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By Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor The Ultimate Fighter report
May 6, 2009
By Frank Hyden
We start off with the guys talking about the fight. Cameron Dollar and Dean Amasinger are the main ones talking. Dollar is talking to Dean about how to escape triangles. Jason Pierce says some stuff about Dollar after Cameron leaves. Dollar returns in time to hear Pierce say that he hates Dollar. They argue a little bit. Team U.K. gets to pick the next fight, which is announced as Martin Stapleton vs. Cameron Dollar. Team U.K. talks about the fight and they're confident that Martin will win.
Team U.K. is training. Michael Bisping pulls Dean off to the side and explains why he missed the previous fight. Bisping was jet-lagged and overslept. That's a pretty crappy excuse, to be honest. However, Bisping owns it and apologizes and seems very upset over it. Dean shakes it off and says things are cool. Martin is training hard for the fight.
Dollar seems to be intimidated by Martin. He explains that he gets really nervous before fights. I give him credit for admitting that. I'm sure a lot of other fighters are the same way, but they just won't admit it. Team U.S. is training. Dollar is more of a wrestler. He's a self-admitted novice at stand-up. The coaches focus more on his standing and striking, giving him numerous pointers and advice.
FIGHT- Martin Stapleton vs. Cameron Dollar
Dollar has a 2 inch height and a 1 inch reach advantage. Steve Mazzagatti is the ref.
ROUND 1- Martin shoots in for a takedown but Dollar reverse it and he scores the takedown. He gets Martin's back and is fighting for a choke. Dollar keeps fighting for it and eventually sinks in a rear-naked to end it. Damn, that was quick.
WINNER- Cameron Dollar by Rear-Naked Choke.
We jump right to the next fight announcement. Team U.S. has the decision and they go with Frank Lester vs. James Wilks. Team U.K. is training hard again and Wilks is confident is his abilities on the ground or standing. Lester is talking a lot of trash. He says he wants to destroy Wilks and knock his teeth out. Damarques Johnson says he'll pay Lester $100 if he does knock out Wilk's teeth. He then has to specify that he meant during the fight. He doesn't want any random muggings in the house. I'm not sure why, but I thought this was really funny. Just the thought of guys jumping each other in the house to collect some sort of bounty. Damarques winning his fight on the last episode has really established him as the de facto leader for the U.S. side. Cameron Dollar picking up a win as well has also really helped morale for Team U.S. Dan Henderson has a talk with Lester about controlling his energy. Lester seems to be very excitable.
FIGHT- Frank Lester vs. James Wilks
Wilks has a 2 inch height and a 4 inch reach advantage. Steve Mazzagatti is the ref.
ROUND 1- They trade blows. Wilks lands a legkick and they go to the ground. Wilks tries for a leg submission, but can't get it. Lester gets side control, then Wilks takes side control. They go north-and-south before scrambling to their feet. Lester hits some big shots. Wilks fires back. They clinch. Wilks lands a huge knee from the Thai clinch. Wilks gets a takedown and is in half-guard as the round ends. Lester lost a tooth. It's stuck in his mouthpiece. This is so ironic it's almost like it was planned. They're taking extra time to get the tooth out of Lester's mouthpiece and Bisping is pissed.
ROUND 2- Wilks lands some punches. Lester eats a headkick from Wilks. Wilks gets in some dirty boxing punches, then they clinch. Wilks throws some bombs then gets a takedown. He's in side control. Wilks transitions into mount. Wilks snatches an armbar and Lester is forced to tap.
WINNER- James Wilks by Armbar
Lester lost his front 4 teeth. Holy crap, that's nuts. The irony here is so thick you could cut it with a knife. Lester talked so much about knocking out Wilks' teeth, to have his own teeth be knocked out is surreal. Lester explained that he had lost the teeth previously as a kid, so it's not as big as if he had lost them for the first time here. Still, though, that's crazy.
This episode was all about the fights. Martin losing to Dollar so quick is a bit of a surprise. Not that Dollar's a bad fighter, but rather that I'm puzzled as to why Martin would choose to go for a takedown when the thinking was that Dollar is a bad striker. Maybe he thought he could get the advantage on the ground, not really sure.
Bisping's excuse for missing Dean's fight is piss-poor, but at least he admitted that it was. I've never been jet-lagged like that before, so I can sympathize to a point. However, this is when you have to rely on someone else to make sure that you get up and are there for the fight. Dean took it well, though. Henderson is trying to be a calming influence on his team. I like that. I like that he's not trying to be the fiery, drill sergeant-type. You are who you are, and Henderson's personality has served him well throughout his career.
NEXT WEEK- The house has to deal with a possible infection
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