Thursday, September 25, 2008

TUF 8 Episode 2 Recap and Week Rundown

This week on TUF we saw the last 8 fights to determine who enters the house. They wasted no time getting right into the fights so I won't waste any time either:

John Polakowski v. Wesley Murch: This fight really wasn't all that impressive for Polakowski who flip flopped with Murch in round 1 until Murch landed a brutal leg kick at the end of the round that actually broke his own shin. Therefore John won by default. I'm thinking John will be the house clown this season considering all the hugs he gave out at the end of his win.

Shane Primm v. Sean O'Connell: Primm looked really good and is my pick to face KS in the light heavyweight finals. Primm had solid Muy Thai and Jiu Jitsu. He needs to work on his wrestling but is comfortable off his back so it's not a bad thing necessarily if Primm gets taken down as he proved in this fight by sweeping O'Connell and finishing him off with a rear naked choke.

Efrain Escudero v. Ido Pariente: Efrain looked alright in this fight showing considerable ground skills before finishing off Ido with another choke.

Tom Lawlor v. Ryan Lopez: If you looked at the two Lopez was the sure favorite. He was an absolute physical specimen, probably the most beastly guy on the show. But looks are deceiving and Lawlor made quick work of him with great stand up that knocked Lopez down and then Lawlor finished off with a choke. Lawlor is another serious contender at 205.

George Roop v. Roli Delgado: In the battle of bean poles Roop had the better stand up and ultimately won the decision because of it. Roop should look better against smaller opponents but he won a sloppy fight to get in the house.

Ryan Bader v. Kyle Kingsbury: Bader showed superior wrestling and Jiu Jitsu controlling the whole fight until he finished Kyle off with an arm triangle (which by the way has to be my favorite submission move). However, Kyle put up a very good fight (even if he looked stupid doing it after shaving a design into his chest and back hair) and with the rash of injuries he may get invited back.

Shane Nelson v. Charles Diaz: Diaz had talked a lot of smack but couldn't back it up in the cage getting rolled by Nelson in a decision.

Karn Grigoryan v. Eliot Marshall: This was a tough fight and the only fight to go 3 rounds. It was a very back and forth battle with both guys sharing control on the ground but Marshall had the best of it on the feet. For that reason I thought Marshall won the fight but apparently the judges rewarded Karn's aggressiveness even though he looked like the only guy that got in a fight between the two and he won a split decision.

Fortunately for Marshall Antwain Britt broke his hand and had to leave the show so Marshall was invited to stay on. It's too bad for Britt but I was happy for Marshall considering I thought he won the fight. Next week will finally see the guys get put on teams, move into the house, train, and see the first real fight. It should be an interesting season. There's still too many shenanigans alluded to in the preview which I'm sick of but I think this season should be great in terms of fights. I think almost everyone in the house has some talent and the 205 lb class has three legit contenders. The lightweight division is wide open to see who can meet Junie in the finals. They also alluded to two more fighters coming back due to injuries and I think Kyle Kingsbury will definitely be one but I'm interested to see who else the coaches and Dana thought was good enough to come back. The show was ended perfectly with an outtake from Dana White talking about how you lose on the show:

"You don't vote guys off on The Ultimate Fighter you have to beat each other off... that didn't sound good did it?"

And I will leave it at that.

On the weekend wrap up there were two events this week, the Strikeforce event at the Playboy Mansion and Dream 6:

Strikeforce:

Trevor Prangley defeated Anthony Ruiz by decision. After Prangley was a casualty of the Affliction delay it's good to see him stay busy and get a win in which should only help his stock and momentum before returning to Affliction.

Mitsuhiro Ishida defeated Justin Wilcox by arm bar. Ishida made a big entrance on to American soil with this victory that should bring him more opportunities state side which I am excited about.

Terry Martin defeated Cory Devela by TKO. This was a nice bounce back fight for Martin after being knocked out by Vitor Belfort at the Affliction event.

Josh Thomson defeated Ashe Bowman by TKO in a non title fight.

Kasuo Misaki defeated Joe Riggs by TKO in what was his second American fight. This marked another strong Japanese arrival on American soil which I'm also very excited about. I'm hoping these two wins will draw more top Japanese fighters to American promotions. They have a lot of strong fighters and a great fighting tradition that I hope we get more opportunities to see here in the states.

Dream 6:

Sergei Kharitonov defeated tomato can Jimmy Ambriz (a last second replacement) by TKO in his first fight in a year.

"Punk" Minowa lost in a shocking upset by heel hook to Masakatsu Funaki.

Hayato Sakurai defeated Kuniyoshi Hironaka in less than stellar fashion by decision.

Shinya Aoki won by submission over Todd Moore in a bounce back fight after losing the Dream lightweight grand prix finals.

Mirko "Cro Cop" and Alistair Overeem ended on a NC after two sets of illegal groin strikes to Cro Cop. It was a poor showing for both fighters and was a massive disappointment to the Japanese fans who adore both of these fighters.

Gegard Mousasi defeated Ronaldo Souza by KO to win the inaugural Dream middleweight title.

Alright folks you should be all caught up now on the world of MMA. Stay tuned for my TUF recap next week as well as my preview of the next EliteXC card on CBS Saturday night. Until then,

Soccer kicks and head stomps...

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