Tag: TUF videos

‘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 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

‘The Ultimate Fighter 16? Preview: A Whole Lot More of What You Hate [VIDEO]

If you asked a longtime UFC fan what he — or she! — thinks of The Ultimate Fighter, they would likely tell you that the series has gotten stale. (Damn, have we really been complaining about this for over three years now? Time flies when you’re bitching.) It’s not that we won’t tune in to watch up-and-coming fighters slug it out for a spot in the UFC — although that Friday night time-slot is still a pain in the ass — but all the “house drama” officially got old around the Junie Browning era, and highlighting the contestants’ dumb frat-boy behavior makes the sport look worse.

So it’s unfortunate when you watch this new teaser for “Ultimate Fighter Fridays” (known to regular folk as TUF 16), and you realize that the show is actually doubling down on the stupid. Let’s run through the checklist…

– A dude getting up in another dude’s face in the kitchen. (check)

– A prank involving flour. (check)

– A prank involving a bed being moved outdoors. (check)

– An idiotic piece of trash-talk, made worse due to silly delivery. (“You got more stories than Dr. Seuss, ho-mee.” –> check)

If you asked a longtime UFC fan what he — or she! — thinks of The Ultimate Fighter, they would likely tell you that the series has gotten stale. (Damn, have we really been complaining about this for over three years now? Time flies when you’re bitching.) It’s not that we won’t tune in to watch up-and-coming fighters slug it out for a spot in the UFC — although that Friday night time-slot is still a pain in the ass — but all the “house drama” officially got old around the Junie Browning era, and highlighting the contestants’ dumb frat-boy behavior makes the sport look worse.

So it’s unfortunate when you watch this new teaser for “Ultimate Fighter Fridays” (known to regular folk as TUF 16), and you realize that the show is actually doubling down on the stupid. Let’s run through the checklist…

– A dude getting up in another dude’s face in the kitchen. (check)

– A prank involving flour. (check)

– A prank involving a bed being moved outdoors. (check)

– An idiotic piece of trash-talk, made worse due to silly delivery. (“You got more stories than Dr. Seuss, ho-mee.” –> check)

– An obviously intoxicated dude trying to destroy the house. (check)

– At least one dyed mohawk. (check, see above)

– Dana White unable to believe what he’s hearing/seeing. (check)

Meanwhile, footage of coaches Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin is kept to a minimum, except for brief moments when Roy is swearing and Shane is telling one of his fighters to “BREAK IT!” — in other words, the moments that make two of the UFC’s brightest heavyweights look like meatheads. So either this is the most lunkheaded season of TUF yet, or FX thinks that making their show look like a Jackass out-take reel will help them bounce back. Whatever. Let me know who wins, I guess.

‘TUF 14: Team Bisping vs. Team Miller’ Extended Video Preview

The 14th season of The Ultimate Fighter kicks off next week, and Spike has released this eight-minute preview to give you a lil’ taste — and already, we can see it’s not business as usual. TUF 14‘s much-ballyhooed elimination fights took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, which is quite a step up from the cheaply-assembled TV set the guys usually fight in. For the first time in TUF history, viewers will be able to vote on the season’s best knockout, submission, and fight, with the recipients all scoring $25,000 checks at the TUF 14 finale. Also, the cast includes a pair of brothers, bantamweights Josh and BJ Ferguson. Tune in next Wednesday at 9 p.m. to see how it all shakes out…

The 14th season of The Ultimate Fighter kicks off next week, and Spike has released this eight-minute preview to give you a lil’ taste — and already, we can see it’s not business as usual. TUF 14‘s much-ballyhooed elimination fights took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, which is quite a step up from the cheaply-assembled TV set the guys usually fight in. For the first time in TUF history, viewers will be able to vote on the season’s best knockout, submission, and fight, with the recipients all scoring $25,000 checks at the TUF 14 finale. Also, the cast includes a pair of brothers, bantamweights Josh and BJ Ferguson. Tune in next Wednesday at 9 p.m. to see how it all shakes out…