With two fights remaining in the season and the American Top Team on the brink of elimination, could the Blackzilians finally clinch the season? Or, would ATT be able to tie things up going into the final fight?
In the aftermath of Nathan Coy’s victory for ATT, the Blackzilians had a serious meeting in the locker room to motivate them. Owner Glenn Robinson was very passionate, while Kamaru Usman accused some fighters of checking out of the competition already. Jason Jackson agreed.
We then saw the coaches meet with their staff to decide who would fight next. The Blackzilian staff all agreed that Jackson should be the next to go due to his eagerness and desire. Jackson won earlier this season against Marcelo Alfaya, a fight which he took at the ATT gym (the same situation here).
As for ATT, there was some dissension amongst the coaches as to who to pick. Mike Graves was a popular choice due to his skill set, but his drinking and mental toughness came into question in the aftermath of his loss to Kamaru Usman in episode 1. Another coach wanted to go with Cristiano Souza, but was outvoted by the rest of the staff in favor of Graves.
We then went to the owner’s challenge for the season, which was a relay race. It was a 4X100 sprint, meaning four runners each had to run 100 meters while passing the baton to the next person in the relay.
In order of the relay, ATT went with strength and conditioning coach Brian Harris, Sabah Homasi, Cristiano Souza and owner Dan Lambert. The Blackzilians went with Carrington Banks, coach Greg Jones, Jason Jackson and owner Glenn Robinson.
The first leg of the race was close, with Harris narrowly taking an early lead over Banks. After the handoff, Homasi, who was running with an injured foot, was able to edge Jones to keep the lead going into the third leg.
There is where the Blackzilians would take the lead. Jackson, with his great speed and long legs, blew out Souza going into the final handoff. Robinson started out with a bit of a lead thanks to Jackson’s effort, but would be easily overtaken by Lambert en route to an ATT victory.
Lambert won $10,000 dollars for himself, while each of his fighters took home $1,500 due to the victory.
A day before the fight, Graves hurt his neck in training, which didn’t allow him to move his head much. It was cause for concern, though Graves said he’d had this happen before and performed regardless.
Fight time came, and it was a very interesting affair. After some feeling out, Jackson looked to land a body kick which appeared to land below the belt with the shin.
Graves went down in pain, but the ref did not call a timeout to give him recovery. Instead, Jackson pounced and proceeded to shell Graves with a massive amount of punishment via punches to the head and knees to the body. The fight was on the brink of being stopped a couple of times.
Then, out of nowhere, Graves was able to reverse positions and get Jackson’s back. There, he secured a miracle rear-naked choke, earning a tapout and tying the competition up at 300 points.
ATT lives to fight at the final episode.
In the aftermath of the fight, owner Glenn Robinson and some of his team openly protested the fight. They said the ref had screwed them over and that the fight should have been stopped before Graves was able to turn his fortunes, openly bashing the ref and discussing the bout with the commission.
Next week will be the final fight, which will determine the winner of the season. That will lead into the finale, which wills see the coaches pick their fighters to fight for the title of The Ultimate Fighter.
Season Results
| Winner | Loser | Points | Leader |
| Kamaru Usman (B) | Mike Graves (A) | 25 | Blackzilians lead 25-0 |
| Luiz Firmino (B) | Uros Jurisic (A) | 25 | Blackzilians lead 50-0 |
| Valdir Araujo (B) | Steve Carl (A) | 25 | Blackzilians lead 75-0 |
| Carrington Banks (B) | Sabah Homasi (A) | 25 | Blackzilians lead 100-0 |
| Hayder Hassan (A) | Andrews Nakahara (B) | 50 | Blackzilians lead 100-50 |
| Jason Jackson (B) | Marcelo Alfaya (A) | 50 | Blackzilians lead 150-50 |
| Vicente Luque (B) | Nathan Coy (A) | 50 | Blackzilians lead 200-50 |
| Hayder Hassan (A) | Felipe Portela (B) | 50 | Blackzilians lead 200-100 |
| Kamaru Usman (B) | Steve Carl (A) | 100 | Blackzilians lead 300-100 |
| Nathan Coy (A) | Valdir Araujo (B) | 100 | Blackzilians lead 300-200 |
| Mike Graves (A) | Jason Jackson (B) | 100 | Tied at 300-300 |
Notes and Observations
- I can totally understand why the one coach for ATT did not want to go with Graves. He did not take losing very well and resorted to drinking and kind of mentally checking out. However, as the coaches pointed out, Graves, while young, is very skilled and well-rounded, which is why making him their choice for this bout the right one. He is one of the better guys on the squad and was able to show why.
- Wow, Jason Jackson is fast. He has to have some kind of track background, which also wouldn’t be surprising considering he is Jamaican and that country has a dynamite track program.
- Dana White is 100 percent correct. I have no idea how the Blackzilians could be crying about the reffing when the ATT fighter was the one getting screwed by poor reffing. Graves took a shot to below the belt, which started the entire onslaught by Jackson, shots to the back of the head and a fence grab when he reversed position. They can argue that fight should have been stopped all they want, but Graves was trying to get out and it’s at the referee’s discretion. You want to finish the fight and take the ref out of the equation? Knock him completely out cold.
- Again, the Blackzilians protesting that loss was beyond annoying. That is not the ref’s fault, that is a credit to the toughness and perseverance of Graves. Their constant complaining this season has been off-putting. It actually took ATT coach Ricardo Liborio to calm Robinson down post-fight, saying it wasn’t the time or place to be protesting. Surprisingly, Robinson listened to Liborio, who he says he has immense respect for.
- This should win Fight of the Season just based on circumstance. Jackson was laying a serious beatdown on Graves that was exciting because it could have been stopped at any time, but Graves denied that with his unwillingness to quit. It was an amazing comeback that should net each man a nice paycheck at the end of the season.
- Rashad Evans is a great coach and teammate. He is a really mature, smart fighter who should really open his own gym and start his own team. He was an amazing coach on The Ultimate Fighter 10 and has been a strong coach for the Blackzilians this season. He is a great benefit to any gym he offers his services to.
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