Tag: TUF 17

‘The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen’ Episode 9 — Complete Video & Recap

(Video courtesy of Hulu.) 

Apologies in advance for dropping the ball on last week’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Jones vs. Sonnen, which we completely forgot to recap for reasons that are not immediately obvious (if only we could get Danga to set down the bong for like thirty seconds…). Long story short: Chael Sonnen emerged victorious from a Coaches Challenge that involved stacking tires with excavators (?) and Team Jones’ Dylan Andrews secured a spot in the quarterfinals with a majority decision victory over Zak Cummings. For this week’s “Wild Card” matchup, Team Jones’ Bubba McDaniel and Team Sonnen’s Kevin Casey were selected.

To find out which fighter secured the final spot in the TUF 17 bracket, as well as the rest of last night’s highlights, join us after the jump.

– In a final effort to make us sympathize with noted codpiece Bubba McDaniel, last night’s episode began with McDaniel telling us his “I’m a poor little sad sack” story about how he can’t see his daughter because he is too far in debt.

I don’t know why I just downplayed a story as sad as that for laughs, and I apologize. God I’m dead inside…


(Video courtesy of Hulu.) 

Apologies in advance for dropping the ball on last week’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Jones vs. Sonnen, which we completely forgot to recap for reasons that are not immediately obvious (if only we could get Danga to set down the bong for like thirty seconds…). Long story short: Chael Sonnen emerged victorious from a Coaches Challenge that involved stacking tires with excavators (?) and Team Jones’ Dylan Andrews secured a spot in the quarterfinals with a majority decision victory over Zak Cummings. For this week’s “Wild Card” matchup, Team Jones’ Bubba McDaniel and Team Sonnen’s Kevin Casey were selected.

To find out which fighter secured the final spot in the TUF 17 bracket, as well as the rest of last night’s highlights, join us after the jump.

– In a final effort to make us sympathize with noted codpiece Bubba McDaniel, last night’s episode began with McDaniel telling us his “I’m a poor little sad sack” story about how he can’t see his daughter because he is too far in debt.

I don’t know why I just downplayed a story as sad as that for laughs, and I apologize. God I’m dead inside…

– Back at the house, Josh Samman is inspired by McDaniel’s failed call out of Casey earlier in the season and proceeds to call out Jimmy Quinlan, who responds with a terrible fisherman pun that I probably would have made at some point in this recap had he not done it for me. Although Quinlan expresses a desire for the matchup, Uriah Hall throws his name into the proverbial hat and Quinlan eventually agrees that he’d rather see Hall “beat the piss out of” Samman than do it himself.

– The massive cut on Casey’s head is still tender, so he uses some kind of Kendo mask to make sure it doesn’t reopen in training. Coach Sonnen states that he doesn’t just want to see Casey win but live up to the potential he failed to reach in his preliminary fight against Collin Hart.

– It’s Thanksgiving time at the TUF household, y’all, and Sonnen and Jones are in the building. During a heartfelt toast, Sonnen is forced to admit that “It’s a severe disappointment to find out what a good guy” Jones is, and jokes about animosity not being his style. You guys, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. After Jones beats Sonnen in the worst way possible as he promises to do, of course.

Meanwhile, Bubba is pissed off that he can’t partake in the festivities and lashes out at his housemates gluttony in the confessional. Because he should be given the second chance that none of his other eliminated teammates received and some of their mashed potatoes. I recant my previous apology.

– Fight time! Round 1: After a brief opening exchange, Casey pulls guard and works for a guillotine before the two pop back up to their feet. Casey secures a trip takedown and easily passes Bubba’s guard, but is unable to do much other than control McDaniel’s posture (or as GSP fans call it, “complete and utter domination” TROLOLOLOL). Bubba throws up a couple unsuccessful triangle attempts and gets to his feet, but gets taken down again with less than 30 seconds left in the round. 10-9 Casey

Round 2: Jones urges Bubba to stay out of the clinch in the second, and is obliged for three whole seconds before Bubba does just that. This does not make assistant coach Mir very happy. Bubba continues to do some body work from the clinch until Casey drops into a completely telegraphed guillotine attempt, showing obvious signs of tiring as he does. McDaniel goes to work from on top for the rest of the round, landing body shots and elbows on a helpless Casey. 10-9 McDaniel and we are going to a third round.

Round 3: Well, the UFC promised a “shocking” ending to this fight and that’s what we’re given. Not in the Uriah Hall “Did he died?” kind of way, but more in the Nick “Wouldn’t Get Up From Butt Scoot” Serra kind of way, as Casey gives up on the stool in between rounds. During the freaking wild card fight. Redemption: Failed.

– Anyways, McDaniel starts celebrating like he owns the place and asks Dana if he gets one of those tasty $5000 finish bonuses. Dude, just be happy your back in the tournament. Dana ends up giving him one anyway.

Sonnen is shocked that a cardio machine like Casey gassed out, but once they get back to the locker room, it appears that something out of the ordinary is wrong with him. Turns out, Casey once suffered a kidney failure during a fight back in 2010 and thought it was happening to him again. Casey leaves in an ambulance to undergo some preliminary tests.

Now, onto the quarterfinal matchups, which are as follows:

– Collin Hart vs. Kelvin Gastelum
– Luke Barnatt vs. Dylan Andrews
– Josh Samman vs. Jimmy Quinlan
– Uriah Hall vs. Bubba McDaniel

Next week, we will be treated to a pair of fights: Hart vs. Gastelum and Barnatt vs. Andrews. Tune in to find out who will punch their ticket to the semis.

Team Sonnen
Luke Barnatt – quarterfinalist, defeated Gilbert Smith
Uriah Hall – quarterfinalist, defeated Adam Cella
Zak Cummings
Tor Troeng
Jimmy Quinlan – quarterfinalist, defeated Clint Hester
Kevin Casey
Kelvin Gastelum – quarterfinalist, defeated Robert “Bubba” McDaniel

Team Jones
Clint Hester
Josh Samman — quarterfinalist, defeated Tor Troeng
Robert “Bubba” McDaniel — quarterfinalist, defeated Kevin Casey
Gilbert Smith
Collin Hart – quarterfinalist, defeated Kevin Casey
Adam Cella
Dylan Andrews — quarterfinalist, defeated Zak Cummings 

–J. Jones

‘The Ultimate Fighter 17: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen’ Episode 7 — Complete Video & Recap

(Video courtesy of Hulu.) 

Last week, Team Jones was able to chalk up victory #2 after an injured Josh Samman blistered Swede Tor Troeng. With control finally back in their corner, Jon Jones decided to place his #1 pick, boxer Clint Hester, against Team Sonnen’s most decorated grappler in former police officer Jimmy Quinlan. It was a matchup that completely baffled Chael Sonnen, but will Jones’ unorthodox strategy pay off this time? Check out last night’s episode in full above and join us below for all the highlights.

– To kick things off this week, the house is treated to an ever-so-rare night on the town at a local Hooters establishment. Hooters: Our wings might taste like dirty bath water, but hey, tits! Fives are highed. Waitresses are groped. Gilbert Smith repeatedly finds ways to take his clothing off. And by the end of the night, Uriah Hall somehow manages to alienate himself from everyone even further. Collin Hart states his distaste for Hall’s attitude and hope he gets the chance to smash him.

– Hall admits that he hasn’t been sleeping well lately because his desire to nearly decapitate another housemate is eating away at him. You sure you still want a piece of this guy, Collin? Anyway, Sonnen’s assistant coach, Scott McQuary, tries to offer some zen-like wisdom to calm Uriah down. “A non-quiet mind is like a tractor,” he says, “You just can’t stop it.” Not sure which model of John Deere Scott’s used to plowing the fields with, but I’m pretty sure that the worst thing a tractor can do is give you gonorrhea.


(Video courtesy of Hulu.) 

Last week, Team Jones was able to chalk up victory #2 after an injured Josh Samman blistered Swede Tor Troeng. With control finally back in their corner, Jon Jones decided to place his #1 pick, boxer Clint Hester, against Team Sonnen’s most decorated grappler in former police officer Jimmy Quinlan. It was a matchup that completely baffled Chael Sonnen, but will Jones’ unorthodox strategy pay off this time? Check out last night’s episode in full above and join us below for all the highlights.

– To kick things off this week, the house is treated to an ever-so-rare night on the town at a local Hooters establishment. Hooters: Our wings might taste like dirty bath water, but hey, tits! Fives are highed. Waitresses are groped. Gilbert Smith repeatedly finds ways to take his clothing off. And by the end of the night, Uriah Hall somehow manages to alienate himself from everyone even further. Collin Hart states his distaste for Hall’s attitude and hope he gets the chance to smash him.

– Hall admits that he hasn’t been sleeping well lately because his desire to nearly decapitate another housemate is eating away at him. You sure you still want a piece of this guy, Collin? Anyway, Sonnen’s assistant coach, Scott McQuary, tries to offer some zen-like wisdom to calm Uriah down. “A non-quiet mind is like a tractor,” he says, “You just can’t stop it.” Not sure which model of John Deere Scott’s used to plowing the fields with, but I’m pretty sure that the worst thing a tractor can do is give you gonorrhea.

– Back at the house, Josh Samman is feeling the pain from his fight last week. His unofficial diagnosis: A strained left leg muscle. Samman has a history with blood clots, as he revealed last week, and heads to the hospital to make sure he doesn’t have any internal bleeding. After running the necessary tests, Samman is cleared of any possible blod clots and sent on his way.

– Now it’s time for the obligatory fighter backstory. First up: Jimmy Quinlan, who grew up in a small cul de sac in Massachusets. Jimmy lived at home with both parents, and Jimmy’s parents have a real good marriage, so battling in the streets wasn’t exactly part of the gameplan for him. Quinlan talks about his past as a cop (he was one of the good ones) and even gets Uriah Hall to open up about the one time he was pulled over. Spoiler: It was because he was/is black. Speaking of intimidating black dudes, Quinlan admits that Hester is one scary-looking sumbitch, but he will beat him all the same.

– Hester’s backstory is pretty simple as well: He grew up in a large, supportive family, started out with boxing, and after his boxing gym was closed down in 2005, he took to martial arts out of pure convenience. Ten months later, he had his first MMA fight.

– Both Quinlan and Hester come off as happy, laid back dudes in the days leading up to their fight; they even casually joke about “meeting at the monkey bars” to settle their differences on fight day.

– Fight time: Shockingly, Quinlan shoots for a takedown almost immediately. After a little resistance on Hester’s part, Quinlan is able to pick the boxer up, carry him across the ring, and slam him Hughes vs. Trigg style. Hester scrambles out of side control and back to his feet, landing a few heavy elbows before he is dragged to the mat again. The two battle along the fence and Hester is able to snag a guillotine, which he basically uses to control Quinlan as he fires off a few knees to the body. Apparently Jon Jones isn’t a fan of yelling, so he quietly mumbles instructions to one of his assistant coaches to do it for him. Hester lands a couple more nice knees and follows them up with a series of punches that forces Quinlan to shoot again. The takedown is stuffed by Hester, who responds with some more solid punches to the body. The rest of the round sees Quinlan finally secure a takedown and finish the round on top.

Arianny is definitely not wearing makeup as we start Round 2: For some reason, Hester shoots for a horrifically telegraphed takedown to start the round. Hester squirms out of a guillotine attempt and lands a couple nasty elbows as Quinlan grabs yet another takedown. In the scramble, Quinlan is able to secure the mount. Hester gives up his back and Quinlan lands some pitter-patter punches until he sinks in a rear-naked choke that forces Hester to tap.

Put the rumors to rest: Jon Jones is officially a terrible strategist. Brings a whole new level of irony to those “Bones Knows” shirts, doesn’t it? But being that Chael Sonnen is a master strategist, he decides to deliver the Team Sonnen jersey that Bones was forced to wear after last week’s bowling challenge in the moments following Hester’s loss.

Next week, the house’s two remaining fighters, Zak Cummings and Dylan Andrews, will face off in the final preliminary contest. And in one of the weirdest coach challenges in TUF history, Jones and Sonnen face off in an excavator-driven obstacle course or some shit.

Team Sonnen
Luke Barnatt – quarterfinalist, defeated Gilbert Smith
Uriah Hall – quarterfinalist, defeated Adam Cella
Zak Cummings
Tor Troeng
Jimmy Quinlan – quarterfinalist, defeated Clint Hester
Kevin Casey
Kelvin Gastelum – quarterfinalist, defeated Robert “Bubba” McDaniel

Team Jones
Clint Hester
Josh Samman — quarterfinalist, defeated Tor Troeng
Robert “Bubba” McDaniel
Gilbert Smith
Collin Hart – quarterfinalist, defeated Kevin Casey
Adam Cella
Dylan Andrews

–J. Jones

‘The Ultimate Fighter 17: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen’ Episode 6 – Complete Video & Recap

Following his shocking upset loss to Kelvin Gastelum last week, Bubba McDaniel emerged a much humbler man in the opening moments of yesterday’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Jones vs. Sonnen. With Team Sonnen now back in control of the fight selections, this week’s matchup pitted highly-touted Swede Tor Troeng against Team Jones’ #2 pick and self-appointed captain Josh Samman. Was Samman able to overcome his nagging injuries and regain control for Team Jones, or did Troeng notch “another on for the bad guys?” Check out the entirety of last night’s episode above and join us after the jump for a full recap to find out.

– The episode kicks off with Jimmy Quinlan constructing a hammer for Tor (pronounced Thor. GET IT?). Although the prototype is laughably undersized, Quinlan showcases some MacGuyver-esque resourcefulness when building Troeng a life-sized model. If Josh Samman turns out to be less a human fighter and more a mole in need of whacking, he is pretty much screwed now.

Following his shocking upset loss to Kelvin Gastelum last week, Bubba McDaniel emerged a much humbler man in the opening moments of yesterday’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Jones vs. Sonnen. With Team Sonnen now back in control of the fight selections, this week’s matchup pitted highly-touted Swede Tor Troeng against Team Jones’ #2 pick and self-appointed captain Josh Samman. Was Samman able to overcome his nagging injuries and regain control for Team Jones, or did Troeng notch “another win for the bad guys?” Check out the entirety of last night’s episode above and join us after the jump for a full recap to find out.

– The episode kicks off with Jimmy Quinlan constructing a hammer for Tor (pronounced Thor. GET IT?). Although the prototype is laughably undersized, Quinlan showcases some MacGuyver-esque resourcefulness when building Troeng a life-sized model. If Josh Samman turns out to be less a human fighter and more a mole in need of whacking, he is pretty much screwed now.

– Speaking of Samman, say what you want about the arrogant, grating, “Dad”-like member of Team Jones, but there’s no denying that he has earned his place in the TUF house. Shortly before joining the cast, Samman underwent a surgery to remove a massive blood clot in his quadriceps that could have cost him his right leg. It’s a pretty harrowing story if you don’t happen to be Kyle Maynard (or Frank Mir, who is all “Yeah bro, cool story” upon hearing it). Samman also mentions something about violence being a taboo subject in his home as a child and credits his single mother and God-given physical gifts for putting him where he is today.

– On the opposite end of the spectrum, despite being a goddamn killing machine inside the ring, it turns out that Uriah Hall is kind of a headcase outside of it. First, he goes a little too hard when sparring with teammate Luke Barnatt. Then, he calls out Luke — again, a member of his own team — after Gilbert Smith asks him who he’d like to fight next. Then, in an almost shot-by-shot reenactment of his “professional cooker” spat with Samman in episode 4, Hall proceeds to get offended by another innocent comment during a fireside pow wow, this time from Adam Cella, and responds by attacking Cella’s girlfriend, Collin Hart’s “lay-n-pray” offense, and finally Josh Samman. Hall chalks up his sensitivity to the fact that he was bullied as a kid, but fails to realize that he is alienating pretty much everyone in the house by being such a defensive little bitch all the time.

– On the opposite opposite spectrum, no one seems to know a thing about Tor, mainly because he only speaks when spoken to and is too much of a gentleman to really push anyone’s buttons. The dude is basically a Glorious Sweater of Absolute Victory away from the finals is what we’re saying. Anyway, he informs us later that he has been training MMA in the Swedish countryside since he was 16 and now works part-time at a university. Moving on…

– The house is taken out for a night of bowling, and Sonnen uses the occasion to rope Jones into an unofficial coaches challenge of sorts: 3 frames, with the loser being forced to wear the winner’s team jersey to one of their own training sessions. Jones rocks a fancy skull bowling ball and Sonnen appears to select a five-pound ball from the kids racks. In perhaps the most intentionally funny moment of his career, Jones loses to Sonnen by two pins after rolling a 7-10 split (complete with a Brandi Chastain slide of greatness at the end), then immediately runs out of the room like a rejected middle school girl at a semi-formal. Or Scott Evil.

– After the weigh-ins, it’s fight time baby! In the locker room, Sonnen admits that he’d like to see at least one of Troeng’s holes exposed in the fight for the sole purpose of helping Tor improve upon it. Foreshadowing? Methinks so.

Herb Dean gets things started. After slipping on his opening kick, Samman bull-rushes forward and presses Troeng into the fence, only to be immediately reversed by the Swede. The two jockey for position against the cage for the next couple of minutes, with Tor landing a few knees to the body and Samman reversing position, before Samman botches a judo throw and winds up with Tor in his full guard. Troeng lands a couple decent shots before Samman is able to get back to his feet, where he lands a flurry of strikes of his own in the scramble. A couple good knees to the body in the clinch from Samman force Troeng to reverse the position.

Tor spins out of the clinch and as he does, Samman charges forward with a 1-2 combination that puts Tor’s lights out. A brutal finish for sure, and just one of many to already happen on the TUF 17 set. If the flashy production and lack of pretty much everything that plagued the last two seasons of TUF failed to get you into this season, then the fights surely have by this point.

With control back in his corner, Jones announces that next week’s matchup will be between his #1 pick, Clint Hester, and aforementioned hammer-builder Jimmy Quinlan. Sonnen immediately ponders why the hell Jones would throw Hester, a decorated boxer with a somewhat subpar ground game, against as decorated a wrestler as Quinlan. Based on Jones’ previous pairing, it’s safe to assume that maybe the champ isn’t quite a master strategist when his little Yoda isn’t around.

Tune in next week to find out whether Jones has shot himself in the foot again. Also on tap: a trip to the hospital for Josh Samman and a night of debauchery/shirt-tearing at a local Hooters establishment.

Team Sonnen
Luke Barnatt – quarterfinalist, defeated Gilbert Smith
Uriah Hall – quarterfinalist, defeated Adam Cella
Zak Cummings
Tor Troeng
Jimmy Quinlan
Kevin Casey
Kelvin Gastelum – quarterfinalist, defeated Robert “Bubba” McDaniel

Team Jones
Clint Hester
Josh Samman — quarterfinalist, defeated Tor Troeng
Robert “Bubba” McDaniel
Gilbert Smith
Collin Hart – quarterfinalist, defeated Kevin Casey
Adam Cella
Dylan Andrews

–J. Jones

‘The Ultimate Fighter 17: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen’ Episode 5 — Complete Video & Recap

(Props: The Ultimate Fighter on Hulu)

After Collin Hart’s decision win over Kevin Casey returned matchup-control to Team Jones, it’s fan-favorite Robert “Bubba” McDaniel‘s time to shine — or crash-and-burn, whichever the case may be. Here are the major plot points from last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen, which you can watch above in its entirety.

– This week’s fight will be Bubba vs. Kelvin Gastelum, a 5-0 prospect (and full-time bail bondsman) from Arizona who, at 21 years old, is apparently the youngest competitor ever allowed onto The Ultimate Fighter. Jones picked the matchup because he sees Kelvin as Team Sonnen’s weakest link, and feels that Bubba’s vast experience edge and overall skills will make the difference in the fight. As usual, Coach Chael Sonnen tries to stay positive: “They don’t know what they handed you,” he tells Kelvin. “They handed you a big opportunity. Everybody here’s gotta win this tournament to get in the UFC. You just gotta beat this guy. This is your ticket, right here.”

– Kelvin is apparently a big Ronda Rousey fan, so Chael sweetens the pot by arranging for Ronda to call Kelvin and wish him luck, then promises that Ronda will come down and train with him if he wins. Man, that devious bastard.

– Chael Sonnen’s friendliness is still throwing Jon Jones for a loop; the champ likes to keep a “mystique” about himself and maintain a distance from future opponents, but Sonnen is making that difficult by constantly engaging Jones in pleasant conversation. Seriously, Chael, when are you going to start fucking with his parking spot and hiding his sandals?


(Props: The Ultimate Fighter on Hulu)

After Collin Hart’s decision win over Kevin Casey returned matchup-control to Team Jones, it’s fan-favorite Robert “Bubba” McDaniel‘s time to shine — or crash-and-burn, whichever the case may be. Here are the major plot points from last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen, which you can watch above in its entirety.

– This week’s fight will be Bubba vs. Kelvin Gastelum, a 5-0 prospect (and full-time bail bondsman) from Arizona who, at 21 years old, is apparently the youngest competitor ever allowed onto The Ultimate Fighter. Jones picked the matchup because he sees Kelvin as Team Sonnen’s weakest link, and feels that Bubba’s vast experience edge and overall skills will make the difference in the fight. As usual, Coach Chael Sonnen tries to stay positive: “They don’t know what they handed you,” he tells Kelvin. “They handed you a big opportunity. Everybody here’s gotta win this tournament to get in the UFC. You just gotta beat this guy. This is your ticket, right here.”

– Kelvin is apparently a big Ronda Rousey fan, so Chael sweetens the pot by arranging for Ronda to call Kelvin and wish him luck, then promises that Ronda will come down and train with him if he wins. Man, that devious bastard.

– Chael Sonnen’s friendliness is still throwing Jon Jones for a loop; the champ likes to keep a “mystique” about himself and maintain a distance from future opponents, but Sonnen is making that difficult by constantly engaging Jones in pleasant conversation. Seriously, Chael, when are you going to start fucking with his parking spot and hiding his sandals?

– Luke Barnatt finds it a bit “cheap” that Bubba, with his size and experience advantages, is going in to fight the youngest/smallest guy in the house.

– Gilbert Smith teaches the guys the rules of gay movie charades, or something. It seems like a great time, but Bubba isolates himself outside. He tells us how having his daughter got him to stop being a punk and take his life seriously. “It’s been a long, sad road in my life to be where I’m at MMA,” he said, “but I believe, on the other hand, MMA helped save my life.”

– I’m not going to transcribe Chael’s lesson about the people walking on the 2×4, and how the only thing that changes on fight day is the environment, but I’ll be first in line to pre-order his motivational DVD set when it comes out. Hopefully that freestyle rhyme about the “reflection of perfection” will stay on the cutting room floor, though.

– Team Jones’s Josh Samman is battling a laundry list of injuries, and wants to postpone his first fight another week. Of course, if Team Jones loses matchup-control and Team Sonnen calls Josh out, he’ll fight — but the implication is that he’ll probably get his ass kicked if it came to that. Jones’s coaching staff wonders if Josh’s injury excuses are legit, or if Josh is trying to stay out of action for other reasons.

– Chael Sonnen brings in A-list Hollywood weirdo Mickey Rourke (!) to talk to his boys, and discuss his own experiences in pro boxing and overcoming the dark moments in his life. It’s kind of awesome. We might need to update this list.

– Fight time: Bubba has five inches in height on Kelvin, three inches in reach, and 21 more professional fights on his record. Kelvin takes the center of the cage after the opening bell and drags Bubba to the mat first, but Bubba is crafty and quickly escapes. Kelvin gets the fight back to the mat and starts to work his jiu-jitsu before Bubba reverses him and takes his back. It looks dicey for a moment but Kelvin survives, gets to his feet, and goes back to his own ground-attacks. Once again, Bubba defends and takes Kelvin’s back, threatening with a choke. And again, Kelvin escapes and takes the top position, before Bubba does the same damn thing to him. Let’s just say there’s a lot of “scrambling,” and put it at that. Kelvin dives in with a rather dramatic flying punch as the round ends.

Kelvin starts round two with a sharp leg-kick, and Bubba returns kicks to the body and head. Kelvin takes Bubba to the mat, and loses position after a guillotine attempt. Bubba takes Kelvin’s back but slips off when Kelvin gets to his feet, and Kelvin is back on top. Bubba tries a triangle but is rebuffed. Kelvin rolls to Bubba’s back and tries a rear-naked choke. “Oh my God, he might have it,” says a genuinely-surprised Coach Sonnen. And he does. Holy crap, Kelvin Gastelum chokes out Bubba McDaniel. It was a great fight, and it puts Team Sonnen up 3-1 in the preliminary round. Or as Chael puts it, “One more for the bad guys.”

– Bubba is completely broken up after the fight. Jones tells him that the wild card spot is still a possibility, and he’ll fight Kelvin harder the next time. Meanwhile, Kelvin gets a congratulatory phone call from Ronda Rousey, who says that she can’t wait to meet him. (“Really! Really!”) And so begins the catfishing of another promising young athlete. Still, it’s awesome to see how happy Kelvin is in that moment. “I’m on top of the world, meng,” he says.

– For next week’s fight, Chael selects Tor Troeng to fight the achy, breaky Josh Samman. This is not looking promising for Team Bones.

Team Sonnen
Luke Barnatt – quarterfinalist, defeated Gilbert Smith
Uriah Hall – quarterfinalist, defeated Adam Cella
Zak Cummings
Tor Troeng
Jimmy Quinlan
Kevin Casey
Kelvin Gastelum – quarterfinalist, defeated Robert “Bubba” McDaniel

Team Jones
Clint Hester
Josh Samman
Robert “Bubba” McDaniel
Gilbert Smith
Collin Hart – quarterfinalist, defeated Kevin Casey
Adam Cella
Dylan Andrews

‘The Ultimate Fighter 17: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen’ Episode 4 — Complete Video & Recap

(Props: ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ on Hulu)

With Team Sonnen up 2-0 following Uriah Hall‘s brutal knockout of Adam Cella, it’s time for Team Jones to shift the momentum before it gets out of hand — and it’s up to their #5 pick Collin Hart to save the day. Here are the brass tacks from last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen, which you can watch above in its entirety.

– Adam Cella returns to the TUF house, still wearing his hospital gown, and claims he has no memory of the fight. Nevertheless, he tracks Uriah Hall down in the shower and jokingly asks Hall why he hit him so hard. Hall still feels uncomfortable about the fact that he nearly ended Cella’s life. The fact that he’s naked while Cella is trying to have a conversation with him does nothing to alleviate the tension.

– Kevin Casey suffered a cut over his right eye during his elimination-round fight against Eldon Sproat, and says he chose to fight Collin Hart — a wrestler — because he runs a lower risk of getting the cut re-opened against Hart than he would against a talented striker, like Bubba McDaniel, for example. So yeah, in a way he is ducking Bubba, but it makes sense from a strategic standpoint. Unfortunately, Collin vows to elbow Kevin Casey’s face in.


(Props: ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ on Hulu)

With Team Sonnen up 2-0 following Uriah Hall‘s brutal knockout of Adam Cella, it’s time for Team Jones to shift the momentum before it gets out of hand — and it’s up to their #5 pick Collin Hart to save the day. Here are the brass tacks from last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen, which you can watch above in its entirety.

– Adam Cella returns to the TUF house, still wearing his hospital gown, and claims he has no memory of the fight. Nevertheless, he tracks Uriah Hall down in the shower and jokingly asks Hall why he hit him so hard. Hall still feels uncomfortable about the fact that he nearly ended Cella’s life. The fact that he’s naked while Cella is trying to have a conversation with him does nothing to alleviate the tension.

– Kevin Casey suffered a cut over his right eye during his elimination-round fight against Eldon Sproat, and says he chose to fight Collin Hart — a wrestler — because he runs a lower risk of getting the cut re-opened against Hart than he would against a talented striker, like Bubba McDaniel, for example. So yeah, in a way he is ducking Bubba, but it makes sense from a strategic standpoint. Unfortunately, Collin vows to elbow Kevin Casey’s face in.

– Gilbert Smith tries to start a rap-battle with Kevin Casey, and gets beat about as badly as Luke Barnatt beat him.

– There’s a power-outage, and a prank involving toilet paper. You don’t need to know details.

– Instead of shaking hands after the weigh-ins, Collin Hart sticks his middle finger in Kevin Casey’s face. The move doesn’t go over well with Team Sonnen. Collin’s only explanation is that you should respect his sleep. Uriah Hall tells Collin how disappointed he is. Uriah Hall is not the kind of dude you want to be disappointed with you.

– The fight isn’t exactly a barn-burner. Collin imposes his will immediately, scoring a takedown off the bell — off of a failed ninja-kick — then controlling Kevin on the mat and against the fence. Collin works some knee strikes from clinch, and Kevin is completely stymied in the first round aside from a few punches he lands during a brief separation in the closing seconds. Kevin tries to get aggressive at the beginning of the second round, rushing at Collin and throwing heavy punches, but Collin snatches him up after about 20 seconds and it’s back to Clinchville. Kevin’s cut opens up and Collin takes control again with his wrestling. Collin spends the remainder of the round on top, throwing down short strikes. All three judges call it 20-18 for Collin, who immediately heads for the treadmill to get a workout in.

– Team Jones regains control of the matchups, and select Bubba McDaniel to fight Team Sonnen’s last-pick Kelvin Gastelum. Jones acknowledges that Gastelum has better wrestling, but as Bones explains, “wrestling really doesn’t win fights.” Huh. So I guess we can expect Bubba’s game-plan to consist entirely of spinning back-elbows?

Team Sonnen
Luke Barnatt – quarterfinalist, defeated Gilbert Smith
Uriah Hall – quarterfinalist, defeated Adam Cella
Zak Cummings
Tor Troeng
Jimmy Quinlan
Kevin Casey
Kelvin Gastelum

Team Jones
Clint Hester
Josh Samman
Robert “Bubba” McDaniel
Gilbert Smith
Collin Hart – quarterfinalist, defeated Kevin Casey
Adam Cella
Dylan Andrews

Ratings Update: UFC 156 Prelims Set Record Numbers, Epic KO Fails to Boost TUF 17


(“I’LL ASK YOU ONE MORE TIME, JAY, WHO TATTOOED THIS AFFLICTION SHIRT TO YOUR BACK?!”) 

If the first month is any indication, 2013 is going to be a good year for MMA. There hasn’t been a significant injury in weeks (sorry Patricky), title fights are almost starting to make sense, and on top of it all, the UFC’s primetime ratings are slowly beginning their climb out of the abyss. Throw in the fact that Bruce Buffer’s upcoming autobiography is all but a shoe-in for a Pulitzer and we are left with little to complain about. It feels…good.

So before we jinx ourselves, let’s get to the great news regarding the preliminary portion of UFC 156, which was able to pull in record numbers during its run on FX last Saturday despite the fact that it featured several debuting fighters and not a lot of name power. As MMAFighting’s Dave Meltzer reports:

Saturday’s UFC 156 prelims drew 1,897,000 viewers, topping the previous UFC on FX record of 1,860,000 viewers set two weeks earlier for the Vitor Belfort vs. Michael Bisping card from Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The number was a huge increase from the prelims on FX on Jan. 26 before the FOX network special from Chicago’s United Center which did 1,208,000 viewers.

The largest previous audience on FX for prelims before a big show came on July 7 when theUFC 148 prelims did 1.8 million viewers. But that was to be expected, since there was more interest in UFC on that day with the Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen middleweight title rematch than any day over the past two years. 

After almost ten minutes of research, we have determined that there are only two real explanations for the UFC’s sudden viewership jump:


(“I’LL ASK YOU ONE MORE TIME, JAY, WHO TATTOOED THIS AFFLICTION SHIRT TO YOUR BACK?!”) 

If the first month is any indication, 2013 is going to be a good year for MMA. There hasn’t been a significant injury in weeks (sorry Patricky), title fights are almost starting to make sense, and on top of it all, the UFC’s primetime ratings are slowly beginning their climb out of the abyss. Throw in the fact that Bruce Buffer’s upcoming autobiography is all but a shoe-in for a Pulitzer and we are left with little to complain about. It feels…good.

So before we jinx ourselves, let’s get to the great news regarding the preliminary portion of UFC 156, which was able to pull in record numbers during its run on FX last Saturday despite the fact that it featured several debuting fighters and not a lot of name power. As MMAFighting’s Dave Meltzer reports:

Saturday’s UFC 156 prelims drew 1,897,000 viewers, topping the previous UFC on FX record of 1,860,000 viewers set two weeks earlier for the Vitor Belfort vs. Michael Bisping card from Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The number was a huge increase from the prelims on FX on Jan. 26 before the FOX network special from Chicago’s United Center which did 1,208,000 viewers.

The largest previous audience on FX for prelims before a big show came on July 7 when theUFC 148 prelims did 1.8 million viewers. But that was to be expected, since there was more interest in UFC on that day with the Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen middleweight title rematch than any day over the past two years. 

After almost ten minutes of research, we have determined that there are only two real explanations for the UFC’s sudden viewership jump:

1) Americans were riding the violence-fueled high that only the anticipation of the Super Bowl can bring.
2) Jacob Volkmann‘s cult of survivalist troglodytes has gained a far greater following than we previously thought possible. This is probably the correct answer.

Unfortunately, not all is well in the land of UFC ratings…

Despite receiving Dana White’s hype-seal of approval and delivering one of the most violent knockouts in the history of The Ultimate Fighter, Tuesday’s episode of TUF 17 took a significant dip in ratings. Where episode two managed to reel in 1.27 million viewers and a 1.5 household rating, the third episode of the oft duplicated reality show only took in a .92 rating and 1.2 million viewers.

Granted, these numbers aren’t even in the same ballpark as the shameful lows last season brought, but it kind of makes you wonder how an episode that received so much more publicity failed to stir up the same amount of interest. Any ideas as to this drop in ratings, Taters?

Semi-related: The Fifteen Greatest Knockouts in TUF History. 

–J. Jones