Dec 2, 2009 - 11:56:01 PM By Frank Hyden, MMATorch Contributor
The Ultimate Fighter report
December 2, 2009
By Frank Hyden
We start with footage from the last episode, where Dana White told the guys to step up if they wanted to be fighters. Dana meets with Kimbo Slice and asks him if he wants to fight. Kimbo refuses because of his injured knee. It may not be popular, but it's the right move for Kimbo to make. He shouldn't fight if his knee is prohibiting him from being 100%. It doesn't really matter, though, because Matt Mitrione is ready to fight. His opponent, James McSweeney, is training hard and also ready to fight. Matt says he was kind of playing head-games about his injury. He wasn't really as hurt as he said he was. Matt says he did it to keep James guessing as to who his opponent would be.
Scott Junk has a few tears in his retina. His doctor has advised him to never fight again. Marcus Jones takes this news extremely hard, he freaks out on Matt, who was the opponent that injured Scott. Marcus says he's going to kill Matt. He's screaming and ranting like a maniac. Damn, that's crazy to see him flip out like that. This is all negated, though, because Scott saw a second doctor and had surgery. He's out for 2 months, and the doctor said he shouldn't fight again, but it's fine if he does. Scott plans on continuing fighting. I don't know if I would do that if I were him, there's a possibility that he could go blind if this worsens. It's dicey, but it's his life.
At the weigh-in, James and Matt have an intense staredown. That's a real staredown, not the fake crap that you see from a lot of guys. They both looked like they were going to fight in the streets. James pushes Matt.
FIGHT- James McSweeney vs. Matt Mitrione
James is 1 inch taller, but Matt has a 6 inch reach advantage. Herb Dean is the referee.
ROUND 1- James hits a legkick. Matt throws some punches including a nice counter. James hits a push kick, then a good punch to Matt's chin. Matt is throwing, but James gets a takedown. Matt tries a few submissions, but James counters. James locks in a guillotine, and Matt is forced to tap.
WINNER- James McSweeney by Guillotine
The next fight is Marcus Jones and Darrill Schoonover. There's not a lot of build-up for this fight, they both just talk about wanting to win.
FIGHT- Darrill Schoonover vs. Marcus Jones
Marcus has a 4 inch height and a 4 inch reach advantage. Herb Dean is the referee.
ROUND 1- Marcus gets an immediate takedown and moves to side control. Marcus works his ground-and-pound and keeps trying for submissions. Darrill works to guard. They scramble. Marcus gets back to guard, and works more ground-and-pound. He knocks out Darrill with 2 big power shots.
WINNER- Marcus by Knockout
Dana comes and announces the semi-final match-ups. It's going to be Roy Nelson vs. James McSweeney and Brendan Schaub vs. Marcus Jones. Rashad Evans rags on Quinton Jackson and they start arguing. They trash-talk for quite a while, but I'm just tuning them out. They sound like high school kids. They run each other down for like 5 minutes. Meanwhile, Brendan's gameplan is to take Marcus out. Brendan has a lot of power in his punches, and he thinks he can knock Marcus out. The plan for Marcus is to take Brendan to the ground, and utilize his Jiu-Jitsu. Rampage makes some weird faces about a plan Tiki Ghosn had. Tiki and Rampage get help from some of the other fighters and they paint Team Rashad's dressing room pink and put a bunch of girly stuffed animals in there. The head-games continue.
At the house, Zak Jensen is letting James write on his head, never a good idea. James is supposed to write "Linderman" on Zak's head. Linderman is the nickname that Kimbo gave Zak. Instead of writing "Linderman", James writes "Linda" on Zak's head. Zak knows that it's not Linderman, and has James fix. James writes "Lindagay". Zak is pissed, after Wes Shivers points it out to him. Rashad finds the pink dressing room. He kind of downplays it, but it looks ridiculous. I'm sure they'll fix it somehow, I highly doubt any of the guys will want to be in there as-is.
Later, Zak is in the bathroom. James decides that it would be a good idea to open a drawer and wedge Zak in the bathroom. What James doesn't know is that Zak is claustrophobic. Zak starts slamming the door open into the drawers. James tells Zak to step back and pushes the drawers back in so Zak can get out. Zak flips out and attacks James, who gets him in a guillotine. Things don't go further than that, and James is actually impressed that Zak stood up for himself. Zak shouldn't have flipped out like that, but James was being a real douche. Zak kept telling James to get out of his room, and James would say, "Or what?" James was just being a prick there.
Rashad comes to the house to help the guys with their visualization. Rashad's part is fine, but the other stuff is dumb. There's a bunch of lame rhyming and crap. This is horrible. It's like elementary school stuff. I think he said something like, "The future is great, that's why it's called the present." That may not be it exactly, but it captures the essence of it.
FIGHT- Roy Nelson vs. James McSweeney
James has a 4 inch height and a 1 inch reach advantage. Steve Mazzagatti is the referee.
ROUND 1- James throws some early shots. Both guys are trading. James gets a guillotine, but Roy escapes. James hits a legkick and a nice jab. Then James starts mugging and showboating, and Roy takes him down. Roy works his way into the crucifix and does his usual. Roy lands a lot of shots, some had power behind them, but very few. James is bleeding pretty well, though. Roy throws so many uncontested shots that the referee steps in and stops the fight.
WINNER- Roy by TKO
Brendan is practicing alone. He's doing his own visualization. Rampage and Rashad get into another argument. They both call the other bitch about 100 times. This is getting really sad. Both guys know that the other isn't going to do anything, so why trash-talk so much? They got serious for a minute, but neither was going to do anything. Marcus is busting his ass in training, and really working hard. Brendan thinks that Marcus has had an easier road than he has. That's debatable. Maybe Marcus just made it look easier. Or maybe he didn't, it's hard to say. Regardless, we'll find out who the better fighter is right now.
FIGHT- Brendan Schaub vs. Marcus Jones
Marcus has a 2 inch height and a 0.5 inch reach advantage. Josh Rosenthal is the referee.
ROUND 1- Marcus gets a quick takedown after absorbing a big punch from Brendan. Marcus gets into half-guard, then side control. Brendan is fighting it, but Marcus gets into mount. Brendan keeps fighting out of it, though, and he gets to his feet. Brendan floors Marcus with a huge shot, then follows up with more punches. The referee steps in and stops the fight.
WINNER- Brendan by TKO
The final match is set. It'll be Roy Nelson vs. Brendan Schaub. This Saturday is when the latest winner of The Ultimate Fighter will be decided. It should be a good night of fights. Tune in to Spike this Saturday, December 5 to see who wins.
