Posted by Jesse Holland | Under TUF 10
Thursday Nov 12, 2009

In case you didn’t get your fill of Episode 9 of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 10 last night (Nov. 11), the UFC and Spike.com are presenting “The Aftermath,” a 15-minute Webisode that airs immediately following the show on Spike.com.
“The Aftermath” will recap the previous show, as well as get insight from some of the contestants and recurring Spike host, Amir Sadollah. In addition, the Webisodes will feature unaired content, exclusive bonus material and a sneak peek of the upcoming televised episode.
TUF fans can go to the Spike.com message boards after each Wednesday episode to submit questions and sound off on the events that occurred during the show. Questions will be selected at random and answered on the following installment of “Aftermath.”
To check out this week’s webisode: “Rattled,” which features Roy Nelson and Justin Wren discussing their fight as well as the fate of the chickens that descended upon the vehicles of Team Evans, click here.
And be sure to check out our TUF recap every Wednesday night following the show. To get up to speed on last night’s episode click here.
Posted by Jesse Holland | Under TUF 10
Wednesday Nov 11, 2009

Episode 9 of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) Season 10 gets underway and Coach Evans is trying to find a way to train his contestants to fight one another after spending the first half of the season as team mates. His solution is to have them train together but not get individualized instruction.
Justin Wren, who fights Roy Nelson in tonight’s quarterfinals bout, is uncomfortable training so close to “Big Country” when he knows he’ll soon be standing across from him inside the cage.
Matt Mitrione complains of brain pain following his win over Scott Junk. “Meathead” was putting on a performance in the van on the way home from the gym but the rest of the gang wasn’t taking the bait.
Since no one was paying any attention to him, he turns it up a notch with dry heaves and all kinds of psychosomatic symptoms that of course has Kimbo Slice beaming with the hope that Mitrione has a concussion and will be unable to fight, giving the former YouTube star a backdoor into the quarterfinals.
Coach Rampage calls Kimbo the most improved contestant which I find hard to believe since Slice gets in the confessional and talks about landing haymakers. Coach Evans isn’t sour on the idea of a Kimbo return and thinks it might add a little excitement to the remaining match-ups.
Team Rampage thinks Team Evans is cocky so they decide to go out and stick a bunch of orphaned roosters in the cars of Rashad and his coaches. Get it? “Cock” … “Cocky” … Oh that Rampage, he’s such a character.
The prank backfires because not only does Team Evans get a good laugh over the chicken fiasco, they get new rental cars to replace the ones that were defecated on by the wild birds.
Back at the house, Wes Sims asks a returning Matt Mitrione how his trip to the gynecologist was. Tee hee. Meathead responds that his brain is scrambled. Duh. We knew that already.
Commercial break shows a trailer for a movie titled “Ninja Assassin” that shows all those tired karate moves where guys are flying through the air in slow motion/Matrix-style.
Somewhere out there Sonny Chiba is changing the channel in shame.
UFC President Dana White shows up at the house unannounced to get a first hand look at the Mitrione situation. Matt assures Dana he’s good to fight and is confident the doctor will agree. Scott Junk is also on standby in case they need a last-minute replacement.
James McSweeney predicts Justin Wren will overcome the skills (and belly) of Roy Nelson and take the fight. Kimbo disagrees, probably because he doesn’t want the guy that owned him getting bounced out in the very next fight. Brendan Schaub calls for a stand-up war.
At the weigh-ins, Dana sneaks in a few more potshots at Roy Nelson then goes on to sing the praises of Justin Wren. Marcus Jones can’t pick against Wren because he’s so cute and likable. Oooookay. Wren is reading a prayer on the way to the fight. Matt Hughes would be proud.
Quarterfinal elimination fight #1: Roy Nelson (13-4) vs. Justin Wren (8-1)
Round 1: Wren charges with heavy punches but gets nothing. And again. Three times. Uh, four times. Five, but this time he lands and stuns Nelson who quickly ties him up and pushes him to the cage. They grunt and struggle for position until the referee separates them. Quick one-two by Nelson. Violent combo by Wren sends Nelson into a retreat. Wren throwing HARD. Wren eats two jabs and answers with a haymaker that grazes. More of Wren charging like a bull. Combo by Nelson. Another. Nice inside kick by Nelson. Wren charges and eats an uppercut. Wren starting to gas from all the power punches. Nelson finding his range and being elusive like a 300 lb. Lyoto Machida. Round over. Likely goes to Wren for the aggression and opening assault. Nelson landed but wasn’t busy enough.
Round 2: Nelson jabs and Wren bulldozes in. Nelson retreats and avoids any damage. Hard right lands for Wren. Another. Jab lands for Nelson. Body shot for Nelson. Wren shoots and slips but escapes a Nelson flop. Wren charges and uses the Thai plum but Nelson uppercuts his way out of it. A spent Wren can barely keep his hands up. Nice low kick by Nelson who is also gassed. Wren eats another kick. Both guys lurching about, mouths agape. A right connects for Wren. Good low kick by Nelson. Body shot by Nelson. Nice low kick by Wren. Fight has turned into a disastrous display of exhaustion and rippling cellulite. Round over. I give it to Nelson for landing more shots. Should probably be a third round but of course there isn’t.
Roy Nelson defeats Justin Wren via majority decision.
Dana White shakes his head in disgust.
Stay tuned next week as Matt Mitrione continues his woe-is-me routine, the coaches challenge features Rashad vs. Rampage in a game of beach volleyball and it’s John Madsen against Brendan Schaub in the second round of quarterfinal action.
See you in seven!
Posted by Jesse Holland | Under TUF 10
Wednesday Nov 11, 2009
Posted by Jesse Holland | Under Marcus Jones, TUF 10
Thursday Nov 5, 2009

In case you didn’t get your fill of Episode 8 of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 10 last night (Oct. 28), the UFC and Spike.com are presenting “The Aftermath,” a 15-minute Webisode that airs immediately following the show on Spike.com.
“The Aftermath” will recap the previous show, as well as get insight from some of the contestants and recurring Spike host, Amir Sadollah. In addition, the Webisodes will feature unaired content, exclusive bonus material and a sneak peek of the upcoming televised episode.
TUF fans can go to the Spike.com message boards after each Wednesday episode to submit questions and sound off on the events that occurred during the show. Questions will be selected at random and answered on the following installment of “Aftermath.”
To check out this week’s webisode: “One Soldier Left,” which features Marcus Jones and Mike Wessel discussing their fight as well as the size advantage of “Big Baby” and what he has to do to keep winning, click here.
And be sure to check out our TUF recap every Wednesday night following the show. To get up to speed on last night’s episode click here.
Posted by Jesse Holland | Under TUF 10
Wednesday Nov 4, 2009

Episode 8 of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) Season 10 gets underway with a recap of the alleged fight between Matt Mitrione and Scott’s Junk. The battered Junk insists he could have won the fight if there had been a third round. At least, that’s probably what his team mates told him after they defibrillated him at the end of round two.
Rampage tees off on the gym door in disgust and ironically waits until Episode 8 to show any genuine emotion. Perhaps if he had been this fired up earlier in the season, he could have driven his team to a better record.
Or perhaps not.
He later apologizes to the door — who is probably glad to be off the show, especially after some of the “fights” that have taken place this season.
Wes Sims decides to throw Matt Mitrione a party in celebration of his fight but the former NFLer appears to be a little too busted up to attend the grand shebang — despite being the guest of honor.
On the stationary bike, Marcus Jones pedals his way into Rampage’s heart, probably because he’s all that stands between a spot in the semis and the total embarrassment of being the first coach in TUF history to lead his team to an 0-8 showing.
The next morning, Jones has the pleasure of waking up to a Vegas creepy-crawly trying to make a nest in the big man’s shoe. He lets out a girlish yelp and Wes Sims swoops in and bludgeons it to death with a ski pole.
We get our first piano solo in several episodes as Mike Wessel hits the confessional and gets choked up talking about his wife who is stricken with cancer.
Fortunately he doesn’t dwell on it and switches his focus to Marcus Jones, who he describes as a “massive man.” Sounds like the Team Evans scouts have really done their homework. Regardless, Wessel is confident that he has a good shot to overcome the brute strength of his opponent.
Jones recounts his days in the NFL and admits he had the size and the competitive spirit, but not the desire to excel. In mixed martial arts, he wants to become “a student of the game.”
He lets out a giggle and a grunt every time he masters a new aspect of training. He wants to remembered as a hell of a fighter, which unfortunately may not come at the expense of Mike Wessel, no matter how well he performs.
Some of the guys from Team Evans draw a caricature of Marcus Jones that accuses him of sucking balls. The jovial “Big Baby” goes from happy-go-lucky to Larry Drake in Dr. Giggles, complete with menacing death stare and threatening psycho-babble.
At the weigh-ins, Rampage tries to make nice with “Titties” but Schoonover isn’t having it –especially after Jackson plays “Tune in Tokyo” with Darryl’s prodigious chest. They have to be separated and once again cooler heads prevail.
The fighters make their predictions and it’s pretty clear that Jones is the favorite heading into the fight. Wessel says he isn’t afraid of Marcus Jones, he’s afraid of being away from his wife for six weeks and having it all be for nothing.
Heavyweight elimination fight #8: Marcus Jones (4-2) vs. Mike Wessel (8-2)
Round 1: Jones stalking and eats a right. They clinch and struggle for position until Jones uses a trip attempt to wrestle Wessel to the ground. Jones gets his back but Wessel defends and rolls into mount. Unfortunately Jones is there waiting for him and locks up a painful armbar for the immediate tap. Jones looked a bit rigid on his feet but was very impressive on the ground.
Marcus Jones defeats Mike Wessel via submission (armbar)
Cue the piano solo as a defeated Wessel has to cope with the fact that he lost but also tries to stay upbeat and look to the future. Jones on the other hand is positively giddy for getting the biggest win of his career (to date).
Coach Jackson tells Jones that he’s “Team Rampage for life” and I can’t help but laugh out loud seeing as how Team Rampage ended up 1-7 in the competition.
Some distinction.
Following the fight’s conclusion, Dana White gathers the coaches and the winning fighters to choose the semifinal match-ups. Roy Nelson rubs Dana the wrong way and White blasts him for the Kimbo fight.
Again.
Marcus Jones defaults to Rampage when asked who he wants to fight, so Jackson tries to feed him Darryl Schoonover. He’s successful — much to the chagrin of Coach Evans.
The Quarterfinal matches are announced and as follows:
Roy Nelson vs. Justin Wren
Brendan Schaub vs. John Madsen
James McSweeney vs. Matt Mitrione
Marcus Jones vs. Darryl Schoonover
After the announcements, Coach Evans extends an invitation to anyone on Team Rampage who wants to come and train with his guys. While I’m sure some of them wanted to go, they don’t want to be disrespectful when the cameras are rolling and stand fast.
What a shock, Rampage and Rashad end up jawing at each other. Obscenities fly and crotches are grabbed.
Yawn.
Stay tuned next week as Matt Mitrione gets sent to the hospital, Kimbo tries to replace him and Roy Nelson hooks ‘em up with Justin Wren. Who wins? Find out next Wednesday!
See you in seven!