The Ultimate Fighter
THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER REPORT 10/22: Hyden's rundown of all the fights, all the drama on Spike TV
Oct 22, 2008 - 9:37:40 PM THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER REPORT 10/22: Hyden's rundown of all the fights, all the drama on Spike TV

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The Ultimate Fighter review
October 22, 2008
By Frank Hyden

The show begins with Junie Browning saying that he wants to fight Roli Delgado. Roli wants to fight Junie as well so I guess there won't be any question what the fight is this week. Frank Mir comes by the house to celebrate Eliot Marshall's win from last week that gives Team Mir control over the fight selections. Mir asks Roli how he got his black belt and Roli gives this convoluted tale worthy of a politician. Everyone questions the veracity of Roli's black belt. I have to agree with them just based on how evasive Roli is when it comes to how he got it. He can't seem to just spit it out; he's got to filibuster for an hour.

Anderson Silva [artist Cory Gould (c) MMATorch]

Later, Junie calls Roli weak and claims that he'll beat Roli in the first round. Junie says that if Roli makes it out of the 1st round it'll be a victory. Junie's just talking all kinds of trash, as usual. At the fight selections Frank Mir confirms that it will be Junie vs. Roli in the next fight. Junie takes a black belt of some sort, not sure who's it is or if it's official, and throws it at Roli. The belt ends up on the ground and Junie spits on it as a sign of disrespect to Roli's black belt. None of the coaches are happy with this. Mir is pissed and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is pretty unhappy. Anderson Silva is there as a guest coach for Nogueira and he's upset about it too. They all view it as a sign of disrespect in general, not just to Roli. Boy, Junie's really endearing himself to established MMA guys. If he doesn't watch it he's going to turn into the Rush Limbaugh of MMA.

At Team Nog's training session Al "Stankie" Stankowitz is really working Roli hard. Based on what we see, they're focusing solely on stand-up and striking. Team Mir's training session is all about Junie trying to make weight. Mir's confident that Junie will make it. He's got about 8 pounds to lose over the next day or so.

At the weigh-ins Roli comes in fine but Junie is 158 lbs. and Mir is pissed. Junie has 1 hour to drop the required 2 pounds. Dave Kaplan is the major driving force behind things as he spurs Junie on. It's sauna suit time, running on the treadmill, pedaling the bike, all that stuff. Junie is dripping like a Thanksgiving turkey and it's getting really hard for him. Luckily, Dave is there and pushing him hard. Junie makes weight.

FIGHT- Junie Browning vs. Roli Delgado

Roli has a 6 inch height and a 5.5 inch reach advantage. Josh Rosenthal is the ref. Both guys are predicting pain for the other and have a serious dislike for one another.

ROUND 1- Junie lands some powerful leg kicks, toppling Roli. Not much comes out of it and they resume standing. They clinch. Finally, they separate and exchange punches and kicks. Both fighters are very tentative. Junie lands some inside kicks. Roli is really using his reach to stay away from any of Junie's power shots. Junie is egging Roli on. Roli tries to drag Junie down to the ground but it doesn't work. Junie is just giving his chin to Roli in a psychological tactic. Junie lands more hard shots and the round ends.

ROUND 2- They're both tentative again. Junie stuffs a Roli takedown attempt. Junie keeps hitting these powerful body shots that are rocking Roli. Pun not intended. Junie connects again and again with big shots. Junie's pouring it on with more hard punches. He drops Roli but can't finish him. This is a very wild fight so far. It has a bar room brawl feel to it. Both guys are throwing and hitting big shots. It's almost surreal in that neither guy is showing much defense yet they can't knock it other out, even with all these huge punches landing. This is very exciting because either guy could drop the other at any moment. The round ends and we're going to a 3rd.

ROUND 3- They both continue throwing punches. Both fighters are showing tremendous heart as they trade shots. This isn't technical but it's damn sure exciting. Roli's on his back but Junie won't let him up. They kind of kick at each other for a while before Roli leaps up and gets a punch in the mouth for his effort. Roli is using his reach to try to keep Junie at bay but Junie is using his power effectively. This is a true slugfest and both guys have earned the respect of the other. The round ends and the fight's so close it's a split decision for Junie. After the fight Junie goes to Nogueira and apologizes for spitting on the black belt.

WINNER- Junie Browning by Split Decision

This episode was totally defined by the awesome fight between Junie and Roli. I'll let it marinate in my mind for a while before trying to rank it amongst all the past TUF fights. I can say that it was a great brawling style match. It's not going to win any technical awards but this was all about heart and who had it. Both guys had great showings, even if Junie was apparently overestimating his own abilities. Either that, or he was greatly underestimating Roli's ability. Both scenarios are bad, and Junie needs to not do that anymore. I'm pretty sure that Roli will be matched up against one of the cast members at the live finale so he should get a chance to show what he can do. This fight showed that he has heart, even if him having a black belt is in question. This was a really good episode because it focused more on the fighting and less on the contrived mayhem of pranks and destroying the house.

NEXT WEEK- Team Mir's training gets harder and more unorthodox