Tag: shane carwin

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The Ultimate Fighter 16: The final recap

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The final episode of TUF Smashes, the UK-vs.-Australia season, also concluded a few days ago. The last episode featured good-natured toasts between two teams who have come to respect each other, then a stellar submission by Colin Fletcher. Maybe Fletcher’s fight against the far smaller Richie Vaculik looked like a giraffe fighting a gnat, but give actor/surfer Vaculik some credit for taking the fight to him. We also saw Valentino Petrescu showcasing his juggling skills from his circus days. And a lot of laughter. If you saw any of these guys on a fight card, you’d be likely to root … Continue reading The Ultimate Fighter 16: The final recap

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The Ultimate Fighter 16, Episode 11: Blame Canada!

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Time for the showdown of friends and teammates — Jon Manley and Joey Rivera. They praise each other and hug. And Team Carwin thinks Team Nelson hasn’t bonded … Colton Smith is cornering Manley. Cameron Diffley is cornering Rivera. Dana White is giddy. Denny’s is the sponsor. Herb Dean is the ref. They’re both 7-1. We haven’t heard anything from Julian Lane yet. This is exciting stuff. After some standing exchanges, Manley rushes into Rivera and pushes him to the cage. Smith and Diffley keep up steady streams of positive reinforcement, like coaches who just walked out of a Positive … Continue reading The Ultimate Fighter 16, Episode 11: Blame Canada!

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The Ultimate Fighter 16, Episode 10: Team Jacob vs. Team Carwin

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So the ratings are down again. That’s surprising. Isn’t a Twilight movie the perfect lead-in to a men’s-only show about people fighting without vampire teeth and sparkles? Going from Team Jacob vs. Team Edward to Team Nelson vs. Team Carwin doesn’t do it for FX viewers? These kids today … can’t understand them. While we’re complaining about strange decisions on or about The Ultimate Fighter, let’s peek over at TUF: Smashes, the thoroughly entertaining UK-vs-Australia matchup you really should be watching online. I’ve never understood the logic behind making semifinal matchups. Usually, Dana White brings in the fighters and coaches, then fakes everyone out … Continue reading The Ultimate Fighter 16, Episode 10: Team Jacob vs. Team Carwin

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The Ultimate Fighter 16, Episode 8: Lots of bark, a little bite

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We recap last week’s fight, and Dana is still mad about the decision. But he’s also mad about the fights. If the judges suck, he says in roughly so many words, don’t let the fight go to a decision. And these fights have been d-u-l-l. Last week’s winner, Michael Hill, and his coach, Roy Nelson, aren’t impressed with Dana’s bonus money of $5,000 for a finish. Hill says he didn’t come here to win $5,000 and break his hand. Dana stops by the house to reinforce his message: “I’m here to tell you what you need to do to get … Continue reading The Ultimate Fighter 16, Episode 8: Lots of bark, a little bite

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The Ultimate Fighter, Episode 7: The worst fight in TUF history?

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We’ve seen a bunch of decisions so far this season, two of them questionable. And we’re promised more controversy tonight. It’ll be hard to top tonight’s Bellator card on that front. Yeesh. Roy Nelson’s team has control again. And again, he does it randomly, this time using the “Pick a number between 1 and 20” philosophy. The winner is Nelson’s top pick, Dom waters. But Waters wants Nelson to pick his opponent. Nelson doesn’t wanna. So Waters passes, and Michael Hill gets it. And that’s how Michael Hill won the “Please Let Someone Beat The Crap Out of Matt Secor” … Continue reading The Ultimate Fighter, Episode 7: The worst fight in TUF history?

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The Ultimate Fighter 16, Episode 6: Again, the dubious 10-8 round

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General impressions here: – This is not a bad season at all. – Still not buying Higher Ground as the theme song. – They’re going out of their way to make Roy Nelson look bad. Have we even met his assistant coaches? There’s allegedly a guy named Jon on this show. Anyone remember him? Just saw him in the opening credits. Show starts with Dana White coming in to tell Nic Herron-Webb that he won the second round and got (bleep) out of a third round. Roy Nelson, though, goes off on things Nic could’ve done better. He enlists jiu-jitsu … Continue reading The Ultimate Fighter 16, Episode 6: Again, the dubious 10-8 round

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The Ultimate Fighter 16, Episode 5: Lowering the bar on the 10-8 round

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The recap of previous episodes reminds us that Nic Herron-Webb was kind of a jerk in the house. Really, you don’t mess with your housemates’ sleep. Mike Ricci in particular took offense. Back in the house, Matt Secor decides to rub Julian Lane’s nose in his loss. Lane rolls with it for a bit but finally snaps, smashing a bottle and trying to get Secor to hit him. Lane’s teammates come in and calm him. Igor Araujo tells Secor to dial it down, which Secor doesn’t want to hear. Classic bully pretending he hasn’t done anything wrong. Nelson’s team is … Continue reading The Ultimate Fighter 16, Episode 5: Lowering the bar on the 10-8 round