On paper, the summer matchups the UFC has lined up for fans is great. From June to August, fans will be treated to some very intriguing matches, including the mega-fight between heavyweights Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos. WEC lightweight champion …
On paper, the summer matchups the UFC has lined up for fans is great. From June to August, fans will be treated to some very intriguing matches, including the mega-fight between heavyweights Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos.
WEC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis makes his UFC debut against wild-man Clay Guida.
Anthony Johnson introduces Nate Marquardt to the welterweight division.
Phil Davis and Rashad Evans battle it out for a shot at Jon Jones.
These are the 10 fights you don’t want to miss this summer.
It’s a big ol’ locker-room pity party on Team Dos Santos following Mick Bowman’s loss. “Sometimes it’s not our time to be winner, but we have to try our best,” Junior says, trying to raise Mick’s spirits. He explains that the UFC is looking for exciting fighters and exciting fights. Lew Polley sees it differently: “You can say whatever you want, I don’t care, but the fact of the matter is, your job is just to win the fight. If it’s boring [and] you win, great. If it’s exciting [and] you lose, then what?”
Junior is not pleased to be contradicted in front of his team. “I think we make the guys a little bit confused, Lew,” he says. “Because sometimes I say something and you say something different…I know you’re a good fighter, I’m glad you’re here, but I think we need to talk to each other.” Uh-ohhh.
Back on the victorious Team Chickenshit, Brock tells Len Bentley that if they win their next two fights, he’s in line for a wild card spot. (Pay attention. This will become important later in the show.) And like clockwork, Len goes down grabbing his knee in practice. “I’m speechless,” Brock says, not literally speechless. “Maybe it’s time to close shop here for the day…I just want to exit the building. I’m just sick to my stomach.”
It’s a big ol’ locker-room pity party on Team Dos Santos following Mick Bowman’s loss. “Sometimes it’s not our time to be winner, but we have to try our best,” Junior says, trying to raise Mick’s spirits. He explains that the UFC is looking for exciting fighters and exciting fights. Lew Polley sees it differently: “You can say whatever you want, I don’t care, but the fact of the matter is, your job is just to win the fight. If it’s boring [and] you win, great. If it’s exciting [and] you lose, then what?”
Junior is not pleased to be contradicted in front of his team. “I think we make the guys a little bit confused, Lew,” he says. “Because sometimes I say something and you say something different…I know you’re a good fighter, I’m glad you’re here, but I think we need to talk to each other.” Uh-ohhh.
Back on the victorious Team Chickenshit, Brock tells Len Bentley that if they win their next two fights, he’s in line for a wild card spot. (Pay attention. This will become important later in the show.) And like clockwork, Len goes down grabbing his knee in practice. “I’m speechless,” Brock says, not literally speechless. “Maybe it’s time to close shop here for the day…I just want to exit the building. I’m just sick to my stomach.”
Clay Harvison gets his mangled hand checked out. It’s actually dislocated (horribly), but not broken. As for Len, the doc thinks it’s a patella dislocation, and he should be fine; his ACL and all the other important stuff is intact.
The feud between Junior and Lew finally comes to a head when JDS discovers that Lew visited the fighter house by himself, without Junior, and without Junior’s permission. JDS takes it as a grave insult and talks it over with wise old boxing coach Luiz Dorea, who gives the thumbs down: “He can’t go over your authority…you told him once, twice, three times…sadly, there is no other way.” Somebody’s ass gotta get fired.
Dos Santos calls Polley in for a private meeting, and confronts him about the unauthorized house-visit. Lew says he got permission from Junior the night before. Junior doesn’t remember that, and has had enough of the confusion: “You can leave now. I don’t need you more here…I think it’s too much confused the guys, confused, me. You can leave now. You have to, I think so.” Lew said he just wanted to check on his fighter, and it’s bullshit.
Lesnar has the next fight selection, and chooses Tony Ferguson (his #3 pick) vs. “Randy Couture’s long-lost son, Justin Edwards,” who came on as a replacement for Keon Caldwell, Junior’s last pick. Brock calls the matchup “wrestler vs. wrestler,” and is actually excited by that idea. By default, the last fight will be Chuck O’Neil vs. Zach Davis, aka “Gary Busey Jr.”
Ferguson is confident in his hands, and wants to keep it standing at first. Lesnar says he’s got a mean streak, which helps. JDS says Justin is one of the best fighters on the show, good in all areas. And he’s a fight finisher — professionally, he’s 6-0 with all wins by first-round stoppage.
The day of the fight is Tony’s birthday. His parents sent him a dream box — you know, one of those boxes that you keep your dream in? Tony puts on a shirt and tie before heading to the fight, which is his thing, I guess. He’s a class act. And here we go…
Round 1: Tony lands the first jab. Justin comes in slugging and kicking, head-hunting. He’s very aggressive. Tony tries to clinch to slow down the pace. Justin shakes him off. Tony lands a body shot, and Dustin goes into beast-mode again, firing at all angles. Justin clinches and lands a knee. Tony escapes. Tony swings some wild punches of his own. Justin goes back on the attack, throwing heavy leather. Tony lands on him twice. Great leg kick/uppercut combo from Tony. He sticks the jab. Justin returns a leg kick. Justin seems to be tiring already. They trade punches, but Tony gets the better of the exchange. Justin finally decides to shoot. He gets the takedown, but Tony is back up quickly. Justin lands the overhand right, followed by a jab and a body shot. Big punches from Tony now. Justin lands a hook and a leg kick.
Both guys are visibly fading. Justin lands a nice right hand. They clinch up. (Brock: “Take him down! Take him down!” JDS: “No, you take him down!” Nobody winds up taking down anybody.) Justin brawls forward and lands a left hook. Justin smashes Tony with three hard punches and scores the takedown. Tony gets busy with elbows to Justin’s head from his back. Tony kicks Justin off. Justin tries to pounce back in and gets KO’d with an upkick. Holy crap. Shades of Mousasi vs. Jacare. Tony slugs Justin in the head until the ref gets there.
Dana: “Holy shit. Good fight.” And it was. “Balls to the wall, guns blazing,” as Brock says.
Tony: “The coaches told me he likes to blow his wad.” [*cough*] He knew Justin was going to come out strong, and he did his best to stay calm. With the win, Team Lesnar evens the score to 3-3.
DW is psyched for both of them; they wanted to be there, and they went for it. Could Justin be another wild-card candidate? Tony confirms that this is probably the best birthday he’s ever had.
Anyway, on to the next. Chuck O’Neil is a goofball until he gets in the cage. Then: “It’s no longer ‘Dirtbag Charlie,’ you’re gonna see cold steel up in there, I’m gonna run shit.” Zach is a happy dude for the most part, but he’s very competitive. He’s looking to pin Chuck against the cage and rough him up with knees.
Brock isn’t too impressed with Zach. “Yeah, whatever. This guy’s a klutz, man. He’s a klutz.” Personally, I’m shocked to hear Brock use a yiddishism. Ten bucks says he learned that word from Paul Heyman.
Round 1: Zach needs just five seconds to complete his first takedown. He gets to side control, but Chuck pretty easily escapes to his feet. They clinch. Zach puts Chuck’s back against the fence and starts digging in with some knees to the body and legs, as per the gameplan. Chuck gives one back. Chuck reverses the position, but it doesn’t last long, and Zach goes back to knees to the body before dragging Chuck to the mat. Zach can’t do much in Chuck’s guard. Chuck goes for a triangle and Zach retreats, throwing down some punches from his feet. Chuck lands an upkick, but fails to knock Zach out. Zach kicks at Chuck’s legs. Chuck gets up and Zach shoots. Chuck grabs a kimura on the way down and uses it to flip Zach. He smashes Zach in the face from the top. Short elbow from Chuck. Zach works his guard, sets up a triangle, and taps Chuck pretty damn quick. Team Junior recovers the edge in the first-round fight totals, 4-3.
Dana tells Chuck it was a great fight, but Chuck is still super-pissed. Brock says he should have known to stay out of that triangle, because that’s his move. Chuck: “I fucking never get caught in fucking triangles. Ever.” Brock: “Never is not a word in fighting. Anything can happen.”
Speaking of “anything can happen”…it’s time for the wild card picks. (Is Dana wearing a Stevie Nicks t-shirt? CP reader Jerry T. reminds me that Stevie’s new album came out this week, proving once again that Dana’s torso is the best viral advertising platform on basic cable. Anyway, Stevie Nicks is the best.) They bring in Justin Edwards and tell him that both coaches want him in the wild card fight. Hey, that’s great! Except he can’t compete because of a 90-day knockout suspension. FUUUUU-.
They bring in all the losing fighters and see if they want another shot. Unsurprisingly, all of them do. Says front-runner Len: “I suffered a little setback, but I’m here to get employed by you, so whatever you want to see me do, I’ll do.” Dana is not impressed by their enthusiasm, even though each one made it very clear that they want the fight. Passion, and the use of profanity in getting your point across, seem to be very important to him.
It’s time for the coaches to give their input, and Brock kind of throws Len under the bus: “He would be our first wild card pick, but he’s got this chip on his shoulder…” When there’s pressure put on him, Brock wonders if Len’s knee is “gonna be that escape goat.” Wow. And he even pronounces it as “ekscape.”
Dana is shocked that Brock and Junior are actually hashing out the picks in a cordial, generally unbiased manner. In the end, they all come to a consensus. And it’s a weird one. DW announces that the wild card fight will be Javier Torres vs. Chuck O’Neal. “Honestly, I’m confused,” Len says. And he should be. His fight was great, while Javier’s wasn’t and Chuck got tapped in short order.
On the next episode: Len confronts Brock about the snub, and it’s time for the coaches’ challenge — some sort of NFL skills test, which Brock should have an advanatge in, you’d think. Plus, the wild card fight and the quarterfinal matchup.
Tough break for Justin Edwards; he’s informed that both coaches and Dana wanted him to be the alternate, but he’s on a 90-day suspension so he’s out. So we go through the charade of asking each eliminated competitor whether he wants the spot (they all …
Tough break for Justin Edwards; he’s informed that both coaches and Dana wanted him to be the alternate, but he’s on a 90-day suspension so he’s out. So we go through the charade of asking each eliminated competitor whether he wants the spot (they all say they want it, some with more conviction than others).
Then we’re treated to an eerily cordial exchange—dare I say collaboration—between Junior dos Santos and Brock Lesnar.
Damn, fellas, where’s the animosity.
Ultimately, Chuck O’Neil and Javier Torres. Picks seem reasonable to me considering there wasn’t a huge selection of overwhelming candidates. This doesn’t sit well with Team Lesnar’s Len Bentley, who says during next week’s preview that he’ll fight that “big motherf*****” in reference to his coach.
Proving, once again, these guys might not be too bright, but they’ve sure got confidence.
Tune in next week to see how that works out for Mr. Bentley, who appears to confront Brock about the perceived sabotage.
Welcome back for The Ultimate Fighter 13 episode six blog with Chuck “Cold Steel” O’Neil. I will get to my fight in detail a little bit later.However I wanted to start this blog off by saying I tip my hat to Zach for his performance. I fought like a…
Welcome back for The Ultimate Fighter 13 episode six blog with Chuck “Cold Steel” O’Neil. I will get to my fight in detail a little bit later.
However I wanted to start this blog off by saying I tip my hat to Zach for his performance. I fought like a meat head and eventually got caught up in my own game. I promise that what you are about to read won’t be filled with excuses, because excuses are for losers. Now, onto the episode.
This episode starts off showing the tensions building in the Team JDS locker room between assistant coach Lew Polley and JDS. It seems like this was a recurring issue on their side much like Brock’s constant nonsensical rants were on ours. The show later cuts to scenes of JDS eventually giving Lew the boot off of his team.
This was funny to me for more than one reason. First, it was interesting to see what was going on behind the scenes of their practices and the team’s overall chemistry. Being on Brock’s team we only knew our own practices and never knew any of their drama. Team JDS did a good job keeping their troubles away from us.
Second, I lost it listening to Junior give Lew the boot. For anyone who has ever met JDS they know he is one of the nicest and polite guys you will come across in life. As shown, he was even polite in telling Lew it was time to leave by making sure that his decision was okay with him.
After Dr. Clay’s (Clay Harvison) win, our team went on an instant roller coster. We were all pumped that Clay had just won and got us the control back, but at the same time he had earned himself a free trip to the ER with his remodeling job on his pinky. We immediately got into practice after Clay’s fight, where Brock had heavyweights Chris Toucherand Comprido (Rodrigo Mederios) come into the cage to work some MMA training with us.
At this point both myself and Tony felt this would be a good time to exit the cage, keeping ourselves safe from any heavyweight bodies crashing down on top of us. Good thing we did, as moments later Mr. Wildcard, Len Bentley went down with a knee injury. At this point practice was called off and all our spirits were down.
Back home we got the results of Len and Clay’s evaluations. They weren’t horrible but they weren’t good either. Due to the injury Len was prescribed pain pills which was an awful combo to go along with his already cagey attitude. He continued to grow more and more frustrated with not getting a third round in his fight and it was eating away at him. Len really isn’t a bad guy in the sense that he wouldn’t ever do anything wrong to someone or willfully hurt them.
He just honestly was going crazy from the house. Some days we could sit back and laugh at it and others he would make us nervous as to what he would do next. Nobody can understand what it’s like to be locked up in a house with 13 other guys until they have done it themselves, so I should cut him some slack.
The following day the final two fight picks were announced with Tony Ferguson taking on super tough alternate Justin Edwards, and myself vs Zach Davis. The coaches decided these would be the best two match ups style wise as they did research on both of our opponents. Brock came to myself and Tony to give us some “insight” which was that Justin has a good guillotine and Zach has a good thai clinch. Thanks Brock!
Something that might go over most people’s heads but is worth mentioning is my “what is this strong guys or somethin’?” comment during the stare-down. It all started when one of my main training partners, Josh Grispi, sent me this hilarious video
It quickly became a big hit at one of my gyms, South Shore Sportfighting, to the point where we started calling ourselves “Team Strong Guys.” I felt like I had to pay homage to it on the show somehow.
The coaches were on me and nervous about my weight. Anyone who knows me or has ever cut weight with me back home knows I’m accustomed to having rather big weight cuts. On the show I was being forced to keep my weight a lot lower than normal. I got to a point where I was under 175lbs within 12 hrs of the weigh-in, which absolutely left me in the spirit world. I cut the remaining weight after getting a little sleep and Tony did two jumping jacks, sneezed and made weight. What I would’ve given to have that weight cut….
After we weighed in Unky Brock and the coaching staff surprised us with a trip to the park out at Red Cliffs. Before we left he asked us in his best WWE voice possible “You guys feel like eating some S***??!!” and informed us that he’s going to bring us all In ‘n Out Burger. Of course I declined the offer. The vans drove us a half hour to a pretty basic park, which was a very nice change of scenery and brought us to outside people. At this point we were really starting to feel like inmates because seeing people from the outside world excited us.
I will never forget the scene of Brock pulling up to the park. He sped up, almost ran over a few members of the production crew, and parked his truck in a no parking zone. He then yells out “You guys wanna hear some F***ing music??!!”, which was not allowed during production of the show. This still cracks me up thinking of it to this day.
Following Brock’s grand entrance coach Erik Paulson showed up with a sling shot for us to play with. Of course I was the first person to get my hands on this bad boy. Unfortunately the producers were starting to get a hang of me and came running over, pleading me to not hit anyone with rocks. So…..I followed the rules and shot street signs and light posts like the little hooligan that I am.
Luckily enough not everything from this time span made its way to the episode. The hot sun along with being rehydrated and fed didn’t sit too well with me. This led to me violently puking before getting back into the van. What a great way to start my recovery process from making weight!
Onto the fight day. This was the first time this season there was a double header fight schedule as well as early afternoon fights. The schedule had Tony fighting at 12 PM and my fight was right after his. Watching this episode was the first time that I saw Tony and Justin’s fight and man did I ever miss a good fight! Those two went at it from the start of the fight. By far the most impressive first round fight.
There were so many hard punches landed clean to each of their faces and they just kept it coming. Justin came out early and was taking the fight to Tony, even scoring two take downs on the higher level wrestler. Justin seemed to be controlling the fight before Tony landed the most ridiculous strike ever landed in TUF history, thus giving Tony the most ridiculous knockout in TUF history! Dana was super impressed with both fighter’s performances and they both had good showings.
During the actual fight I was kept in the back room with Charlie Rader and Comprido. Charlie would keep coming back and forth checking in on the fight until the KO happen. Charlie came running back giving me the details of the outcome and after that everything moved really fast. Next thing I knew I was in the cage staring across from a very game Gary Busey….ughhh I mean Zach Davis.
I remember going into the fight, I had the vision of the fight being a very exciting stand up war. Zach had told me he had been to thailand, not to mention had a Vale Tudo tattoo on his leg. I was obviously left thinking this guy is going to come out swinging. Unfortunately for me I planted my feet too much, trying to dig in for a hard punch and wound up on my back within the first five seconds. I worked my way back up the cage only to continue to get pinned there, while I tried to out muscle everything and use zero technique.
Zach worked to get me back to the ground into my guard. This is usually where I feel pretty confident, however Justin gave Zach some insight on me before the fight, letting him know I have a tricky triangle. I eventually worked my way back up and through a scramble ended up on top. This is the only point where I did anything offensive and productive in the fight landing a few decent shots. They were all in vain however, as Zach jumped my shoulder and caught me up in my own game, snapping on a super fast and tight triangle. This brought on a fast tap as much long legged BJJ fighters do.
After the fight I was left pissed off and beside myself in the cage. I’m sure most could gather that through the constant bleeping out taking place. Brock was let down and Dana was impressed with Zach but surprisingly with me as well. He liked that we were going back and forth trying to finish each other on the ground. As seen, when heading back into the locker room, Dana tried telling me “good fight kid” which I wanted no part of.
I’m a very proud person and I work very hard at what I do and I don’t think I deserve praise for getting submitted in the first round. In my mind I’d just had my opportunity stripped away from me for the second time and again I had no control over the matter.
Minutes after the last two fights, the producers took the seven losing fighters into Dana’s office one by one. In his office both Brock, JDS and Dana were waiting to hear us all out. Now on the episode Dana said nobody really showed they wanted the wild card slot all that much. I know from my end I had told Dana, after he told me I had a good performance again, that if given the opportunity to fight again I won’t let him down. I will show him how I really fight and he will then be truly impressed.
After the meeting with Dana I 100% thought it would be alternate vs alternate for the wild card spot because Dana was pumped about myself and Justin’s fight . Unfortunately for Justin he was having the worst luck ever that day and was suspended for the KO.
Brock brought up the match up of myself vs Len Bentley for the wild card fight. He made it sound like if we were to fight Len would beat me quite easily. I was a lot bigger than Len and there wasn’t much he was able to do to me in practice, but I suppose Brock had to support his number one pick.
Talking to Len afterwards he admitted that his knee wasn’t ready to go at that point. It was pretty funny watching Len talk to Dana. He just seemed completely out of it, living on a different planet. He was pretty nonchalant about wanting the wild card spot. Not especially enthusiastic, and if anything cocky because he thought he had it in the bag.
Luckily enough for me both coaches along with Dana saw something in me that they wanted to see more of. I was granted my now third chance at this competition going from alternate, to losing, to getting the wild card slot. I will be fighting the very tough Javier Torres on next weeks episode to see who moves onto the quarterfinals. This is all great news besides the fact I had to make weight and fight four days after my fight that I just had with Zach.
That does it for this weeks blog. Make sure to tune in and buckle up for next weeks episode as the rest of the season is going to be very entertaining! Make sure to check back next week for the episode seven blog with the new look Chuck “Cold Steel” O’Neil!
I think Ferguson just said he could feel the outcome of the fight with his skin…I’m not really sure what to do with that so I merely present it to you, fair reader.Edwards gives us no such juicy and confounding sound bytes, but not every fighter can….
I think Ferguson just said he could feel the outcome of the fight with his skin…I’m not really sure what to do with that so I merely present it to you, fair reader.
Edwards gives us no such juicy and confounding sound bytes, but not every fighter can.
Another blast of ads gives us a few intimate seconds with Ryan “Darth” Bader as he discusses UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon “Bones” Jones and his upcoming tussle with Tito “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Ortiz.
Really?
We’re still trotting out Ortiz? At this point, it’d be more interesting to see Jenna Jameson fight.
And how many middle fingers does Tito have to give the UFC before it bites him permanently?
Very strange, but I kind of like Tito so no skin off my nose. Just seems a little strange, like maybe the beef with Dana White and company is more facade than for real.
The break closes with another add for “Auction Hunters,” which proves that reality-television fans will watch ANYTHING.
I’ve re-watched that rematch between UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie “The Answer” Edgar and No. 1 challenger Gray “The Bully” Maynard, and I still can’t figure out how it was a draw. The Answer showed incredible heart and chin recovering from the sava…
I’ve re-watched that rematch between UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie “The Answer” Edgar and No. 1 challenger Gray “The Bully” Maynard, and I still can’t figure out how it was a draw. The Answer showed incredible heart and chin recovering from the savage assault he endured in the first, but no way Maynard didn’t win that scrap.
No way, which means the trilogy-maker should be a burner of the first order.
Turns out the mini-Couture is, in fact, Justin Edwards and not Tony Ferguson. Oops.
Regardless, we haven’t seen much of either of these dudes so it’s tough to get a read on who has the advantage.
Team JDS seems a little bummed about the departure of Coach Lew Polley, but who knows if that’s just about resisting change or a genuine affection for Lew. Seems like the latter and, if that’s the case, it bears mentioning since so much of the fight game is mental.
