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By Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor The Ultimate Fighter report, Episode 2
December 3, 2008
By Frank Hyden
The competitors in the first fight of the night, Krzysztof Soszynski and Vinny Magalhaes, are both confident in their own skills. Both predict easy victory.
FIGHT- Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Vinny Magalhaes
Krzy has a 1.5 inch reach advantage but Vinny is 1 inch taller. Herb Dean is the ref.
ROUND 1- Both fighters start off being cautious. Krzy gets a takedown. Vinny goes for a submission but Krzy escapes nicely. Vinny throws a high kick while Krzy works leg kicks. Krzy keeps throwing leg kicks over and over. This is like when Keith Jardine legkicked the hell out of Stephan Bonnar before getting robbed by the judges. Vinny throws another kick and falls down. Krzy presses and gets on top. That turns out to be a huge mistake as Vinny quickly locks in an armbar.
WINNER- Vinny Magalhaes by Armbar
While training for his fight with Efrain Escudero, Junie Browning gets frustrated and quits. He actually tells Frank Mir that he would rather have Shane Nelson fight for him. Everyone is pissed but Mir says okay because Junie is too much of a headcase for him to deal with. Later than night, some of the guys are sitting around. Junie is trashing Ryan Bader. Vinny kind of jumps in a little bit. Shane Primm stands up for Bader and Junie explodes, throwing a glass at Primm and punching him a few times.
Dana White is called to the house and he berates Junie. It turns out that Junie is afraid to fail and wants to be kicked off the show rather than lose on national television. Dana goes to talk to the other fighters about how this should be handled. Efrain says he wants to beat Junie and the other fighters agree that the best punishment for Junie would be to make him stay and fight. This is also the point where Dana gives that great line we've seen in the promos. To paraphrase, "We won't vote him out, we'll beat him off. Wait, that doesn't sound good, does it?" That's the best MMA line I've ever heard.
FIGHT- Junie Browning vs. Efrain Escudero
Both fighters are the same height but Junie has a 1.5 inch reach advantage. Steve Mazzagatti is the ref.
ROUND 1- The fighters exchange. Efrain is on top as they clinch. They trade knees as they keep exchanging shots. This is a very slow and methodical round. It's very cautious.
ROUND 2- Again, we start with an early exchange of punches and kicks. They trade shots as they both continue being tentative. Efrain gets a takedown and slowly works his way into a Darce choke for the win.
WINNER- Efrain Escudero by Darce Choke
Frank Mir says that Junie could have escaped but didn't want to. Mir became a spectator while watching this. After the fight, Junie quits and says he has to get a different job. We also learn of a bet between the coaches where if Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira got more fighters into the finals that he could shave Frank Mir's curly locks. Nog tries to give Mir a buzz but I think a lawnmower could cut hair more evenly. Shaved is not Mir's best look. Apparently, Junie's not quitting. He may not have a choice if he keeps losing.
Vinny showed that his groundgame is a totally different animal than anyone else's on the show. Ryan Bader has a big hill to climb. I hope Vinny twists Bader into a pretzel. I like Bader more than Vinny but Bader's fighting style is horrible. His fight with Eliot Marshall is just cause for banishment from the UFC. If he does that at the finale I hope the live crowd boos him out of the building.
Efrain fought well and deserves to be in the final. He's also got a big hill to climb in Phillipe Nover. That should be a battle, without question. Nover hasn't shown every tool he has, but the same could be said for Efrain as well. We'll see what tricks they have left in their arsenal at the finale. I refuse to write anymore about Junie unless I have to.
The Ultimate Fighter Live Finale is December 13th on Spike TV.
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