Jun 17, 2009 - 9:48:44 PM By Frank Hyden, MMATorch Contributor
The Ultimate Fighter report
June 17, 2009
By Frank Hyden
The episode starts with Team U.S. having a dinner party with Dan Henderson at the house. Dan and Frank Lester talk and Dan gives Frank advice about his upcoming fight with James Wilks. The Team U.K. guys are talking amongst themselves, probably while this is going on. Team U.K. is shown training. James is training hard for the fight. Team U.S. is then shown training. Dan is giving Frank tips on how to combat James and how to overcome some of the advantages that James has. Frank is training very hard for this fight. Frank and James have become friends and they talk a lot. Frank has a 19 month old daughter that he uses as motivation. Frank and James both sign their country's shirts and give them to the other. They continue their conversation inside the sauna. It's cool that they've become friends, but I wonder if it's a little weird for them too?
Michael Bisping comes over for dinner. Dean Amasinger is the unofficial cook for Team U.K. They're all having a good time. James pulls a trick on Bisping. He pushes a penny into his forehead, then slaps the back of his head to jar it loose. The "game" is to see how many slaps it takes to get the penny loose. James pushes the penny into Bisping's forehead, but he removes the penny without Bisping knowing. The rest of Team U.K. finds it quite hilarious to watch Bisping slap his head over and over. That is pretty damn funny. After Bisping leaves, Andre Winner starts spitting some food around. He seems pretty drunk. Andre takes some food and throws it at Dean, who storms after Andre. Dean grabs Andre and pushes him into the pool. As Andre is getting out of the pool, David Faulkner runs up and antiques him. The goop is slimed all over Andre's face. Dean helps him clean it off by pushing him back into the pool.
FIGHT- James Wilks vs. Frank Lester
James has a 2 inch height and a 4 inch reach advantage. Herb Dean is the ref.
ROUND 1- James connects with a good punch, but then he accidentally hits Frank low. Frank shakes it off and they continue fighting. James hits a jab, then lands 2 straight uppercuts that hit hard. They trade legkicks. Both guys are stiffing each other hard. James goes for a single-leg takedown, but Frank fights it off and they end up in a clinch. They're teeing off on each other with big and crazy shots. They clinch again and the round winds down.
ROUND 2- Frank with a low-blow right off the bat. James shakes it off, and they start trading again. James lands a push kick and a stiff jab. Frank is throwing some looping punches. They clinch, and James is throwing some short rights. James hits a headkick. James gets a Thai clinch and throws some knees as they round ends.
ROUND 3- James is teeing off. James gets the clinch again and some more knees finish things.
WINNER- James Wilks by TKO
James will face Damarques Johnson at the live finale. Damarques says something about James taunting, I didn't really catch it, I wasn't paying attention. Frank is emotional and crying some in the back, as he feels he let everyone down. Everyone starts shaking hands as the show wraps up. This was a good closer episode. It had some good comedy, some good action, with just a touch of drama. It was a nice mix. One thing you can definitely say about Frank Lester is that he won't quit. The guy was getting pounded in there against James, but he never gave up. He reminds me a lot of Josh Haynes from season 3, which is ironic because Michael Bisping ended up winning that season and he's the coach on this season. Unfortunately, just like Haynes, I don't think Lester will last that long in the UFC. He's got great heart, but his skills are a notch below where they need to be. I'll sure be rooting for him, though. I hope he proves me wrong and has a long stay in UFC.
The fight tonight was an entertaining brawl. It wasn't the most technical fight by any means, but it was good television. The live finale is looking like it'll be a great night of fights. The Season 9 Finals will take a backseat to the 2 other main card bouts, but still should be good. This has been a fairly good season. My expectations were low heading into this season, maybe that's why I feel that way. It wasn't a great season, but it was better than season 8. At least the only Browning this season was sent home right away. Some of the fights this season were pretty good, some were boring and sucked. All in all, a slightly above average season to me.
The live The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 Finale is this Saturday at 9pm Eastern.
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