‘TUF 22’ Recap: Episode 9
After Team Europe dominated the Americans in back-to-back fights at
the end of last week’s telecast, sharp-tongued coach Conor
McGregor is overflowing with pride and congratulating his
combatants, as expected. Jubilation is rife in the locker room and
the Irishman can feel the overall victory of his team becoming a
reality.
The show quickly shifts gears to what UFC President Dana White admits is his favorite part of every season: the coaches’ challenge. Both teams are caravanned far out of the Las Vegas city limits, deep into the Mojave Desert. It’s unknown how hot it is during the filming of this scene, but it’s obvious that it is windier than a political debate. McGregor jokes with Team U.S.A. coach Urijah Faber that “way out here” in the desert is where he buried Faber teammate Chad Mendes.
With both teams cooped up inside a makeshift tent, in comes a
helicopter from the horizon and when it lands, White pops out with
a scantily-clad brunette that apparently is Arianny Celeste. White
is grinning from ear to ear and explains that the coaches will be
flown into the air and they’ll each have to toss five watermelons
from the helicopter onto a large target tarp strewn across the
sand. The challenge is called “Air Drop” and the winning coach gets
to pocket $10,000; the fighters from the winning side will earn a
bonus of $1,500 apiece.
Per the norm, the opposing coaches start trash-talking each other, both guaranteeing a win.
Once the competition begins, things heat up in the sky. The bullseye is worth 100 points while the next ring is worth 50, the next is 25 and the outer ring is worth 10. A missed melon nets the thrower a goose egg so hitting the target comes at a premium. The two alternate turns dropping the melons onto the target and it’s a close duel after four rounds; Faber has a slight 85-70 edge even though he had just missed the target altogether. On Faber’s fifth toss, however, he slams his watermelon directly onto the bullseye, sealing McGregor’s fate.
“Congratulations to the little butt-faced twerp,” a steaming, dejected Irishman says to the camera as Faber is rubbing his victory in as much as humanly possible. Conor is trying to maintain his cool demeanor but he is visibly irate that he lost.
The Ultimate Fighter editorial team wastes no time in getting right to the action, opting to omit footage of the weigh-in between tonight’s duelists Jason Gonzalez, an American with Nicaraguan roots and Abner Lloveras, a grizzled veteran from Spain.
The fight begins with both men trading some decent strikes and it’s obvious that these two are among the two best overall strikers of the season. Though Gonzalez’ hands are quicker, Lloveras is more precise. Gonzalez is forced to sprawl and defend a takedown attempt for about 90 seconds before the combatants separate. Gonzalez cracks him with a few punches to the noggin, one of which seems to stun Abner briefly. Lloveras continues to shoot in and after two more strained attempts, he finally drags the American onto the mat.
“This is bad news,” Faber is heard from the corner, not confident his pupil will be able to defend himself with the European grappler. And he’s accurate: Lloveras dominates his foe for the rest of the round, transitioning from mount to side and back to mount, all the while dishing out sporadic elbows and punches. At the end of the first, it’s close but Lloveras gets it 10-9.
The second frame of the contest is much more one-sided as Lloveras scores several takedowns. Gonzalez is able to explode to his feet multiple times, but Lloveras is all over him, not allowing him any space to get his strikes going. By the end of the stanza, Gonzalez is gassed out and has been taken off his feet more times than Count von Count can count. Overall, Lloveras wins easily, nabbing scores of 20-18 on all three judges’ cards, giving Team McGregor its sixth win of the nine first-round fights.
The show quickly moves into a side room, where Faber and McGregor share a loveseat while Dana sits on another chair as they discuss which of the nine victors will be sent packing for having the lousiest win. As expected, McGregor immediately nominated Chris Gruetzemacher while “The California Kid” thinks it should be Martin Svensson.
White completely disagrees with the former WEC champ and explains that he can’t possibly send a guy (Svensson) home after he got a finish in his battle. Before Faber can state his case, White calls him “Captain Conspiracy” and essentially hammers his foot to the floor, adamant that “Gritz” is the one who will be sent packing.
Out of nowhere, McGregor and Faber begin a friendly banter about who is better, which man makes more money, who is smarter, etc. and it quickly escalates into a shouting match where the two are ready trade blows. Dana, of course, loves it and tosses in a few words to instigate the argument even further. McGregor is begging to have him fight Urijah, said he begged to fight him when the show is done even right before he’s to fight featherweight king Jose Aldo and yells at White about how ludicrous it is to have a show where the coaches won’t fight at the end.
Finally, when White says that the two nemeses most likely will never fight each other, he squashes the argument and shifts his attention to the next scene, which is in the gym with everybody in attendance. White matter-of-factly tells “Gritz” that his stay on the show is officially over but to stay focused because if someone gets injured, he will automatically fill in for him. Gruetzemacher is emotionally wounded, cries and laments the fact that he’s been cut, believing that he can beat everybody on the show.
The quarterfinal matchups are also locked in: Artem Lobov vs. Martin Svensson; Saul Rogers vs. Ryan Hall; Marcin Wrzosek vs. David Teymur; Julian Erosa vs. Abner Lloveras.
The coming attractions for next week show “Gritz” being devastated, but Dana announces that one of the quarterfinalists might not be able to continue, talking about a call from a doctor. Also, White decides to throw the guys a pool party, causing the house to be crawling with hot chicks.
The show quickly shifts gears to what UFC President Dana White admits is his favorite part of every season: the coaches’ challenge. Both teams are caravanned far out of the Las Vegas city limits, deep into the Mojave Desert. It’s unknown how hot it is during the filming of this scene, but it’s obvious that it is windier than a political debate. McGregor jokes with Team U.S.A. coach Urijah Faber that “way out here” in the desert is where he buried Faber teammate Chad Mendes.
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Per the norm, the opposing coaches start trash-talking each other, both guaranteeing a win.
“I would have preferred something with more athleticism, more
explosiveness,” McGregor tells the camera. “But I feel as though my
accuracy is too precise, even with watermelons.”
Once the competition begins, things heat up in the sky. The bullseye is worth 100 points while the next ring is worth 50, the next is 25 and the outer ring is worth 10. A missed melon nets the thrower a goose egg so hitting the target comes at a premium. The two alternate turns dropping the melons onto the target and it’s a close duel after four rounds; Faber has a slight 85-70 edge even though he had just missed the target altogether. On Faber’s fifth toss, however, he slams his watermelon directly onto the bullseye, sealing McGregor’s fate.
“Congratulations to the little butt-faced twerp,” a steaming, dejected Irishman says to the camera as Faber is rubbing his victory in as much as humanly possible. Conor is trying to maintain his cool demeanor but he is visibly irate that he lost.
The Ultimate Fighter editorial team wastes no time in getting right to the action, opting to omit footage of the weigh-in between tonight’s duelists Jason Gonzalez, an American with Nicaraguan roots and Abner Lloveras, a grizzled veteran from Spain.
The fight begins with both men trading some decent strikes and it’s obvious that these two are among the two best overall strikers of the season. Though Gonzalez’ hands are quicker, Lloveras is more precise. Gonzalez is forced to sprawl and defend a takedown attempt for about 90 seconds before the combatants separate. Gonzalez cracks him with a few punches to the noggin, one of which seems to stun Abner briefly. Lloveras continues to shoot in and after two more strained attempts, he finally drags the American onto the mat.
“This is bad news,” Faber is heard from the corner, not confident his pupil will be able to defend himself with the European grappler. And he’s accurate: Lloveras dominates his foe for the rest of the round, transitioning from mount to side and back to mount, all the while dishing out sporadic elbows and punches. At the end of the first, it’s close but Lloveras gets it 10-9.
The second frame of the contest is much more one-sided as Lloveras scores several takedowns. Gonzalez is able to explode to his feet multiple times, but Lloveras is all over him, not allowing him any space to get his strikes going. By the end of the stanza, Gonzalez is gassed out and has been taken off his feet more times than Count von Count can count. Overall, Lloveras wins easily, nabbing scores of 20-18 on all three judges’ cards, giving Team McGregor its sixth win of the nine first-round fights.
The show quickly moves into a side room, where Faber and McGregor share a loveseat while Dana sits on another chair as they discuss which of the nine victors will be sent packing for having the lousiest win. As expected, McGregor immediately nominated Chris Gruetzemacher while “The California Kid” thinks it should be Martin Svensson.
White completely disagrees with the former WEC champ and explains that he can’t possibly send a guy (Svensson) home after he got a finish in his battle. Before Faber can state his case, White calls him “Captain Conspiracy” and essentially hammers his foot to the floor, adamant that “Gritz” is the one who will be sent packing.
Out of nowhere, McGregor and Faber begin a friendly banter about who is better, which man makes more money, who is smarter, etc. and it quickly escalates into a shouting match where the two are ready trade blows. Dana, of course, loves it and tosses in a few words to instigate the argument even further. McGregor is begging to have him fight Urijah, said he begged to fight him when the show is done even right before he’s to fight featherweight king Jose Aldo and yells at White about how ludicrous it is to have a show where the coaches won’t fight at the end.
Finally, when White says that the two nemeses most likely will never fight each other, he squashes the argument and shifts his attention to the next scene, which is in the gym with everybody in attendance. White matter-of-factly tells “Gritz” that his stay on the show is officially over but to stay focused because if someone gets injured, he will automatically fill in for him. Gruetzemacher is emotionally wounded, cries and laments the fact that he’s been cut, believing that he can beat everybody on the show.
The quarterfinal matchups are also locked in: Artem Lobov vs. Martin Svensson; Saul Rogers vs. Ryan Hall; Marcin Wrzosek vs. David Teymur; Julian Erosa vs. Abner Lloveras.
The coming attractions for next week show “Gritz” being devastated, but Dana announces that one of the quarterfinalists might not be able to continue, talking about a call from a doctor. Also, White decides to throw the guys a pool party, causing the house to be crawling with hot chicks.
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