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May 20, 2009 - 9:43:57 PM By Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor The Ultimate Fighter report
May 20, 2009
By Frank Hyden
Team U.S. is training. Jason Pierce has a Staph infection in his foot. He talks some about it, he says it's painful. Team U.K. is also shown training. David Faulkner can't keep his mouthpiece in. He keeps spitting it out. He says it's his gag reflex causing it. He does it several times during training and Michael Bisping keeps having to remind him to keep it in his mouth.
Team U.S. plays some Ultimate Frisbee in order to shake things up. The guys are really running hard and playing the game full-on. Pierce keeps whining about his foot being painful. A lot of times people talk about looking at the glass as half-full or half-empty. It seems Pierce looks at his glass as being totally full. The problem is that he looks at his glass as being full of piss. The guy seems more down in the mouth than Mac Danzig. Later, in the house, Frank Lester says he wants to punch Pierce because Pierce and Jason Dent always want food but never make any themselves.
The fight announcement is Jason Dent vs. Jeff Lawson. Dent is the fidgety type. He's apparently not very social and is uncomfortable around others. Santino Defranco talks about how Dent is always tapping a table or something, and how he talks really fast. He sounds like he has social anxiety. Dent is shown training. I guess he likes to do things his way. Dan Henderson talks to Dent about this and tries to get his head in order.
Team U.K. is playing around, wearing wrestling masks and just generally having fun. Jeff and David are the 2 main culprits, although Dean Amasinger joins in on the fun later. They're messing around, mock wrestling and just being goofy. I think this is hilarious. There's even a part where Dean suplexes who I believe is David into the pool off the diving board. Then Dean gets antiqued right in the face. That's some pretty funny stuff.
The next day, Dana White comes and talks to Pierce. Dana is seeing if Pierce is mentally ready to fight. He's not, as he hems and haws around about whether he could fight or not. He trots out some worst-case scenario stuff, like Chicken Little. This is getting really old. A lot of the guys here are throwing out some not-so-kind words about Pierce.
FIGHT- Jason Dent vs. Jeff Lawson
Dent has 2 inches of height advantage, but the reach is the same. Herb Dean is the ref.
ROUND 1- They both start very tentative. Jeff lands a legkick. They go to the ground and Dent gets his back. They scramble around and Jeff gets full guard. Jeff postures up and throws some punches. Jeff hits a very nice slam. They trade shots from the guard. Jeff gets the mount, but doesn't throw anything of substance. Dent gets back to guard and the round sloppily ends.
ROUND 2- Jeff tries for a takedown, but Dent stuffs it. They clinch. Dent sprawls as Jeff tries another takedown. Jeff is exhausted. They go to the ground and trade some more. Dent works his way into an anaconda choke and ends it.
WINNER- Dent by Anaconda Choke
Bisping brings up that Jeff probably gassed because he couldn't work out for about 9-10 days earlier this season because of a chest infection. That probably played a role in Jeff gassing like he did. Jeff had said that he was going to come out throwing 5-6 punches and then get an armbar. He sure didn't seem to follow that gameplan. Pierce sure seems to be full of energy as he picks Dent up and is very excited.
After the fight, Dana calls Pierce and Dan to the back and tells Pierce that he can't fight. Pierce tries to act as though he's disappointed, but his body language says that he's happy he doesn't have to fight. He kind of does the boo-boo face and tries to squeeze out a tear. He goes to the parking lot and screams in frustration. I'm not buying that. Pierce was looking for a way out of fighting and Dana obliged. Now Pierce can tell people that he would have won the whole show if he had the chance. Just as I finish typing that, that's exactly what he does. Nice.
The fight this episode was all right. It was a bit sloppy, and Jeff gassing early hurt it. For a while, Jeff was doing the whole Roy Jones, Jr. fighting style. That's where you stand with your hands at your sides and lean forward, like you're daring your opponent to try to hit you. The difference is that Jones, Jr. did it as a fight tactic, not because he was exhausted. The best part of the whole episode, for me, was the donning of the masks and the play wrestling. That was just plain funny to me. The worst part was listening to Pierce moan and whine about his injury. He just didn't want to fight, and now he has his excuse.
NEXT WEEK- Damarques Johnson and Michael Bisping almost come to blows
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