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TV Reviews
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The Ultimate Fighter
THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER REPORT 5/7: Hyden's rundown of all the fights, all the drama on Spike TV
By Frank Hyden, MMATorch columnist
May 8, 2008, 13:37
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The Ultimate Fighter review
May 7, 2008
The episode starts out with Jeremy May drinking shots with some of the other fighters. But it turns out that he's playing mind games as he had filled the bottle with water beforehand. The rest of Team Rampage is training while Jeremy sits because of a bad knee. There's nothing wrong with his mouth, though, as he brings the smack.
Matt Brown trains at 100% and doesn't hold back. Both fighters make weight easily and Matt tries to intimidate Jeremy. Afterwards, Matthew Riddle tells Matt about Jeremy's bad knee because he wants to see Jeremy lose.
It turns out that Jeremy was milking his knee injury in an effort to stay fresh for his fight. That could blow up in his face.
Jeremy has a 4 inch height and a 2.5 inch reach advantage.
FIGHT- Matt Brown vs. Jeremy May
ROUND 1- Herb Dean is the official. Jeremy opens with a quick flurry. They go to the ground, each man looking for an advantage. Matt gets on top. The scramble around and Jeremy gets on top. Now Matt's on top. They both get up. Matt lands 2 big punches, then a knee. Jeremy is rocked and wobbling. A smooth kick to Jeremy's chin ends it by KO.
WINNER- Matt Brown by KO
Replays are shown of Forrest Griffin yelling instructions during the fight. I personally found this hilarious as his voice was overworked and cracking like mine did when I was a young teen. Jeremy is shown postfight making excuses.
The next fight is Luke Zachrich vs. Daniel Cramer. Forrest tells Quinton "Rampage" Jackson the truth, that he's flipping coins to let the guys decide who they want to fight. Rampage is baffled.
Segments of Luke training and Daniel training are shown. Both guys have the same theme pushing them. Neither man gets the respect he deserves and they both plan on earning that respect by beating the other.
Luke is 0.5 inches taller but Daniel has a 1.5 inch reach advantage.
FIGHT- Luke Zachrich vs. Daniel Cramer
ROUND 1- Steve Mazzagatti is the ref. Both fighters come out slugging away. Luke with a good right. Both guys are swinging for the fences. Daniel lands some good right hands and Luke is hurt. He's absorbing tremendous punishment. Daniel hits with more rights. Luke takes it to the ground and gets Daniel's back and the round ends.
ROUND 2- They go the ground, with Daniel on top. He takes Luke's back and proceeds to ground and pound until Mazzagatti steps in.
WINNER- Daniel Cramer by ref stoppage
This was one of the better TUF episodes I can remember, if not the best. Two great fights is about the limit in total for some of the past seasons. And yet we got 2 great fights in a single episode. I was so incredibly glad to see Matt Brown kick the smile off of Jeremy May's face. I don't know if it was all an act or not, but Jeremy certainly knows how to rub people the wrong way. Matt also showed that he's a possible favorite to win it all this season. Taking Jeremy apart like that was impressive to see.
Daniel Cramer slugging it out with Luke Zachrich is exactly the type of fight I like to see. It's just two guys going at it and trying to pulverize the other. Daniel looked pretty good by finishing it and forcing the ref stoppage.
NEXT WEEK- 2 more fights and sparks fly between Rampage and Forrest.
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