Sharing a tense face-off with surging middleweight contender and expected next title challenger, Dricus du Plessis at UFC 290 last night, undisputed division champion, Israel Adesanya has been blasted by fans and labelled as “racist” by an ex-UFC fighter, following an expletive-filled tirade aimed at the South African. Adesanya, a two-time and current undisputed middleweight […]
Sharing a tense face-off with surging middleweight contender and expected next title challenger, Dricus du Plessis at UFC 290 last night, undisputed division champion, Israel Adesanya has been blasted by fans and labelled as “racist” by an ex-UFC fighter, following an expletive-filled tirade aimed at the South African.
Adesanya, a two-time and current undisputed middleweight champion, managed to regain the 185-pound championship at UFC 287 back in April in Miami, Florida – stopping Brazilian rival, Alex Pereira with a second round knockout in ‘The Sunshine State’.
Attending UFC 290 last night, Adesanya, who watched a clash between former champion and two-time foe, Robert Whittaker and the aforenoted rival, du Plessis, appears to have landed his next opponent off the back of the main card clash.
Improving to 6-0 since his transition to the UFC, surging contender, du Plessis became the first fighter other than Adesanya and Stephen Thompson to finish fan-favorite striker, Whittaker with strikes, securing his championship outing with a second round TKO triumph.
Israel Adesanya has been labeled as “racist” following his rant at UFC 290
And heavily criticized across social media for his brash display and use of language in their racially-charged face off, Israel Adesanya has been branded as a “racist” by many users, including former UFC featherweight, Andy Ogle.
“He (Israel Adesanya) knows what a force I am in there,” Dricus du Plessis said after UFC 290. “You could feel the energy, and I could feel how insignificant he is to me when we get into that cage. I’m prepared for everything. Everything he says – he’s behaving like a clown in there. That’s not how a champion behaves, that’s not how a man behaves, he’s behaving like a child. Conduct yourself like a champion. There’s people looking up to you , and you’re behaving like that?” “I’ll knock him out, just like I did tonight,” Dricus du Plessis explained. “You know, if not – we saw his fight with Alex Pereira, if I get him to the floor, it is not even a fight. It’s not even a fight – if I just get my hands on him, it’s not even a fight. I will manhandle him. I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again.”
Yet to book his Octagon return, Adesanya is expected to headline UFC 293 in September in the promotion’s return to Sydney, Australia, with a bout against du Plesis expected to be confirmed imminently.
Every avid mma or UFC fan looks forward to the decorated reality show we have all come to know and love. It is of course none other than The Ultimate Fighter. This combines the qualities.
Every avid mma or UFC fan looks forward to the decorated reality show we have all come to know and love. It is of course none other than The Ultimate Fighter. This combines the qualities of fighting and mma, with the reality style drama many Americans crave in media. The premise of the show is multiple fights between fighters in a tournament like style. The ultimate goal is to win the tournament, receive the honor of “The Ultimate Fighter”, and consequently receive a six figure sum contract from Dana White to fight in the top promotional company of mma. The goal is to have a single fighter come out of the tournament as the victor; a single ultimate winner.
However, I find it interesting that the longer the seasons progress, the more fighters from the show are given the opportunity to also fight in the UFC. Clearly every fighter that is in the UFC has not come from the reality show. The fighters in the UFC were up and coming mma fighters signed by Dana White and the presidents of the promotion. So technically any of the fighters from the show that didn’t win are simply just up and coming mma competitors that could potentially be signed by the UFC like any other fighter in the promotion. However, the premise of the reality show is for one man to stand out and to be the fighter signed by the UFC.
As I stated earlier, the more seasons that are being filmed of TUF, the majority of the fighters that just make it onto the show are being signed as well by the UFC. UFC 150, which will be airing August 12, 2012, features the very promising fighter Justin Lawrence as his debut in the Featherweight division. He was an excellent contender on TUF 15, and was the first overall pick. I, personally, was rooting for him to win. Unfortunately, not everyone can win a competition, and it wasn’t his moment to shine. Regardless of the fact, he was signed to the UFC. Cristiano Marcello will be appearing at UFC 153, as well as cast member Sam Sicilia. Andy Ogle is scheduled to fight at UFC on Fuel TV 5, and Daron Cruickshank is slated to fight at UFC 151, just to name a few fighters from the show.
The show has slowly been turning from the tournament style fighting we have all grown to love, into literally an almost everyone gets to win show. There is less zest from the show because more than likely you know as a viewer that half of the fighters are going to be signed with the UFC regardless of whether they are the victor or not. I feel like the show will eventually lose a majority of viewers, because it is not a competition anymore and more of a group of soon to be UFC fighters living in a house together, while America gets the privilege to watch their lives over the segmented time frame.
We’ve got two quarter final match ups today so let’s jump right in. From Coach Dominick Cruz’ team we have Vinc Pichel taking on Coach Urijah Faber’s Chris Saunders. After that, Team Faber teammates Al Iaquinta and Andy Ogle lock up. At the end of the episode, injured Cruz’ replacement to face Faber at UFC 148 for the interim bantamweight title will also be announced.
We’ve got two quarter final match ups today so let’s jump right in. From Coach Dominick Cruz’ team we have Vinc Pichel taking on Coach Urijah Faber’s Chris Saunders. After that, Team Faber teammates Al Iaquinta and Andy Ogle lock up. At the end of the episode, injured Cruz’ replacement to face Faber at UFC 148 for the interim bantamweight title will also be announced.
Vinc Pichel vs. Chris Saunders
Rd 1
Both men exchange leg kicks, no major punches landed. Pichel presses in on Saunders and looks for a double leg takedown against the cage. Saunders reverses position and looks for his own takedown against the fence.
Saunders gets the takedown and ends up in Pichel’s full guard. Both men throw strikes at one another from there for about a minute before Pichel is able to get back to his feet and in a free standing range.
Pichel finds his range with a jab and a cross, moving forward, and shoots in for another double leg attempt against the cage. He doesn’t get it and the two stay against the fence for a few moments, exchanging knees and elbows.
Pichel goes for another takedown, appears to get it but Saunders hits a switch and momentarily lands on the side of a turtle up Pichel, raining down punches. Pichel gets up to his feet. Pichel lands another jab-cross combination and Saunders returns fire with a left hook.
With ten seconds left, Saunders presses Pichel against the cage and works for another takedown. Pichel defends and lands an elbow to the head from the clinch right before the horn sounds.
Rd 2
Pichel follows up another straight right with by pushing Saunders against the cage and looking for a double leg. They fight there for some time before Pichel pulls Saunders down to the ground. Saunders pops back up immediately and gets, first, to the side and then to the back of Pichel but Pichel stands back up.
Saunders keeps his grip around the waist of Pichel while they are on their feet as Pichel tries to break free. Pichel’s nose is bloodied. Saunders attempts a suplex but Pichel lands on his feet.
Saunders gives up on the grip and they are back to a free standing position. Saunders shoots for a single leg takedown and does not get it. They break and Pichel goes on the attack.
He lands a right cross then left knee to the head. Pichel has Saunders reeling, but still composed, as he works knee after knee into his gut. Pichel changes levels and gets a double leg takedown with a minute and a half left in the round. Saunders gets back to his feet thirty seconds later but is immediately pulled back down.
Saunders reverses position and gets on top of Pichel, then jumps to his back. Pichel is on his feet but bent over, defending chokes from Saunders. Eventually Pichel is able to turn in to Saunders and begin work from inside his full guard. Saunders gets back up to his feet.
Pichel doesn’t slow his attack at all and he ends the round landing a cross, left hook and knees to the body.
Decision time!
Pichel wins by majority decision. Two judges saw it his way and one judge scored it a draw.
An elated Pichel gives Saunders credit in his post-fight interview with Jon Anik. “You go in here thinking, ‘I’m just going to whoop his ass,’…but it was definitely a battle.”
Back to the tape, we see how Coach Faber dealt with having two of his teammates prepare to fight one another. He tells All Iaqunita that on the day of the fight he will randomly assign assistant coaches to his corner to avoid it being “weird.” Faber also announces that he is going to stay out of the coaching.
Ogle’s plan against Al is to stick and move and Iaquinta is confident that he is the hardest working guy on the show, and that will make the difference. Time to get it on.
Fight Time!
Al Iaquinta vs. Andy Ogle
Rd. 1
Both men cautiously measure each other out, with spurts of glancing punch combinations and low kicks for about a minute and a half. Iaquinta then lands a high kick and follows up with a punch combo to the head of Ogle.
Ogle becomes more aggressive but Al finds a regular mark with rear leg low kicks. Ogle lands an overhand right. Al stalks Ogle around the cage.
Al lands an uppercut and then a rear push kick. In another exchange, Al lands a right uppercut followed by a left hook to the head. Ogle gets back at All with a left upper cut, overhand right combination.
Ogle gets dropped hard by a punch with under a minute left but survives the follow-up ground striking and gets back to his feet. Its clear he doesn’t have his legs under him yet, though, and when Al hits him again, this time with a nasty elbow, he drops even harder. Al follows up with a couple ground strikes before Referee Steve Mazzagatti can get to him to stop the fight with just seconds left in the round.
Al moves on to the semi-finals. The usual outburst of cheering is absent out of respect and worry for Ogle’s safety from he and Al’s Team Faber teammates.
Next week’s matchups plus the announcement of Faber’s opponent are next!
The first semi-final matchup will be James Vick vs. Mike ChiesaAl and Pichel will also square up.
And for the interim bantamweight title belt, Urijah Faber will face…cut to highlight film of Renan Barao. The highlight is scary, showing Barao knocking out and submitting fools, but when they cut back to Faber he is laughing.
I doubt it’s at Barao, but that was just good timing. Dana White apologizes to Faber, presumably for not telling him earlier who he would be fighting, saying that they didn’t want the news to leak out. Barao enters the gym.
The two square up and the injured Cruz has to watch all this shit, inches away. He can’t be happy. Dana asks him if he’s alright as the show fades out.
Mike Rio vs. Andy Ogle seems like a good enough fight for this week’s contest, but the Brit goes further in predicting what it will be like. “It’s going to be a very attractive fight,” Ogle jokes. “It’s going to be a sexy fight.”
But before we can get to that, we are shown Team Cruz’ Sam Sicilia being comforted in his locker room by Mike Chiesa, who is on Faber’s team but is Sam’s best friend from back home. Sam finished last week’s fight much stronger than Chris Saunders and its almost a crime that the fight didn’t go a third round.
In an interview, Sam is clearly devastated but hits the right note. “I’d rather lose that fight than have a killer day in sales,” he says.
That really is what The Ultimate Fighter is about for these guys – they are fighting to be able to spend their lives doing something they love.
Coaches’ Challenge
In past years we’ve seen TUF coaches compete for cash against one another in bowling and ping pong. This year turns out to be a tad different – Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz are competing at firing hand guns, rifles and grenade launches.
Mike Rio vs. Andy Ogle seems like a good enough fight for this week’s contest, but the Brit goes further in predicting what it will be like. “It’s going to be a very attractive fight,” Ogle jokes. “It’s going to be a sexy fight.”
But before we can get to that, we are shown Team Cruz’ Sam Sicilia being comforted in his locker room by Mike Chiesa, who is on Faber’s team but is Sam’s best friend from back home. Sam finished last week’s fight much stronger than Chris Saunders and its almost a crime that the fight didn’t go a third round.
In an interview, Sam is clearly devastated but hits the right note. “I’d rather lose that fight than have a killer day in sales,” he says.
That really is what The Ultimate Fighter is about for these guys – they are fighting to be able to spend their lives doing something they love.
Coaches’ Challenge
In past years we’ve seen TUF coaches compete for cash against one another in bowling and ping pong. This year turns out to be a tad different – Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz are competing at firing hand guns, rifles and grenade launches.
Yes, really.
This year’s challenge is sponsored by the United States Marine Corps and includes a twenty foot high climbing rope, a hand gun station with five targets, tractor tires to flip, a rifle station with targets fifty and seventy feet away, training dummies, another rifle station, thirty five pound ammunition packs to carry and a grenade launcher station with target.
Dana White says that the winning coach will earn $20,000 bucks for themselves, and $1,500 for each one of their team members. It is fair to say that the TUF contestants need the money more than their coaches. Wouldn’t it be nice if they got more and the coaches less? Maybe we’re just hatin’.
In any case, Cruz opens up a huge lead on Faber by climbing the rope way faster and hitting the first five targets with the hand gun before Faber could even hit his first. But little by little, Faber closes the gap and when, at the final station, they are dead even, Faber proves more accurate with a grenade launcher than Cruz and wins the $20k.
There is colorful paint attached to the ammunition. There is slow-mo footage and dramatic explosions that send Dana and the watching fighters into ‘oohs and ahhs.’ Remember to sign up for the Marines, kids. This is exactly what war is like.
Faber is characteristically magnanimous hilariously dick-ish in victory over his rival Cruz, offering to let Cruz touch the stack of cash and even carry it back to his car for him. Cruz responds by saying that he’ll beat Faber up when they meet in the Octagon July 7th.
Back to the fight…
Faber says his game plan for Ogle is for the Brit to use “various attacks,” and make Rio pay for trying shooting in for takedowns. Cruz is emphasizing control to his fighter Rio. After he gets Ogle on the ground, he doesn’t want Rio to have to do it again.
You might remember that Rio jacked his knee up earlier in the season. Lucky for him he hasn’t had to fight until this final prelim-round bout.
Cruz says that he believes Rio’s knee is 100%. “He’s had five weeks to let it heal,” Cruz says.
In a back room Cruz, Faber and Dana meet to talk about who will be matched up in the quarter finals. Cruz and Faber share a couch while convening and Faber is sitting far too close for Cruz’ liking, according to a later interview.
The first two quarter final match-ups will be announced at the end of the episode by White.
Weigh in time
Rio weighs in at 156, and Ogle comes in at 155. Ogle looks taller than Rio but explains, during his stare-down, that he is wearing “me shoes.”
Fight Time!
Rd 1
Ogle comes out moving laterally and in and out. Rio stalks him and Ogle throws and lands first, with left hand jabs and hooks. That pattern repeats itself as Cruz calls for Rio to be first.
He does try to be first now, but lunges in face first and Ogle counters nicely with hooks. Ogle continuing his constant movement, mixed in with punch combos to deter Rio from shooting in.
Rio finally does shoot in, with little set up, and executes a nice double leg takedown slam at the 2:40 mark. Ogle immediately begins to work up to his feet. He gets there but is pressed against the cage by Rio.
After about a minute, Ogle frees himself and they are back in free standing range. Ogle continues to land punches and Rio virtually none. Ogle mixes in a couple over hand rights now. Rio gets a single leg takedown at the horn.
Rd. 2
Rio looks determined to not let Ogle dictate the pace again this round and comes out aggressively with punches, pushing Ogle backwards into the cage. Rio soon gets the takedown and begins landing good shots to Ogle’s face from inside the half guard.
Rio takes Ogle’s back but Ogle defends the choke and turns in to him, ending up in Rio’s full guard. Ogle postures up and breaks Rio’s full guard, then uses good hip movement to pass into side control.
From there, Rio turns in to Ogle and Ogle takes his back. Rio is on all fours defending chokes and punches. Ogle uses both of his hooks to flatten out Rio’s hips and locks in the rear naked choke for the tap out win.
An emotional Ogle runs outside of the cage celebrates with his team and Team Cruz assistant coach but fellow Brit Ross Pearson who looks surprised.
Ogle delivers the nicest, most earnest post-fight we’ve heard in awhile. At this point, we wouldn’t expect anything else from him.
“Mike is the nicest guy on their team. It was a pleasure to beat him and if I was going to lose it would have been great to lose to someone that I really, really respect,” he told host Jon Anik after pointing to Anik and declaring that he is awesome.
