The Flog!

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

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

The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 TUF10 Finale proved to be a lot of fun – people with differing skill sets and nearly everyone at the top of their game.

If you remember Marcus Jones‘ tirade in the previous episode (click here to go to the details), it came as no surprise that Jones was to fight against Matt Mitrione. This bout was Mitrione’s debut in the UFC; Jones had a record of 4 and 2 coming in. Even though Jones was three inches taller, Mitrione had a two inch reach advantage.

Jones was on the attack from the start, grabbing Mitrione for take down after take down. At one point he attempted a guillotine, but Mitrione escaped. Mitrione, in response to the take downs, used the cage to stand up. In a clinch, Mitrione dealt shoulder shots, a high knee and a knee to the gut. The men traded jabs and the occasional knee, but Jones was the aggressor throughout the round with his many take downs.

Joe Rogan talked a bit about Jones’ stand up style, or lack thereof, and how elementary it was. Jones has been doing MMA for under three years, so everything is new. This limited experience with stand up fighting was a crucial aspect as round two began.  Jones rushed Mitrione and Mitrione did a straight right to Jones’ face. As Jones was falling, he followed up that shot with another. KO.

Frankie Edgar had the next fight against Matt Veach. Edgar is a freestyler and Veach, a brawler, with comparable records (Edgar 10-1, Veach 11-0). Although they were within a pound of each other, Veach looked much bigger, very muscular.

The bout was indicative of Veach’s strength: he picked Edgar up multiple times and slammed him to the floor. All that brute strength had its toll as Veach would take huge breaths when they were separated. Edgar tried his own take downs, but they were stuffed. Edgar went in for strikes, here and there, but Veach’s were far harder.

Round 2 had Veach trying for a single leg take down which Edgar stuffed. Both men used combination strikes until Edgar clipped Veach, causing Veach to drop to the floor. Edgar jumped on him, did some ground and pound and arear naked. Tap out. Fight of the Night.

The weirdest fight of the night was between Kimbo Slice and Houston Alexander. Alexander is known to be an extremely tough opponent, having decimated Keith Jardine in 48 seconds of round 1. Rogan said that Alexander’s tactic was to attack Slice’s lead leg, the one without the cartilage. In order to do this, Alexander circled the octagon, with Slice in the center, for basically the first round. Nothing happened for almost three minutes, save booing and boredom. Slice eventually moved in closer; Alexander did the occasional leg kick to Slice’s lead leg.

At the 2:10 mark, Slice managed a clinch and both men were striking. Slice connected, but Alexander went back to the leg kicks and circling.

Round 2 had Slice getting in closer and accomplishing a take down and full mount. Alexander stood up, but slipped, enabling Slice to grab him and do a huge, frightening body slam. Slice tried for a choke as well. He had another take down and did some ground and pound. When Alexander turned, Slice had his back and grapevined him, trying another choke. Kimbo Slice has some ground techniques. Nice.

All the while that Slice was trying new techniques (new to him), Alexander did the circling and leg kicks. Almost all the kicks were inside, but an outside leg kick in the third round took Slice’s leg out from under him. When on the ground, Slice was in control. Standing, Alexander did his kicks and Slice would come in to strike. Both men were slow to do anything in this round. Slice won by unanimous decision.

Alexander’s tactics to destroy Slice’s leg worked, but made for a boring fight; however, it was fun to see Slice with his new skill sets.

Mark Bocek fought against Joe Brammer in a lightweight match up. Bocek is a BJJ black belt with a record of 7-2 in the octagon. Most of his wins are by submission. Brammer was 7-0-1 coming in to this fight. He is a jeet kune do guy who favours chokes and unorthodox strikes.

Brammer started the match with two big kicks from the southpaw stance. Bocek almost immediately attempted a take down. When he succeeded, he grapevined Brammer in a body triangle. Brammer got to his feet, but Bocek remained on his back, getting his hooks in. Bocek (while on Brammer’s back, hooks still in, back to the cage) then began a rear naked choke. It didn’t look as though the arm was under the chin, but that Brammer’s head was cranked to the side, the jaw was trapped and the Bocek’s arm tightly around. Tap out.  Submission of the Night.

Matt Hammill’s fight against Jon Jones promised good things: both were collegiate wrestlers (with Hammill on the Olympic team, I believe). Jones came in undefeated with an astounding 8 1/2 inch reach advantage. He also has fantastic spinning back fists and kicks.

Jones began with high head kicks; Hammill answered with low kicks and jabs. Hammill tried a take down, but Jones threw Hammill with an o soto gari, I think. He then had full mount and did some vicious ground and pound, striking from about 18 inches to Hammill’s face. Hammill did not attempt to lift his hips or shrimp out. His nose had a huge gash and blood was flowing into his eyes. As Jones continued the G and P, the referee jumped in to stop him – he had done a downward elbow strike to the face, which in UFC rules is illegal. One point was deducted and then the fight was deemed over as Hammill could not continue. Due to the illegal strike, Jones lost the match due to disqualification. To top it off, Hammill dislocated a shoulder during an exchange.

McSweeney and Schoonover, from The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 TUF10, had the next match. McSweeney showed far more abilities than in his fights during The Ultimate Fighter. He tried a rear naked choke when in the grapevine position, ground and pound during one of their sessions on the floor, a huge slam for a take down and strong kicks and knees from standing.  Schoonover is talented, but this was not to be his night. Although Schoonover countered with strikes, knees and kicks, rolled McSweeney, moved constantly when on the ground, McSweeney ended the match by a flying knee, head kick, right hand and knee to the face. Schoonover dropped.  TKO referee stoppage.

The semifinalists of The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 TUF10, Brendan Schaub and Roy Nelson, had their final bout. Schaub was the taller, by four inches. He had won all his previous matches by knock out. His background is tae kwon do, jiu jitsu and boxing, having been a Golder Gloves champion. Nelson is a black belt in jiu jitsu and the IFL heavyweight champion. His specialty is ground and pound.

The first round began with Nelson attempting a take down. Schaub answered with combos. Nelson did a little ankle throw when in the clinch and ended in Schaub’s half guard. He then tried an ude garami without success.

After Schaub got up, he throw a number of combinations, most connecting. Nelson countered and then threw an overhand right to Schaub’s left temple. Knock out. Knock out of the Night.

Nelson went into The Ultimate Fighter boasting of his abilities, although most of these guys do that. He bragged to White but White was “not impressed” until the semi final bout. Considering that Nelson is so experienced a fighter, despite his girth and his looking out of shape, it isn’t a surprise that he won overall.

ayjay

December 7, 2009

The semi-finals matches for The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 TUF10 were between Roy Nelson and James McSweeney and Brendan Schaub versus Marcus Jones.

Dana White said that Nelson had “impressed himself” with his bouts in The Ultimate Fighter. As for McSweeney, White said he was smaller than Nelson (but who isn’t?), but wants the win more and would outwork Nelson.

Rashad Evans‘ commented that Nelson had pretty good stand up and great ground technique, whereas McSweeney had great stand up and not so great ground work.

Nelson’s preliminary bout had been with Kimbo Slice (click here to go to the article about this fight). His quarter final match was with Justin Wren (click here to go to that match).

McSweeney was at the center of the controversy in this episode. He wrote a derogatory comment on Zak Jensen’s head (Jensen was too trusting) and then blocked the bathroom door when Jensen was inside. Jensen told the camera that he was claustrophobic. When he was released from the bathroom, he went after McSweeney, who promptly put Jensen in a front guillotine.  Jensen is the fellow whom all the others had been picking on, who seems to lack social abilities. They even had a pool as to when he was going to go insane. McSweeney treated him poorly, probably thinking it was all a joke.

Click here to go to the articles about McSweeney’s preliminary and quarter final fights.

The semi-final between Nelson and McSweeney began with McSweeney applying a leg kick and Nelson countering with a strike. McSweeney changed stances, fired off kicks and strikes of his own. Nelson then rushed into McSweeney’s guillotine at the fence, but popped his head out.

McSweeney did some jabs and another leg kick and then started showboating, indicating to Nelson that Nelson should strike at his chin. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen something like this. The guy drops his hands, struts about, says, in effect, come on, try it. Well, as in all other cases, Nelson did – he hit McSweeney with a hard right and rocked him.

Nelson then slammed McSweeney to the ground and moved from half guard to side control. He used the same technique that defeated Slice, grabbed the far arm, put his giant, fat belly on the opponent’s upper torso and face, trapped the near arm under a leg and used his fist to apply feeble little punches to the bit of head that’s exposed (generally the top of the guy’s head which he has no ability to defend against)  – in this case twenty-two bops. TKO referee stoppage.

White said that Nelson finally impressed him. After McSweeney’s antics, I’m glad McSweeney lost.

The remaining bout was between Marcus Jones and Brendan Schaub. Both these guys had been professional football players, but approached MMA differently: Jones has only been in MMA for two years and is extremely competent on the ground. He is also bigger than most people. Schaub is a tae kwon do and jiu jitsu guy with strong boxing skills.

Evans talked about Schaub’s “explosive punches” and Schaub said he would just let his punches go on Jones. Jones planned to take Schaub to the ground and do ground and pound.

In both of Schaub’s previous matches, he was taken down and worked from the bottom (click here for Schaub’s matches – preliminary and quarter final). The quarter final match was ugly and he should have been penalized for grabbing of the fence and his opponent’s shorts.

Marcus Jones impressed everyone with his preliminary bout against Wessel and quarter final against Schoonover.

In this semi-final, Jones took Schaub down immediately after a strike. He then went from half guard to full mount. Schaub moved from the bottom, managing to return to half guard and then to get up. A knee by Jones looked as though it would end the match, but Schaub struck out with his right hand and Jones hit the ground. Six shots followed while Jones was on the mat and the match was over.

Rampage Jackson went into the octagon to see to Jones, probably the first time he did that for any of the people on his team. He told the camera that if he had been alone, he might well have wept over the loss.

The finals of The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 TUF10 are on Spike on Saturday, the 5th of December, between Roy Nelson and Brendan Schaub.

ayjay

December 4, 2009

Episode 11 of The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 TUF10 contained the last two quarter finals matches between Matt Mitrione and James McSweeney and Marcus Jones versus Darrill Schoonover.

Although Dana White wanted Kimbo Slice to fight instead of Mitrione, Slice amazingly turned down the fight. His knee is missing cartilage and he refused to have injections to alleviate the pain.

Mitrione spoke with his doctor and told everyone that the doctor had OK’d his fight against McSweeney. Mitrione admitted to the camera that he’d played with McSweeney so that McSweeney wouldn’t know with whom he was fighting until the last minute. Schaub suggested that Mitrione’s unorthodox fighting style warranted some respect.

A major confrontation in this episode revolved around Mitrione: He had inadvertently poked Scott Junk in the eye during their preliminary match. The result was tears to Junk’s retina, requiring surgery. Also the doctor suggested that Junk’s MMA career would be over. When Marcus Jones heard this, he proceeded to go quietly berserk. By the time he saw Mitrione, he looked as though he was about to take Mitrione’s head off. (Mitrione didn’t have a clue what was causing Jones’ outrage, but didn’t back down either.) Jones was irrational and hysterical for some time, eventually calming down, partially due to Jackson’s comments. (Junk was later given the news that he could fight in two months’ time, although the doctor did not recommend it.)

Dana White felt that Mitrione would win the bout against McSweeney if he fought as he did against Scott Junk. Click here to go to the article containing that fight(Mitrione versus Junk).

Click here to go to the article about McSweeney’s preliminary match with Wes Shivers.

Round 1 began with McSweeney applying a low leg kick. Mitrione followed up with right and left shots. The men were circling one another, with Mitrione looking for the opening. He caught one of McSweeney’s kicks and followed up with multiples strikes.

McSweeney used some combos and tried a take down. Mitrione dropped near the fence and, with McSweeney following him to the ground, attempted a leg lock.

McSweeney had side control and when Mitrione turned over and got up on his knees, McSweeney clung to his back. Mitrione began to stand, but McSweeney had his neck in an hadaka jime. My first comment was, “Don’t you tap out!” and Mitrione did! He didn’t attempt to move McSweeney’s arm or elbow, or his own head. He could have taken a fraction of a second with the choke on to try to escape. Oy.

The last quarter final match was between Marcus Jones and Darrill Schoonover. Jones is four inches taller and has a four inch reach advantage over Schoonover. Schoonover said that his plan was to get up immediately if taken down by Jones.

Click here to go to the article about Schoonover’s preliminary fight.

Click here to go to the article about Marcus Jones’ preliminary fight.

Round 1 had Jones beginning with a leg kick and an immediate take down. He obtained side control without difficulty and shoved his forearm into Schoonover’s face. He then took the leg closer to Schoonover’s head and placed it over Schoonover’s head (an interesting move – your opponent can’t move his head and you are in control of his upper body) and punched his head multiple times. Jones then tried an arm bar (ude garami/Kimura).

All this time Schoonover moved to his knees when able and then his back again. He went from full guard to rubber guard. Strangely, Jones let Schoonover get up and then pounded him on the ground again. Eventually Schoonover’s head bounced on the mat and he was out. Total domination.

Rashad Evans was gracious about Marcus Jones (who wasn’t on his team) and his abilities.  

The quarter finals are completed and now on to the semis for The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 TUF 10. The semi-final matches are set between Nelson and McSweeney and Jones and Schaub.

ayjay

December 3, 2009

The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 TUF10 – Episode 10 had the quarter final bout between Brendan Schaub, a former NFLer who trains with Jackson’s MMA, and Jon Madsen, a former wrestling champion who trains with Matt Hughes‘ group.

Schaub is a boxer with four inches in height and 7 1/2 inches in reach over Madsen. He considered that Madsen was one-dimensional as a fighter, being only a wrestler.

During the training sessions, Evans left Schaub to train with his teammates (who worked with Schaub on how to avoid take downs) but later coached Madsen himself. 

Dana White said he thought that if the fight remained standing, Schaub had the advantage; on the ground, it would be Madsen.

During the episode, we followed the coaches in their beach volleyball game. Neither coach had played volleyball beyond childhood, but got progressively better with Jackson winning the first game, Evans, the second, and then Evans, the third and last, in a very close game. Jackson can’t seem to win against Evans.

Matt Mitrione’s quarter final match against McSweeney is not yet definite. He told everyone that he had swelling of the brain and headaches. The coaches did not believe him about the swelling.

Mitrione told people he only wanted the show to be over so that he could go home to his normal life. He really looked stunned most of the time and spoke slowly, as with difficulty. Evans was prepared to tell White that Mitrione was not fighting, although I don’t think that happened.

As for whether Kimbo Slice could fight in Mitrione’s stead, that is up in the air as well: Slice sustained a knee injury during training. After an MRI and examination, the doctor told Slice that he had no cartilage in some parts of the knee. In order to assist him, he could have a cortisone injection to reduce the swelling. Slice did not want a needle and spent the rest of the show with his knee wrapped. His teammates had him sitting in an ice bath to reduce the swelling. I guess it didn’t occur to him that only his knee required the ice.

Schaub versus Madsen, Round 1: Madsen immediately attempted a take down and, on his second attempt, succeeded. He ended up in Schaub’s half guard at the fence. Thus began Schaub’s grabbing of the fence at total of ten times during the match. He was warned but had no points taken off. Madsen didn’t accomplish anything on the ground and Schaub moved around a bit. The referee had them stand up.

Madsen attempted a take down again, but this time, Schaub grabbed the fence to stuff the take down. He should have been penalized here. They remained at the fence one pushing the other against it and then Schaub grabbed Madsen’s shorts.

Madsen had another take down and side control and, for some reason, went into half guard. He didn’t accomplish anything in either position.

Round 2 began without punching by the boxer or wrestling by the wrestler. Schaub threw a few punches and knees when in the clinch. Madsen was backing up and Schaub followed and as Madsen dropped his hands, Schaub did two straight punches and Madsen was down and out.

Schaub should be working on his ground game: he stuffed a couple of take down attempts, but grabbed the fence in one. He had no idea how to get out from under when on the ground. Madsen managed take downs but didn’t do anything when he had the superior position. Not an interesting fight.

The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 TUF10 is one Wednesdays at 10 EST on Spike.

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 1

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 2

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 3

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 4- Note: This is the episode with Schaub’s preliminary fight.

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 5

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 6

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 7

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 8

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 9

ayjay

November 19, 2009