Tag: michael johnson

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‘The Ultimate Fighter’ Season 12 semis: Everything Zen

Posted on by Beau Dure

We start with GSP telling Kyle Watson and Jonathan Brookins not to expect their coach to take sides. Time to be selfish, GSP says. You’re really on your own.

On Team Koscheck, they’re also on their own but not so happy about it. After a meandering training session, the fighters are tired of hearing from Team GSP — not about the fights but about all the great stuff they’re doing in training and all the great coaches who visited.

Marc Stevens, who was thrilled to be reunited with his college wrestling coach at the beginning of the show, can now do a vicious impression of him. Koscheck comes in and attributes it to alcohol. Then he asks everyone to do shots.

Meanwhile, Brookins is in his meditation spot. In future seasons, we’ll surely see people stake a claim to that tree. The easygoing Nam Phan trots out to greet him, which Jonathan seems to welcome. Alex “Bruce Leroy” Caceres comes out to “look for black widows,” which doesn’t seem to welcome.

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‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ Season 12, Episode 10: Kos keeps talking

Posted on by Beau Dure

Should we really root for Michael Johnson over Alex Caceres? No doubt Caceres has had his annoying moments, but after seeing Johnson flip out over a pretty harmless kitchen-sink prank and falsely blame Caceres, the sympathy meter might flip toward Bruce Leeroy a bit.

Kyle Watson, probably the most polished of the four quarterfinalists we’ll see in action tonight, trains with GSP, who must have spent most of the morning squeezing into an Under Armour top. Or maybe it’s just paint.

Watson will be up against Team Koscheck’s Aaron “English” Wilkinson, who has shown a lot of heart and surprising skill in getting this far. The American vet attempts some trash talk having to do with fish and chips. What are you saying about ordering fish and chips, Kyle? You come say that to my face. I outweigh you by quite a bit. Probably because … I eat a lot of fish and chips.

Fight starts early in the episode, with Steve Mazzagatti reffing. Watson quickly gets Wilkinson down, where Watson should have a decided advantage. Wilkinson does well to tie him up and work for the escape. Watson isn’t doing much, and Koscheck justifiably yells for Mazzagatti to stand them up. Wilkinson gets to his feet on his own, but only for a moment. Watson takes his back and sinks in a secure body triangle with two minutes left to work for the rear naked choke. It only takes a minute.

“How many rear naked chokes have my team …,” says a disgruntled Koscheck, who now has just one fighter, Nam Phan, left in the competition.

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‘The Ultimate Fighter’: Season 12, Episode 3: Tyson for tea

Posted on by Beau Dure

Alex “Bruce Leeroy” Caceres is giddy after beating Jeff Lentz. He veers between complimenting Lentz on a good fight and pointing out all the ways he was vastly superior. Among the dubious claims: Lentz’s kicks just grazed his afro.

Spencer Paige, to the camera: “I gotta give props to Jeff for not stabbing Bruce in the eye.”

Then someone tells Caceres: “Are you still talking? I stopped listening 10 minutes ago.” (I thought it was Paige again, but MMA Junkie says this was Kyle Watson, and since he’s blogging for them, I’ll defer.)

GSP brings in former wrestling world champion Gia Sissaouri to work with his guys. It’s humbling for fighters to get taken down over and over, but it seems productive and fun.

Koscheck’s team has considerably less fun, straining to keep up with the pace of the workout and getting a lecture about their attitudes.

The fight announcement comes early. GSP picks Michael Johnson, the coveted top pick, against Aaron Wilkinson, the Englishman who has a better ground game than most Wolfslair products but clearly isn’t one of the highly touted guys. Koscheck says Wilkinson is a “sleeper.” That’s not high praise.

In the first ad break, we get a plug for Spike’s “Brocktoberfest.” No word on whether Lesnar will be digitally inserted into Star Wars films.

After a fairly dull segment in which we learn that Johnson really wants to get into the UFC, Koscheck pulls his first prank on GSP, as he and another coach park their cars right up against his, supposedly making it impossible for him to get in. This is supposed to get under GSP’s skin. GSP, though, manages to squeeze into the car and laugh about it.

Koscheck’s session with Wilkinson, though, seems productive. Wilkinson is supposed to keep his feet moving and circle away from the fence if pressed there. Wilkinson says he’d feel comfortable taking Johnson down against the cage, a message made clearer by the producers’ decision to subtitle Wilkinson’s words. Apparently, we only understand American, not English.

We see both fighters make weight. Then comes a change-up — GSP asks Dana White to bring Mike Tyson to talk to his team. White obliges. GSP and Tyson then try to out-polite each other, passing compliments back and forth like neighbors talking about their gardens.

Wilkinson’s from Manchester, England, so Koscheck counters by bringing Ryan Giggs to chat with his fighter. (No, he didn’t — trust me when I say White would have no idea who Ryan Giggs is.)

The fight starts at 10:35 ET. Three-rounder?

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