I decided that I will write an exclusive weekly review on The Ultimate Fighter 9, giving my play by play on everything from what goes on inside of the Ultimate Fighter Season 9 house to a weekly recap of each of the mixed martial art battles between the US and the UK. You will find that being an MMA Punk I am extremely opinionated in my Mixed Martial Art reviews as well as in my fight predictions for UFC, Ultimate Fighter and just about any MMA event. I am confident that you will not always agree with my opinions, my Ultimate Fighter reviews or my fight predictions. I am also confident that we will have some excellent comments and feedback from everyone that comes by MMA Punk.com. I am excited about the opportunity to write about a sport that I am a huge fan of and have been from the days of UFC 1.
Tonight they opened up the second Ultimate Fighter 9 episode giving some insight into how Dan Henderson became the coach of the US Team for Ultimate Fighter. Dan Henderson seems to share the same opinion as I have in regards to what he would like to see the US Team to do Team UK. Unlike the UK fighters however, the US fighters start out with three issues right off the bat… One fighter (Pierce) passed out, another fighter John David-Shackelford was sent packing with a Herpes lesion on his forehead and Christian failed to make weight which is beyond f*cking pathetic. Dana White said it best in one of his interviews when he said, “It’s season 9!” why don’t these guys understand that this is the shot of a lifetime? Why the hell are you trying to make weight on the first day, you knew you were going there to fight and be in a specific weight class right? Morons. At this point the UK team looks much hungrier and serious than the American Team (US Team) does, hopefully this will change quickly.
The first fight of the night features Mark Miller vs Kevin Knabjian, both fighters are training partners and very good friends which should make this an interesting battle. Round one started off with Mark Miller having his hands really low with both fighters throwing some solid strikes and kicks throughout. Mark Miller continued to throw some serious leather throughout the entire round, he does seem to be getting tired however his strikes are landing more effectivley than Kevin’s strikes are.
Kevin Knabjian dropped Mark Miller early in the second and quickly pounced on Mark Miller, Kevin also tried for an ankle lock which Miller somehow escaped. Miller dropped Kevin and continued the barrage with a nasty upercut and continued strikes to the head. Mark Miller advances due to referee stoppage, TKO Victory. Excellent fight.
Richie Whitson vs Paul Bird – Paul Bird made it very clear that he didn’t want this fight standing up as he immediately tried for and had success with constant take downs. Richie Whitson continued to escape the take down attempts and a rear naked choke attempt and quickly began hitting Paul Bird with some heavy hands, which continued into elbows on the ground. This fight comes to a close with Richie Whitson taking Paul Bird’s back and tapping him out with a rear naked choke.
Waylon Lowe vs Santino Defranco – The longer I watch this fight the longer I wonder why the ref did not just stop the fight, Waylon took Santino down early and continued with constant elbows and punches to the head. Santino continued to lay in a fetal position covering his head. To end the round Santino stayed down after the bell rang and hardly looked enthusiastic about heading into the second round. Santino hit Waylon with a nasty knee to open the second round and jumped on Waylon and quickly wrapped it up with a rear naked choke Tapout.
Berger vs Jason Pierce – Dana White commentated through short clips of this fight, all of which looked beyond boring. Jason Pierce ended up winning on the judges score cards after three rounds of sleepy action.
Cameron Dollar vs Tom Hayden – Dana also did commentary on this fight as well, which started out with Tom Hayden taking Cameron Dollar to the ground and delivering endless punches to the head. The second round begins much the same way for Cameron Dollar, however at some point Dollar slips out the back door and throws an excellent rear naked choke on Hayden causing him to go to sleep. Cameron Dollar moves into the house.
Damarques Johnson vs Ray Elbe – Damarques and Elbe spend the early part of the fight exchanging kicks (Elbe) for solid jabs from Johnson. Elbe tries taking Damarques to the ground which backfires tremendously causing Johnson to rain down vicous elbows and punches from the full mount. Ray Elbe ends up a pretty lucky fighter when the ref pulls the plug and awards Damarques Johnson with the impressive win.
As of right now and as much as I hate to say it, the UK fighters were much more aggressive and seemed much more comfortable having heavy handed battles. The US Team certainly has a few bright spots which can turn into big gains if they can find a way to match the aggressiveness of the UK Team which is led by Michael Bisping. Don’t forget I will also be posting my Ultimate Fighter 9: US vs UK Week 3 review next week. Comment and let us know what you think about the current season of The Ultimate Fighter, which airs on Spike TV every Wednesday at 10pm est.
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