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Sep 23, 2009 - 10:52:31 PM By Frank Hyden, MMATorch Contributor
The Ultimate Fighter report
September 23, 2009
By Frank Hyden
The episode begins with some of the guys in the house talking about wanting to fight Kimbo Slice. Team Rampage is training, Kimbo is getting some special training, mainly in wrestling. Team Rashad is shown training. Rashad Evans and the rest of his coaches don't think that Roy Nelson is taking things serious. They think he's uncoachable. Roy basically feels as though it should be a collaborative effort. The coaches want Roy to help set an example, they feel that if the other fighters see Roy not taking things seriously, they won't take things seriously. They pull Roy off into a back room and have a talk with him. They seem to get things settled.
Quinton Jackson gets to pick the fight, and he chooses James McSweeney vs. Wes Shivers. James was Rashad's first pick. He's from England and has over 100 kickboxing fights to his credit. Team Rashad's training session goes over by about 5 minutes. Rampage isn't happy about that, and tells Rashad that his team needs to leave. They start arguing. It starts off nice enough, and doesn't progress to anything too serious. Neither guy seems to get too upset, although there's a clear underlying tension.
Wes is a former NFL player. He says he has a lot of power in his punches. The guy's huge, I think he's about 6'7" or so. He says he'll probably be about 270 lbs. come fight time. He'll definitely have the reach advantage in this fight, though there's a few other guys in the house who might be as long as him. Team Rashad is shown training again. Mike Van Arsdale, one of Rashad's assistant coaches, thinks that Roy has learned his lesson and is onboard with the team.
In the house, Marcus Jones and Demico Rogers talk about the upcoming fight. They both feel as though the length and size of Wes will be too much for James. I can definitely see their point, but Wes seems awfully clunky. He doesn't seem to be the most coordinated guy in the house. He's got a lot of power, though, and that reach can be a huge advantage. James has more fighting experience, though. Both James and Wes talk in sitdown interviews. Wes mainly sticks to talking about his power. James is extremely confident.
FIGHT- James McSweeney vs. Wes Shivers
Wes has a 3 inch height and a 6.5 inch reach advantage. Steve Mazzagatti is the referee.
ROUND 1- Wes is really sloppy in his striking. He can see his power, but his form isn't very good. Wes clinches, and gets the takedown. Wes basically just lays on top, not doing much. Suddenly, Wes grabs a kimura. He almost has him, but James escapes. Wes throws a kick that nails James low. That made me cringe. James gets a minute to recover and the fight is back on. Wes is just wading in, throwing these looping punches. There's not a lot of action, though, as both guys are gassed. James throws a few legkicks, Wes answers with a straight left. Both fighters are tired, hands on their hips. James throws a few more legkicks, and the round is over.
ROUND 2- James comes out throwing more legkicks. Can't blame him for going with what's working. Wes gets a takedown, but just lays on top. Wes works his way into mount, and rains down some shots. Wes takes James' back, and tries for a rear-naked choke. James escapes, then reverses. They stand up. Wes is incredibly tired, he's sucking wind like a jet engine. James is visibly tired as well. Both guys are just standing around for extended periods. This is a bad indictment of their cardio. If one of them had the energy, he could probably easily finish off the other. Wes eats a big punch and kick from James. Wes has got a chin, that's for sure. They go the ground, where James sinks in a guillotine. Wes escapes with just seconds to go in the round. I thought they were going to a third round, but there's a decision. One judge scored it even, the other two score it 20-18 for James.
WINNER- James McSweeney by Decision
Before the show ends, they have Rashad announce the fight for next week. They don't usually do this, so it's clear who'll fight next week. Right on cue, Rashad says that the fight will be Roy Nelson vs. Kimbo Slice. That's going to be a tough fight for Kimbo.
This was a fairly lackluster fight tonight. There was a few moments of excitement, but it mainly felt like a fight in slo-mo. Both guys gassed bigtime early. That was disappointing. They might have had a good fight if they had any wind at all. I was a bit more surprised to see James gas so early. Wes I understand a bit more, he's a huge guy. Of course, James is still a heavyweight, and they gas much sooner than the other classes. After last week, I was hoping for a better fight. Looks like I'll have to wait a bit longer. The season is still early, I don't want to judge too soon, but this isn't looking like it'll be a good season for fights. I hope I'm wrong about that. I hope some of the other fighters in the house are taking notes, and working on their cardio. They definitely don't want what happened to Wes to happen to them.
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