This is the last show until the finals and it’s two hours long. We’ll see if I can do two hours of TUF.

Rich Franklin’s assistant coaches are a bearded Forrest Griffin, Gray Maynard, and Tyson Griffin. Rich says he thought Tito would still be there.

Kris McCray said he thought the coaching change would affect him more, but he says it’s been good.

Chuck says it’s different because he was fighting a guy he hated and now he’s fighting one of the nicest guys in MMA.

It’s Brad Tavares vs. Court McGee, two guys who are friends. Chuck has them train together still, but just not spar.

The guys got McCray, Tavares, Yager, and Noke back for being loud in the evening by waking them up with silly string and air horns. Tavares had a fit and broke the chess board. What did the chess board do to him?

Brad Tavares vs. Court McGee

Pretty nothing round. Lots of hugging against the cage. It’s weird because since Tito isn’t here, there’s no real loud coaching. You don’t hear, “Under hooks, under hooks!” Probably a little too much respect for each guy from both fighters.

They opened it up a bit more and Tavares tested McGee’s bearded chin a few times. But there still wasn’t a ton of action.

Court looked great in the third round. He buckled his knees with an overhand right, took a knee to the head shooting, and kicked Tavares twice in the balls. Well, Tavares got him first. He threw a left hook that put him nearly down, then he got the takedown and sunk in the rear naked choke. Whatever they were holding back in the first two rounds, they forgot about in the third. Fantastic round.
Continue Reading »

They are teasing hard that this is the episode in which Tito leaves the show, forcing them to change one of the coaches for the show.

The show starts with a weigh-in for the Kyle Noke and Kris McCray fight.

Uh oh, here’s the tease for Tito leaving. He says that the doctor wants him to have neck surgery. He says he won’t let Chuck beat him if he’s not 100%.

McCray and Noke are buddies and Dana says one of the things he wants to teach them is that in the UFC, there are no friends. Well, unless you’re Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva. Or Keith Jardine and Rashad Evans. Or Josh Fitch and Josh Koscheck.

Kyle Noke vs. Kris McCray

The first round was a bit odd to me. Noke is clearly more talented, but he was getting a little cute with McCray. McCray just put his head down and wrestled and stayed out of submissions. It was that hard worker kind of round that the wrestlers usually get and I think it’s McCray’s round.

Noke was on his back the entire round. McCray took him down and kept him there.

Well, I got the first round wrong. They’re going to a third. What a boring fight this was. McCray took him down again and just held him there until they were stood up. Noke went for a kimura, but didn’t get close. If only Noke could wrestle.

Winner: Kris McCray by way of unanimous decision

It’s Brad Tavares against Seth Baczynski next.

Chuck hears about Tito and says that if he has to put up with Tito for six weeks, he better fight.

Seth Baczynski vs. Brad Tavares
Continue Reading »

Kyacey’s son was born while he was getting ready for his wildcard fight against Kris McCray. Tito says he’s going to sit in the bleachers and not say anything. He’s going to let the better man win. He must think his screaming for under hooks helps these guys or something.

Kyacey Uscola vs. Kris McCray

Kyacey kicked Kris right underneath his knee twice and McCray winced like he was hurt. Lots of holding each other against the cage. McCray hit him low and then was reversed on a takedown, but got right back up and took a knee to the gut. Then he got the takedown on Kyacey and worked the rear naked choke, but it was way sloppy and he didn’t get it.

Kyacey looked terrible. McCray got the takedown and put him in a kimura and he tapped out.

Winner: Kris McCray by way of 2nd round submission

Dana, Tito, and Chuck are trying to choose the next round of fights. Tito wants Court McGee and Nick Ring to fight again so we can get a clear winner on the fight. Kind of unfair to his guy. Dana thought it was a good idea and Chuck got made because Tito got his way.

The match-ups for the next round are as follows:

Nick Ring vs. Court McGee
Kyle Noke vs. Kris McCray
Brad Tavares vs. Seth Baczynski
Jamie Yager vs. Josh Bryant

It’s still all Chuck guys vs. Tito guys.
Continue Reading »

After winning his fight with Court McGee, Nick Ring thinks he may have something wrong with the ligament in his knee.

The last fight is Seth Baczynski vs. The Caveman. Dana thinks The Caveman isn’t good at all and that it should be a one-sided fight. Seth was given a second chance after he lost in the qualifying matches and he’s grateful about it.

Joe Henle aka Caveman got into the sport almost by accident. He never expected to make the show. Rich Attonito doesn’t think Joe’s mentally strong. He has a MBA in financial planning as his plan B.

Striking coach Howard Davis says his striking isn’t great right now. But, he’s only been in the sport for six months and he thinks it’s a good accomplishment to be that young in the sport and be that good.

Ring’s knee went out of him in training. He’s had issues with it in the past and for three years has been fighting on a bad knee.

They are really building this fight up as a slaughter. Henle’s trying to let people know that he’s going to bring it and he knows he’s the underdog.

Joe Henle vs. Seth Baczynski

What an interesting round this was. If Joe had any sort of experience on the ground, he probably finishes Seth. Joe got an early takedown but put his head on a platter for Seth, who tried to sink in a triangle. Joe got out of that, but kept feeding his head and was put in a guillotine. It looked like he tapped out, but the ref didn’t stop it. He got out of that mostly because Seth was tired and then tried to put him in an anaconda choke. When Seth rolled through it, Joe then got his back and tried for a rear naked choke. Seth ended the round on top of Joe.
Continue Reading »

Kyacey Uscola thinks that Tito had McCray doing plyometrics and it hurt McCray’s chance in the fight because his muscles were shocked. Um, ok.

Chuck thinks Court McGee is ready and he wants to win the next two fights to go 6-1.

Yaeger and McCray don’t think Tito over-trains them. Tito hears the criticism and decides to call Kyacey out and Kyacey is just stubborn, which is a theme this year. The dude was stubborn over calling Yaeger a thief when it was proven that he wasn’t, and now he’s calling out a former light heavyweight champion on his training technique. Tito says his training is geared towards getting his guys ready to fight back to back to back.

Tito and Chuck are playing a good old fashioned game of dodge ball. These dudes can’t catch dodge balls. And Chuck can play. They cleaned out Tito’s team easily, three games to none. This was a butt-kicking like Big Nog beating Mir in soccer and Forrest beating Rampage in hoops.

Chuck chooses Court McGee to fight Nick Ring. Ring did his best Orlando Jordan impersonation. Dana thinks Ring could win it all.

Chuck tells McGee to expect kicks from Ring and either step back or check the kicks.

McGee tells the guys a story of when he was addicted to drugs and alcohol. He says he died and was brought back to life.

James Hamortree hurt his back being taken down and he screamed out like he was in shock. They put him in a brace and stretchered him out. Tito says Hamortree was in the running for the wild card spot.

Tito thinks the fight with McGee should be an easy one for ring and he should finish him in the first.

Hammortree looks like he’s ok.

Court McGee vs. Nick Ring

Pretty competitive first round, though nothing much really happened. Ring looks much bigger. He got a takedown later in the round and just stayed on top of him for the entire thing. He tried to get side control, but couldn’t, so just stayed in McGee’s guard.

The second round was all stand-up and clinch. McGee looked to have the upper hand early in the round, but Ring started to use his reach and leg kicks. Whenever they clinched, it was a stalemate. McGee finished up strong, but I’m not sure if he decisively won the round. It was close.

Winner: Nick Ring by way of majority decision

It could’ve gone to a third round, but I think the better fighter won. But you have to give it up to McGee. He pushed the pace that second round. I think it was just too close considering what we’ve seen from judges on this show. Chuck was pissed and Dana agreed with him.

On the next show, there’s doubt about Nick Ring because of an injury, plus we see the final prelim fight. Then the wildcards are selected.

MMA Weekly has confirmed that George St. Pierre is set to coach on The Ultimate Fighter next season. His opponent on the show will be the winner of Saturday night’s welterweight eliminator between Paul Daley and Josh Koscheck. This is a win/win for the series. Both of those guys are tremendous at selling a fight, and this should build to a massive title showdown towards the end of the year .