Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
Last week, Aaron Wilkinson earned the most important victory of his career en route to a wildcard berth into the quarterfinal round of The Ultimate Fighter. But who cares – really, all anyone wanted to talk about after last week’s episode was the battle between two guys who aren’t even competing for the show’s prize. After watching coach Josh Koscheck put his hands on the throat of Brad Tate, the toughest male nurse this show has seen since Philippe Nover, everything else seemed kind of anticlimactic. Tonight, we’ll find out which two fighters will advance to the semifinals…and, if we’re lucky, whether Koscheck will get his plunger back.
We start this week’s episode at the TUF house, where Sevak Magakian is imploring teammate Sako Chivitchian to win tonight’s first bout against Jonathan Brookins, which would avenge Sevak’s preliminary-round loss to Jonathan. Sevak tries to play up their shared Armenian heritage, saying that they can’t allow Jonathan to defeat them both. Sevak says, “Not me, not you, bro.” Which would be really inspiring, except that it already was you, Sevak. He then confuses viewers even more by offering Sako these encouraging words: “You’re going to f*ck him.” Um, Sevak does know what the “F” in UFC stands for, right?
At the gym, coach Georges St-Pierre has assembled his team, and lets them know that, from this point forward, he will be tapering back their training, in order to make them hungry for competition when it comes time to fight. This light-training tactic was also used by Ken Shamrock back in Season 3, only GSP’s strategy is not based on his own laziness and indifference. Jonathan says he is not expecting anything easy on fight day, saying Sako will be looking to avenge Sevak’s loss. For the sake of this show’s FCC compliance, let’s hope that’s all Sako is looking to do to him.
Team Koscheck, meanwhile, is preparing Sako to go to battle, and its coach warns Sako to not give up his back during the fight. Sako agrees, saying he is determined to not give up the choke, and adds that “it’s not a math question.” Huh? Guess that makes sense, considering his statement doesn’t add up to anything. Sako says he knows Jonathan will be tough, but expects to win nonetheless.
Back at the house, as twice-defeated Marc Stevens screeches like a chimp and dances around in underwear and a set of inflatable UFC gloves – did I seriously just type that? – Jonathan sits in the backyard with Nam Phan, contemplating the universe. Considering the completely inexplicable nature of what’s happening around the pool table, maybe he should try to solve some of this planet’s questions first. Jonathan criticizes his housemates for letting the show’s experience get to their heads, claiming to be more humble. He tells us about his nightly prayers, which apparently consist of him repeatedly addressing God as “man.” I’m sure that goes over well.
It’s fight day, and UFC president Dana White is predicting “an interesting fight.” Wow, he sure knows how to hype a fight! Now that I know it might be interesting, maybe I’ll stay tuned in. Jonathan is excited about taking the next step toward a UFC career. Sako, meanwhile, tries to go all Muhammad Ali, telling Jonathan that he’d “better get ready to get down and dirty, because I’m down to fight to round 30.” Too bad the second half of this poem – “I hope you will bring your ‘A’ game, and by the way, these rhymes are really lame” – ended up on the cutting-room floor.
The fight begins with Sako aggressively pushing forward with jabs, but Jonathan gets the fight to the ground with an impressive throw. Within a matter of seconds, Sako has managed to totally disregard his fight preparation, and gives up his back. Jonathan spends a minute or so slowly working his way toward a rear naked choke, finally sinking it deep and getting Sako to tap. Jonathan moves on to the semifinals, while Sako rewrites his prefight poem to say, “You’d better get ready to get down and dirty, because I’m down to fight for a minute-30.”
We now turn our attention to the night’s second bout, as Nam Phan will take on Team GSP’s Cody McKenzie. GSP says that Cody is very confident in himself, but honestly thinks Nam will probably present some big problems for him. Still, Nam is well aware of Cody’s devastating guillotine choke, and his teammates are concentrating their training on helping him avoid it. Koscheck says that if Nam gets guillotined, he will hit Nam over the head with a chair. Doesn’t he know unprotected chair shots to the head are now outlawed on Spike programs?
Both guys make weight, meaning we’re all clear for fight day. Cody believes he will come out of the fight on top; Nam, on the other hand, says it’s all business, and won’t allow Cody to take away his livelihood. He says that all great fighters have been defeated, and that it’s about time for Cody to earn his first loss.
The fight begins, and Cody comes out fast, throwing a couple of punches and kicks before trying to shoot for a takedown. Nam defends, but persistence pays off, and Cody – who ironically puts himself in guillotine position several times – puts Nam on his back. He doesn’t keep him down for long, though, as Nam gets back on his feet. Most of the round is spent against the fence, with Cody unable to get another takedown. With two minutes left, Cody already looks exhausted, allowing Nam to land several clean punches before the horn sounds.
Nam comes out much more aggressively at the start of round 2, throwing combinations as well as a series of head kicks. Cody also throws kicks, though his are aimed lower (legs, body) and actually connect. Nam continues throwing, though, and starts landing more shots as Cody gets increasingly tired. Unable to utilize his reach or earn a takedown, Cody finally gets tagged by several solid punches, and crumples from a body blow. Nam lands a couple more shots before the referee steps in, and Team Koscheck has secured a spot in the semifinals.
Afterward, Koscheck gets into the cage and celebrates more obnoxiously than the guy who actually won the fight. The coach says that the fight ended well because his guy won, but also because Cody – after having talked smack to Koscheck for weeks – not only lost, but was actually stopped. GSP criticizes Koscheck’s lack of sportsmanship, but says he’ll get his payback when they fight. Sure, it would have made more sense for him to push the importance of the show by vowing to get even in the next couple of quarterfinal fights. But even if he did, would you believe for even a minute that GSP cares about winning this competition?
Random thoughts:
Why did tonight’s preview say, “Coming up: the first of two quarterfinal fights”?
I mean, weren’t both of the fights coming up?
Does Jonathan’s lisp remind you a little bit of another lightweight who started on this show, Nate Diaz?
Did he and Nam seriously stay up all night talking in the backyard, despite the need to get plenty of sleep?
For someone supposedly so cosmic, didn’t Jonathan see the irony in criticizing people for being cocky, yet acting above them intellectually for his ability to consider the deep questions of the universe?
Why did Dana praise Jonathan for how quickly he choked out Sako, when it seems like it took forever for him to work the choke into place?
Did Koscheck seriously tell Sako, “You did good,” considering he pretty much didn’t do a single thing right in the fight?
During the UFC 122 promo that aired during this week’s episode, why was Peter Sobotta referred to as an “East German MMA champion,” considering that country hasn’t existed in about 20 years?
Why did GSP say that Nam’s jiu-jitsu would be neutralized if Cody could get the fight to the ground?
Why did Dana always refer to Nam by both his first and last names?
Although in his defense, did you notice that this is how both Cody and Nam referred to each other?
How amazed were you to see that Dana forsook an opportunity to appear on camera and did not provide pre-fight instructions prior to Cody-Nam?
Jeez, how sloppy were Cody’s takedown attempts?
And, assuming his coaches knew about his remedial wrestling skills, why did they apparently make this part of his game plan?
Is Nam always such a late starter?
Did Cody even do any cardio training?
Considering the success of his guillotine, why didn’t Cody at least try to sink it from the clinch, since nothing else was working?
After seeing Cody’s relatively uninspired performance, was GSP questioning his decision to ease up on his team’s training?
Both Nam and Jonathan deserve praise for their victories, but seriously, do you see either of these guys coming into the UFC and making any sort of impact in even the next couple of years?
Mark Carpowich can be contacted at markcarpowich@hotmail.com.
