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TV Reviews
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The Ultimate Fighter
THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER REPORT 4/16: Hyden's rundown of all the fights, all the drama on Spike TV
By Frank Hyden, MMATorch columnist
Apr 17, 2008, 02:26
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The Ultimate Fighter review
April 16, 2008
By Frank Hyden
The episode begins with the coaches picking their teams. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson wins the coin toss and chooses CB Dollaway. This means Forrest Griffin gets to decide the first fight. For his first fighter selection Forrest chooses Tim Creduer. After the teams are decided they separate and have team meetings. Paul Bradley has some cold sores or something on his neck.
The assistant coaches Rampage has brought along are Zach Light and Juanito Ibarra. Dana White brings in a doctor to examine Paul. Apparently he has Herpes Simplex, which has been brought on by stress. The coaches Forrest brought are Cameron Diffley and Mark Beecher and TUF alum Gray Maynard.
Later that day, Dana calls Paul and Rampage into a back room and tells Paul he has to go home. Paul gave up a lot and is extremely emotional. Paul packs his bags and leaves. Some of the other fighters are jerkish about this whole thing. Jeremy May is especially looking quite the Richard so far this season.
The first fight is announced and it's Jesse Taylor from Team Forrest vs. Mike Dolce from Team Rampage. Jesse is a good wrestler but Mike says he's better at everything. With Paul leaving Rampage must pick a replacement. The man he wanted to bring back was Aaron Meisner but he's hurt. Patrick Schultz is the fighter who's brought back.
Rampage pays a visit to the house in an effort to get to know his team better. He chills and jokes with them in a great segment. Dolce is overconfident about the upcoming fight, much more so than Jesse.
FIGHT- Jesse Taylor vs. Mike Dolce
Jesse is 2 inches taller and has a 1 inch reach advantage. Herb Dean is the official.
ROUND 1- Jesse gets Dolce's back and works on him for a while. They scramble around but Jesse keeps Mike's back. However, Dolce reverses into a mount on Jesse but Jesse then counters that and gets back on top of Dolce. Jesse takes Dolce's back and they scramble around some until the round ends.
ROUND 2- Jesse gets on top of Dolce quickly, then gets his back. He works for a rear-naked choke until he finally sinks it in for the win. After the fight Jesse throws up but he is the recipient of $5,000 for winning the fight and another $5,000 for finishing his opponent.
WINNER- Jesse Taylor by rear-naked choke
This was a very noteworthy episode. The removal of Paul from the house and the team selections made for an interesting show. The fight itself was actually better than what I described. There was a lot of movement but most of it wasn't consequential to the fight. But that movement did make the fight more interesting to watch. I'm curious as to how far Jesse can advance. He's a good wrestler but his ground skills aren't as polished as some of the other fighters. And his stand-up probably isn't much better. Rampage continues to make himself more and more likeable. All in all, this was a fairly good show.
Next Week- Matt Riddle starts taunting Dante Rivera
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