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Nov 4, 2009 - 11:36:08 PM By Frank Hyden, MMATorch Contributor
The Ultimate Fighter report
November 4, 2009
By Frank Hyden
We start off with a recap of what happened at the end of last week's episode, where Quinton Jackson ripped apart a cardboard door. Dana White jokes that it shows how cheap they are and that the door looks likeeggboard . Rampage says he feels bad, and jokingly apologizes to the door. Scott Junk is really busted up after last week's fight. His eyes are swollen and puffy. Matt Mitrione has some sort of issue with his head. He says his brain hurts. Team Rampage is shown training, with Marcus Jones training very hard.
At the house, Marcus sees a spider and freaks out. He's scared and screams when Justin Wren acts like he's going to toss the dead spider at Marcus. It's pretty funny to see a guy that big act that way. Elsewhere, Mike Wessel misses his wife. She's battled cancer. Mike has fought in the UFC before, losing to Antoni Hardonk at UFC 92. Mike is also training very hard. Mike fights Marcus this week.
Marcus says he was never a student of football. Rather, he says he loves MMA and can't get enough of watching it. When he's training and learns something new, he gets this smile and crazy-sounding laugh going. It kind of makes him sound like a Frankenstein monster. Back at the house, Brendan Schaub drew a caricature of Marcus calling Marcus "The Darkness". Mike Wessel wrote at the bottom, "Sucks balls". Marcus was extremely unhappy about that, knowing that his family would see this. Guys are stirring the pot, but no one admits to writing the "Sucks balls" part.
Rampage and Darrill Schoonover make up. However, Rampage quickly blows it by grabbing Darrill's chest. Darrill gets upset and gets in Rampage's face. They're separated, and Rampage apologizes, sort of. It's a Rampage apology, so it doesn't seem sincere. Mike's nickname in the house is White Tyson or Juggernaut. They say his fighting style is a lot like Mike Tyson's, and that Mike is always coming forward, hence the nicknames.
FIGHT- Marcus Jones vs. Mike Wessel
Marcus has a 6 inch height and a 7.5 inch reach advantage. After he gets his hands taped up, Marcus tears his glove trying to get it on because his hand is too big. He's a physical specimen. Josh Rosenthal is the referee.
ROUND 1- Mike rushes in close and starts throwing. He tries for a trip, but Marcus swings him around and throws him to the mat. Marcus quickly takes Mike's back. Mike spins, but Marcus cinches in an armbar. Mike is forced to tap quickly. Damn, that was fast. Mike's elbow looked like it hyper-extended. Dana comments that Mike's arm is messed up, but somehow wasn't broken. It looked deformed, though. I guess Marcus is for real. To say that Marcus is elated would be an understatement.
Dana gets Rampage and Rashad Evans together to decide on the quarterfinal match-ups. There's the usual trash-talking amongst Rashad and Rampage, but they call the fighters in and ask them who they want to fight next. Most of the guys have a name or two that they suggest. Roy Nelson tells Dana that he'll beat any of them so it doesn't matter who he fights. Dana says that Roy rubs him the wrong way. He even says to Roy that Roy's fight with Kimbo Slice wasn't very exciting. Roy says he's just going for the easiest win possible to save himself to try to win the whole tournament. Makes sense, but it's still boring as hell. Marcus says that he wants Rampage to pick.
The quarterfinal match-ups are announced as being-
Roy Nelson vs. Justin Wren
Brendan Schaub vs. Jon Madsen
James McSweeney vs. Matt Mitrione
Marcus Jones vs. Darrill Schoonover
Rashad asks members of Team Rampage if they want to train with Team Rashad. They all refuse, saying that they want to be loyal to Rampage.
This week's episode is most noteworthy because of what Marcus did in the octagon. I thought he was just going to caveman club his way to victory, maybe by ground-and-pound. I had no idea he would bust out a submission like that. Mike had to verbally submit because he couldn't use his hand to tap. That was really impressive. I'm getting pretty numb to the trash-talking between Rashad and Rampage. It is getting a bit old, though. Nothing's going to come out of it, so it's just meaningless chatter. Just based on what Marcus did, I have to give the episode a thumbs up. He saved Rampage from going 0-8. I think Marcus has a good chance to go far this season. No one else has really been that impressive. It's anyone's game to seize.
NEXT WEEK- Roy vs. Justin, and will Matt have to withdraw?
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