THE TORCH: THE #1 WORLDWIDE BRAND IN COMBAT ENTERTAINMENT COVERAGE - OVER 250 MILLION VIEWS & LISTENS PER YEAR REREACHING MORE FANS EVERY WEEK THAN ANY OTHER INDEPENDENT SOURCE • VIA THE WEB, MOBILE, PRINT NEWSLETTER, AND ITUNES
The Ultimate Fighter report
April 28, 2010
By Frank Hyden
The episode starts with Clayton saying he's out of contention for the Wild Card spots. His shoulder is too injured. Charles Blanchard is out as well with a bad ankle. James Hammortree thinks he deserves one of the spots in the Wild Card fight. There actually might be 4 Wild Card spots open, with Rich Attonito being injured as well. Tito Ortiz gets to pick his first fight of the season, and he chooses Kris McCray to fight Josh Bryant.
John Hackleman is giving Team Liddell a pep talk. Josh Bryant is training hard. Chuck Liddell says Josh is actually more friendly when he's cutting weight. Tito is pushing his team really hard. Kyacey Uscola thinks Tito is pushing them too hard. He complains a bit about it. Kris is a big puncher, and his nickname is Savage. He brags about his last 3 fights taking 39 seconds. That's a different world than the one you're in now.
Clayton wakes up at the house after having surgery for his shoulder earlier. Nick Ring welcomes him back. Kris and Josh both make weight. Chuck has to miss this fight, the 2nd time he's had to miss a fight due to a prior engagement. Elsewhere, Tito apologizes to Clayton for doubting him as to the extent of his shoulder injury. Tito thought Clayton was sandbagging it, but he wasn't. Clayton accepts Tito's apology, but then ruins a good moment by flipping Tito off behind his back. Classy. That was a dick move, the guy apologized. What else do you want?
FIGHT- Josh Bryant vs. Kris McCray
Kris is 2 inches taller, but Josh has a 2 inch reach advantage. Herb Dean is the referee.
ROUND 1- They start off trading shots. They're slugging it out before Kris initiates a clinch. Kris gets a takedown, and he has Bryant's back. They separate, but then clinch again. They struggle around for a while, the Kris gets another takedown. Bryant stands, and Kris goes for another takedown. Bryant gets the takedown, and now he has Kris' back. Bryant tries for a rear-naked choke, and Kris lays in some body shots.
ROUND 2- They clinch and start slugging. Kris gets a knee to the body, and Bryant gets a slam. Kris is kind of working hard, but Bryant is winning this boring round.
ROUND 3- They clinch, again. They start hugging and grabbing at each other, obviously winded. Herb Dean separates them. Thank you, Herb. They start slugging, but then to the ground. Bryant gets into side control, and sinks in a tight rear-naked choke. He has it basically locked in, but gives it up. Then Bryant almost locks in an armbar as the round ends. It's clear who's won this fight.
WINNER- Josh Bryant by Decision
This fight had it's moments, but all in all, it was fairly boring. The duh award goes to Kris for saying about the fight, "Damn, I'm tired." Yeah, no kidding. It was hard to tell with all the blistering action going on. You train with Tito, where's your cardio? I was really disappointed. I was expecting a better fight, especially from a guy nicknamed Savage. Everytime a guy opens his mouth and brags about going into the cage and banging, it's usually a boring fight. That's usually the case on this show. Oh well, hopefully the rest of the fighters bring it harder than these two.
NEXT WEEK- An injury may put another fighter out of action
ALERT: Every Tuesday night, listen to the MMATorch Livecast from 9-10:30 p.m. ET or listen now to the most recent shows by clicking here. Listen live this coming Tuesday as Jamie Penick, Rich Hansen, and Matt Pelkey discuss the latest MMA happenings. Online listen at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mmatorch or call into the show at 646-716-8090 to either just listen or participate.
"There's still a large contingent of people, that they just want to see these guys almost die, or the other guy almost die and come back, and sometimes fights are like that. Certainly they are. But sometimes you get technical masterpieces too, and to hate a beautiful, technical fight - you're not really a fight fan...
Diaz has a granite chin, possesses perhaps the best recovery in the sport, his pace and conditioning are second to none and he sets records with the volume of his punches almost every time he steps into the cage. Nick Diaz is simply designed to fight the way he fights, and not many other fighters are...
"There was a lot of poison going on around there and I'm really disappointed because we had a good thing going. It was a good thing and I think people's egos got in the way. Well, not people just Javier, his ego got in the way, and too many cameras in the gym and him trying to build himself up and his brand, his AKA brand...
PART OF THE USA TODAY UFC GROUP