Two weeks ago Team Junior dos Santos was in control and quite happy with his fighters. His wrestling coach Lew Polley, on the other hand – not so happy with. Lew’s aggressive and dominating style of training the team in every MMA aspect pisses off JDS, as well as the other trainers. Lew, for his part, truly believed that Lesnar did not care for his team, and that it was demonstrated during the last fight, when Brock had to go home for personal reasons. So Lew decided to take Team JDS under his tutelage and push the guys as he saw fit. JDS selected the next fight, matching Ramsey Jijem (4-0-0) against Team Lesnar’s Charlie Rader (15-4-0).
Team Lesnar joked about Ramsey Jijem being a goofball, as well as immature, vain, and always in need of attention, due to his penchant for stripping down naked, and his showing off of freshly-painted sparkly pink toenails. Ramsey is a wrestler by trade, as is Charlie Rader, so Brock decided to invite UFC Hall of Famer and Former UFC Champion Matt Hughes to the camp to provide some coaching and training to his team, in the hopes that it would build team spirit. Charlie seemed slightly hesitant about the fight with Ramsey, but his teammates explained to Charlie that he had much better striking, and could just knock Ramsey out.
Since both fighters had wrestling as their predominant skill, the fight had the possibility of being either exciting, with Charlie showing off his standup, or quite boring. The fight between the two proved to be the latter. Round 1 included some striking, as Ramsey got Charlie against the cage, and both fighters threw some knees, but nothing exciting really happened.
Round 2 again started with a little striking, and once again Ramsey managed to get Charlie against the cage in a clinch, with a few knees exchanged by both fighters before Charlie took Ramsey down to the ground. However Ramsey quickly reversed, taking control over the ground position, and attempting a submission, a rear naked choke. Though it was not deep at all, Charlie tapped quickly to avoid any strain.
Brock was furious with this loss, as well as the method. It was very obvious the RNC was not deep at all, and that Charlie tapped as soon as Ramsey got his hooks in. No heart. Brock believed that his entire team had no heart and they were “chicken shit.” “So you want to be an Ultimate Fighter,” was Brock’s taunt to the guys.
This week Team Lesnar came apart at the seams. After Brock let his team know how he felt about their performance, Brock’s number one pick, Len Bentley, became visibly upset, and left the room muttering in disbelief because he felt that he had heart and put up a good fight. The team also believed that Chris Cope was spying for Team JDS because of how intensely he watched his teammates train; Cope’s behavior made his teammates worry about him spilling their training secrets. Later, around a pit fire in the back of the house, the guys asked Cope what was going on. and Cope denied any spy action. However, his facial expressions and general demeanor told another story; the guys still didn’t trust or believe him.
On the other side of the building Team JDS retained control, but when wrestling coach Lew Polley once again dominated the training of all MMA aspects, JDS became a little upset with him for ignoring the request to work as a team. This week Team JDS picked Michael “Mick” Bowman (7-2-0) to face Clay Harvison (6-1-0). Both guys are strikers, so this stood to be a stand up extravaganza.
Round 1 included both guys in the center of the octagon throwing strikes until Mick tried to take it to the ground. After a struggle which put both fighters on the ground and Clay on top, both men chose to stand rather than continue in unfamiliar territory. As the striking battle continued, Clay demonstrated tighter combinations and dominated with knees, ultimately displaying better overall striking. Round 2 was characterized by Clay and Mick exchanging punches and knees, but nothing too exciting or aggressive. In this round Mick seemed energized while Clay seemed slightly tired, but Clay’s striking with combinations merited him the victory by decision. Clay’s victory made Brock very happy, and put his team in control.
On next week’s episode we will see whether Team Lesnar can win again, or if they fall victim to house drama. Wednesday at 9pm on Spike TV when The Ultimate Fighter saga continues.
