Tag: the ultimate fighter

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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 9: 1-1

Posted on by Beau Dure

After a brief glimpse at the house in which Sevak asks fellow Armenian Sako (“Psycho”) to avenge his loss to Jonathan Brookins, we go to the gym, where Georges St. Pierre tells his team they’re scaling back training. No hard-core sparring. No exhaustion. He wants to work on their tactics and keep them fresh and hungry for their fights. Like most of GSP’s training ideas, it makes perfect sense, especially when the typical Ultimate Fighter contestant gasses in the first round in the midst of such an intense schedule.

Koscheck trains Psycho to avoid giving up his back and getting caught in a rear naked choke. Easier said than done — the choke is usually the end result of being beaten up.

Back at the house — specifically in the yard — Brookins chats with Nam Phan, crossing team lines to talk about how humble they are compared to all the cocky dudes in the house at the pool table.

We go quickly to the fight after the first commercial break. Herb Dean is our ref. They touch gloves, and we’re off.

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Defending Koscheck: The “standing up for his guys” theory

Posted on by Beau Dure

Steve Cofield at Yahoo shows one of The Ultimate Fighter‘s extended clips to defend Josh Koscheck’s spat with medic/”male nurse” Brad Tate, saying Tate mocked one of Koscheck’s fighters over his accent. Full post with video is here.

That defense would be a little tighter if Koscheck hadn’t been spending so much of the season mocking Georges St. Pierre’s accent and yelling that he’s never going to lose “to a French guy.” At the end of the video, Koscheck offers a sincere apology.

The rest of the video, though, casts Koscheck in a better light. He wants to be the lightning rod for his team. He shoves his guys away from Tate, urging them to focus elsewhere. “I’ll be the bad guy,” he says.

Those scenes lend more credence to the idea that Koscheck has a method to his meanness. He wants to get in other fighters’ heads, though he’s failing miserably so far with GSP, and he wants to sell fights, an area in which he might be more successful.

Perhaps he also learned his lesson from earlier in the season, when he was more willing to help his fighters run their mouths after a rare Team Koscheck victory. If he was trying to help his team swing the momentum, he failed.

Some of Koscheck’s “bad boy” act is indeed an act, and the TUF editing can make him seem worse (or better) than he is. He doesn’t deserve the vandalism on his Wikipedia page — and Wikipedia’s editors surely deserve a break. But that act is a tough one to carry out, day after day. Does he put too much effort into it, and at one point does the role consume the actor?

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‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ Season 12, Episode 8: It’s a trap!

Posted on by Beau Dure

We open with a training session for Georges St. Pierre’s team, which seems a little deflated by the fact that Dane Sayers won’t be in the wild-card fight.

Dana White defends the decision, saying Marc Stevens is the better fighter and the obvious pick. This despite his lightning-fast loss to Cody McKenzie through a colossal tactical mistake and technical failure.

Maybe losing quickly is a good strategy, though. His win in the prelims and his loss by guillotine were brief, so he’s had all the benefits of training with little of the damage from fighting.

As threatened, we get another chapter in the feud between Josh Koscheck and Brad Tate, a paramedic with GSP’s team.

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‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ Season 12, Episode 7: Kos gets a break, or three

Posted on by Beau Dure

[poll id=”4″]Dane Sayers, the last draft pick, reminds us that he’s part Native American. GSP and his fellow coaches have embraced his desire to show some Native American pride. GSP often calls him “Red Horse,” which Sayers says is his Indian name. Jean Charles Skarbowsky says Sayers is the real American, not Koscheck. “Koscheck didn’t ask his permission to come here.”

But Red Horse is clearly the underdog against Sako “Psycho” Chivitchian, and Dana White knows it.

“He knows Dane isn’t at the same level as most of these guys,” Dana says. GSP says they wanted Sayers to go last so they’d have more time to work with him.

But first, we see the jockeying for the “wild card” slot that demonstrates a couple of the problems with the format. Spencer Paige is the only GSP fighter to lose so far, and he’ll be in a cast for three months. Jeff Lentz says Aaron “English” Wilkinson, the only Koscheck fighter to suffer a controversial loss, is also injured.

The producers don’t follow up on that, but we see a tiff between Lentz and Wilkinson. The Englishman scoffs at Lentz’s drinking and tobacco-chewing: “I don’t think he fits the criteria,” Wilkinson says.

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‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ Season 12, Episode 6: Choke! Choke!

Posted on by Beau Dure

Tonight, we’ll learn the rest of the opening-round matchups. We have two fights, which will leave just two guys remaining to face off next week.

But before we get to that, we have to watch Team Koscheck acting like a bunch of NFL wide receivers dancing after that fourth-quarter TD pass with their team down 31-7.

First, Koscheck tries to tell Michael Johnson he shouldn’t have won his fight. Johnson says the MMA equivalent of “scoreboard.”

The much-ballyhooed “Team Koscheck goes too far” shenanigans don’t start until Koscheck shows up at the house and wanders out to the balcony to continue feuding with Johnson. For some reason — and maybe USA TODAY will be able to ask about this — mature veteran Nam Phan is out on the balcony by Koscheck’s side.

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‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ Season 12, Episode 5: Nam better

Posted on by Beau Dure

Josh Koscheck’s team has lost three fights, so he’s serious now. He brings in American Kickboxing Academy teammate Jon Fitch. Then he makes reference to his team’s lack of balls. Foreshadowing the Axe ad later in the broadcast?

Back at the house, Michael Johnson is doing laundry. Alex Caceres confesses that he put bleach in Nam Phan’s fabric softener. Fortunately, Johnson’s laundry is rescued in time. Johnson’s still pissed.

Team GSP brings in Jean Charles Skarbowsky to teach Muay Thai. GSP warns his team that JCS isn’t like other guys. Not in those words exactly — that’s Michael Jackson’s Thriller. JCS, we’re told, sleeps only three hours a night, then gets drunk and comes into the cage to beat everyone up. Fortunately, no one’s hurt.

Back in the house, Caceres is playing pool and musing to Jeff Lentz, his tournament victim, about his lack of popularity. Lentz suggests that he ease up. Caceres says he has to be who he is, borrowing heavily from Popeye, Edie Brickell and Smash Williams.

Fight selection: GSP sends Spencer Paige, who looked good in a tough prelim, against Phan, the most experienced guy in the field.

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‘The Ultimate Fighter’: Season 12, Episode 4: Maturity rocks

Posted on by Beau Dure

The questions heading into tonight’s episode:

1. Will the latest Alex “Bruce Leeroy” Caceres housecapades include anything we haven’t already seen in the preview?

2. With Caceres and Michael Johnson winning but not looking dominant, who’s the favorite?

3. Will Josh Koscheck give up on trying to prank Georges St. Pierre by himself and turn to Ashton Kutcher for help?

We start with a fight replay and GSP telling his team, in that wonderful French-Canadian lilt, that his guys are going to make him have a heart attack.

Mike Tyson is still hanging around, and he talks to Team GSP about confidence. He and GSP then resume their campaigns for “Nicest Guy in Combat Sports” with an exchange of compliments. Never thought you’d hear that about Tyson, did you? Not 15-20 years ago, anyway.

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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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‘The Ultimate Fighter’: Season 12, Episode 2: Bruce Decoy

Posted on by Beau Dure

Last time on The Ultimate Fighter, we saw bits of 14 fights and learned that the “characters” on this show will be Alex “Bruce Leeroy” Caceres and Michael “No, Not The Olympic Sprinter” Johnson.

Or maybe not. Jeff Lentz has a nasty smoking habit and a bit of bravado, bragging about not tapping if he’s in a choke or armbar. If the arm’s broken, it’s easier to get out, he says.

Off to the important part of the episode: Team selection. Koscheck says he wants Michael Johnson #1, then Marc Stevens, who briefly wrestled for Koscheck when he was a college coach. GSP figures Koscheck wants to take Stevens, so he’s going to bluff and pretend that he has Stevens ranked #1. (Then Lentz, Sayers, Pham — all a ruse in neat, large handwriting.)

Kos wins the flip. Will he take first fighter in the draft or the rights to set up the first matchup? He opts for first fighter. He jokes that GSP might be bluffing.

But Kos falls for it! He takes Stevens. GSP immediately snags Johnson. “It works,” GSP says with a smile. And Dana White learned about the strategy somehow, congratulating GSP in a confessional.

The rest:

  • Kos: Sevak Magakian, who overwhelmed JJ Ambrose for a decision.
  • GSP: Jonathan Brookins, who has a win in Bellator.
  • Kos: Sako Chivitchian, whose judo national championships are greatly exaggerated but may still be a solid MMA fighter.
  • GSP: Spencer Paige, who won the best of the prelim fights against Steve Magdaleno.
  • Kos: Andy Main, who has a thin resume and barely got a few seconds of screen time in the prelims.
  • GSP: Caceres, who smiles and briefly removes the comb from his hair.
  • Kos: Nam Phan, going surprisingly low for someone with a lot of experience and an impressive prelim win.
  • GSP: Kyle Watson, also going surprisingly low for his experience.
  • Kos: Aaron Wilkinson, the Englishman with a surprising ground game for a Wolfslair product.
  • GSP: Cody McKenzie, another guy who might’ve been expected to go earlier given his uncanny ability to beat everyone by guillotine.
  • Kos: Lentz, who demolished Dan Head in the prelim despite GSP dismissing his chances.
  • GSP: Dane Sayers, who broods over being the last pick.

First training session, and GSP tells us he’s going to be a “training partner” and let his coach do the coaching. His coach is Greg Jackson, one of the most successful in the business.

Koscheck says he has the advantage, and he addresses his “heel” label. “Meet me in person, and you’ll fall in love with me,” he says. I’ve met him, and he is indeed a good guy, but my wife shouldn’t feel threatened.

Fight announcement: GSP picks Caceres, the kid, to go out first against Lentz. GSP says Alex wanted the early fight. Will youthful enthusiasm work against him? Or is the gap in talent between Caceres and Lentz as big as it appears?

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