Vinc Pichel vs. Chris Saunders

Fun first round with both guys showing how evenly matched they are. Pichel was working for a take down against the cage and Saunders reversed the position, got the take down, but nearly ended up on the bottom. The rest of the round was a battle for position with Pichel getting the better of Saunders with inside striking.

Pichel most definitely won the second. Saunders was the one fighting better on the inside, getting his back, but not being able to take him down. Pichel was landing knees to the abdomen. Saunders was getting tired trying to hold on and let him go. Pichel immediately tagged him and it looked like it could be over. But Saunders fought back, but still lost the round.

Winner: Vinc Pichel by way of majority decision

Andy Ogle says it’s his time. Urijah Faber says Iaquinta doesn’t let on what he’s thinking.

Andy Ogle vs. Al Iaquinta

These guys came to throw hands. Ogle was having trouble keeping Iaquinta off him, but was holding his own with strikes. Iaquinta just kept stalking him though and was starting to land bigger shots. He put Ogle down and looked like he was trying to get his back, but they were back on their feet. Iaquinta used his left hand to hold Ogle’s head and just laid him out with an elbow. Nasty shot.

Winner: Al Iaquinta by way of 1st round TKO

The semis are going to be James Vick vs. Michael Chiesa and Vinc Pichel vs. Al Iaquinta.

Dana White announced that Urijah Faber would face Renan Barao. Dominick Cruz looked heartbroken.

Dana says Cruz will stay and coach his team. Cruz says he hopes Faber wins so he can whip him when he’s better. Faber says that he’s starting the rumor that Ronda Rousey tore Cruz’s knee.

James Vick vs. Joe Proctor

Vick is so long and he’s able to hit Proctor in the face all while not being hit. He bloodied Proctor’s face early on, but he also has a bloody nose. So he got hit as well.

Proctor got a takedown, but Vick quickly got up. Proctor tried a choke, but Vick was able to get him down and landed on top of him. Vick’s using his kicks to keep the distance, but Proctor has been able to decrease the distance better in this round.

Winner: James Vick by unanimous decision

I think I would’ve given Proctor the second round for sure and thought there should’ve been a third round.

Justin Lawrence vs. Michael Chiesa

Fast paced first round that was mostly on the ground, surprisingly. For whatever reason, Lawrence stayed on the ground with him and Chiesa was just destroying him off his back. He was going for a Kimura and nearly had a triangle when the round ended. While he didn’t have the triangle, he was nailing Lawrence’s head with elbows.

Like the opposite of the first round, this one was nearly all on the feet. Chiesa couldn’t get it to the ground. Lawrence threw two shots to the body and Chiesa went down, which suckered Lawrence to go to the ground and Chiesa nearly tore his shoulder off with a Kimura. Lawrence stayed on top of him surprisingly. Cruz didn’t want him there.

They’re going to a third round. I had Chiesa winning the first and Lawrence the second. They were on the mat and Lawrence was tired. Chiesa reversed him easily and Lawrence pretty much gave up on the bottom from exhaustion. Chiesa hit him a few times and the referee stopped it.

Winner: Michael Chiesa by way of 3rd round TKO

Dana White has next week’s fights as Vinc Pichel vs. Chris Saunders and Al Iaquinta vs. Andy Ogle.

In the coach’s challenge, they’re testing their marksmanship. They have to do an obstacle course which includes shooting pistols, rifles, machine guns, and a grenade launcher. This is nuts. This year, the coaches get $20,000 in cash and the team members each get $1500.

Cruz shot up the rope climb first and then hit all his targets with the pistol. He beat Faber through the turning over of the tire. Cruz shot through the rifle targets, carried the dummy quickly, and then went to the machine gun first. He was struggling with the second target and Faber caught him. They had to carry ammunition back and forth before getting to the grenade launcher stage. Faber got his first target and then Cruz hit his. Faber hit his second target to win the competition. Team Faber wins.

Ogle says that he has a big heart and Rio will have to kill him to beat him. Rio says he wants fight of the night. Wait, this isn’t a main UFC card fight.

Dana White brought Faber and Cruz together to help put the quarterfinals fights together. Faber is grating on Cruz’s nerves.

Andy Ogle vs. Mike Rio

Ogle moving around the cage, landing punches one at a time. He wasn’t really sitting on his punches and wasn’t throwing combinations. Rio took him down quickly and easily, but then it went back to Ogle’s one-punch shots.

In the second round, it was more of the same until Rio took him to the ground, but Ogle had the better position. Rio had Ogle’s back, but couldn’t do anything with it and was being pounded on until he gave up his neck and Ogle sunk in a rear naked choke to submit him.

Winner: Andy Ogle by way of 2nd round submission

Dana White gave two quarterfinal fights for the next show. It’s going to be James Vick vs. Joe Proctor and Justin Lawrence vs. Michael Chiesa.

Cruz brought Ronda Rousey to train with his team. She was throwing guys all over the place. Faber came in while Cruz and Rousey were leaving and they started trash talking. Cruz told Faber to teach his team overhand rights and guillotines. Faber said he was going to teach one-armed guillotines which Cruz knew so well.

Rousey came to the house to watch Jones vs. Evans. None of the guys were spitting game to her except for Tickle. Faber said they blew it.

Faber wants Saunders to stick and move because Sicilia throws haymakers. Cruz wants Sicilia to keep a fast pace.

Team Faber lubed themselves up and brought in some of the workout equipment into Team Cruz’s team room and trained and sweated in the room. That was interesting to say the least.

Sam Sicilia vs. Chris Saunders

Best shot of the round was Saunders kicking Sicilia right in the head and Sicilia going down and nearly out, but bounced back up. Faber was right. Sicilia is swinging for the fences. Sicilia had two guillotine attempts and is starting to use his strength to his advantage.

Damn good round. Sicilia was throwing bombs, but Saunders never quit. He was in good position on every exchange and wouldn’t quit. He was rocked a few times, but continued to come back. Hard round to score, but probably Sicilia’s round.

Winner: Chris Saunders by way of split decision

How is it a split decision? Maybe majority decision? It probably should’ve gone to a third round.

The final fight of the first round is Andy Ogle vs. Mike Rio.

The go-home episode begins with yet another contrast of the two fighters. Cotto is shown at home celebrated by his fanbase. Maywather is shown under the covers joking that it’s not a guy with him (it’s Miss Jackson), taking a small shot at Cotto and his buddy Bryan Perez.

We finally see Oscar De La Hoya who says that he can finally pass the torch in boxing to Saul “Canello” Alvarez. How? Alvarez doesn’t even speak English and his fanbase is hugely Mexicans, not Mexican-Americans. Oscar appealed to everyone, but mostly Americans. His fanbase isn’t much different than Manny Pacquiao’s US fanbase. That was a weird comment. Alvarez and Shane Mosley is the semi-main.

Floyd says that he tries to turn all negatives into positives, including his upcoming jail term.

Verdict: There wasn’t much to this show, but the visuals were good. If you can buy Cotto as a legit possibility to upset Mayweather, then they did a really good job with this show. Cotto didn’t say a lot. But they showed his desire. You really get the sense that Floyd is in a top class and if Cotto can beat him, he can join that top class. I still don’t know how much I believe that can actually happen, but they tried to contrast each guy and give you the idea that maybe Floyd is over-looking him. But it’s the same story they’ve been telling and it hasn’t happened yet.

He and 50 Cent went shopping and ended up buying Miss Jackson two pairs of shoes for 10,800 dollars. And yes, he paid in cash.

Miguel Cotto’s team is doing some lactic acid test by taking blood from his ear to test his muscle fatigue. Cotto’s trainer says he’s in optimal shape and he believes they’ll win. Cotto is trying to earn some praise from his trainer by telling him he knows he’s doing well.

Mayweather brings up last week’s episode where Cotto and his buddy Bryan Perez mentioned that they sleep in the same bed together. Mayweather pulled out some money and said he wanted Cotto to sleep comfortable because he’s going to make him uncomfortable.

Roger Mayweather says he’s sharper for this fight than for any fight except for maybe the Diego Corrales fight. Mayweather says something really interesting. He says that he thinks he has five fights left. His uncle says he’s fighting more accurately. Mayweather says it’s hard to fight accurately because he’s fighting all on PPV and it takes 6 months to build a fight, meaning he’s fighting sporadically and it’s hard to stay sharp when you’re not as active.

Cotto says he’s prepared for a tough 12 rounds. Mayweather gets his pupils dilated and can’t see well, but I guess he doesn’t have to see well to hit the speed bag.

The Verdict: There’s a neat juxtaposition of Floyd Mayweather. All we see is him clowning around. But the conversation with his uncle says that he might be close to his top level ever. I don’t get that with Cotto even though his trainer pretty much says the same thing. But all the trainer changes, even after his recent success says something. Cotto has a few constants in his life and he’s close to those people. Otherwise, he doesn’t seem to be close to many, including his new trainer. I’m more convinced today that Mayweather wins this fight. Maybe we’ll see something different next week.

Andy Ogle is letting the cameras get to him and he’s mentally and physically breaking down.

Pichel wants to keep the fight standing. He says the judges will not decide the fight.

Sam Sicilia is frustrated and trying to over perform. He’s putting more pressure on himself because he was the second pick and doesn’t want to let Cruz down.

Ogle is getting frustrated at Mike Chiesa’s relationship with Sicilia because he knows they’re best friends and think Chiesa is leaking information.

Faber says Cofer is going to use his wrestling because Pichel doesn’t have good wrestling.

Chiesa talks to Ogle and clears up the situation. Ogle says he trusts him.

Dana White tells the guys that this is the longest anyone has ever been on The Ultimate Fighter. He tells them to suck it up and stick it out and they’ll be better fighters and better men after it’s all over.

Vinc Pichel vs. John Cofer

Pichel said that if they stood up, he’d own him. Well, not quite. It’s clear that Pichel hits harder but Cofer was doing a better job of being in and out and hitting him with shots. Pichel started to get him really late in the round, but Cofer may have taken that first round.

The second was Pichel’s round all the way. He dominated the standup and ended up on top of Cofer at the end of the round, mostly in the north-south position. This thing is probably going to a third round.

Pichel came out on fire in the third. He was caught in a guillotine, got out of it and finished Cofer with an arm triangle.

Winner: Vinc Pichel by way of 3rd round submission

Cruz picks Sicilia to face Chris Saunders for Friday.

Cotto and trainer Pedro Diaz are still getting used to each other. Diaz is a bit loud for Cotto’s taste and Diaz says that no one likes change.

Roger Mayweather says that it doesn’t matter who is in the corner. He can’t fight for him.

This is a very clowny version of Mayweather, talking on the phone while hitting the speed bag.

While Mayweather’s clowning, Cotto is contrasted as a family man who is takes everything seriously.

The story of May’s friendship with 50 Cent is that both are rich, 50 is a homebody and May gets him out of the house. And they go to arcades together. Contrast that against Bryan Perez’s relationship with Cotto which is much more brotherly. In fact, they still sleep in the same bed together like before Cotto was big time. Cotto and his father also helped Perez drop over 200 pounds by inspring him.

Mayweather says Cotto’s camp doesn’t have loyalty because he keeps changing trainers.

The Verdict: The first half was a throwaway, but the second half was about contrasting the fighters’ lifestyles. It wasn’t anything we haven’t seen before, but I’m sure it made Miguel Cotto a whole lot of new fans and made Mayweather as polarizing as ever.

Justin Lawrence and Mike Rio went at it in sparring and there looked to be some heat in there. Cruz tells Lawrence that when he doesn’t dominate he takes himself out of it by being frustrated at himself.

Proctor talks about growing up with an alcoholic father. Faber says he’s quiet with a big heavy punch. Faber says Tickle’s standup isn’t all that technically sound and Proctor’s is.

Tickle triggered the door to spill water on Team Faber and it was Proctor who was soaked after walking through the door first.

The guys must be super board. They created a slip-n-side to goof off with. It’s Easter Sunday and Tickle is making turkey. He loves to cook. He says that mixed martial arts saved his life. He’s got two kids and is engaged to be married.

Cruz and Faber went back and forth a bit at the weigh-in, but there wasn’t much to say. Neither guy really has beef right now. Tickle weighed in while eating pizza.

Chris Tickle vs. Joe Proctor

Tickle got the better of the standup early, but looked to gas himself out a bit with all kinds of kicks and lunging punches. As the round was coming near the end, Faber yelled at Proctor to watch out for the takedown, but also to get a takedown so he could win the close round. He shot in, slammed him down, and while Proctor was worried about getting up, he gave up his back. Proctor sunk in a rear naked and Tickle fought it, but tapped.

Winner: Joe Proctor by way of 1st round submission

Faber chooses Jon Cofer to face Vinc Pichel for next week.