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TV Reviews
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The Ultimate Fighter
THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER REPORT: Hyden's rundown of all the fights, all the drama on Spike TV By Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor
Oct 1, 2008 - 9:02:17 PM
The Ultimate Fighter review
October 1, 2008
By Frank Hyden
The show starts as the fighters enter the house. Brian McLaughlin and Karen Grigoryan both have fractures in their noses. They're both adamant about not being sent home but at the team selections Dana White tells them that the Nevada State Athletic Commission won't let them fight so they have to leave. At first they don't leave so Dana has to prod them out the door. Not quite as uncomfortable as a Michael Scott from The Office moment but still awkward. Kyle Kingsbury is brought back to replace Karen. The fighter who's replacing Brian hasn't arrived yet.
Frank Mir's team selections are Krzysztof Soszynski, Vinny Magalhaes, Eliot Marshall, and Tom Lawlor from the Light Heavyweights and Junie Browning, Shane Nelson, Dave Kaplan, and George Roop from the Lightweights.
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira's team selections are Ryan Bader, Shane Primm, Kyle Kingsbury, and Jules Bruchez for the Light Heavyweights and Phillipe Nover, Efrain Escudero, John Polakowski, and the replacement fighter from the Lightweights.
Team Mir is training and preparing for the upcoming fight. Ken Hahn and Robert Drysdale are Mir's assistant coaches. Later that night Junie is getting drunk and acting like an idiot. I won't bother describing what he's doing because it's your typical drunken stupidness. He lies down and starts crying outside. Krzy talks to him and a few of the guys carry Junie inside.
Roli Delgado is the replacement Lightweight. Team Nog is training hard as well. Nog wants his team to develop a sense of togetherness. Nog's assistants are Daniel Valverde and Al "Stankie" Stankowitz. Nog gets to choose the first and he decides on Ryan Bader vs. Tom Lawlor. Ryan and Tom are both good wrestlers. Team Mir plays a prank on Team Nog while they're away training. They shrink wrap all of Ryan's underwear to the bottom of his bed. They then take everyone else's underwear and wrap them together into a huge ball and put it on the diving board outside. Krzy is the instigator but he denies involvement after Team Nog discovers the prank.
Nogueira comes to dinner the next day and his whole team is having a great time. Nog thinks Ryan is in a great state of mind to win. Team Mir comes home and Junie disapproves of their camaraderie. He says Mir and his assistants are his temporary coaches and that Team Nog is acting like wimps. He's basically just being a total Richard.
FIGHT- Ryan Bader vs. Tom Lawlor
Ryan is 2 inches taller but both men have an equal reach. Herb Dean is the official.
ROUND 1- Both guys trade punches. Ryan tries for a takedown but is rejected. They start slugging but Ryan scores a takedown. He just lies on top for a while before Tom works his way up to his feet. Both fighters trade knees to the stomach. Ryan gets another takedown. He goes back to just lying on top of Tom. Eventually Ryan gets up to a crouching position above Tom while Tom is still on his back. Tom tries to kick free but he doesn't explode out and Ryan lands a monster bomb to Tom's facial area. Tom's head is against the mat and has no place to go so he's rendered unconscious.
WINNER- Ryan Bader by Knockout
This was a noteworthy show with the team selections and the great KO finish the fight. It's hard to tell whether or not Junie was acting at all in his drunken rants. He had said during the show that he was going to employ the smokescreen strategy of making everyone in the house think he's nothing but a drunk and a poor fighter. But he really seemed messed up so either he's been taking acting classes or he's a total basketcase. The previews for next week's episode would make the case for the latter as he seems to be totally out of control. Dana comes to the house and is seemingly berating him and looked to be close to kicking him off the show. It also looks like Junie jumps the cage to go after a fighter but that could just be an editing job.
