We then go to a Team Pulver training session, where Jens is growing frustrated with Melendez's attitude, and Melendez is growing weary of Jens. Jens tries to talk to Brandon, but Brandon doesn't really seem to be listening. Everything comes to a head when Brandon insists he wants to ride the Airedyne after practice, but Jens wants him to do some stretching instead. Brandon really likes the Airedyne. It's his happy place.
At Camp Penn, Gray and BJ are sparring, and we get Gray's description of how BJ could have stepped it up at any time and taken Gray out. The sparring session gets pretty intense, but shockingly neither man snaps and loses it, and instead they just keep pushing one another to try harder. You know, kind of like a sparring session is supposed to work.
Meanwhile, back at the Hall of Pulver, Brandon asks for a chat session with the coaches. He tells them a bunch of stuff about wanting to get the most from his TUF experience, and how he wants to do some training with BJ, just so he can say he trained with both Jens and BJ. Jens tries to explain the whole 'team' concept to Brandon, telling him that 'nobody walks off and nobody gets kicked off'. Realizing that Jens isn't going to Wang him, Brandon acquiesces and everybody hugs and stuff to end the drama.
At Team Penn's session, BJ introduces a special trainer, Randy Couture. Most excited is Gray, who trains with Randy anyway, and is now getting a visit from his mentor. As Matt Wiman describes it, "Gray’s wagging his tail, bouncing around...Who wouldn’t be?" Randy gives the remaining four members of Team Penn some grappling tips. Hmmm, four is less than eight, which means these four guys get more time with one of the greatest fighters in UFC history than they would have if Dana hadn't kicked out three guys and BJ hadn't bullied another out in an attempt to compensate for his feelings of emasculation.
We also get more of a preview for Penn v Pulver II. BJ seems to think that Jens has been disrespecting him behind his back since BJ's defeat at the hands of Pulver. Jens feels that he was disregarded before the first fight, which motivated him then, and being similarly disregarded is motivating him now.
It is now time for our weekly installment of wacky house antics. This time the excitement involves Cole and Nate. The antics evidently began with Nate bugging Cole while he slept, which led to Cole covering Nate's bed in silly string and pinatas (?), which led to Nate and Cole wrestling and fighting with silly string. Everything appears to be finished when Cole and Nate throw each other's mattresses in the pool and a truce is called.
But Nate isn't satisfied. He waits till Cole is asleep, and sneaks in, douses Cole in cold water, then has Manny 'antique' Cole with baby powder. Standing there, wet and white, Cole realizes he is a beaten man.
We now get to watch Melendez trying to cut weight. Most impressive of this whole thing was the way that Andy Wang stayed with Brandon, keeping him motivated and just giving Brandon some company. After the less than stellar way Andy came off after his loss, and subsequent expulsion by BJ, this episode really redeemed Andy as a good person and teammate.
The fight begins around 20 minutes to the hour, so we can be fairly sure the fight is going two rounds.
After some striking, Gray takes Brandon down, but Brandon not only avoids being dominated, manages to try for some submissions, and gets to his feet. Gray keeps taking Brandon to the mat, but Brandon proves to be a better wrestler than anticipated, and Gray has trouble keeping Brandon on the ground.
The second round starts with both guys trading punches in the middle of the ring, with Brandon getting the better, causing Gray to return to grappling. Again, despite taking Brandon down with relative ease, Gray can't do anything, and Brandon gets in his own submission attempts before getting to his feet.
Finally Gray takes Brandon down and gets him in a guillotine. Brandon taps with just under a minute left in the round. A good fight, and either Brandon is much better than he was given credit for, or Gray isn't the wrestling machine he was being touted as. Or some combination of the two.
The Good
- Once again, Jens comes across as a reasonable, intelligent, sympathetic person.
- Randy's appearance was very good, and he not only gave BJ's only four teammates some good advice, he was even helping BJ out.
- Andy Wang may not be a warrior, but he's a mensch.
- Cole and Nate's antics are an example of rough-housing done right. No bones were broken, nobody was bloodied, and all parties were laughing at the end.
- At the beginning of the episode, during the recap, one of the fighters said that Cole "was a man, and went out and took his beating." What one has to do with the other is unclear.
- I really think the fact that BJ is such a piss poor coach that four of his fighters are no longer with his team is giving the guys he has left an unfair advantage. BJ gets to spend more time with the remaining fighters individually than Jens. But then again, Dana seems to want one of BJ's fighters to win, and isn't shy about manipulating the show to help make that happen.
- I'm not sure why Cole chose pinatas as the totems to send a message to Nate, but without context, it seems awfully racist.
- While the Cole/Nate antics seemed to be all in good fun, Nate's interviews suggest that he wanted to actually fight. Did he not see what happened the week before?
The Ugly
- Or did Nate see all too well what happened to the two guys who got kicked out for fighting the week before? They got to go home, see their families, watch some tv, read a newspaper, and do what normal people do. And then they got a fight on the TUF5 finale. That's right, the first matchup for the TUF5 finale undercard has been announced, and it's Marlon Sims v Noah Thomas. AKA, the fight they both wanted, and their motivation for starting that backyard fiasco. So last week, their antics so thoroughly disgusted Dana, and were seen as a slap in the face to those who have sought to bring legitimacy to MMA in North America. But now, those antics are seen as a reason to give these guys a fight on national TV, a UFC payday, and a shot at making it in the UFC. Which is it? Are these guys a disgrace, or are they UFC calibre fighters? Or are UFC calibre fighters a disgrace?
Next week, we get the two remaining fights. Manny Gamburyan v Matt Wiman, which I believe is an upset waiting to happen. And Corey Hill v Nate Diaz, which guarantees a Team Pulver fighter in the semifinals. Except Nate seems to turn his back on Team Pulver in an attempt to train away from his opponent. DRAMA!!
No comments:
Post a Comment