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May 27, 2009 - 9:39:51 PM By Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor The Ultimate Fighter report
May 27, 2009
By Frank Hyden
Team U.S. has to choose an alternate to replace the injured Jason Pierce. Frank Lester (missing teeth) and Mark Miller (broken nose) both want to fight. Dana White talks to both men and will make a decision after speaking with the doctor. On the ride home, Santino Defranco drops a Lord Of The Flies reference as he compares Pierce to Piggy. Nice one by Santino. At a Team U.S. training session we learn that Lester has been cleared to fight. Mark was refused clearance because of his nose. Lester's whole face is very sore.
Dan Henderson asks Team U.S. if they want to change the practice schedule by switching to afternoon practices instead of morning ones. He says it's in the rules that they have that option. Michael Bisping is very upset about this and refuses. He starts throwing a hissy fit and complains a lot. Bisping goes to Team U.K. and asks them what they think. All of them are against it as well. What's the big deal? It's not like you get superpowers from having practice in the afternoon. Bisping is carrying on like a kid. Henderson just made that same comment. Bisping wants to settle it by having the winning team of the next fight decide it. Henderson says no because of Lester's injuries.
The teams are all together, getting ready for the fight announcement. Bisping and Damarques Johnson argue some about what's going on. They both want to fight the other. Bisping walks by Damarques and squirts him with his water bottle. Damarques takes off his hat and throws it at Bisping. They argue before Damarques storms off to settle down. Bisping realizes that what he did was wrong and immature and apologizes. Damarques blows off Bisping when he tries to apologize because he's still upset. I'm guessing they eventually got that squashed, however, nothing was shown. The fight announcement was Frank Lester vs. David Faulkner.
Team U.K. is training and David is still having trouble with his gag reflex. He wants to go see a hypnotist. The hypnotist talks in a robot voice and David goes under. This is really weird, but they luckily don't spend much time on it. Lester is a bit concerned about the fight, and what it means for him.
FIGHT- David Faulkner vs. Frank Lester
Lester has a 3 inch height and a 2 inch reach advantage. Steve Mazzagatti is the ref.
ROUND 1- They're both very tentative to start. There's just a couple of punches thrown in the first 3 minutes or so. They clinch and throw some knees at each other. They separate and start trading blows. David gets a takedown, but they quickly go back to their feet. They clinch again. David lands a nice punch. They're both really swinging wildly here. They clinch again and the rounds ends. Very little action for much of the round.
ROUND 2- David spits out his mouthpiece early. So much for the hypnosis treatment. Mazzagatti stops the fight and makes David put the mouthpiece back in. They clinch. Lester starts throwing some big bombs, and David responds. Lester hits some knees to the body. David lands a big uppercut. Both guys are running on fumes. The round ends as they both struggle for wind. Much more exciting, but very sloppy.
Dana announces that we're going to a sudden victory 3rd round. David is sitting on his stool begging off. It's a No Mas situation. Bisping is desperately trying to convince David to not quit. His teammates are screaming for him and encouraging him. However, it's all for naught as David quits.
WINNER- Lester by Forfeit
Bisping is pissed. He storms off. David gets back to the dressing room and keeps telling Bisping that he's sorry, and that he enjoyed it. I assume he's talking about enjoying the ride of being in the house and on the show. Bisping pulls the 4 U.K. guys who won off to the side. They all say they're going to win their fights. Lester is very happy with his win.
THIS is the shocking ending that's never happened before? I think I remember Kalib Starnes quitting a fight in Season 3. This wasn't shocking, it was stupid. If David doesn't want to be a fighter, fine, but you would have hoped that he would have figured that out sooner. This episode did not make Bisping look good at all. His whining about changing the practice schedules made him look like a baby. Who cares what time you have to practice? We found out in the episode that the morning practices are at 9am anyway. 9am? You're complaining about having to train at 9am? That's ridiculous. College kids think you're complaining too much. David quitting is just foolish. I wonder if he knows how much he'll regret doing that.
NEXT WEEK- There's supposed to be a major slugfest. Yeah, we'll see. I don't trust a damn word they say anymore.
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