With American Top Team finally on the board, could it keep the momentum in its favor to make it two victories in a row? Or would the Blackzilians be able to recover and get back the win that ATT picked up in the previous episode of The Ultimate Fighter 21?
The score is 100-50 Blackzilians, and the show basically got down to business right away. ATT picked one of its most experienced fighters, Marcelo Alfaya, to take on hungry, unheralded Blackzilian Jason Jackson.
When fight time came along, things did not go the way many expected it to.
Alfaya, the veteran savage who has fought under the bright lights, put forth an incredibly underwhelming performance against his counterpart. Meanwhile, Jackson, the less experienced fighter of the two, used quickness, a tight jab and takedown defense to thwart any offense from Alfaya.
Jackson stuck and moved, while Alfaya barely put out enough offense for the audience to notice he was there. Alfaya rarely shot for takedowns, something he should have combined with the clinch to stifle Jackson.
It simply didn’t happen.
Jackson won a majority decision and brought things back to the Blackzilian gym. He also raised the score to 150-50, as his team continues to dominate a baffled ATT.
Once again, Dana White was critical of the fight, and I can’t blame him. There was no urgency from either fighter to finish impressively, especially from Alfaya.
Season Results
| Winner | Loser | Points | Leader |
| Kamaru Usman (BLK) | Mike Graves (ATT) | 25 | Blackzilians lead 25-0 |
| Luiz Firmino (BLK) | Uros Jurisic (ATT) | 25 | Blackzilians lead 50-0 |
| Valdir Araujo (BLK) | Steve Carl (ATT) | 25 | Blackzilians lead 75-0 |
| Carrington Banks (BLK) | Sabah Homasi (ATT) | 25 | Blackzilians lead 100-0 |
| Hayder Hassan (ATT) | Andrews Nakahara (BLK) | 50 | Blackzilians lead 100-50 |
| Jason Jackson (BLK) | Marcelo Alfaya (ATT) | 50 | Blackzilians lead 150-50 |
Notes and Observations
- Alfaya is crazy. Like, really scary. He’s the type of guy who gets cut off in traffic, punches the offender’s window in and drags them out of their car. Just watch his pre-fight breathing bit that had Nathan Coy and Mike Graves laughing their butts off.
- Speaking of Alfaya, in the aftermath of his fight, he told his coaches that he was conserving his energy in the fight—especially in the first round. That is a terrible strategy, especially in a two-round fight. You have to take the Hayder Hassan approach, where you go in aggressively and look to finish early and often.
- According to the preview for the next episode, since it is halfway through the competition, the coaches will have the option to bring on a maximum of two new fighters and exchange them for fighters currently on the squad. I would assume the Blackzilians won’t exchange anybody, but seeing as Steve Montgomery left the show already and ATT is struggling, I wouldn’t be surprised to see at least one new ATT member. In looking at ATT‘s roster of welterweights, some of its choices could be Joe Ray, Karl Amoussou or some other surprise appearance. Either way, ATT is in desperate need of changes.
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