LionDen
06-17-2007, 11:26 AM
UFC ULTIMATE FIGHTER TV REPORT
by Mark Carpowich
We are down to the final four…and at the end of last week’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter, we learned there would be dissension tonight between the coaches and Dana White regarding the semifinal matchups. Dana wants teammate vs. teammate, the coaches want Team Pulver vs. Team Penn, and the show’s producers want you to wonder how it will all play out. So maybe the UFC should have thought twice before unveiling a large banner ad earlier this week on its web site, announcing tonight’s matchups. Thanks for the spoiler, ufc.com!
We start by recapping last week’s quarterfinal fights that sent Nate and Manny into the next round. After Manny’s win, Team Pulver celebrates in the locker room. Manny’s cousin Karo Parysian is there, too, and for some reason has decided to mess with Nate, playfully slapping and grabbing him. After several minutes, Nate finally has had enough and simply stands up, which apparently in Karo’s world is an invitation to fight. Jens can’t believe the situation has turned serious, and holds Karo back. Karo leaves the room, then comes back and tells Nate he wants to talk to him outside. Nate isn’t interested, which makes Karo want to fight all over again. Finally, cooler heads prevail, as Karo leaves feeling disrespected.
Everyone prepares to return to the house, but Jens says no one can leave because he and BJ have to meet with Dana via phone to determine the semifinal matchups. Maybe they should have just checked ufc.com. Anyway, this is where things get kind of weird. This all apparently happened right after Manny’s fight, though I remembered that Dana was in the octagon last week before the fight, explaining the rules. But now they’re saying that, half an hour later, he is in London and can only meet via phone. Huh?!? Either Dana took the fastest plane ever, or there was some fishy editing going on.
I went back and watched last week’s fight, and while Dana is shown explaining the rules in a close-up shot, he is nowhere to be found in the pre-fight wide shots. So they pre-recorded that part, then just spliced it in. Was it really that important that Dana be on camera for the pre-fight rules?
Despite sitting about 3 inches from the phone, Dana is listening to Jens and BJ on speaker. He says he wants teammate vs. teammate in the semis, which infuriates Jens. Then Dana says he was just messing with Jens, and really wants to do blue vs. gold for each fight. So we’ll get Joe vs. Manny, and Nate vs. Gray. Manny says he hates Joe, then a few seconds later is shown hugging him. Nate says he will “probably win” his fight with Gray.
Manny trains with a heavy bag, which he calls a “bitch,” and says he’ll put everything he has into his fight. BJ, meanwhile, praises Joe for how much he has improved through the course of the season. Jens says both are equally skilled, and the outcome will be determined by who has more heart. Joe says he is going to stick to his game plan; Manny says he hates game plans, then seconds later specifically identifies his own strategy as a game plan.
The night before the fight, Dana rewards the fighters with a dinner at the house. During dinner, a servant hands a note to Joe, who reads it out loud. The note says that the winner of season 5 will win free service from DirecTV. Joe reads the entire note, which basically adds up to a three-minute commercial for DirecTV. Even though 75 percent of them aren’t even eligible for it, the other guys at the table feign excitement.
We go from seeing Dana at the dinner table to seeing Dana in the octagon (live, I think), as the first semifinal fight gets under way. Joe leads with a head kick, but misses and is taken down. Manny holds him down for 30 seconds and literally throws only three punches. Joe finally sits up, but Manny locks in a guillotine. Five seconds later, BJ warns Joe to watch out for the guillotine. Joe stands up, picking Manny up off the ground, but can’t get out. He then somersaults, and finally escapes with an explosive sit-out. Most of the rest of the round has Manny in either full or half guard, with neither man doing much. Steve Mazzagatti twice threatens to stand them up, but never does, and the round ends.
Round two begins with Joe sprawling out of two takedown attempts before Manny finally secures a single-leg takedown. Manny stays on top of Joe, smothering him and occasionally throwing punches. Halfway through the round, BJ yells to Joe, “It’s your turn,” even though Joe is nowhere near an escape or reversal. Manny finally mounts, but ends up back in Joe’s guard, and they’re finally stood up. Round two ends with the fighters jockeying for position against the fence.
In round three, BJ tells Joe to be first, but Manny is the aggressor. Joe already appears defeated in his own mind. Manny lands a couple of sharp leg kicks, then gets another takedown. BJ seems that things are desperate, and shouts for Joe to “do anything you can.” Before long, Joe has shot out of another guillotine and actually takes Manny’s back. Manny goes into stall mode, covering up and not moving as Mazzagatti lets the seconds tick away. Finally, just as Joe sinks a rear-naked choke, Manny reverses and the round ends. Unanimous 30-27 victory for Manny.
Dana is back on our screens, admitting he had underestimated Manny and is impressed by his performance. Joe, meanwhile, says he will be back. And we’re done for another week…or are we?
Those savvy web-surfers among us who saw the ufc.com spoiler ad didn’t just learn who would be fighting whom in the semis; we also learned that the final two episodes would be shown back-to-back tonight. And that’s the only way you’d know – apparently the UFC can run a hundred promos for UFC 72 during The Ultimate Fighter, but can’t announce a schedule change for its final episode even once during its normal 10 p.m. time slot.
Our final episode begins with the usual recap. Dana talks more about what a good fighter Manny is. We then are treated to the Burger King fighter standings, which with only three fighters left have become pretty unnecessary. We then start talking about the Gray-Nate fight, and get the requisite footage of Gray running through the streets of Las Vegas in gray sweats. Gray is confident, but BJ and his coaches say Gray has to let them help him win, and that his striking and GnP need some serious work.
Back at the house, the first of our annual trash-the-house moments comes in the form of a “fruit war,” with Nate leading an orange-throwing onslaught against Brian and Cole. After a couple of minutes of throwing oranges against a closed door, Nate and friends burst into the room where Brian and Cole had been playing ping pong and continue the attack. Nate winging oranges at a retreating Brian looks almost exactly like the jai alai scene from the Jackass TV show. Brian and Cole retreat to a bathroom, where they are ambushed through a broken window.
Dana has called a house meeting with the coaches present, and announces a coaches’ challenge. Unlike season three, where Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz competed in a game of pool, BJ and Jens will compete in ping pong. He probably doesn’t know that, earlier that day, the same table had been used as a wall to defend against oranges. Dana announces a $10,000 prize for the winning coach, with an extra $1,000 going to each player on that coach’s team.
BJ looks excited to play, but Jens is worried about his lack of experience, and really doesn’t want to play against BJ, whom he disrespects by calling a “disrespectful bitch.” The game begins, with BJ jumping out to an early lead and taking the first game (best two out of three wins). The whole idea of professional fighters playing high-stakes ping pong is ridiculous as it is, but broadcasting it on national TV is even worse. But The Ultimate Fighter reaches a new low by airing much of the second game in slow-motion, synchronizing thunderous sounds effects to Jens’ hits. There are also slow-motion reaction shots from Dana, who overacts even worse than Gabe when he got a colonic. Someone explain to me how “the most technical street fight ever” is more damaging to the reputation of MMA than this atrocious, campy segment. Anyway, enough of this – Jens wins the money in three games.
Hey, isn’t there a fight still coming up? We get back to business as Jens is excited about Nate. Jens says Nate will win…as long as he learns to throw better punches on the ground and his feet, and adds in some submissions and defense. Oh, is that all? In other words, Nate needs to tighten up his entire game.
Each team holds its final “training session” of the season, which amounts to some of the easiest training this side of Brandon riding the Airdyne. Team Penn “trains” by lying on the mat, BJ in sunglasses, and sharing philosophies about fighting. The guys on Team Pulver don’t do much better, spending their time practicing pro wrestling moves on each other.
The light-heartedness carries back to the house, where the guys have chosen the night before Nate and Gray’s fight to drink excessively and basically ensure neither fighter will be well-rested the next day. Andy leads his housemates in drinking sake bombs, while Rob slides across a table and breaks windows with rocks. Cole has way too much to drink, and ends up passing out on the floor. When he starts throwing up, his “friends” escort him to the bathroom, where he passes out again while seated on the toilet. Manny makes the most of the opportunity, shaving the back of Cole’s head.
It’s fight day, and both Nate and Gray mean business. Nate says Gray is a nice guy, and continues to stretch the limits of the English language by letting us know he has “conversated” with Gray throughout the season, but that Gray is now in his way. Gray calls Nate an emotional fighter; Nate responds by paraphrasing the accusation into being called a “mental fighter,” then responds with this head-scratcher: “That’s the most retarded sh** I ever heard, mentally. That’s mentally retarded.” Wow. Just, wow.
Gray starts the fight by taking Nate down and immediately advancing to side control; Nate goes right for a kimura, then tries to roll into an armbar. Gray slips out and starts dropping bombs on Nate, cutting him over the right eye. Nate goes for another armbar, allowing Gray to smack him with hammer fists. Despite BJ’s advice to “keep him down,” Gray allows Nate to escape, but takes him down again. Nate is in a great spot to throw short elbows, but instead tries for another kimura. Gray lands more punches, but Nate retaliates by paint-brushing Gray with punches of his own. The round ends decisively for Gray.
Round two begins with another Gray takedown, but he sits too high when he tries to mount, and gets reversed. Now on top, Nate lands a few body punches before sinking in a guillotine choke. Gray taps almost immediately, and the finals are set.
Dana goes into ridiculous overhype mode, gushing about how great Nate fought. Despite totally dominating round one, Dana says Gray couldn’t do anything from the top because Nate kept throwing submission attempts at him. As footage from the fight shows Nate’s face rolling through drops of his own blood on the mat, Dana says that “he looked great today.” Nate and Manny face off in the octagon after the fight as Dana announces that they’ll meet in the finals.
As the season ends, the coaches say goodbye to the fighters. Andy shakes BJ’s hand and lets his ex-coach know there are no hard feelings. Good – I’m sure that’s been keeping BJ up at night. BJ then hypes his fight with Jens, alternating between the third and first person as he predicts he’ll be the biggest MMA star in the world after he wins. Dana concludes by saying he’s proud of everyone who appeared on the show this season.
Source: PWInsiderxtra.com
by Mark Carpowich
We are down to the final four…and at the end of last week’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter, we learned there would be dissension tonight between the coaches and Dana White regarding the semifinal matchups. Dana wants teammate vs. teammate, the coaches want Team Pulver vs. Team Penn, and the show’s producers want you to wonder how it will all play out. So maybe the UFC should have thought twice before unveiling a large banner ad earlier this week on its web site, announcing tonight’s matchups. Thanks for the spoiler, ufc.com!
We start by recapping last week’s quarterfinal fights that sent Nate and Manny into the next round. After Manny’s win, Team Pulver celebrates in the locker room. Manny’s cousin Karo Parysian is there, too, and for some reason has decided to mess with Nate, playfully slapping and grabbing him. After several minutes, Nate finally has had enough and simply stands up, which apparently in Karo’s world is an invitation to fight. Jens can’t believe the situation has turned serious, and holds Karo back. Karo leaves the room, then comes back and tells Nate he wants to talk to him outside. Nate isn’t interested, which makes Karo want to fight all over again. Finally, cooler heads prevail, as Karo leaves feeling disrespected.
Everyone prepares to return to the house, but Jens says no one can leave because he and BJ have to meet with Dana via phone to determine the semifinal matchups. Maybe they should have just checked ufc.com. Anyway, this is where things get kind of weird. This all apparently happened right after Manny’s fight, though I remembered that Dana was in the octagon last week before the fight, explaining the rules. But now they’re saying that, half an hour later, he is in London and can only meet via phone. Huh?!? Either Dana took the fastest plane ever, or there was some fishy editing going on.
I went back and watched last week’s fight, and while Dana is shown explaining the rules in a close-up shot, he is nowhere to be found in the pre-fight wide shots. So they pre-recorded that part, then just spliced it in. Was it really that important that Dana be on camera for the pre-fight rules?
Despite sitting about 3 inches from the phone, Dana is listening to Jens and BJ on speaker. He says he wants teammate vs. teammate in the semis, which infuriates Jens. Then Dana says he was just messing with Jens, and really wants to do blue vs. gold for each fight. So we’ll get Joe vs. Manny, and Nate vs. Gray. Manny says he hates Joe, then a few seconds later is shown hugging him. Nate says he will “probably win” his fight with Gray.
Manny trains with a heavy bag, which he calls a “bitch,” and says he’ll put everything he has into his fight. BJ, meanwhile, praises Joe for how much he has improved through the course of the season. Jens says both are equally skilled, and the outcome will be determined by who has more heart. Joe says he is going to stick to his game plan; Manny says he hates game plans, then seconds later specifically identifies his own strategy as a game plan.
The night before the fight, Dana rewards the fighters with a dinner at the house. During dinner, a servant hands a note to Joe, who reads it out loud. The note says that the winner of season 5 will win free service from DirecTV. Joe reads the entire note, which basically adds up to a three-minute commercial for DirecTV. Even though 75 percent of them aren’t even eligible for it, the other guys at the table feign excitement.
We go from seeing Dana at the dinner table to seeing Dana in the octagon (live, I think), as the first semifinal fight gets under way. Joe leads with a head kick, but misses and is taken down. Manny holds him down for 30 seconds and literally throws only three punches. Joe finally sits up, but Manny locks in a guillotine. Five seconds later, BJ warns Joe to watch out for the guillotine. Joe stands up, picking Manny up off the ground, but can’t get out. He then somersaults, and finally escapes with an explosive sit-out. Most of the rest of the round has Manny in either full or half guard, with neither man doing much. Steve Mazzagatti twice threatens to stand them up, but never does, and the round ends.
Round two begins with Joe sprawling out of two takedown attempts before Manny finally secures a single-leg takedown. Manny stays on top of Joe, smothering him and occasionally throwing punches. Halfway through the round, BJ yells to Joe, “It’s your turn,” even though Joe is nowhere near an escape or reversal. Manny finally mounts, but ends up back in Joe’s guard, and they’re finally stood up. Round two ends with the fighters jockeying for position against the fence.
In round three, BJ tells Joe to be first, but Manny is the aggressor. Joe already appears defeated in his own mind. Manny lands a couple of sharp leg kicks, then gets another takedown. BJ seems that things are desperate, and shouts for Joe to “do anything you can.” Before long, Joe has shot out of another guillotine and actually takes Manny’s back. Manny goes into stall mode, covering up and not moving as Mazzagatti lets the seconds tick away. Finally, just as Joe sinks a rear-naked choke, Manny reverses and the round ends. Unanimous 30-27 victory for Manny.
Dana is back on our screens, admitting he had underestimated Manny and is impressed by his performance. Joe, meanwhile, says he will be back. And we’re done for another week…or are we?
Those savvy web-surfers among us who saw the ufc.com spoiler ad didn’t just learn who would be fighting whom in the semis; we also learned that the final two episodes would be shown back-to-back tonight. And that’s the only way you’d know – apparently the UFC can run a hundred promos for UFC 72 during The Ultimate Fighter, but can’t announce a schedule change for its final episode even once during its normal 10 p.m. time slot.
Our final episode begins with the usual recap. Dana talks more about what a good fighter Manny is. We then are treated to the Burger King fighter standings, which with only three fighters left have become pretty unnecessary. We then start talking about the Gray-Nate fight, and get the requisite footage of Gray running through the streets of Las Vegas in gray sweats. Gray is confident, but BJ and his coaches say Gray has to let them help him win, and that his striking and GnP need some serious work.
Back at the house, the first of our annual trash-the-house moments comes in the form of a “fruit war,” with Nate leading an orange-throwing onslaught against Brian and Cole. After a couple of minutes of throwing oranges against a closed door, Nate and friends burst into the room where Brian and Cole had been playing ping pong and continue the attack. Nate winging oranges at a retreating Brian looks almost exactly like the jai alai scene from the Jackass TV show. Brian and Cole retreat to a bathroom, where they are ambushed through a broken window.
Dana has called a house meeting with the coaches present, and announces a coaches’ challenge. Unlike season three, where Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz competed in a game of pool, BJ and Jens will compete in ping pong. He probably doesn’t know that, earlier that day, the same table had been used as a wall to defend against oranges. Dana announces a $10,000 prize for the winning coach, with an extra $1,000 going to each player on that coach’s team.
BJ looks excited to play, but Jens is worried about his lack of experience, and really doesn’t want to play against BJ, whom he disrespects by calling a “disrespectful bitch.” The game begins, with BJ jumping out to an early lead and taking the first game (best two out of three wins). The whole idea of professional fighters playing high-stakes ping pong is ridiculous as it is, but broadcasting it on national TV is even worse. But The Ultimate Fighter reaches a new low by airing much of the second game in slow-motion, synchronizing thunderous sounds effects to Jens’ hits. There are also slow-motion reaction shots from Dana, who overacts even worse than Gabe when he got a colonic. Someone explain to me how “the most technical street fight ever” is more damaging to the reputation of MMA than this atrocious, campy segment. Anyway, enough of this – Jens wins the money in three games.
Hey, isn’t there a fight still coming up? We get back to business as Jens is excited about Nate. Jens says Nate will win…as long as he learns to throw better punches on the ground and his feet, and adds in some submissions and defense. Oh, is that all? In other words, Nate needs to tighten up his entire game.
Each team holds its final “training session” of the season, which amounts to some of the easiest training this side of Brandon riding the Airdyne. Team Penn “trains” by lying on the mat, BJ in sunglasses, and sharing philosophies about fighting. The guys on Team Pulver don’t do much better, spending their time practicing pro wrestling moves on each other.
The light-heartedness carries back to the house, where the guys have chosen the night before Nate and Gray’s fight to drink excessively and basically ensure neither fighter will be well-rested the next day. Andy leads his housemates in drinking sake bombs, while Rob slides across a table and breaks windows with rocks. Cole has way too much to drink, and ends up passing out on the floor. When he starts throwing up, his “friends” escort him to the bathroom, where he passes out again while seated on the toilet. Manny makes the most of the opportunity, shaving the back of Cole’s head.
It’s fight day, and both Nate and Gray mean business. Nate says Gray is a nice guy, and continues to stretch the limits of the English language by letting us know he has “conversated” with Gray throughout the season, but that Gray is now in his way. Gray calls Nate an emotional fighter; Nate responds by paraphrasing the accusation into being called a “mental fighter,” then responds with this head-scratcher: “That’s the most retarded sh** I ever heard, mentally. That’s mentally retarded.” Wow. Just, wow.
Gray starts the fight by taking Nate down and immediately advancing to side control; Nate goes right for a kimura, then tries to roll into an armbar. Gray slips out and starts dropping bombs on Nate, cutting him over the right eye. Nate goes for another armbar, allowing Gray to smack him with hammer fists. Despite BJ’s advice to “keep him down,” Gray allows Nate to escape, but takes him down again. Nate is in a great spot to throw short elbows, but instead tries for another kimura. Gray lands more punches, but Nate retaliates by paint-brushing Gray with punches of his own. The round ends decisively for Gray.
Round two begins with another Gray takedown, but he sits too high when he tries to mount, and gets reversed. Now on top, Nate lands a few body punches before sinking in a guillotine choke. Gray taps almost immediately, and the finals are set.
Dana goes into ridiculous overhype mode, gushing about how great Nate fought. Despite totally dominating round one, Dana says Gray couldn’t do anything from the top because Nate kept throwing submission attempts at him. As footage from the fight shows Nate’s face rolling through drops of his own blood on the mat, Dana says that “he looked great today.” Nate and Manny face off in the octagon after the fight as Dana announces that they’ll meet in the finals.
As the season ends, the coaches say goodbye to the fighters. Andy shakes BJ’s hand and lets his ex-coach know there are no hard feelings. Good – I’m sure that’s been keeping BJ up at night. BJ then hypes his fight with Jens, alternating between the third and first person as he predicts he’ll be the biggest MMA star in the world after he wins. Dana concludes by saying he’s proud of everyone who appeared on the show this season.
Source: PWInsiderxtra.com