TUF 13 Diary: Episode 4 Recap and Analysis
Posted on April 21, 2011, 05:03 AM by Ryan VenturaThe last episode of The Ultimate Fighter had Brock Lesnar explain to his team what a chicken s*** salad is, we saw a possible “trader” from Team Lesnar hang out with Team dos Santos, and a pretty exciting bout between Ryan McGillivray and Len Bentley. It ended with McGillivray getting the majority decision over Bentley. Team dos Santos is now 2-1 in the show and once again they earned the right to pick their next fight.
-JDS seemed to be in very good spirits after Ryan McGillivray's victory over Len Bentley. Lew Polley and Junior dos Santos does their best to instill the value of hard work to their fighters. So far it's been paying off.
-Brock Lesnar returns to the show after briefly leaving for personal issues. He wasn't very happy with Len Bentley's loss, but he looks forward going further into this show with his “four horsemen”: Tony Ferguson, Chuck O’Neil, Clay Harvison and Charlie Rader.
-Clay Harvison doesn't seem to be mentally into training. Lesnar attempts to push him and the rest of the team to dig deeper.
-This episode we learn about Team Lesnar fighters Chuck O'Neil and Charlie Rader. Both men apparently trained together outside the show, they hang out together regularly, and play practical jokes on each other. Chuck O'Neil apparently is the team's unofficial nutritionist, helping the guys to eat properly.
-With Junior dos Santos' team having another fight pick, he choose team wrestling standout Ramsey Nijem to face Bellator veteran Charlie Rader from Team Lesnar.
-We had a closer look into Team JDS' Ramsey Nijem. He appears to be the show's practical joker with his painted nails, love for the TV show “Glee”, and walking around the house naked. Coach Junior and him seem to have a very fun / easy going relationship.
-A lot of the people in the house are having a hard time taking Ramsey seriously and don't view him as a threat. Ramsey seems to use his underdog status as his inspiration going into his bout.
-UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes was brought into the gym by Brock Lesnar to help work on his team's grappling. Matt seemed to like Chuck's work ethic and enjoyed his team with Brock's team.
-While Ramsey from Team JDS works on his “grinding” game plan, Team Lesnar helps Charlie keep the game on his feet for the bout.
-Random side note, according to Chuck O'Neil drinking a protein shake before you bed is good for you. I should try that.
-During the fighter weigh-ins, Brock Lesnar noticed that Ramsey paints his toe nails, and now more than ever wants Charlie to win the fight.
-Right at the beginning of the first round, Ramsey stayed true to his game plan. He threw a few punches, and turned the fight into a grappling match by clinching with Charlie against the cage. Ramsey landed an unintentional knee to Charlie's groin forcing referee Herb Dean to stop the action for a brief moment. The fight went back to the way it was in the beginning and Ramsey continued his grinder game plan. At the end of the round, Ramsey was able to score two takedowns, and looked to be the more “controlling” fighter.
-During the 2nd round, Ramsey and Charlie traded punches in the center of the Octagon, but once again Ramsey was able to find the right opportunity to close the distance with Charlie and take him down while Charlie's back was against the fence. Ramsey did a great job using his wrestling background to his advantage, even managing to get Charlie's back on a few occasions. Eventually all the opportunities Ramsey was able to get cost Charlie dearly and Charlie lost via rear naked choke in the 2nd round 3:31.
-Brock was very unhappy with the outcome of this fight and openly admitted that he felt like Charlie was going to lose to Ramsey as soon as the two men walked into the Octagon. Brock felt like Charlie was holding back during the fight and that he quit during the fight.
-Dana White gave his two cents on the bout and felt that Charlie quit during the fight as well.
-Lesnar after the bout threw his corner's stool into the Octagon and feels like his team doesn't care.
-While Team JDS celebrated their well-deserved victory, the mood in Team Lesnar's camp was very sour. Lesnar questioned his team's heart / work ethic and called his team a group of “chicken s***s”. Len Bentley wasn't very happy with his coach's words and walked out of the room.
What to expect in the next episode:
-Len Bentley openly expresses his frustration with his coach.
-The Chris Cope trader saga continues.
-Someone gets injured.
Conclusion:
I'm going to be honest and I think a lot of you readers / experts might agree. This show is not only becoming more and more predictable by the episodes and not to disrespect the fighters, I feel like the level of talent going on the show is dropping. Previous seasons we were introduced to the likes of Josh Koscheck, Kenny Florian, Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, Diego Sanchez, and many more. But now these days I feel like we aren't even close to that caliber of talent anymore.
I'm no TV expert, but I know what I like. I think they need to do something in the future seasons to “spice” up this series. I don't know what, but maybe you readers out there could explain in the comment box what types of changes should be made to this show. This episode was very bland, it had a few entertaining moments involving Ramsey, but not something to go crazy about.
The fight will be one that many of us are not going to remember the next day. Ramsey did a wonderful job executing his game plan, but with the reality tv audience's attention span being very small I wouldn't be surprised by the number of people who changed the channel.
Hopefully next episode will be much better and I can write a much more positive conclusion. Till then, type out your two cents in the comment box.
Comments
one of the worst seasons ever and i usaully try not to hate but the interactions between the coaches seems minimal and the fights have for the most part been lackluster. so far none of the fighters have shown anything that could convince us they will be able to win even one fight in the ufc and sadly we have seen all the top picks fight so far. brock seems like he would rather be somewhere else and jds is letting someone else run his team and seems to be there only for moral support.
Frankly, they need to do something drastic if they want to keep this show alive for more seasons - in fact the last three seasons at least has been pretty dull, saved only by some of the characters that appear.
They need to change the whole production, the visual style of the show (If I see the sun set in high speed over Las Vegas one more time I'll puke).
I know it is too much to hope for but I would like to see less in house drama (it is getting so predictable) and focus more on how the coaches and fighters think about training (yes I too find the remark about protein before bed interesting - more of that kind of stuff!).
Get the people who do the UFC Primetime shows to do the next season!
i have got to watch this season but it sounds like they need a jamie yager to spice the show up a little bit
Or bring back Josh Koscheck, Chris Leben, and Definitely Junie Browning. :))
after seeing how hard the tryouts are and how good a lot of the guys look, it doesnt really show when they fight. Its now all about wrestling which is a real shame. I getting pretty sick and tired of watching guys go in throw 1,2 then dive for a takedown and lay on there opponent on the ground or against the fence for 2 rounds
It's driving me crazy too man.
That's what is driving me crazy over here. You watch the tryouts and the guys in there are ace. Some really good BJJ guys were in those videos (Remember that asian guy, yellow top).
And yet when we see these guys fight, they lay against the cage the entire time and have very little skills. And even less heart. When Charlie got taken down the first time in the second round, he instantly turtled and let Ramsey take his back.
It makes me wonder further, where these guys get their records from. And we also see that they have losses on their records, well why aren't those guys there?
I think a big thing they might do for TUF screening aside from screening them fight wise, they might also do character checks. They want people who are "TV" friendly. I'm sure there are plenty of guys out there in the world that don't have the most fun personality, but are amazing fighters that could rip it on TUF.
I'm honestly having a hard time trying to find positives from the show now. It's like the same stuff over and over again, but I did like Ryan McGillivray from two weeks ago. He fought a good fight.
I agree with the Mr. Venture; the show has been bland and even boring and it probably has a great deal to do with the coaches; neither Brock nor JDS make for compelling TV. For one, there has been 0 interaction between the two; nothing. One would be hard pressed to realize they have a fight coming up. To me - JDS comes across as a nice guy, one trying to do his best, but his limited English makes it hard for him to make for great TV. Brock on the other hand, seems disinterested or distracted (IMO), a poor motivator, not a great coach, certainly not a great corner (like Matt Serra, GSP or even Bisping) and contradictory when defining what is-and-isn't chicken salad & chicken #### and when you are either one or the other; because he most certainly flip-flopped on that last night (post fight ) in the the dressing-room.
If you compare this to the GSP vs. Koscheck TUF - although Georges is (also) not a truly compelling TV personality (he's too nice), he made it interesting by bringing in all these top fighters or trainers, to work with his guys. The most I've seen on this show (so far) is Matt Hughes and I'm sorry (NDRI), that doesn't wow me or make me think...I have to see / can't miss this. In regard to Koscheck - he's one of The UFC's premier bad boys; if not "the" premier bad boy. Koscheck simply makes for compelling anything; he's the roadrunner and Woody Woodpecker (all) rolled into one; he's a trouble-maker. That makes for good TV.
And the fighters - I have seen no personalities on this show, other than (arguably by some) the guy that won last night; and I (personally) don't think doing full(y) nude dancing for your housemates is compelling TV. I personally thought it was disgusting and have no idea what any of them found funny about it. I have also, yet, to see any fighters that I've thought...wow, that guy has some game or some power.
Concluding - the best argument for a TUF Sonnen vs. Bisping, has been TUF Lesnar vs. JDS. Where this TUF has been / is a snooze fest, under no circumstances would it be that way with MB & CS. Love them or hate them, they stir it up and bring a heavy dose of that Road Runner / Woody Woodpecker attitude. They are both loudmouths and trouble makers....and thank God, for that.
...hey, how about a TUF Nick Diaz vs. Koscheck or Sanchez? Or dare we dream of TUF Diaz vs. Miller? Now, that would make for some compelling TV - beep, beep. :-)
Wow, you should do the TUF diary now lol. I agree with your points, you need two bad boys, two a-holes to be coaches. That would make the show even more interesting. I have a sick sense of humor, so I found Ramsey's walking around the house nude to be uncomfortably funny lol.