UFC Events
THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER FRIDAYS 9/21: Carter's blog for Team Carwin vs. Team Nelson first bout on FX
Sep 22, 2012 - 7:26:55 AM THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER FRIDAYS 9/21: Carter's blog for Team Carwin vs. Team Nelson first bout on FX

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

By Alvin Benjamin Carter III, MMATorch Specialist

The fighters run in the house and claim their beds. There are excited about the possibility of winning the Harley Davidson at the end of the season. James Chaney of Team Carwin shares his excitement about the general living conditions. “I stayed in my best friend’s garage on a mattress,” said Chaney. “ So just getting free groceries and having a bed to sleep on is real cool.” Juliane Lane is taking some flack for having a pink mohawk. Michael Hill bonds with fellow Canadian Mike Ricci. Ricci trains with Rory McDonald. Ricci says he has never been away from home for more than a week. Hill and Ricci think the other fighters looked sloppy hitting pads.

Shane Carwin says he was nervous when he found out he was going to be a coach on TUF because he wants his guys to do well. He tells us that he has two degrees and he is still an engineer. Pat Barry is one of Carwin’s assistant coaches. Chaney says the training is a lot smarter than what he is used to.

Roy Nelson says he was planning on fighting soon and he has a baby on the way so coaching the ultimate fighter was like a “wrinkle in the sheets.” He tells his team that they are only training once a day, and that will be at 4pm because that is around the time they will have their fights. Nelson feels the guys out and sees what they know. His team is getting antsy and would want to spare. Some of his team mates are used to training three times a day. Nelson states that his goal is to sweep the first day of fights because then he knows they are in the finale.

Team Nelson won the coin toss and they pick the first fight. Nelson says since it is Neil Magny’s birthday he gets the first fight against former TUF coach Camerson Diffley . (He coached with Forrest Griffin.) Nelson thinks Magny will be put into bad positions with Diffley because of the gap in grappling acumen, but Carwin thinks Magny has the advantage because of his stiff jab and cardio. Each team thinks the fight is smart in their favore. Julian Lane, however, disagrees because he thinks Diffley is a teacher more than a fighter.

Lane pokes at Matt Secor about getting roughed up in his fight to get in to the house. It gets heated and Matt says it does not matter because he finished his 0pponent. Ricci says he can feel the tension start to build in the house. It turns out Lane and Secor are roommates with beds no more than six feet away from each other. (This is going to build a big head of steam.) Lane says he will not move.

Team Carwin gets ready to train. Bristol Marunde is talking about how Nelson is sloppy and has terrible training practices. He digs in on the mullet and the beard. Neil warms up, and he says that he was going down the wrong path before high school and wrestling, but he is singular focused on fighting these days.

Team Nelson is focused on setting up a flour prank and Lane appears to be the most excited. He says they are bored and they do not have anything to do. (Train maybe?) Ricci walks in and gets doused with flour. He tosses the remaining flower in the living room and everyone thinks the prank is a lot funnier than it really is.

Diffley talks about his path as a fighter. He talks about coaching Forrest Griffin, Amir Sadollah, and the Diaz Brothers. Colton Smith is working one-on-one with Diffley because he can immolate Neil Magny. Nelson says there is only so much that can be tweaked in two days some he is going to let Diffley be Diffley in the fight.

Fight day comes and Joey Rivera says that Diffley is really quiet and he thinks everyone should be worried about Diffley being the strongest competitor here. (I guess it is always the quiet ones. We will see how the fight goes.) Dana White says Magny looked impressive at his fight-in, but Diffley has been around for a long time.

Carwin says he has professionals corner his guy because it is about the fighters. Dana White announces the rules and we are on.

Fight – Neil Magny vs. Cameron Diffley

Round 1: They touch gloves and Magny works that jab. Diffley finally starts jabbing and Magny mixes in a leg kick. Diffley lunges in for a body shot. Then he throws a leg kick of his own. Diffley fakes a single leg. Magny lands a nice two-piece, right-left, to Diffley’s face. Diffley throws a front kick to the face and Magny catches it. Diffley tries to pull guard, but Magny backs away. Diffley stays on his back for a moment and then gets up. Magny comes in working head shots and then attempts to clinch, but he is shrugged off. Diffley shoots and Magny stuffs with his back to the cage. They lock horns and then break. Magny is landing leg kicks. Cameron answers with a left hook. Cameron shoots and pulls guard. Magny tries to stack and Diffley goes for an armbar. Then it turns into leg lock. Nelson screams to use it as a sweep. He does and is in top position in Magny’s guard. He stacks and avoids triangle attempt of sorts. He stands up and he gets in half guard then back to Magny’s guard and the bell rings.

Round 2: The second round starts and Nelson tells Diffley not to wait. Magny lands a combo and Diffley shoots, but Magny lands on top. Magny stands up and Diffley has a heel hook, but not really as Magny gets out. Diffley is making Magny think about the shot. He throws a front kick that hits nothing. Then he lands an inside leg kick on Magny. Magny lands a Stiff jab to the face. The jab lands again and opens up for a right as well. Magny is slowly working left-right combos, but Diffley lands a left of his own. Magny cracks him again with a left this time more of an over hand. Magny comes again with the left right combo. Diffley shoots and ends up on his back Magny gets out as a heel hook is applied. Magny gets on top and then stands up and throws down a stand up punch. Diffley is bleeding from the bridge of his nose. Magny lands a left-right-hook combo. Then a jab and a leg kick and the horn sounds.

Winner: Neil Magny via Unanimous Decisions (20-18 x 3)

Dana White says that Magny came out and his hands were looking fantastic. He also says Diffley was very close to getting a number of the submission. Nelson talks about that he Diffley should have swept Magny earlier. Dana said this was an easy first fight Team Carwin and Nelson blew it. Diffley says that he is going to let this fight change him so he can came back stronger.

In the locker room Nelson said that he wants the guys to listen to him and go when he says go. The guys are somber as is expected. Team Carwin’s locker room is rowdy. Carwin comes in screaming “That;s what we do!” Magny said that it was not as easy as he thought it was going to be, and that heel hook surprised him. He is happy about his win and says he will take that present any day.

That wraps this week’s installment of The Ultimate Fighter on FX.

Final Thoughts: Cameron Diffley looked like a dear in the head lights against Neil Magny. The experience is what kept Magny from finishing, but ultimately Magny had the fight won with his jab alone. The coaches have a drastically different way of training their teams and it seemed as if Diffley did not have a complete game plan. Magny on the other hand did what he was asked. Diffley did not sweep when Nelson first said to, but that might be a factor of not being coached directly by Nelson enough. After training with a coach you tend to respond to them a bit quicker over time. This was the first fight so we will see if this changes as training ramps up.