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Welcome back to the Fun House Mirror, the show that thought it was getting out, but something always seemed to pull it back in.
This week we have the season premiere of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season 12. This is traditionally the show where the they run through a ton of first round matches where the winners advance into the house.
Also, traditionally, people with good reputations and long winning records are not paired with each other, but given "tomato cans" (lightly thought of fighters).
Will there be blood? Will there be knockouts? Let's find out.
This season it will be team Josh Koscheck (season one alumni) versus team George St-Pierre (GSP). I sense they will try to play up a heel verses face dynamic with GSP the techinco and Josh the rudo. And, they will.
The season will feature 28 fighters in the light weight division (under 155 pounds). This means that they will repeat last season's wild card slot to get into the round of eight.
The fighters walk in to the octagon room and we get comments from Pablo Garza who has a record of 7-0 in MMA, and Nam Phan (16-7).
Dana White (DW) gives his usual introduction speech and drops his usual number of f-bombs. The wild card match will be between two people who lost in the first round but showed potential. Maybe DW should go all the way and say they showed Japanese style proper fighting spirit.
We then get a montage of the fighters getting taped up to fight and warming up.
And, it's action time as Marc Stephens (12-5) squares off against TJ "The Spider" O'Brian (14-3). Marc has wrestled for Josh in Buffalo, but Josh barely remembers him. TJ is tall for 155 pounds.
However, Josh will remember Marc now as Marc knocks TJ down with an overhand right counter and pounds him out in 13 seconds.
Spencer Paige (7-2) faces off against Steve Magdaleno (6-2). Spencer boasts of his stand up game, while Steve boast of a well rounded game and looks for a tap out win.
Spencer page wins the fight by decision 20-18. It looked like he was in trouble in the second round because Steve had him down for most of the round. However, Spencer made it two his feet and Steve tried for a belly to belly suplex but had it stuffed which cost him the round.
It's Nam Phan (16-7) versus Mike Budnik (8-4) next. Nam comes from a traditional martial arts background. Mike is 35 years old and has professional skate boarding and jujitsu on his resume. Mike envisions a TKO at the three minute mark.
This is an interesting bout. Both sides show lots of resilience on the ground and they trade take down for a while. Finally, Nam hits a body shot that drops Mike like a ton of bricks. Nam pounds him out for the TKO.
Then it's highlights time for some quicker results:
Jason Benton (6-0) vs Andy Main (4-1) - Andy Main with triangle choke.
Ran Weathers (13-7) vs Johnathon Brookins (11-2) - Brookins controls Weathers with wrestling and wins by decision 20-18.
Toby Grear (7-4-1) vs Sako Chivitchian (5-0) - Sako also controls Weathers with wrestling and wins by decision 20-18. Sako is so happy he could just barf. And, does.
Jeffery Lentz (6-1) takes on Daniel Head (7-2). GSP crosses out Lentz before the match even starts! This turned out to be a mistake as Lentz dominates the fight with overwhelming ground and pound, at one point landing 14 unanswered punches before ending the fight with a rear naked choke.
Paul Barrow (3-0) locks it up with Alex Caceres (4-2). Alex's nickname is Bruce LeRoy. Alex predicts victory with a smile.
Bruce LeRoy wins with a pro wrestling sleeper hold applied to a standing opponent. And, as he predicted, he didn't stop smiling once during the fight.
Back to the highlights:
Pablo Garza (7-0) vs Michael Johnson (8-4) - Johnson wins 20-18 with ground and pound.
Aaron Wilkenson (6-3) vs Michael Richman (8-0) - The UK's Wilkenson used his ground game to get a 20-18 decision.
Joesph Duffy (7-0) vs Kyle Watson (13-6-1) - Kyle Watson wins by rear naked choke. Watson studies fighting at Matt Hughes' camp.
JJ Ambrose (12-2) vs Sevak Magakian (8-3) - Sevak wins by a 20-18 decision but almost had his arm ripped off by a kimura at one point in the fight.
Cody McKinie (10-0) goes to war against Amir Khillah (6-4). Cody is a commercial fisherman in Alaska. Amir represents Egypt. Cody predicts that he will win suddenly with a special trick move.
True to his word, Cody "Deaner?" McKinie wins with a guillotine choke that puts Amir out cold. Cody has his own variation of the guillotine that works as a sleeper as well as a choke.
Dane Sayers (7-1) gets down with Ariel Sexton (6-2). Dane is a Blackfoot and wants to represent. Ariel is a jujitsu black belt.
Dane doesn't want to touch gloves. This is because he start with a running jumping knee. Dane looks like he runs out of gas in the first round but a botched throw attempt by Ariel allows him to finish the first round on top.
They do touch gloves in the second round. In the second round Dane again appears to be out of gas, but he might have been playing possum as he puts Ariel away with a pro wrestling sleeper hold aided by a leg scissors from a standing position.
DW then gives his traditional congratulations speech to the winners.
So, no one got a crimson mask and no one had to take the ambulance ride.
They then have teasers for the rest of the season, promising wild action out of the ring (which will probably not amount to much).
So, which fighters showed proper professional wrestling form?
4) Josh Koscheck who just looks like a jackass chick poop heel. Which is appropriate because he has ALWAYS been one.
3) Dane Sayers for using the Chief Jay Strongbow sleeper rather than actually choking out his opponent, and refusing to comply with the code of honor at the start of his bout.
2) Alex "Bruce LeRoy" Caceres who was, as Marc Capowich points out, ballin' in his MVP style power rangers yellow suit, and who also learned who to do a rear naked choke from Chief Jay Strongbow.
1) Cody McKinie for having his own innovated move (like the Chikara special) and for looking like a luchador mini mascot for Southern Justice.
