TUF 10 Weekly Blog and Fantasy Game: Episode Four

Now that street-fighting superstar Kimbo Slice has been eliminated from the competition—although some speculate he may receive a second chance—the other fighters are finally being highlighted on the show and the spotlight is no longer being placed entirely on Slice.

However the main focus as the episode begins is the fight between Slice and Nelson from last week’s episode. The fighters are recapping the bout and while “Big Country” Nelson celebrates in the Octagon there is a brief scuffle between him and coach Rampage.

Rampage didn’t respond well to Nelson’s showboating after the victory and said “I can’t stand that fat mother [expletive]. In reality Nelson was merely joking around and while it may be a tad bit disrespectful one has to consider that Rampage is just as worse if not more when it comes to goofing off.

Back in the locker-room Rampage ensures Slice to keep his head up and continue to train hard because he’s going to turn him into “one of the best fighters here”. Slice does have a ton of potential and he showcased it in his fight with Nelson but Rampage and his coaching staff are not the guys that are going to elevate Slice to the next level. One has to wonder how far Slice would have gone if he was instead placed on Team Rashad.

Back at the house Slice talks with teammate Abe Wagner about how he doesn’t really feel like he has been eliminated and has a feeling he will be brought back into the tournament. Sure enough big Marcus Jones from Team Rampage scares everyone in the house as he sweats and breathes very heavily.

At this point everyone especially those viewing at home started speculating that Jones would not be able to compete and Slice would be resurrected into the quarter final round.

Whether or not that happens remains to be seen but one can only assume that if Jones is able to fight his conditioning and injuries will make him one of the weak despite his explosive power.

Meanwhile back at the gym coach Rashad and Trevor Wittman discuss a strategy with their fighters to make the first clean sweep in Ultimate Fighter history. They first tell Justin Wren that they would like him to fight one-time UFC veteran Scott Junk. The coaches believe that Junk is one of the top dogs on Team Rampage and they feel Wren has the best chance of taking him out.

They then tell Brendan Schaub that he would be fighting Demico Rogers and told Matt Mittrione that the ideal matchup for him would be to take on the large explosive powerhouse Jones. Good matchups but there were probably better picks that could have been made.

Moments later Wren walks back into the room to tell the coaches that he is very uncomfortable fighting his good friend Junk. Evans who is in a similar situation with teammate Keith Jardine seemed to understand the situation but he doesn’t entirely tell Wren he will switch the matchup either.

During a Rampage training session the cameras focus on ex-NFL player Jones showcasing unstoppable power and aggression during sparring sessions. You can only help but wonder what Rashad and his staff were thinking when deciding Mittrione would fight him.
 
 Mittrione may be the most explosive fighter on their team but Jones is much more powerful and also Jones is a well rounded fighter with more experience than Mittrione so it doesn’t exactly sound like the best matchup on paper.

Mittrione apparently agrees, or so his teammates think because back at the house he spills the beans telling Team Rampage’s Junk the matchups that were discussed by Team Rashad. When Mittrione’s teammates find out, most of them believe the reason he did this was because he was afraid to fight Jones and from that point on everyone dubbed Mittrione as “the snitch”.

It’s uncertain if Mittrione gave away the matchups to the other team because he isn’t exactly an intelligent person or if he truly did not want to fight Jones and hoped by spoiling the matchups the coaches would switch the fights around. Either way he lost a lot of respect from his teammates and even the coaches announced they would be reluctant in sharing inside information with him in the future.

Rashad and his staff will probably end up switching around some of their matchups but for this particular episode they went with the original plan to have Schaub fight Rogers. Schaub was picked second overall and actually trains with Rashad and coach Wittman back home at Greg Jackson’s academy.

Due to his slick boxing ability and well rounded skills he is considered one of the early favorites to win the entire competition. Also the fact that he is the main training partner for Heavyweight contender Shane Carwin is another reason fans are very high on Schaub.

However Rampage was happy with the matchup claiming Roger’s pure athleticism and strong wrestling background would ensure his fighter to a ground n’ pound victory over Schaub.

In the pre-fight warm-up, Schaub is pumped up by his teammates and coaches while striking the pads. Meanwhile in Team Rampage’s room, Rampage and his coaches are nowhere to be found and team captain Junk informs Rogers that they went to grab a bite to eat and would be back shortly. You can’t help but feel bad for Rogers and every other fighter on Team Rampage for how poor their coaching skills really are.

Being on the show is the opportunity of a life time and it’s very unfortunate that these guys are having their dreams crushed due to not being trained correctly. Anyway as the fight begins Schaub does a good job of controlling the action with his striking but it’s not long before Rogers takes him to the ground and works from the top position.

Eventually Schaub reverses the position and locks in a beautifully executed anaconda choke for the submission victory. After suffering his first career loss and having his dreams of becoming the next Ultimate Fighter being crushed before him, Roger’s coaches do not even enter the cage after the fight to tend to him.

Instead Rashad and Wittman walk over to Roger’s corner and tell him to keep his head held high as he is a game competitor and has a bright future in the sport. People like to criticize Rashad for being “cocky” but in reality he’s a great ambassador for this sport and it’s really shining through on this season.

With the victory Team Rashad is now 4-0 over Team Rampage and if Rampage and his coaches are unable to change things up we may very well see an all-Rashad quarter final round.

Before we take a look at the standings for B/R’s TUF 10 fantasy game I would like to introduce a new segment for this blog called “TUF’s line of the night”.

"Have you ever thought about just punching someone in their face and just the fist keeps going through the back of their head, and you pull out the brain and go, 'Ahhh!' and then throw it down and spit it on – and then you kick them in the nuts?"

-Coach Quinton “Rampage” Jackson

Now let’s take a look at the standings:

Matt Randall: 8 points
Jon Madsen
James McSweeney
Roy Nelson
Brendan Schaub

Flying Knee: 6 points
Jon Madsen
James McSweeney
Roy Nelson

Mitch Ciccarelli: 6 points
Jon Madsen
Roy Nelson
Brendan Scaub

Aoife O’Connor: 6 points
James McSweeney
Roy Nelson
Brendan Schaub

Peta Waller: 6 points
James McSweeney
Roy Nelson
Brendan Schaub

Alysha Diaz: 6 points
James McSweeney
Roy Nelson
Brendan Schaub

Melanie Wray: 6 points
James McSweeney
Roy Nelson
Brendan Schaub

Cameron Mumford: 6 points
James McSweeney
Roy Nelson
Brendan Schaub

Lynn Donegan: 6 points
James McSweeney
Roy Nelson
Brendan Schaub

Sinaed Marie O’Hara: 6 points
James McSweeney
Roy Nelson
Brendan Schaub

E. Spencer Kyte: 6 points
James McSweeney
Roy Nelson
Brendan Schaub

Jessy Morris: 6 points
James McSweeney
Roy Nelson
Brendan Schaub

Ken Foss: 6 points
Jon Madsen
Roy Nelson
Brendan Schaub

The Truth Turcott: 0 points
Stoker Mac: 0 points