The Flog!

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 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 11 TUF11 began with more fights (or partial fights) in one hour than we’ve seen to date. For people unfamiliar with MMA, there were good varieties of techniques and skill levels. We also had injuries, lots of blood and a couple of boring bits. All ’round, it was one of the best episodes of The Ultimate Fighter that I’ve seen. Nothing was on long enough to cause me to want to change the channel and there was something new in the next five minute segment.

In episode 1 we had 28 competitors and fourteen fights. Those fourteen winners will be fighting in the next few weeks to come up with the final seven. In order to have eight finalists, the coaches will name the eighth person from among the losers of the previous seven matches.

As for the fights on this night, we had some serious bleeding from a head wound, a broken orbital socket (Victor O’Donnell vs. Chris Camozzi (W)), a popped shoulder (Cleburn Walker vs. Kris McCray (W)), and the worst broken nose I’ve ever seen – flattened and askew -(in a bout between very close friends, Clayton McKinney (W) and Charley Lynch). We had several knock outs: Jamie Yager (W) vs. Ben Stark; Jordan Smith vs. Brad Tavares (W); Jacen Flynn vs. Charles Blanchard (W); and Kyacey Uscola (W) vs. Brent Cooper.

Joe Henle (W) won with a juji gatame against Constantinos Philippou, while we had a few matches that went to decision: Josh Bryant (W) vs. Greg Rebello, Rich Attonito (W) vs. Lyle Steffens, Nick Ring (W) vs. Woody Weatherby, and Kyle Noke (W) vs. Warren Thompson. Court McGee vs. Seth Baczynski went to a third round with McGee winning.

In addition to all that excitement we had a Frenchman, Norman Paraisy, who had said that he wanted to prove that the French were fighters and didn’t deserve the negative comments they always got. He gave up after round one against James Hammortree.

One of the best fights of the night was against Victor O’Donnell and Chris Camozzi. Both men fought well, with Camozzi throwing O’Donnell with harai goshi twice, both times quickly and with precision. O’Donnell continued through the fight with a broken orbital socket, eye mostly shut, a very tough guy.

The first episode of TUF11 was fun and I’m looking to see more of the same.

Episode 2 had the coaches, Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz, choosing their team members from the winners of the first episode. After all the men were picked, Ortiz mocked Liddell’s choices when talking to his own team, mentioning the size of the guys Liddell had chosen, most of them being 5’9″ or slightly more. Dana White even went up to Liddell and made comments, suggesting that Liddell had the worse team and White couldn’t understand his picks. Liddell saw something in the men he chose and he was happy with his team.

In addition, Liddell got to pick the fighters for the first preliminary bout, naming Kyle Noke from his team to fight against Clayton McKinney from Ortiz’s.

Comments from Liddell and his coaches about Noke were that he had good strikes, kicks, ground game and no weaknesses that they could see. McKinney was a total other animal. He was complaining continually about his shoulder, injured during his elimination fight. He was not relating to anyone in the house and slacked off during training due to his injury. (An MRI found bone bruising, but nothing structural wrong with it.) Ortiz felt that McKinney had never been truly tested before.

During the match, McKinney switched stances a number of times, and had his hands far too low. The men exchanged leg kicks, but seemed hesitant. After a failed take down by McKinney, he ended in Noke’s triangle choke (sankaku jime) and, with perhaps 30 seconds before the choke was on well, did not escape. Tapout. Win by Noke.

McKinney tried to leave the room immediately, but Ortiz and his coaches made him watch an escape from the triangle and then attempt the escape twice. Ortiz really is a fantastic coach. Instead of letting his own disappointment overwhelm him, something we have seen in past coaches on The Ultimate Fighter (Rampage Jackson certainly comes to mind), he spoke positively to McKinney and showed him how to avoid the triangle in the future.

As for mocking Liddell, fight one goes to Liddell.

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

Click here to go to TUF11 Episode 3.

Click here to go to TUF11 Ep. 4.

ayjay,

April 10, 2010