Guest Editorials
The Ultimate Fighter 14 Episode 6 Blog - John Albert talks Diego vs. Sylar and breaks down his fight with John Dodson
Oct 27, 2011 - 1:30:55 PM The Ultimate Fighter 14 Episode 6 Blog - John Albert talks Diego vs. Sylar and breaks down his fight with John Dodson

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By: John Albert, TUF 14 Competitor

We're finally closing in to the final quarter final fights. It starts out with Mayhem saying Siler is the only one who wants to fight Diego. The fact was, Siler and Caraway were probably the closest on the other team so in hindsight i got to be somewhat close, he would hang out with us play cards and talk. He kinda let us know that he wasn't afraid to fight Diego, but he was the only one willing to fight Diego. He seemed to be pushed by his coaches to be the one to step up to the plate, and he kinda got screwed.

If he were to fight Diego he wanted to fight him early so he could rest because it could be a tough match, but he got picked to fight last because of his team's agenda, not his. Now onto Diego; the funny thing about him is he's a black belt in Jiu Jitsu - he's been doing it for almost 11 years - and he had the best ground on our team, but all that crazy bastard wants to do is take people's heads off.

On the show it looked like he got tired in training only because he went all out just like a fight; definitely more controlled, but he worked himself tired. It wasn't like he had bad cardio, he just pushed himself the whole time.

The fight ensues and gosh dang Diego is a wild man. It's hard to train for someone like that, someone who comes at you with reckless abandonment, and it really threw Siler off his game. Diego was throwing combos, but every punch was a winging bomb and before you knew it Siler is on the mat, end of story.

After the fight Diego went to Siler and told him he really respects him and he doesn't really hate him, he just has to put himself in this killer mode and hates him only for the fight, but he actually liked Siler a lot.

Then it finally came down to T.J. and myself, as we had control so who got to fight whom. What they don't show on the show is how much we went into this conversation figuring out who should fight. We each gave pros and cons as to who should fight who and why; I wanted to fight Roland because I felt I was the better striker and I could nullify his Jiu Jitsu, and T.J.'s superior wrestling, grappling and ground and pound would be able to take Dodson down and control him to smash him there.

I came into the show with a good understanding of most of the fighters, as I did some recon before I made it so that I knew who they were and what they were good at. Dodson is a world ranked fighter, has great take down defense, he's super fast with kinda unorthodox movement and striking, Roland was pretty much a jits guy who likes to strike.

They were right, there were no easy fights, but Roland seemed like the easier fight for sure, though he is definitely very skilled and tough. So it kind of came to stale mate. Tiki was trying to get it in my head that I would smash Dodson because of my size and my boxing, but I'm not a stupid fighter, I knew how good Dodson was and if you watch Frankie Edgar size don't mean shit.

I did have total confidence in myself so I decided to say 'yes I'll fight Dodson,' no flip of the coin, no rock paper scissors. We all just came to an agreement that both of our match ups - Dodson and I, and T.J. and Roland - were winnable fights to get us both to the semi-finals.

Do I feel T.J. was trying to throw me under the bus? No, because he was doing what any other fighter on the show would do; we want to win the whole show, make it to the finale. Who wants to fight the number one guy first? No one. But we felt that it was a very winnable fight for me anyways.

Plus, here is a twist of TV magic. I came into the show the least prepared, everyone had full training camps, they all peaked out and all they had to do was maintain on the show. I had two weeks of full time training prior to the show and I was still trying to get into the best shape I could while on the show. So we decided T.J. would fight first so I could get two weeks to help my endurance for my fight against Dodson, because Dodson's an endurance machine. So the fight pick goes, TJ, Diego, then me, but they hold T.J.'s fight for last on the show. Interesting, huh?

So you see Roland and his foot infection, well, with the graces of Dana White they allow Roland to heal up and make it so he is able to fight T.J. Because he was meant to fight that week, so they pushed his fight back to the day Diego and I fought, so there were three fights in one day and I was last, TV magic.

Training continued, and if anyone notices I had one taped ankle. Well, I rolled my ankle pretty bad during training. Then as my ankle is starting to finally heal, I roll the opposite ankle just as bad, swelling, bruising, couldn't put any pressure on my toes bad. So essentially I'm training with two bum ankles, and the plan of getting into shape for my fight flew right out the window.

My ankles were so bad I sat out or went half ass on most the stuff we were doing. When you see Marcus and I sparring for like 30 seconds, I had maybe a minute more before I fell down because my ankle just gave out, sweet.

It's finally fight time. Dodson and I actually checked each others weight the day of the fight and were both walking a little over 150, so I was the bigger in stature fighter but not in weight. My ankles were still kinda hurting, and they don't have the strength an uninjured ankle has, and I'm so in the zone my coaches and I forget to tape my ankles for the fight. No big deal, the adrenaline should take care of any kind of problems my ankle could have.

The fight ensues, and I stood my ground as planned, cutting him off and when he came in i strike and hold my ground. That didn't last too long hahaha. I had an even harder time finding my range because he was already gone whenever I went after him. He kept throwing these super speedy head kicks, but I'm pretty sure I blocked almost all of them except one because I'm pretty good at keeping my right had up, so they never affected me.

I felt it was pretty even the first round, we both were striking and throwing combos, I felt had Octagon control putting pressure on. Then he rushed in, I hip in and try a weak ass judo throw. He pushed me against the cage, and my ankle gave out, I almost fell down but I stayed strong and came back with a flurry of knees and tried another weak ass take down. Then WHAM! he does connect with a left hook and it somewhat stuns me, but from the outside perspective I look rocked.

It was only a flash hit, I was in no way in complete control but I wasn't out, so I covered up like a boxer, bobbin and weaving. I threw an uppercut and hook, kept bobbin and weaving, tried a body shot, then WHAM!, too much bobbin and got kneed in the face. Again, it didn't hurt, just kind of disheveled me, but I got the body lock and took down a man that says has never been taken down before in a fight.

My biggest mistake from there and the rest of the fight was not controlling position before I transitioned into my better positions to go for the submission. I went straight for the sub, lost position and almost had his back. I feel like I'm very good at not taking damage if I'm on my back, and I feel he didn't do any damage while on top. I went for a sub, then worked my way back to my feet. I wasn't on my back for more than 30 seconds, and I came back with a jab and left hook that looked to stun him for a second, but I had zero energy to follow anything up.

I honestly felt we were going hit for hit, no one was truly outclassing the other in any way. Then I heard the clap for short time. Dodson does a flying knee or whatever, I swept him and take his back and try to slip an arm bar, to no avail of course. I was just trying to finish the fight with seconds left. I lost position and he was on top punching my arms, round over.

I might be a little biased, of course, but I felt that round could have gone either way, preferably my way hahaha. I controlled the Octagon, put on more pressure, threw more combos, landed the same amount, had take down attempts, sub attempts and got up off my back.

I was dead now at that point, hahaha, but my recovery wasn't too bad; I still had a quarter tank left for the next round. This round is much like the first I feel like I was landing more punches and combos, he came in with a few flurries but nothing landed. I take his back again, but he is rather small and slippery and I couldn't hold position AGAIN!!! and again he was doing no damage as I was blocking everything and I got up when I wanted. I was so tired and slow he was able to do a duck under to take me down, but I retrieved guard. Again he did no damage, I pushed him off, went for a heel hook and got up again. The fight ends with me landing two hard body shots and a stiff right and Dodson getting the final take down. But he fell right into me going for an arm bar.

The final judges decision was a majority decision 20 to 18 Dodson. Hmm, well, never leave it in the judges' hands is what Dana always says, and he is right. I didn't win both rounds, no, but I felt I should have gotten at least one round, again I'm very biased hahaha. I would rather lose a 30 to 27 ass whoopin than a B.S. 20 to 18, how weak is that?

Dana must have it out for me; the first fight he was hating on me saying I could have ended the fight sooner, and after this he fight said I didn't want to hit Dodson to piss him off or he would hit me back hahaha, oh well. Then Mayhem says he coasted; how do you coast when you're not guaranteed winning the fight, and where could he have finished me in that fight? Hahaha.

Dodson is good for the camera, man, that's for sure, but he was not fighting a conservative fight at all. I hurt him with some body shots and kicks just as he hurt me. At the house I came up to him, as now that the fight was over and we can be friendly and hang out again, and he said to me "Prince, I've never done this before, but, can you tell me what I did wrong?" Conservative fight, huh? Hahaha. So me and him talked and I told him how we both didn't pull the trigger or put as much pressure as we should have, we both were being too cautious, and I told him his next fight that he had no reason to be cautious. If he is 100% confident and he will win easy. I never ask for handouts, and I truly hope that people enjoyed the fight and will vote for me and Dodson as fight of the season; not because you're a fan of Dodson or me, but because you truly feel it was the fight of the season, thank you all.

I also want to say that Dodson was a stand up guy. He knew about my ankles and he didn't attack them in the fight; he was very gracious in victory and pulled off the win, and he is a world class fighter.

You can still see John every Wednesday on Spike TV, and check back here at MMATorch.com on Thursdays for his weekly thoughts on each new episode.