The Ultimate Fighter
TUF 21 REPORT 4/29: Penick's thoughts on second episode of "ATT vs. Blackzilians" season
Apr 29, 2015 - 11:25:03 PM TUF 21 REPORT 4/29: Penick's thoughts on second episode of "ATT vs. Blackzilians" season

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

We're back for another episode of "The Ultimate Fighter: American Top Team vs. The Blackzilians" on Fox Sports 1. As always, I'll be bringing some random thoughts tonight's episode, along with a rundown of the night's action, in this weekly report.

-Michael Graves opens up this episode in the wake of his loss last week, talking to his teammates about the loss and the bad taste in his mouth he has now that the Blackzilians have some confidence. He's concerned about them gaining some momentum after that fight.

Hayder Hassan quote: "Every other sport you play. Fighting you can't play. You're all in."

-Hassan talks to last week's winner Kamaru Usman and tries to get a little mind games working. He thinks he'll ultimately fight him and knock him out, but to his face he gives him some props for the victory. Usman says he doesn't play into the "psychological warfare" going on in the house, and he sees through Hassan's comments.

-These TUF houses are awkward enough when the teams are guys from around the country working and living together, there's another level to that with guys all from the same region or who have at least been training in close proximity to one another for quite some time, and that's going to continue to be a part of this season.

-It's time once again to think about who is going to be picked. ATT discusses things, and are looking at a few different names. They think Hassan is going to be better ready for week three, and they seem to settle on Uros Jurisic. There's another level of gamesmanship in this season with not knowing just whom you'll be facing each week.

-Jurisic comes to the U.S. out of Slovenia, and says he doesn't have family support to be in the sport. Lambert has some positive things to say about the man they describe as a "wild card in the competition.

-Dana White calls this season a chess game. It's a fairly apt comparison, although it's almost a blind chess game as you don't know until the move is made which move has actually been made.

-The Blackzilians discuss their options, settling on the 33-year-old vet Luiz "Buscape" Firmino. That's the man ATT expected the Blackzilian camp to pick for fight one. He's a little undersized, given he's been fighting at 155 lbs. for some time, but he's got some considerable experience. His last two victories came in the WSOF cage over UFC vets Jacob Volkmann and Tyson Griffin.

-In a Blackzilians training session, there's a heated exchange between a couple of teammates, one of whom is last week's winner in Usman...

[Commercial Break]

-Usman takes responsibility for losing control and apologizes to his teammate about it.

-They're weighing in again at the Blackzilians facility, prompting Dan Lambert to ask one of his guys "you ready to see this place for the last time?" That brought a response of "Yeah. F*** this place."

-Lambert thinks Jurisic has youth, distance, and power on Buscape. Glenn Robinson said he's not "remotely concerned" about the matchup.

-Things escalate between Lambert and Robinson at the weigh-in yet again. Because this won't get old...

Lambert quote (to Robinson): "What's with the tough guy look? A f***ing makeup artist would kick your ass."

[Commercial Break]

-Lambert thinks this entire situation is for Robinson to stroke his own ego, and calls him out on that. Robinson says flat out he hates Lambert. I get the story they're going for with the two coaches disliking one another to this extent, but it's completely and utterly pointless when they're not actually going to ever fight one another.

-Buscape gets some training in with a healthy Tyrone Spong. Spong's awesome. We need to see more of Tyrone Spong. He thinks Buscape is his "ace" and thinks he's going to win this fight.

-Over at ATT, they do some video review on Buscape to help Jurisic prep for the matchup. They think Firmino gasses out, but won't necessarily be an issue in a two round fight. They also question his striking power and paint him as more of a grinding control fighter.

[Commercial Break]

-Both Jurisic and Firmino drop the line that they're looking to "kill" their opponent out there. It's another hostile environment for ATT in the Blackzilians gym.

Lambert quote: "I feel like I'm at some f***ing soccer game in some s***hole"

FIGHT: LUIZ "BUSCAPE" FIRMINO VS. UROS JURISIC

ROUND ONE: Immediately Firmino closed the distances, with Jurisic throwing some strikes to keep him at bay. Buscape shot in and scored a pretty easy takedown. Jurisic initially went for a guillotine but lost the hold. Buscape looked to work from half guard. Jurisic got him back to guard and threw a couple strikes from the bottom. Buscape continued to hold him down, staying busy enough. Jurisic tried to escape, but Buscape stayed on him and held top control. Not a lot of actual offense in this fight. Jurisic for opened up under his left eye from some minor ground and pound. Jurisic tried to throw some strikes off his back, but neither was really doing a whole lot. Jurisic tried to set something up on the cage, but lost the position and ate several strikes. Buscape was more than content to grind out the round, simply fighting off any work on the ground to hold top position. He finally stacked up and landed a couple of strikes. Jurisic tried to scramble late, but got held down to the horn. Easily Buscape's round.

[Commercial Break]

ROUND TWO: Lambert and ATT know they need the second round. Jurisic misses a couple of early strikes. Buscape misses a front kick to the face. Jurisic shoots in for his own takedown, but gets stuffed and countered, with Buscape ending up in side control with over four minutes to work. Jurisic scrambled and got to his feet to get some space. He looked tired as he missed several strikes. Buscape countered and connected on some punches. He shot in and scored a takedown into Jurisic's guard. Jurisic tried to attack from the bottom to no avail. Buscape got in a little bit of offense from the top. They were warned by the referee to work. Buscape continued to stay just busy enough. Jurisic scrambled and got to his feet, but Buscape remained on him with a body lock. He tried to reverse position, but wound up on his back with Buscape again in top control. He scrambled again, but got taken back down a couple of times quick. Jurisic tried to grab an arm. His corner was screaming at him to get up. Buscape wouldn't let him, and took back side control. He ended the round and almost assuredly the fight in that position. Should be clear 2-0 for Buscape and The Blackzilians. Not really a good fight, but more than enough to win.

[Commercial Break]

WINNER: Buscape via unanimous decision

TEAM SCORE (WEEK 2)

ATT: 0
Blackzilians: 50

-The Blackzilians hold on to home gym advantage, but as was noted last week, these early fights don't mean the end for the other team. There are a lot of points yet to be earned.

-Robinson thinks Jurisic didn't have enough experience to be in there with Buscape, and thinks ATT put him in there too soon.

Dana White quote: "Well, that fight sucked."

FINAL THOUGHTS: Not much to this one. The two fights so far this season have been a bit dull; though the owner rivalry is supposed to be propelling things here, the fact that the two won't ever meet in a cage really diminishes the impact their issues with one another bring to the table. Join us again next week for episode three!