The Ultimate Fighter
TUF 22 REPORT 9/16: Penick's thoughts on episode two of "Team McGregor vs. Team Faber" season
Sep 16, 2015 - 11:25:36 PM TUF 22 REPORT 9/16: Penick's thoughts on episode two of "Team McGregor vs. Team Faber" season

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The debut episode of The Ultimate Fighter 22 saw the highest ratings on Fox Sports 1 for the show since its first season with Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate coaching, but they were still likely disappointing given the level at which the program once drew on Spike and even FX. Regardless, we're back tonight for episode two, with another recap with random thoughts on this Conor McGregor and Urijah Faber coached "Europe vs. U.S." season.

-First thing McGregor did post-elimination fights was bring the fighters into the locker room to speak with all of Team Europe. He had a speech pre-written on his phone, and he told them all that he was bringing his coaches in, but he wouldn't be there to coach any of them.

McGregor: "Forget Team Europe, and forget Team U.S.A. There are no friends in this business; you are either here to win or you are simply a filler."

-McGregor told his team that they're all on their own journey, and he wants to get across that the other team will be acting like a "team" out of weakness, and tells them all they'll be taking out Team USA and will need to fight each other eventually.

McGregor: "This is business here. Come in and handle your business."

-Ryan Hall and Tom Gallicchio talk with each other and compliment Team Europe while discussing issues with the fights on their side.

-Faber believes he's a much better people person than McGregor, and thinks that in itself gives him an advantage in this season. Faber's clearly going to be the hands on coach of the season, and he puts his guys through drills. McGregor's going to be about making sure the fighters keep themselves in a spot to make an impact with each opportunity.

-McGregor's having the guys train without pads to get them in the mindset of finding the shots that will work for them. At least a couple of the fighters on his team are fully buying in to the philosophy, and they believe he's a special fighter because of it. McGregor thinks the first session went "perfect," and says he's happy with the team.

-Time to get a shake-up from Uncle Dana. Because White disagreed with some of the decisions, he gave each of the coaches an opportunity to bring a fighter back who lost in the elimination round. McGregor picked his teammate Artem Lobov, and Faber picked Johnny Nunez. White told the fighters there will be nine fights to get into the quarterfinals and he's going to pick one of the nine winners not to advance to that round. It's a twist to try spurring more action after some piss poor fights in several past seasons. That doesn't make it a bad move, of course, because there have been plenty of situations where fighters have coasted to move on to later in a respective season.

-Time for more comments between McGregor and Faber.

Faber: "Guy looks like a f***ing orange cotton candy."

McGregor: "You look like a 50-year-old retired skateboarder. You look like a fat old man."

***Awkward silence***

And we move on.

-The teams are at least entertained by the banter, but it just means so little with no actual fight between the two of them happening.

-Team Faber picks our first Team vs. Team fight of the season, taking Ryan Hall against Frantz Slioa. Faber said the plan is to take out a guy early they believe will improve as the season goes on. McGregor thinks there were better matchups Faber could have picked for Hall.

-Hall talks about his his tourette's syndrome, and the blinking tic he has, and how he doesn't typically get along with people on a whole. In all honesty, his philosophy and mindset is excellent.

Hall: "I don't want to put myself in a box. I just want to try to never let my curiosity fade away. And never think that I have all of the answers. I want to try to experience as many different points of view as possible, and walk my own path as I search for the Truth with a capital T."

-Hall talks about his training background and what he's done with his skillset into this opportunity. Faber dubs him "The Wizard." Hall discusses the 50-50 position and showcases many of the things that he can do from that spot, a position he believes is much more accessible many others.

-Time to get a look at Slioa's preparation, and it's clear this is being targeted as a grappler vs. striker fight just from the talent break down.

-McGregor says their goal in this fight is to "kill" the 50-50 position as soon as it happens.

Hall: "I'm a very calm person. I'm not afraid to lose. I'm not afraid to win... Thank you for the opposition that exists."

-Hall says he knows how to win, and he's here overall to improve himself as a martial artist. He said he's there to get better and show what he's capable of.

-McGregor shows up tailored to the nines for the opening bout of the season. Again, not that it's going to be a negative necessarily, but it's a jarringly different approach to what we've seen in past seasons.

FIGHT: RYAN HALL (TEAM USA) VS. FRANTZ SLIOA (TEAM EUROPE)

ROUND ONE: Hall landed the first significant strike with a right hook. Slioa connected on a couple of strikes, then tossed out some leg and body kicks. They both backed off, then traded ineffectual strikes. Hall rolled in and grabbed for a leg lock. He got his 50-50 position and tried to attack. Slioa initially defended and tried to get into an advantageous position. Hall locked on the heel hook, though, and forced the tap. It's a bit one-note still, but Hall is similar to Marcin Bandel in his ability to secure those leg locks. Impressive work to give Team USA the first win of the season.

-McGregor said it was a tricky position that can mess with your head, but thought Frantz should have been able to escape before it got there.

WINNER: Hall via submission in the first round

-Hall said he's going to break all the fighters in this competition, and compares his prowess to Ronda Rousey. Indeed, he says everyone's expecting that to be his M.O., but he's got more than that as well.

-McGregor tried to comfort Slioa, and thought he got caught more than actually being beat.

McGregor: "I feel there's a big difference between being caught and being beat."

-McGregor continues giving Faber shit about his wardrobe, leading to some more awkward back and forth moments between the two.

-Setting up for next week's fight, Faber picks Chris Gruetzemacher against Sascha Sharma.

-Thanks for checking out our report this week; we've got live fight coverage this weekend for WSOF 23 and Bellator "Dynamite 1," and we'll be back her next Wednesday night with another report covering "The Ultimate Fighter 22."