K*Lovely's TUF 12 Recap episode 6

This episode begins with Johnson getting stretched out in the other team’s dressing room. Koscheck is giving Johnson a hard time telling by telling him things like he’s fat, out of shape etc. Of course the moment Johnson starts dishing it back out to him and the other coaches they give him the boot. How typical, they dish it out but can’t take it.


Team Koscheck is sitting around discussing, for the first time, how they should pick the next fight. The coaches start talking things over with Marc Stevens about McKenzie and Sayers. The team seems a bit concerned about him fighting McKenzie. They ask him if he can stay away from the guillotine and Koscheck states that no matter how McKenzie acts and looks, he knows how to win. Stevens is confident that he could beat McKenzie but he’s had it in his head that he would fight Dane. Either way Stevens is sure with either opponent he will win.

Back at the house Johnson is still upset how the yellow team acted after their first team win. What do you expect though? Koshcheck’s douche-ness has to rub off on the fighters. I do have to say that Steven’s dance was pretty entertaining. Later in the evening Koscheck comes by the house to help in the celebration. When he gets there you can see his teammate’s chest get a little bigger. While he’s there, he and Johnson continue to have words. Koscheck continues on with calling Johnson fat and out of shape. Johnson argues with him for a bit and tells him he right on point with weight and then he asks him why he’s being a dick. Of course, Koscheck doesn’t feel he’s being a dick at all. So what do you call a coach who encourages his teammates to rub a victory in their opponents face….a nice guy, a role model? Face it Koscheck, you’re a dick. It would have been funny if you fell on your ass when you were jumping of that ledge. Yeah, I saw that!

Koscheck makes the next fight announcement and it will be Marc Stevens against Cody McKenzie. After the announcement Cody does some sort of chin check to Koscheck. This upsets the members of team yellow. I can understand why they are angry. I think its right for any of the fighters to put their hands on any of the coaches. The coaches are there to help you succeed and they should be respected. Yes, even Koscheck deserves that respect.

We start to learn a little about Cody. He starts talking about how un-athletic he is, how little he knows about wrestling, but when the time comes he’ll be ready to grab a neck if given the opportunity. I think he had one of the best lines of the episode. He said “I like to have good times and I like fighting.” Who could argue with that?

At the training center Koscheck and the other coaches talking with Stevens and their biggest point is for Stevens not to shoot in and get put in a position where he’d get caught in a guillotine. Stevens is beyond confident that he will not get caught in McKenzie’s infamous guillotine.

The boys jump on the scale, make weight, and now it’s time to fight.

MARC STEVENS vs. CODY McKENZIE

Before the fight begins Stevens holds up his glove to McKenzie to see if they’re going to touch gloves and McKenzie shacks his head no. Fight starts and McKenzie comes charging toward Stevens. He throws a quick punch that backs Stevens up a bit and then throws a kick. Stevens blocks the kick and goes for a double leg takedown. On the way down McKenzie gets a hold of Stevens’s neck and before you can blink McKenzie has chocked Stevens out with the guillotine.

After the fight Koscheck was in disbelief. He stood there shocked and all he could do is pull out some chapstick and apply it to his lips. He says that the loss gave him an “eewie” feeling. He’s calling the other team dorks but he uses the word “eewie.” C’mon Son!

In McKenzie’s dressing room GSP is talking to his fighters. He’s reminding them not to get cocky. He says that kind of attitude always comes back to hurt you and there is no place on his team for that nonsense.

Back in Stevens’s dressing room, you could hear the crickets because it was completely silent. Everyone was down in spirit and had no words but Pham breaks the silence with a “WOW”

With no time to waste GSP makes the next fight announcement. It will be Jonathan Brookins and Sevak Magakian. GSP feels Brookins is his secret weapon and nobody, not even Brookins, knows how good he is.

Brookins likes meditation and seems to be a very mellow dude. He still considers himself a baby in the sport. GSP seems very impressed with Brookins. Unfortunately, during training GSP and Brookins heads collide and GSP is cut above his eye and needs stitches.

Koshcheck attempts another lame prank on GSP by hiding one of his sandals. While GSP is looking for his sandal Koscheck happens to notice the cut and begins his trash talk. All GSP heard was “blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” GSP just let it slide and found his sandal and moved on.

Next we get to see some of Sevak’s training. He is a lot more intense than Brookins. He likes the hard training and fighting. He has a lot of power and Kos feels him and Sevak are similar in their styles and personality.

JONATHAN BROOKINS vs. SEVAK MAGAKIAN

Sevak throws a hard punch to start the round. The punch misses but he follows it up with a high kick. Sevak looks like he’s going in for the clinch but Brookins throws Sevak. Sevak tries to work from the botton but Brookins gets his back and uses the fence to get a much better position there. They hold the position for a while and Sevak is trying to fight Brookins off. Sevak goes to block a punch so Brookins uses the opportunity to sneak in a arm and gets a rear naked choke on Sevak.

This episode had two great fights and next week we get to see the coaches challenge. I always look forward to those and really have all the faith that, like the fight in December, GSP will win.

That’s it for me folks. Don’t forget that UFC 121 is this Saturday! We will be tweeting live from the weigh-ins on Friday and from the fights Saturday night (@woMMAn). Make sure to give us a follow. Check us out on Mondays http://wommanthoughts.blogspot.com for my weekly Rampage thought, not to mention our recaps on the latest fights and sometimes just plain silliness. You can always check out my TUF 12 recap on http://fisttacuff.com . Remember people, always keep it real. I’m out!!!



K*Lovely

T-Dubb's TUF 12 Week 5 Recap

Wednesday's episode was less dramatic than the previous week's, although Bruce Leroy tried to pull a prank and pissed off the one person who’s really talking to him. I don’t understand the need to mess with people. It’s not like you’re locked in a padded room with a bunch guys and have absolutely nothing to do. You’re only there for a few weeks, so get over yourself. Koscheck is just as bad. I don’t get him at all. What is he trying to do, prove that he’s a jackass? We already know that, so he’s just proving us right. He tells his team that they need to be focused and work hard, listen to your coaches, and then he acts like a 2 year old the entire time. How can you take someone like that serious? And he’s not funny.


It’s great that each team has the opportunity to work with and talk to people that they admire. Koscheck team had the pleasure to work with Jon Fitch, who K*lovely loves, and Mr. Liddell graced them with an appearance that had the guys cheesin’ all over. They probably had the same look on their faces that K*Lovely and I had when we meet Liddell for the first time in Vegas. Such a great memory. We’re such dorks. I don’t know about you all, but I really like GSPs French friend Jean Charles Skarbowsky. He doesn’t look like an athlete of any caliber, but he handled the guys like they were rag dolls.

Ladies, did you notice the nice camera shot of GSP shirtless? I’m sure you did. How could you not notice? You know they purposely put that in there for us to drool over. How many times did you rewind? You can look, but just remember he’s mine.

Spence Paige vs Nam Pham

This week’s match up was Spence Paige vs Nam Pham. Round 1, Paige dominated most of the round. He consistently throw punches and leg kick’s to Pham’s legs and body, while Pham was throwing 1-2 punches or kicks for every 5 that Paige threw. Towards the end of the round, Pham blocked a kick, which took Paige down to the ground for ground and pound punishment and a submission attempt until the bell.

Round 2, begins with much of the same stuff as the 1st, but you can see after the first 30 seconds Paige is hurt. He was more defensive than offensive, much of what he tried to do didn’t land, and he you could tell that he was just trying to survive the round. Pham wins the fight, which sucks for GSP’s team, because of course Koscheck and his team did nothing but gloat. You have an immature leader, you celebrate in immature ways. Getting back to the fighters. I liked both. Personally, I prefer guys who are disciplined in multiple skills. Pretty much all we really saw were punches, some kicks, and a submission attempt. These guys are young and still have time to develop.

Well, I really hope that GSP’s team wins the remaining fights, because it is ridiculous that Koscheck is acting this way. I guess this is some type of motivating therapy for his team and part of their acting classes. Next week will probably be “How to Act Like a Jackass Part 2.”

We’ll see on Wednesday what happens.

T-Dubb

K*Lovely's TUF 12 Recap episode 4

The show opens up with highlights from the previous episode where we saw Michael Johnson become victorious and kept Team GSP in control. During the highlights we see that members from Koscheck’s team are a bit upset at Caceres for yelling things like “beat the shit out of him” during the match. They felt as if that was disrespectful and unprofessional. I suppose he could have used a better choice of words but in the heat of the moment people can say just about anything.


They head back to the dressing room and Tyson is giving a pep talk to the team on confidence and telling them to never be “scurred” All of the guys are listening closely, including the coaches. Having someone of that caliber come in and talk with the team is certainly exciting and the gleam in all of their eyes proved it.

Moving on to training, it’s Koscheck’s team up first. He is reminding the team they are down 2-0 and that is unacceptable. Koscheck is kicking up the notch in training and is really pushing the team. This time around the team has no complaints. They are angry and seem very motivated. I agree with Koscheck, hard work does pay off.

Back at the house Sevak is still upset over Bruce Leroy’s actions at the fight. What I find funny is pretty much all of the guys are outside, including Bruce Leroy, and Sevak and Lentz are talking loud enough for everyone to hear. It never occurred to them to have a man to man conversation with Alex and explain their frustrations. I think Alex reacted the way anyone would who heard crap being talked about them. He defended himself. As he continued to do so Sevak gets more and more irate. He finds the closest thing to him, which as a napkin and throws it at Alex and then gets up to rush him. Alex doesn’t flinch, but Nam Phan is there to hold Sevak back. It’s pretty funny to me how this kid can easily get into their heads. Smarten up fellows; don’t let him ruin your chance to play with the big boys. After it’s all said and done, Sevak goes back in the house to calm down and Alex finds it funny.

After the heated night the show moves on back to the gym. GSP is pulling up and to avoid confrontation he parks his car in a completely different area. Inside Koscheck asks him about the new parking spot and GSP says “I don’t want you prank me.” How can you not love GSP?

Now it’s time for GSP to make the fight announcement. He chooses Kyle Watson to fight Andy Main. Koscheck is happy with this match up and feels this is the fight where he will gain control. He feels Main is better than “old man Watson.”

Koscheck comes up with another attempt to get into GSP’s head. This time he is walking around in a Speedo telling his team that’s how they will train from now on. He says that must be the secret and GSP says it works. Koscheck asks GSP why he trains and fights in those, meanwhile he is standing there scratching his ass like some kind of hillbilly. You can tell GSP is not letting any of this get to him. Remember Koscheck, this is not GSP’s first rodeo.

Before the fights we hear Koscheck give his team their own pep talk. He is frustrated that they are losing close fights and he can’t stand “losing to a French guy.” He tells the team they need to start competeing the way they train in the gym. Koscheck has a one on one pep talk with Main and tells to believe in himself and the game plan for this fight is for him to be on top and to use his power against Watson. Main believes this is exactly the kind of motivation he needs to go into this fight.

I have to say I like when Danaher gives his analysis of the fights. He talks as if he is giving you some top secret spy information. It’s awesome! He explains the pressures both fighters have going into this fight. He say Watson is the “unofficial team captain” and the older of the group, the other team members look up to him and to keep the momentum. Main on the other hand has the pressure of coming up with his team’s first win. Danaher says that kind of anxiety can play with a fighter will and endurance. We see Team GSP do a little role play for Watson to help shake his nerves and it’s time for the fight.

KYLE WATSON VS. ANDY MAIN

Round 1

The fighter touch gloves and the striking begin. Each fighter gets some kicks in and Watson pushes Main against the fence. Main is able to get Watson’s back standing. Main is trying to sink in a rear naked choke and Watson has the tough job of supporting Main’s eight on his back and fight off the choke. Watson is trying to control his arm but Main is sneaking in some punches and elbows to Watson’s face. Main is slipping and Watson goes to the ground. As they scramble for position Main is now looking for an arm bar but Watson escapes that as well. Watson is able to get side control and lands a few good elbows, but Main is also active throwing punches of his own. The round ends with Watson on top.

Round 2

Main comes out with punches and kicks to start the round off. Watson moves in closer and Main hits him with a nice kick to the body that backs Watson up bit. Main then comes after him with a flying knee and the fighters stand and exchange. Watson gets the takedown and gets side control and starts dropping some elbows. Main is trying to get back to his feet but gives up his back. Main tries to fight him off but Watson sinks in a rear naked choke and Main taps. Team GSP is now 3 -0.

We see Koscheck throw the first mini fit of the season and kick a chair. He’s upset that Main did not stick to the game plan. He feels it as another close fight and if Main had stuck to the plan he could have won.

That wraps up another episode. You can check back here or http://fisttacuff.com for another recap every Thursday. We are also getting closer and closer to Rampage’s next fight so don’t forget to check back here on Monday’s for my weekly Rampage thought. We would love to hear your comments, predictions, gripes etc on Twitter (@woMMAn) so drop us a line. TTFN!!!

K*Lovely

T-Dubb's TUF 12 Week 4 Recap

The male ego was at its finest in this week’s episode. The episode begins in the Red Team’s locker, and shows all of the guys gathered around Mike Tyson, who is giving them a pep talk about confidence. It was a touching moment. Tyson is idealized by most of the guys there and they feel so fortunate to have Mike Tyson speak to them. I’m sure they each wanted to give Tyson a great big hug and say “I love you man.”


Back at the house you see some of the guys gathered around a table, trash talking about Bruce Leroy to Mike Johnson. Koschek’s team felt offended by want Alex Caceres was saying during Mike’s fight. I’m sure worse has been said in the season, and if you get offended by someone saying “fuck him up” then wear earplugs. Sevak Magakian seemed to have the biggest issue with Alex. Of course during the conversation, Alex comes in to talk smack back to them, and tempers flare. What you don’t expect is Sevak’s temper to go from puesdo angry to psycho irate within a split second. You can tell that a fight was going to break out, but it was like boom, chairs being pushed out of the way and Sevak going after Alex. He didn’t touch him, not sure if he would have cause someone pretty much tackled him before he could do anything, but he missed the basic steps of getting into each other’s face like they’re going to kiss, the shoving, and then the fight. I felt jipped out of what could have been a great climatic scene, cause Sevak was quick to jump the gun. It’s still early though, I’m sure there will be at least one other confrontation. Hopefully it’s GSP finally shutting up Koscheck. I can dream, right? Sevak just needs to chill out and walk way. Why let someone like Bruce Leroy, the cockiest of them all, get under your skin, make you lose your temper, and possibly lose your chance of being in the UFC? You’re just torturing yourself by letting Alex get in your head.

Ok, do we really need to discuss Koscheck? You already know how much I can’t stand him. He’s not funny, and yet he continuous to be childish and harass GSP for whatever reason. Whatever he was trying to accomplish by wearing those nasty draws of his, didn’t work. It just made us close one eye and look away in disgust, which is what I do whenever they show him anyways. He’s trying to get into GSP’s head piece by piece, but you can’t break perfection. He can’t get his team to win, his pep talks aren’t working and he can’t pierce GSP’s armor. If this keeps happening, will he finally realize that maybe he's the dork trying to act cool, and get over himself.

Kyle Watson vs. Andy Main

The fight begins with an exchange of strikes and kicks. The guys wind up against the fence, where Main mounts Watson’s back for about a minute so. Then they’re on the ground. After that not much happens. Watson tries to mount Main, and they pretty much work on their jiu jitsu skills with each for the remainder of the round. For round 2, Main comes out striking and kicking, while Watson is a bit hesitate and doesn’t really do anything until main began a full attack. Watson takes Main down to the ground and they struggle for a bit again, then Watson takes Mains back and eventually submits Main with a rear naked choke with a 1:39 in round. If Main didn’t allow for the takedown and forced Watson to stand up, he could have won, but he didn’t, so now GSPs team is 3-0.

Now, I don’t know why Koscheck is getting upset with his team, and throwing a fake mini tantrum. He’s training them to be like him…obnoxious and dramatic. We’ll see if Jon Fitch and Chuckie pooh can bring some excitement to the Yellow team. We’ll see.

That’s all folks, for now. Remember to let us know what you think of the season so far or on Twitter @woMMAn.

"Remember hard work pays off."


T-Dubb

K*Lovely's TUF 12 Recap episode 3

On the previous episode we saw GSP use trickery to get the first pick he wanted and we saw “Bruce Leroy” become victorious and advance to the next round. This show opens with Lentz and Caceres back at the house sharing in a post fight drink. Lentz seems to take his loss like a man. Alex on the other hand is doing some bragging and explaining how the kicks to the head hit his afro so he didn’t feel them. This seems to get under the skin of his housemates. I mean really….the kid is only 21 and came to the house with a gimmick. What were you expecting, maturity?


The show moves on to the training, and its Team GSP that is up first. GSP is happy with the win but says that winning is not the only thing he is there for. He says that the guys on his team are already great fighters, but he wants to transform them into martial artist. To help with this transformation he brings in Gia Sissaouri to help with their wrestling. He wanted his team to experience what it was like to train with a world class athlete. The way they showed him tossing the team around, I’m sure it was quite an experience for all of them but also a great lesson.

Now, it’s time for Team Koscheck’s training. Koscheck feels that after the loss, the team needs to regroup and get ready mentally. As he says this they show the team losing momentum. They are complaining about being tired, needing potty breaks, getting their ass kicked in training….blah, blah, blah. Suck it up boys, after 12 seasons you should already know it’s not easy. This attitude sparks a Koscheck speech to the team. The speech works and you see the team kick into high gear for the rest of the training.

Fight pick time! Gsp goes with his number 1 pick- Michael Johnson and the opponent they choose is Aaron Wilkinson. During the stare down Wilkinson continued to touch his nose. I didn’t understand that. Is that a fighter thing? GSP states that Johnson is the best athlete on the team and feels that the fighters’ styles will match up well. Wilkinson, as well as Koscheck, feels the other team is underestimating him. Wilkinson believes he is a better striker and is better on the ground than Johnson.

Now in this episode we see the practical joke played by the coaches. I think Koscheck wins the award for the LAMEST joke in TUF history. The only joy & laughter I got from this joke was hearing GSP cuss in that cute accent of his. Koscheck thought it would be funny to have the team park their cars close enough to GSP’s car on both sides so that he couldn’t get in. Well, plan failed. GSP was able to maneuver his way into his car. Somehow Koscheck thought this trick would get into GSP’s head. WRONG KOSCHECK!!! You better keep training because it’s going to take more than that lame joke to mess with GSP’s game.

How would you like to have enough pull to tell Dana that you’d like to have Mike Tyson come in and talk with your team? Well, GSP has that kind of pull. No need to toot your own horn GSP, I’ll toot it for you…toot toot!! Dana delivers and brings Tyson to the training center. When Tyson walks into Johnson’s dressing room you see everyone’s face light up. GSP talks about how Tyson was his idol growing up & how he used to play Mike Tyson’s Punchout. Johnson is honored to have him there and it motivates him even more to get the win. Unfortunately, Koscheck doesn’t have that kind of pull so Wilkinson only has his team to help motivate him. I did see Jon Fitch sitting in his dressing room though, so that’s a plus.

Michael Johnson vs. Aaron Wilkinson

Round 1

They come out and Johnson shows a couple of fake moves and then hits with a leg kick. He seems to get the control pretty early. They both start to exchange punches & get a few kicks in. Johnson lands a punch that pushes Wilkinson against the fence. Johnson gets a takedown but Wilkinson quickly gets up and the fighters are back in the center of the ring. They continue to have an even amount of punches and kicks. When Johnson goes in for another kick Wilkinson catches his foot and uses that to push Johnson up against the fence but he can’t keep him there. Johnson gets a nice takedown in the center of the ring but Wilkinson is getting up as Johnson is trying to get his back for a choke. Wilkinson scores his own takedown and starts landing some elbows and punches. You can see it on Johnson’s face, that is not a position he’s not comfortable with. Johnson does a pretty good job of protecting himsef but the round ends with Wilkinson on top.

Round 2

They start the round pretty much the same as the previous one. Johnson lands a nice punch to Wilkinson’s face and they are back up against the fence. They both deliver some knees and as Wilkinson moves away from the fence, Johnson lands some good body shots. They briefly clinch and Johnson gets a takedown and goes for a rear naked choke but can’t sink it. Wilkinson escapes but eats some punches doing so. Wilkinson starts to put the pressure on Johnson and he gets another takedown. He lands more elbows but this time around Johnson gets up much quicker. Once again the fighters are back to the stand up and Johnson is goes for another takedown. He gets Wilkinson against the fence and starts kneeing his legs. Wilkinson attempts a takedown but Johnson is able to stop it from happening. They end the round swinging. The judges score it and we are headed into a third round.

Round 3

In this round Johnson comes out with fire and is striking and Wilkinson goes down. Johnson is all over him as he drops and starts to nail him with the ground and pound. As Wilkinson struggles to escape he gives up his back and Johnson hooks in a rear naked choke for the win. Team GSP remains in control.

Koscheck felt that Wilkinson had controlled the fight and had won both rounds but the judges didn’t see it that way. It’s always heartbreaking to see the fighters come to tears after a tough loss. Koscheck gave Wilkinson a lot of credit for fighting his heart out when no one had given him a chance to win. I think his words were great comfort after a hard fight. There is always the wild card spot, so never count yourself out.

Well that wraps up another good episode of TUF. Next week looks to be just as good, as we see clips of “Bruce Leroy” pushing Sevak to the edge and of course we see another fight. Will GSP stay in control or will Team Koscheck come out with their first win?

Don’t forget tonight is the WEC Aldo vs. Gamburyan fight on Versus. There is so many great fights on this card and I’m excited.

We’d love to hear your thoughts, predictions, etc. You can always find us on Twitter (@woMMAn) with weigh in & fight updates. Check out http://wommanthoughts.blogspot.com on Mondays for the weekly Rampage thought and of course go back there or http://fisttacuff.com every Wednesday for a new TUF 12 recap. Keep it real people and see ya next week!



K*Lovely

K*Lovely's TUF 12 Recap episode 2

We are in the second week and this episode was filled with strategy, drinking, smoking, and of the course team picks. The show starts with the boys heading out to check out the new house they’ll call home for the next couple of weeks. The boys are impressed with the place and quickly race up to grab the best beds in the house. Stevens and McKenzie have no interest in that, they are distracted by the bar and decide that is the place to be. After the beds are picked naturally the next thing to do is to have a few shots, test out the pool and swap stories. They start off showing Lentz as the guy who will handle the liquor as well as the cigarettes. Apparently drinking and smoking is all part of his trickery because he says his cardio is on point. Now after this episode, I am even more convinced that I need to hang with Alex “Bruce Leroy”. He shared his stories about killing an alligator with his bare hands, wrestling a deer, and not to mention he killed it on a harmonica. He just oozes cool.


Now it’s time to get to a little business and the coaches pick their teams. They show Koscheck in the dressing room going over his picks and Michael Johnson is at the top followed by Marc Stevens. Koscheck likes Stevens because he’s cocky. Two peas in a pod right there. Now in GSP’s locker room Greg Jackson is offering him some advice. He tells GSP that if he should go with picking the first fighter, and like Koscheck he is eyeing Johnson as his first pick. Now not only is GSP super fine, he also has a brain and comes up with a good strategy to get Koscheck to waste a pick if he wins the toss and goes for 1st pick. GSP comes up with a fake list and puts Stevens on the top in big letters. At the gym GSP pretty much does everything he can to flash his list for Koscheck to see. Even Dana tells GSP that he’s flashing the list and the other team can see it. GSP tells him “It’s a strategy.” Koscheck wins the toss and opts to pick the first fighter. Silence falls for a second and Koscheck takes Marc Stevens as his first pick. DUMBASS! GSP played him like a trick pony and GSP gets Johnson, the 1st pick he wanted and he get to pick the fight. Dana gives it up to GSP and says “Well played.” Yes Dana well played indeed and just like their upcoming fight, Koscheck came up short and looked silly.

TEAM GSP: Michael Johnson, Jonathan “billy goat” Bookins (my nickname for him), Spencer Paige, Alex Caceres, Karl Watson, Cody McKenzie, Dane Sayers

TEAM KOSCHECK: Marc Stevens, Sevak Magakian, Sako Chivitchian, Andrew Main, Nam Phan, Aaron Wilkinson, Jeff Lentz

Let the training begin. First team they start off in training is GSP. He gives an awesome impression of the Sgt. Hartman speech from Full Metal Jacket. I think this is the first time we get to see just how much of a sense of humor GSP has. He explains that he believes his duties would best fit the team as a training partner and he’ll let Greg Jackson and John Danaher do the coaching. He is happy with his team and is looking forward to helping them learn new skills and improve the skills they have already.

Now Koscheck has a little different approach on his coaching tactics. Koscheck brought in Bob Cook, Daniel Cormier, and Teddy Lucio as his assistant coaches. He wants to push the guys into mindless training. His motivation for them is to win. He makes it very clear that he does not want to GSP at all, even though he has already been out smarted by him.

It’s time for GSP to pick the first fight. The first fight he picks is a doozy! He picks Alex “Bruce Leroy” Caceres vs. Jeff Lentz. GSP said that Alex had asked for this fight and since he seemed determined he wanted to give it to him. Koscheck is happy with this choice as well. He thinks this a good match up and that Lentz will win. You kind of get the feel that Koscheck is not giving Alex a chance in this fight. We get the normal “get to know the fighters” stuff. Alex explains that he is influenced by Bruce Lee and when he was 14 he was fortunate enough to find a gym that would let him train for free and that changed his life. He also got himself into wrestling. Lentz talks about his New Jersey pride and being that he is a Kurt Pellegrino look-a-like, it’s no surprise to me that’s who he trains with back home. Alex is doing a little sparring in the backyard with Sayers and as he puffs away on a cigarette, Lentz explains that he is not impressed. Alex dresses in a formal Chinese gi and rocks a Jedi braid that McKenzie thinks should go. Lentz changes his hair from red to blonde and the boys prepare to head out to battle

ALEX CACERES vs. JEFF LENTZ

Round 1

Alex comes out with some kicks to try and keep the distance from Lentz which works for a little while. Lentz starts in with kicks of his own and is able to push Alex up against the cage. They are both fighting for a good position against the cage and exchange a couple of knees. After a little more scrambling Alex gets on Lentz’s back and goes for a guillotine. Lentz is able to escape and the two end up on the mat here Alex goes the guillotine again. Lentz slips out of it and uses this to get Alex back up against the cage. The ref breaks them up and both fighters are back in the center. Alex continues with the kicks and Lentz decides to do the same. They continue with the kicks and throw in punches. Both of them land good shots but nothing damaging enough to finish the fight. In the final seconds of the fight Lentz gets in a sweet judo throw to end the round in a high note.

Round 2

Alex comes out again with his kicks and Lentz starts to time them and catches one and uses this to push Alex back against the cage. They scramble around for a bit and end up back on the mat but Lentz ends up on top in half guard. Alex is able to get into full guard and stop Lentz from hurting him and before you know it Alex is able to slip his legs in for a triangle. He hooks it in and Lentz lifts up and tries to slam Alex down and punch his way out of the choke but it doesn’t work. Instead of going to sleep, Lentz taps and “Bruce Leroy” prevails and moves onto the next round!!

GSP was all smiles after the fight and said he was happy to see Alex on the bottom instead of up against the cage. He knew Alex had a good triangle and could use that to win. Koscheck is disappointed and said that he saw the triangle coming. Now how can you not like Alex? Even Dana likes this kid and was happy to see him win.

Overall I thought it was a good episode and a good fight. I’m looking forward to next week’s episode. Let’s see if Team GSP can stay in control of the fights. Don’t forget folks that UFC 119 is on Saturday with a list of great fights. Make sure to check out http://wommanthoughts.blogspot.com for the TUF recaps as well as the weekly Rampage thought.

K*Lovely

T-Dubb's TUF 12 Episode 2 Recap

I love, love, love GSP. He had me applauding and laughing at the start of this episode. Koscheck, such a chump.  Thought you were slick didn’t you.  The fake list was classic.  That’s something K*Lovely and I would do in a competition.  M&Ms hoochie!! I thought no way Koscheck would fall for such a simple trick.  But hey, he’s not paid to be smart. Now, I have to double check last week’s episode, but I thought Koscheck didn’t remember Marc Stevens, and now they’re admitting to coaching him before.  Things that make you go hmmm.

So everyone knows that the 2 teams will experience very different coaching strategies.  Koscheck calls his coaching style “mindless,” where they roll around and he jumps in to show them something.  Is there going to be some strategy or control lessons in the sessions?  Aren’t the fights 50% physical and 50% mental?  Also, I thought that there was going to be 1 or 2 acting lessons mixed in with the training sessions.  Not much to say about GSP’s team, except that they’re lucky SOBs.  I want to roll around with GSP in those tight shorts.  Besides that, these guys will have an opportunity to learn from some of the best coaches and Mr. GSPrefect.  They’ll get to experience what GSP does on a daily basis, how technical his training is, and his thought process on how to dominate an opponent of any caliber.

So, Koscheck said that if you sit down and have a conversation with him, you’ll fall in love with him.  Ok, hell naw, I will not fall in love with Koscheck.  I wouldn’t be able to get past the fakeness and the hair.  You’re labeled based off your actions and what you portray to the public.  What I’ve seen is cockiness and a fake ass.

Alex Caceres v Jeffrey Lentz

This was an excellent match up and first fight.  I thought it was fitting that these 2 were matched up image wise, good guy vs bad guy, similar to their coaches.  Lentz convincingly dominated the 1st round by keeping Caceres up against the fence, utilizing leg kicks, and has an impressive throw at the last few seconds of the round.  Caceres had several guillotine attempts but nothing came of them. 2nd round started out much the same as the 1st.  Lentz had Caceres up against the fence, and Caceres attempted another guillotine.  They wind up on the ground, with Lentz on top.  There were a few elbows by Lentz, but Caceres was able to get Lentz in a triangle choke for the tap out, and wins with 2:30 left in the 2nd.

Can’t take anything away from Lentz, he could have won this fight if he didn’t get caught up in the chokes.  Both fighters have the potential to have a good career ahead of them if they continue to improve.

That’s all I have for you.  Don’t forget to tweet us your thoughts (@woMMAn).  We’d love to hear what you think of the season so far.

Bye for now,

T-Dubb

K*Lovely's TUF 12 Recap episode 1

Finally the time has come and a brand new season of The Ultimate Fighter is upon us. I couldn’t be happier that we get a full season of GSP as a coach; unfortunately that means a full season of watching Koscheck as well. Like they say, you have to take the good with the bad. As usual the hopefuls enter the gym and meet Dana as well as their new coaches. Dana gives his “give it everything you got” speech and also announces that the wild card is back in motion. Last season McCray made it to the finals with his wild card spot so this news should be encouraging.


You can’t help but to love the fact the show kicks off with the boys having to fight their way into the house. It gets straight down to business and the shenanigans come later. The first fight is Marc Stevens vs T.J. O’Brien. In his pre interview Stevens says that he has worked with Koscheck before, but when Dana asks Koscheck, he says he’s never seen him fight. Stevens ends up taking the quickest knock out award with this fight. He lands a right hand that drops O’Brien and Stevens just continues the punishment until the ref jumps in. Stevens jumps on the cage and yells to Koscheck “Remember me now?” On to the next fight which is Spencer Paige vs. Steve Magdaleno. Now I think Paige deserves an award as well. He is the first fighter I’ve seen walkout to the cage in jeans. Yes, I notice everything. This fight goes the distance but Paige wins by decision due to his good ground and pound game.

Third fight is Nam Phan vs. Mike Budnik. Budnik comes out and delivers a few leg kicks, gets Phan against the cage and then takes him down. They scramble a bit on the ground and Phan goes for some submissions as well as delivering some punches, but Budnik lets him back up. Phan puts the pressure on a little bit and starts throwing some punches and Budnik goes for the takedowns. They go back and forth for a bit, then Phan lands a liver shot and that drops Budnik. Phan starts to unload on Budnik as he’s down and Budnik can’t recover. Phan makes his way into the house with a TKO victory.

After that fight they move on and just show the highlights of some of the remaining fights. Next up were Andy Main and Jason Brenton. From the highlights these two had their fair share of punches, kicks and submission attempts. In the end Main gets into the house with a triangle choke victory over Brenton.

Next fight was Ron Weathers and Jonathan Brookins. Brookins goes into this fight looking to punish and finish his opponent. This fight goes to decision and Brookins takes the win. In his interview Brookins felt he should have done more in the fight but is anxious for his next fight.

Up next we had Toby Grear and Sako Chivitchian. Now the Ultimate Fighter just wouldn’t be the same if there wasn’t any puking. Thanks to Sako we get plenty of it. Sako gets the decision and is the house. Jeff Lentz and Daniel Head were up next and GSP crossed Lentz off his list right away. Maybe it was the hair, but he told Dana he didn’t think Lentz would make it. As perfect as I find GSP, in this case he was wrong. Lentz delivered a good ole fashioned ass whooping on Head then sunk in a rear nake choke for the victory. After the victory Koscheck lets Lentz know that GSP had crossed him out before the fight started and Lentz said “never count me out.” For the record GSP did man up and admit that he was wrong about Lentz and made the mistake of crossing him out early.

Now ever since I saw the previews for this season I have been excited to see "Bruce Leroy" Alex Caceras. When Alex came out he was sporting the yellow Bruce Lee suit and Koscheck said he came out looking like a banana. Excuse me Koscheck, what the hell do you think you look like sitting there with your horrid blonde hair and your yellow jersey? That’s the pot calling the kettle black right there. During the entire fight "Bruce Leroy" had a smile on his face and made his way into the house with rear naked choke. He is so excited he runs out of the cage, but Dana reminds him to step back in and get his hand raised for the victory.

Next we have Pablo Garza and Michael Johnson. This fight goes to decision and Johnson takes the victory. Aaron Wilkinson is the next to make it into the house with his decision victory over Mike Richman. Wilkinson is from the UK and Koscheck seemed to be impressed by his ground work.

After showing a UK fighter, naturally it’s time to see an Irishman. Joseph Duffy however is not as lucky and losses to Kyle Watson by rear naked choke. Watson is the first to state he can’t wait to start some shenanigans. At least he’s honest, right? Next fighter to make it in is Sevak Magakian with a decision victory over J.J Ambrose.

The last 2 fights left are shown in their entirety. First up are Cody McKenzie and Amir Khillah. Mckenzie is an Alaskan fisherman with a trick up his sleeve. Before the fight begins GSP tell Dana that he predicts McKenzie will win by guillotine. GSP has heard his name before and knows that this is what he’s known for. Well, McKenzie delivered. Khillah was able to avoid the first attempt but couldn’t escape the second. McKenzie told the ref that he was asleep and McKenzie advances.

Last fight of the night is between Dane Sayers and Ariel Sexton. Sayers makes it a point to let his opponent know that he does not want to touch gloves at the beginning of the round. He comes out darting from his corner with a jumping knee but misses. Sayers then goes for a guillotine but can’t sink it in tight enough. Sexton gets some punches in but Sayers is able to get him down briefly and even get Sexton’s back, but just isn’t able to lock anything in. Sayers slams Sexton to the ground but he is able to get back up quickly and starts landing some good punches and even gets in a good knee. Toward the end of the round Sayers starts to look gassed and the accidental low blow by Sexton didn’t help. Dana predicts that Sayers will lose in the second round. Second round starts and Sexton is a little more aggressive. He comes out and lands punch after punch that pushes Sayers up against the cage. They exchange some knees and Sayers attempts a guillotine that looked good but Sexton was able to escape. They get back to their feet but Sexton gives up his back and this time Sayers is able to sink in a standing guillotine and he is the last fighter to make it in the house.

I am looking forward to what I hope is an exciting season of TUF. Of course you won’t hear me complain knowing that I have a date with GSP every Wednesday night. I’ll be back next week with another recap and don’t forget to check out my Weekly Rampage thought on Monday. Peace out!!!

K*Lovely