A UFC Hall-of-Famer, an elite welterweight and a drunk Muay Thai aficionado all stop by during this week's episode of "The Ultimate Fighter." All that, and weak pranks, too! Read on for spoilers and a recap of TUF.
Contemplative moment of the week: Koscheck is frustrated with his winless team, and you can't blame him. He's a fighter who is where he is because he took advantage of being on "The Ultimate Fighter," then moved to the elite of the UFC's welterweight division because he found a good team at American Kickboxing Academy. In both scenarios, he has been utterly coachable, listening to everything his coaches -- from Chuck Liddell to Bob Cook -- had to say. To light a fire under his fighters, he brings Jon Fitch in to work with his team.
Weak prank of the week: Alex "Bruce LeeRoy" Caceres continued pranking people, this time by putting bleach in Nam Pham's fabric softener, which Michael Johnson used. Is that even considered a prank, or just vandalism?
Crazy coach of the week: Koscheck is not the only one who brought in a new trainer this week. GSP brought in Muay Thai expert and "uh, what you call him, a free thinker" Jean Charles Skabowsky. Coach John Danaher told the team, "This is either going to be the best experience of your life or the worst." Skabowsky showed up wearing just Muay Thai shorts and beat the hell out of Team GSP while drunk. No, really.
Death threat of the week: Cody McKenzie, a Team GSP member, talked some smack to Koscheck as he walked out of practice. After Koscheck yelled, "You're not in Alaska any more!" McKenzie replied, "No, because if it was, I'd drown you." I'd need to check through the unified rules again, but I'm pretty sure drowning is not permissible in the Octagon.
Hall-of-Famer Cameo of the week: Yes, Fitch and the drunken Skabowsky were impressive, but Chuck Liddell trumped them all. The Iceman (and Koscheck's coach when he was on TUF) stopped in not long after he was knocked out by Rich Franklin at UFC 115. Still sporting a black eye from the fight, Liddell spends a few minutes talking with the fighters, telling them, "Don't forget to enjoy what you do. This is a hell of a lot better than a real job." He also says that it's hard to walk away from, saying that he was having fun even when he lost to Franklin.
Trash talk guessing game of the week -- Guess which fighter said:
1. I don't look like a martial artist or a fighter whatsoever.
2. I'm scared. That's the main feeling that's going through me.
3. A switch flips, and it's like, showtime.
4. I think to myself, maybe I should have listened to my Dad and become a businessman.
Bad attempt at humor for the week: Koscheck continued to try to get under GSP's skin, saying before the weigh-in,"If you kiss me now, I'll leave MMA," and other similarly dumb things. GSP says in the interview that it does bother him, but he doesn't let it show when sitting with his team.
Fight of the Week -- Spencer Paige vs. Nam Phan:
Round one: Sparring with the drunken Skabowsky paid off, because Paige landed kicks left and right, knocking Phan to the ground on a few leg kicks. Phan kept up with Paige by moving forward and matching each kick with a punch. With a minute and a half left in the round, Phan knocked Paige to the ground and followed up with ground and pound, then tried to finish him with a kimura. Paige didn't tap, and the round ended.
Round two: Phan started the round aggressively, landing strikes and shaking off a Paige takedown attempt. Paige jumped around the cage to avoid Phan's strikes. Phan wins, giving Team Kos their first win.
After the fight, Paige said that he hurt his hand somewhere in the fight. That explained why he was acting so oddly in the second round.
Team Kos acted completely gracefully in victory ... No, wait. They didn't. Koscheck pointed out to GSP how much fun the first win was. Then, they pounded on the wall of Paige's locker room. Classy.
No comments:
Post a Comment