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The Ultimate Fighter
TUF 21 REPORT 6/17: Penick's thoughts on ninth episode of "ATT vs. Blackzilians" season
Jun 17, 2015 - 11:30:40 PM
TUF 21 REPORT 6/17: Penick's thoughts on ninth episode of "ATT vs. Blackzilians" season
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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Hayder Hassan got American Top Team back on track last week, and he's now responsible for both of their victories and the 100 points they've got to the Blackzilians' 200. It now comes down to the final four fights, as ATT must win three of them to win the $200,000 prize for highest season score. Let's get to this week's rundown with random thoughts commentary.

-Hassan and Felipe Portela make nice at the house after a somewhat competitive fight. Lots of "bro" thrown around by Hassan when trying to express his respect for Portela after the battle. Portela said he was hoping to fight more, and wants to get another crack at him.

-The Blackzilians discuss the 100 point fights and the final set of fights coming up. Knowing they need to win two fights and ATT needs to win three, they think they're in a very good spot and think they're going to win the whole thing.

-Dana White thinks the next fight choice if pivotal to the competition, as an ATT win ties things up with three fights to go.

-The Blackzilians do some training in the pool at the house. Interesting technique, working punching technique through the water.

-Back at ATT, Dan Lambert is thinking Steve Carl for this next fight, brushing off his disappointing performance and saying that he's been training well since his loss earlier in the season. After Carl missed weight last time around as well, he's got even more to prove, but Lambert says he trusts him. Carl says he had a lot of voices in his head into the last fight and cost himself. He says he's now coming into this 100 point fight with his gameplan and won't make the same mistakes.

-Carrington Banks says there's a lot at stake from this season, and the Blackzilians want all of it. Speaking with a few teammates in the house, he says they're the ones going through everything here, so they need to stick together. Would again be nice to know exactly what's at stake for the fighters themselves, because it hasn't been spelled out how the money awarded to the gyms will or won't be distributed to the fighters themselves.

-The Blackzilians are going back to Kamaru, who won the first fight for team. He tries to fake them out by saying he doesn't know if he wants to be the first one, but can't hold back the smile and says he's game. Should be an OK matchup here.

-ATT takes a scenic yacht ride. Looked nice. Blackzilians went out to a local tavern with Glenn Robinson, who brought out the families for the guys who have been away from them for a while while in the house here. Good move, Mr. Robinson.

-At the fight reveal and weigh-in, Lambert says they're going to have Carl ultimately look for a submission. They play up the drama of Carl's weight-in and what happened last time. He comes in a quarter pound over, the second time he's missed on his first attempt, and then they cut to commercial.

-Kamaru says "of course" on Carl missing weight. He drops the shorts and the towel's brought out, allowing him to hit the mark. Kamaru says he knows what Carl's game is; Carl doesn't think Kamaru's as good a wrestler as he thinks he is.

-ATT coach Ricardo Libario likes the matchup, and thinks Carl's ability to scramble and put pressure on Usman will give him an edge in this matchup.

-The Blackzilians are using motion capture technology in their training, using it to analyze certain things in order to find out where mistakes in technique may be happening and improve from there. It's an interesting tactic, for sure. No idea how effective it actually is, but it's definitely a way to get some different information that may be quite useful.

-It's fight day. Lambert says Carl's going to be a "neck hunter" in this fight, and will continuously seek some type of choke submission. More of the same as well with final pre-fight talk, then it's on to another loud gym crowd for the bout itself. Usman's hoping to win this fight by KO, while Carl says he has a hundred chokes going through his mind, and says it'll be over as soon as Usman gives up his neck.

FIGHT: STEVE CARL VS. KAMARU USMAN

ROUND ONE: Carl opened with a real solid combination. Usman came back at him with a left hand. Usman popped him back again. He landed a hard inside leg kick, then got in a jab. Carl got poked in the eye at some point but kept going. Usman shot in and took him down at the cage. He postured up and landed some strikes. Carl scrambled out and got to his feet. Usman tried to walk him down. He landed a punch and shot in again. Carl stuffed it this time. They stalled out in the clinch for a bit. Usman got in some punches to the body. Carl tried to grab for a guillotine, then used that to turn Usman around and shoot in for his own takedown attempt. He got held at bay, and Usman got free. Usman landed a few strikes on the cage and kept Carl backed up before shooting in again. He got stuffed, and they were back to the wall and stall. Carl's nose was busted up a bit after a couple exchanges there. ATT was accusing Usman of grabbing the cage, but a closeup shot of his hand at the cage showed it wasn't in the fencing. He finally backed out and landed a big strike. He backed Carl down again to the cage and landed a couple of strikes. Carl shot in, but Usman stuffed it and sprawled. Carl pulled guard, and Usman got in a few strikes. He landed a few more before the horn. That's Usman's round no question.

ROUND TWO: They traded punches early with Usman getting the better of it. Usman landed another right and pressed him back. Carl landed a jab. Usman tried to press in with another combination, then shot in. Carl held him off at the cage and tried to look for a guillotine, though Usman landed a few. Usman landed several foot stomps. He backed off with a strike. Carl wrenched hard for a kimura, but Usman shoved him down and got on top after a brief scramble. Usman tried to get his arms free. Carl scrambled and got to his feet with Usman on his back standing. He again looked briefly for the kimura, but lost it. Usman took him down. He landed several elbows and punches before Carl scrambled to his knees. Usman got in some more strikes. Carl turned back in to him and went for a kimura, but Usman was in a good position to avoid danger. Carl briefly got to his feet, but got taken back down, where Usman threw down some more strikes. He wound up in side control and went for an arm triangle. Carl scrambled out. Usman postured back in his guard. He threw him over and got back into half guard. Carl tried to scramble out, but Usman landed more strikes and kept him ground. Carl briefly got to his feet only to get taken down once more at the horn. Two awful performances from Steve Carl on this show, which surely came as a surprise to ATT. Don't know that we'll see him get an actual shot in the Octagon proper after his two fights here.

WINNER: Usman via unanimous decision

-Another crushing loss for ATT, who now know they need to win three in a row. Wonder how this is handled if they are mathematically unable to win after the next fight with two more left. One of the flaws in this points system, I suppose.

-Post-fight thoughts time from both teams. No real insights coming out of that. Usman was just the better guy. The theme of this season has been that the veteran guys at ATT, for the most part, have been getting taken out by some rising talent in the Blackzilians camp.

-Carl says the two fights he's had on this show have been two of the worst fights of his career, saying he took more punches in each of his fights here than he did in the entirety of his career, and he doesn't know what to do with that.

Lambert quote: "If we lose this show it's going to suck bad."


TEAM SCORE (WEEK 9)

ATT: 100
Blackzilians: 300


-That's all for tonight, we'll be back next week for episode ten, where The Blackzilians can put things away with a victory for this portion of the competition.


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