TUF 10 Weekly Blog and Fantasy Game: Episode Two

Mitchell CiccarelliSep 23, 2009

This episode of The Ultimate Fighter starts off in the house with a close-up shot of the man responsible for last episode’s record breaking 4.1 million cable rating, Kimbo Slice. Slice shares with his teammates that he believes he will be the next to fight.

Say what you want about the backyard brawler, but he came to this show willing to fight anyone and for that he deserves respect.

The cameras catch Team Rashad members Justin Wren and Roy Nelson talking about a potential bout with Slice.

Nelson says it’s a fight he has been trying to get for years and a bout against the former Elite XC star would be a headliner between two “veterans.” It’s a bit humorous that Big Country is calling the street-fighting sensation a “veteran” when he has only had four professional MMA bouts.

At the gym, Slice gets some special instruction from Rampage and his coaching staff. The former Light-Heavyweight champion admits that he sees a little bit of himself in Slice and wants to help the still-developing MMA fighter learn some new tricks.

Meanwhile, during a Team Rashad training session, Big Country Nelson is stirring up some drama and getting on the nerves of his coaches. The coaches believe Nelson has a chip on his shoulder and isn’t taking direction well.

They are basically deeming the last IFL Heavyweight champion “un-coachable” and during a private lecture coach Trevor Wittman pretty much tells him if he doesn’t get his act together he will ask if Team Rampage is looking for an extra fighter. Ouch, Team Rashad isn’t messing around.

When it comes time for the fight selections Rampage picks former Tennessee Titan Wes Shivers up against Rashad’s No. 1 pick, James McSweeney.

On paper, it would seem like a horrible matchup, neither have much MMA experience but Shivers literally boasts an 0-0 pro record. McSweeney has a losing MMA record of 2-4 but has had hundreds of kickboxing bouts and is well versed in the art of Muay Thai. However, this bout turns out to be much more competitive than one would think.

Prior to the fight Jackson arrives at the gym and finds Rashad working on a mental training session with his team five minutes after their scheduled slot at the facility. It results in a standoff between the two coaches, and though each are smiling and joking you can tell things are about to get heated between the two.

It was somewhat disrespectful for Rashad to laugh in Rampage’s face when Rampage politely approached him on the matter. At the same time Rashad shares that his team was also forced to start five minutes late, so in all reality, it really wasn’t that big of a deal. But regardless, Rampage had a right to be upset and you have to applaud him for not losing his cool this time.

Heading into this fight most would think an easy first round knockout for McSweeney, but that wasn’t the case at all. Shivers made it a very competitive first round charging in aggressively and putting his weight on the Greg Jackson trained fighter. McSweeney did land some solid strikes including a couple of devastating leg kicks but Shivers stole the first round.

Both fighters were horribly gassed in the second round and less than a minute into it Shivers has his hands on his hips. This would appear to be McSweeney’s chance to strike but he doesn’t pull the trigger and Rashad is screaming in the background “Don’t wait.”

Towards the end of the fight McSweeney drops Shivers and also comes very close to locking in a guillotine choke but Shivers survives to the final bell. The fight was extremely close and probably should have gone to sudden victory but they gave McSweeney the split decision win.

Everyone seems to be picking McSweeney as the favorite to win the tournament but if he struggled like that against one of the most in-experienced fighters in the house how will he do up against some of the more talented fighters?

Then again Shiver’s tremendous size definitely played a factor but when a man is standing there with his hands on his hips shouldn’t you look to finish the fight instead of just standing around letting him catch his breath?

With the win Team Rashad is now 2-0 over Team Rampage and they also have control over the next matchup. Rashad pits Nelson against Slice in what UFC President Dana White is calling the most anticipated fight in TUF history. That fight will take place on the next episode but until then let’s take a look at the TUF 10 fantasy game rankings:

TOP NEWS

Bleacher Report1w

Bleacher Report1w

(P.S, each week I will be interviewing a TUF 10 fighter right here on Bleacher Report. This week it's Roy "Big Country" Nelson. I will be interviewing Nelson tomorrow afternoon so if there are any particular questions you would like me to ask him, let me know in a comment to this article.)

Flying Knee: 4 Points

Top Eight

Nelson
Wren
Junk
Jensen
Schoonover
McSweeney
Madsen
Sims

Top Four

Sims
Nelson
Schoonover
Madsen

Final

Nelson
Schoonover

Winner

Roy Nelson

Matt Randall: 4 points

Top Eight

Darrill Schoonover
Zach Jensen
Justin Wren
Brendan Schaub
John Madsen
Kimbo Slice
James McSweeney
Roy Nelson

Top Four

Roy Nelson
Darrill Schoonover
Justin Wren
Brendan Schaub

Final

Roy Nelson vs. Brendan Schaub

Winner

Roy Nelson

Mitch Ciccarelli: 2 points

Top Eight

Roy Nelson
Brendan Schaub
Darrill Schoonover
Scott Junk
Wes Shivers
Wes Sims
Marcus Jones
John Madsen

Top Four
Roy Nelson
Brendan Schaub
Darrill Schoonover
John Madsen

Final
Roy Nelson
Brendan Schaub

Winner
Brendan Schaub

Aoife O'Connor: 2 points

Top Eight

McSweeney
Slice
Wren
Nelson
Sims
Rogers
Schaub
Schoonover

Top Four

McSweeney
Wren
Nelson
Schaub

Top Two

McSweeney
Nelson

Winner

McSweeney

Peta Waller: 2 points

Top Eight

McSweeney
Slice
Wren
Nelson
Sims
Rogers
Schaub
Schoonover

Top Four

McSweeney
Wren
Nelson
Schaub

Top Two

Schaub
Nelson

Winner
Nelson

Alysha Diaz: 2 points

Top Eight

McSweeney
Slice
Wren
Nelson
Sims
Rogers
Schaub
Schoonover

Top Four

McSweeney
Rogers
Sims
Schaub

Top Two

McSweeney
Rogers

Winner
Rogers

Melanie Wray: 2 points
Top Eight

McSweeney
Slice
Wren
Nelson
Sims
Rogers
Schaub
Schoonover

Top Four

McSweeney
Wren
Nelson
Schaub

Top Two

McSweeney
Schaub

Winner= McSweeney

Cameron Mumford: 2 points

Top Eight

Marcus Jones
Kimbo Slice
Roy Nelson
Brendan Schaub
Wes Sims
James McSweeney
Justin Wren
Darill Schoonover

Top Four

Roy Nelson
James McSweeney
Brendan Schaub
Justin Wren

Final Two

James McSweeny
Brendan Schaub

The Ultimate Fighter
James McSweeny

Lynn Donegan: 2 points

Top Eight

McSweeney
Wren
Nelson
Sims
Rogers
Schaub
Schoonover
Slice

Top Four

McSweeney
Wren
Nelson
Schaub

Top Two

McSweeney
Nelson

McSweeney

Sinaed Marie O'Hara: 2 points

Top Eight

McSweeney
Slice
Wren
Nelson
Sims
Rogers
Schaub
Schoonover

Top Four

Schoonover
Wren
Nelson
Schaub

Top Four

Schaub
Nelson

Winner
Nelson

E. Spencer Kyte: 2 points

Top Eight

Big Country
James McSweeney
Brendan Schaub
Kimbo
Schoonover
Justin Wren
Marcus Jones
Wes Sims

Top Four
Big Country
McSweeney
Schaub
Kimbo

Finalists
McSweeney
Kimbo