Episode #8 was WILD CARD time along with DRAMA KINGS from both sides of the house!
Dana White and Josh Koscheck decided Marc Stevens as the wild card to fight Brit Aaron Wilkinson, both on Team Koscheck.
There seemed to be a little controversy on the wild card choice from some of the team as Stevens did receive a quick loss from a choke during his prelim fight. And Koscheck and Team GSP’s medic Brad Tate were bickering again back and fourth. Neither one deciding to stop their verbose nonsense. Then on Team GSP, Michael Johnson and Alex “Bruce Leroy” Caceres feud was firing up. Caceres has been getting on the nerves of both team fighters by whining and not training since he won his first fight.
At the fight weigh in, Koscheck and medic Tate got into a confrontation and Koscheck actually did grab Tate by the throat so Team GSP member Dane Sayers came in between Koscheck and Tate to separate them and Koscheck was caught up in the moment and almost hit Sayers! Sayers was pretty upset over the situation and Koscheck did apologize. Then Koscheck came up with the idea GSP hired Tate to get under his skin – which Koscheck admitted worked. So GSP would of been a non-player during the consistent mouth battle, very strategic move.
During the fight, the first round belonged to Stevens. At the very beginning the stand up was pretty even with some nice striking, but when it got to the ground, Stevens attempted many submissions and really took the round. Round 2 Stevens came rushing in toward Wilkinson and caught Stevens with a guillotine and choked him out. During training, the coaches and trainers from Team Koscheck always were mentioning guillotine defense since many of Team GSP’s fighters were really proficient at them.
The quarter-final fights were decided upon with Dana White and both coaches. Team GSP members Michael Johnson vs. Alex Caceres, Team GSP’s Kyle Watson (Matt Hughes’ BJJ coach) vs. Team Koscheck’s Aaron Wilkinson, Team GSP’s Jonathon Brookins vs. Team Koscheck’s Sako Chivitchian and Team Koscheck’s Nam Phan vs. Team GSP’s Cody McKenzie.
Episode #9 was more fighting and less drama!
The very humble fighter Jonathon Brookins vs. Sako Chivitchian was on the plate early on the show and an early RNC from Brookins in the first round left us pondering if he can win the entire TUF show. To be fair, both fighters were strong and Chivitchian displayed his sharp judoka skills and tried to avoid Brookins’ BJJ.
Next up came Team GSP’s Cody McKenzie vs. Nam Phan. Round 1 McKenzie was strong with throwing kicks, takedowns and his unorthodox fighting style dominated Phan. He was clearly winning the first round until the last 30 seconds, it was obvious that his tank was running out of gas. Round 2 there were some stand-up exchanging which showed that McKenzie needs more professional training for technique. Phan was a better and stronger striker and threw a bitter liver shot to McKenzie. The ref stopped the fight for TKO due to strikes, making Phan the victor.
This week, Episode #10 will showcase Team Koscheck’s Aaron Wilkinson vs. Team GSP’s Kyle Watson. And, Team GSP’s Michael Johnson and Alex Caceres can finally let their animosity and issues all out in the cage. There might be more drama with Josh Koscheck … it seems to be following him. But you have to tune in to Spike TV Wednesday nights at 10pm EST or catch up with my “TUF Time!” reports anytime!
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