The Ultimate Fighter
TUF 21 REPORT 5/20: Penick's thoughts on fifth episode of "ATT vs. Blackzilians" season
May 21, 2015 - 9:55:06 AM TUF 21 REPORT 5/20: Penick's thoughts on fifth episode of "ATT vs. Blackzilians" season

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

It's time for another episode of The Ultimate Fighter, which certainly feels like more of a chore this season than it has in past years. This gym vs. gym concept is certainly different, but it hasn't translated to "better." Again, if you're not based in the respective areas of these two gyms, and don't have strong feelings on either Glenn Robinson or Dan Lambert, then there's nothing to get invested in here. With no tournament, there aren't any names to follow, and instead each fighter is being arbitrarily put in there as a soldier for their respective gym.

-Anthony Johnson comes to visit teammate Carrington Jones to congratulate him on his win. Now that's a tie-in.

-Sabah Homasi laments the decision loss that didn't go his way last week. One of the other problems with this season has been a lack of really entertaining fights, which in previous seasons have helped boost things and keep it rolling along. A steady stream of less interesting or thrilling fights doesn't make this show destination viewing.

-The Blackzilians celebrate the latest win before it's back to training. They want to keep things moving forward to keep the fights in their gym. Tyrone Spong tells the guys he wants to see a knockout in the next fight.

-ATT is reeling a bit after four straight losses. However, they can get back into the mix quickly given each of the next four fights are worth 50 points each. ATT thinks the smart strategy is to go with Hayder Hassan, as Lambert likes his finishing ability.

-Hassan says he joined ATT because he wanted to be training with the baddest fighters around. He says his name means "brave" in Arabic, and he talks about his heritage a bit. Short segment, but solid enough to differentiate him from some others.

-Blackzilians coaches discuss options for the next fight, and decide to go with Andrews Nakahara. Nakahara seemed happy with the opportunity. Robinson says Nakahara was brought to them by Vitor Belfort, with Belfort praising him as a future Champion. Nakahara is a kyokushin karate fighter out of Brazil. The team gets in some scenic work down on the beach as Nakahara talks about how ready he is.

-Hassan confronted Jason Jackson about spreading that he's a "dirty fighter." The two fought previously, and Jackson claims Hassan grabbed his hair during the bout and that played a part in the fight. He doesn't back down from that belief, and instead doubles down on the comments as the two go back and forth a bit.

-They come back to it, and the two continue to jaw at each other. Hassan ultimately just says he'll prove a point when he needs to prove a point in the cage.

Hassan quote: "If he gets matched up with me, I'm just gonna hit rewind, and then play, and the same thing's gonna happen to him."

-Michael Graves' drinking is starting to aggravate his teammates. He is shown laying in bed as ATT gets ready to head to the weigh-ins, and he stays at the house for it. Lambert and the team continue to express their frustrations with the funk he's been in. Nate Coy thinks it's time to kick him out of the house if he doesn't want to be there. Lambert says they're not going to have him fight again unless they see something different out of him.

-After a break, Graves finds his way to the gym just before the weigh-ins. Dana White criticizes Graves heavily and says he's bringing down the entire team and could cost them more.

Dana White quote: "If you're not mentally there for this competition, how are you ever going to fight in the UFC?"

-White thinks the Blackzilians are going with something different this week after the last several fights by booking Nakahara. Both fighters hit the mark and it's face off time. And it's awkward time with the owners standing behind their fighters for the photo op. Respectful showing from the two fighters, though.

-Both fighters run down what they think gives them an edge in the bout as their coaches discuss their strengths. Unsurprisingly, coaches on both sides see a lot in their respective competitor.

-Hassan says he's a practicing Muslim, and he talks about the peace and discipline he finds through his religion, and says that's going to be a scary thing for anyone who steps in against him.

-Final workouts get in, and Nakahara's teammates and coaches talk him up some more. He himself says his strategy is just to win the fight. Hassan got in his final work, and his coaches and teammates talked him up as well. Hassan believes the Blackzilians are trying to kill time in each of these fights and are intentionally stalling out.

-They've been dragging this episode out a bit, so it seems we'll have a fairly quick finish in this one. Final comments continue to extend late into the episode, so this is almost assuredly going to be the shortest fight of the season thus far.

FIGHT: ANDREWS NAKAHARA VS. HAYDER HASSAN

ROUND ONE: Nakahara opened with a body kick. Hassan tried to back him up, but Nakahara threw out some solid kicks while blocking Hassan's advances. Nakahara continued to toss out some hard kicks. The left kick to the body landed. Hassan backed Nakahara up and knocked him down with a quick two-punch combo. Nakahara covered up and Hassan just unloaded on him to force the stoppage. There it is.

WINNER: Hassan via TKO in the first round

-Easily the best fight of the season, and it only lasted a minute. Nakahara was throwing some heavy kicks, but Hassan caught him with a really nice combination that just dropped him, and he immediately bounced. That was good stuff there.

TEAM SCORE (WEEK 5)

ATT: 50
Blackzilians: 100

-Just like that, ATT is right back in the mix, highlighting the ultimate meaninglessness of the early fights to that part of the prize money coming to each team.

-ATT is elated in victory. Hassan puts a finger up to his mouth to quiet down the Blackzilians faithful. It's definitely what ATT needed to shake off the lethargy from the previous weeks.

-Lambert said they assumed Nakahara was going to try to use his kicks to keep range, but they were prepared for it.

-Robinson said he felt bad for Nakahara for losing, and thinks Nakahara would win that fight nine out of ten times, this was just the win. Nakahara thought his performance was alright

Next week, we head to American Top Team for the first time a bout this season.

Thanks for reading our report, we'll be back next week with another!