeth got knocked out. In fact, his artificial front teeth, whether crowns or partial plate, were knocked out and stuck in his mouthguard. His corner had to remove the teeth in order for him to put his mouthguard in. The referee told the corner to put the teeth on ice.

When the round started, Lester kept his distance from Wilks, either because he was hurt or tired, or both. Wilks took Lester down at the fence a couple of times and, after side and full mount, achieved a juji gatame.

One or more of Lester’s teeth were knocked out: we saw him spitting blood into a bucket and someone else said that a tooth had been spit up. He’s a tough guy, then, if that’s the case. Instead of going into round 2, he should really have gone to the hospital to have the teeth reinserted.

The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 TUF9 is on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on Spike.

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 1

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 2

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 3

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 4

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 5

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 7

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 8

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 9

ayjay

May 7, 2009

Episode 1 of The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 came up after the Ultimate Fight Night Live. Luckily, I enjoy watching fights, because this makes for a long night of fights.

Dana White travelled to England for this episode. Sixteen of Britain’s finest MMA guys were fighting for the eight positions which would get them to Las Vegas and The Ultimate Fighter show. The day after White met the guys, they all fought for the eight positions, giving us eight fights in just over an hour. This certainly shows us an immediate and wide range of skillsets and techniques.

A few things occurred to me while watching fight after fight: if your coach is yelling at you to do something or not to something else and you pay no attention, chances are you’ll lose. This happened in at least two matches in which Bisping shouted instructions to his guys and they paid no heed. In the first case, Bisping’s guy was knocked out. (This reminds me of an old Pancrase show in which Frank Shamrock was attempting a manoeuvre and Ken Shamrock shouted instructions to not do that but this, and Frank immediately followed the instructions and won.) Also, if you come in shouting that you’re the “Reidinator”, you really should win, or attempt to. Egomaniacal behaviour is unsightly and irritating at the best of times, but to be on the bottom holding someone in your guard and shouting at him to hit you (as you don’t try to get out from under), well, you’re asking to be hit. He complied with your wishes. In this case, the winner was a guy whom Dana White said was inexperienced and nervous.  He won, though.

Two heel hooks ended two different matches. The guys tapped out very quickly. I spoke with Dave about heel hooks: when he’s practicing them, he locks them on and holds the heel securely, but doesn’t apply any pressure. He’s just showing his opponent that it’s there. He then lets go. He never practices heel hooks with a guy new to our class or to martial arts and never lets them get him in a heel hook. New guys tend to have no control and end up hurting us. In order to fight heel hooks, other than being hyper-aware of your body placement, a guy might be able to use his other leg to free the trapped foot or a sweaty guy might be able to roll out of one; if you can’t roll out, tap out. Knees are blasted very easily.

Another thing which occurred to me: Dana White’s language has reached new lows and based on the previews for next week, he uses the same offensive phrase in the next episode.

I sincerely hope that this season of The Ultimate Fighter is less gag-inducing than last season, but I have my doubts. Any bets on how much the guys will be drinking, fighting, destroying the house, etc.? The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 TUF9 is on Wednesdays on Spike.

Click here to go to The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 Episode 2

Click here to go to The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 Episode 3

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 4

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 5

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 6

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 7

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 8

Click here to go to TUF9 Episode 9

ayjay

April 2, 2009