Gerald Harris’s ‘TUF 7′ Blog: Down But Not Out
(Sadollah about to get Harrisplexed.)
Every Thursday morning, Team Rampage member Gerald Harris blogs his reactions to each new episode of The Ultimate Fighter. And this was the one we’ve been waiting for — the night Gerald actually gets to fight. But despite his early domination against Amir Sadollah, things didn’t turn out the way he’d hoped. Read below for Gerald’s rundown of the fight and how he felt about it, and give him a shout at his MySpace page.
***
It’s 8:58 p.m. and I’m staring at the clock hoping that it doesn’t click to 9:00. I’m sitting on the couch with my friends because every Wednesday we get together to watch the show. It was cool for the first couple weeks, but this one was different — I wasn’t smiling as much and I wasn’t excited. No one noticed and things went on as they did in the past. I’m flooded with text messages, phone calls, and high fives from my friends when the fight picks are announced. The fight starts and people are sending texts, calls, and jumping up and down as I slam and strike Amir the entire first round. Then it happens — “Bam,” in a quick flash — the fight’s over. You talk about silence? No one said a word for about 15 minutes, my phone stopped ringing, and nobody even looked at me. I broke the silence by saying “I’m sorry that I let y’all down, but it’s not over.” They’ve all seen the show and the success of fighters who got a second chance or at least earned a career in the UFC.
Now, let me take you back a couple months before I got there. I trained my ass off, running miles in the morning, and never missed Team Quest practice unless it was an emergency. I dreamed about holding The Ultimate Fighter trophy as Dana handed it to me and joining the ranks of Stevenson, Griffin, Evans, and many others. I was also doing bad financially and could barely afford to support my family, so winning those fights would help me provide for them. I’m the father of two and that’s how I feed them; this is my life, and the only thing that I do to earn money. When I lost that fight I felt like I let everyone down, I didn’t earn money to feed my kids, and lost the chance to become the next Ultimate Fighter. Once I took a deep breath and talked to Rampage I realized that it was ok. I still have a future in the UFC and a possible second chance to get into the tournament. During the fight I injured my ankle and scratched my eye, but that healed in a few days — the doc cleared me as good to go.
The fight — well I’m going to be a real man and say that Amir won that fight. He never quit, stuck to the game plan, and listened to his corner. He also hit me with a move that he practiced many times — there’s good timing, but no luck involved in that. I did almost the opposite. I relied on my wrestling too much and didn’t trust my hands. I zoned out and didn’t even listen to my corner yelling the proper instructions. The second round I became predictable, but not fatigued and Amir didn’t fear being slammed. I still don’t agree with the referee’s decision to stop the bout, but he’s not the one that knocked me down. I wasn’t out and should have improved on the single-leg, but it damn sure hurt like a bitch when I got to the house later! Most people expected me to go in there and cry about the ref, but that’s not going to get me anywhere. I got right back in the gym as soon as I healed up and worked on my hands to build that confidence. I must also say that I wanted to fight the entire line up from the #1 pick down — I chose Amir because he was picked second. I never underestimated him or thought he was an easy fight.
I can’t lie — it was hard to walk around the house and look at him. Sometimes I wanted to push him down the stairs, or punch him in the face while he was asleep, but then I would have gotten sent home. So, I chose to sit back, heal up, and figure out how to make something positive out of this negative situation. Well, that’s about it for today — but it ain’t over. I appreciate y’all coming in here and reading these blogs and also taking the time to post comments. I’ll take it all, so don’t hold back. I have learned from this experience and I take advice well, but not direction. I honor your opinion, but at the same time there are some ignorant people out there : ) Please continue to stop in because I’ll post every Thursday morning. See ya next week!
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May 15th, 2008 at 6:22 am
Virginia - represent!
Harris should definitely keep his head up. He made a good showing though he couldn’t finish. I understand the desire to keep saying you were fine, early stoppage - whatever. He’s been fighting long enough he should know “resting” face down on the mat is gonna get the fight stopped.
What no comment on the second fight? Still trying to get my head around Shultz mouthing off to Forrest. WTF dude, one beating that day wasn’t enough you had to try for two?
May 15th, 2008 at 6:39 am
“punch him in the face while he was asleep” haha
That was a really good fight, it could have went either way. I’d like to see Harris make it further in the UFC.
Shultz is a dick. Forrest looked like he couldn’t believe Shultz mouth offed to him either, that was out of no-where. It will never happen but I’d love for Forrest to get the chance to put Shultz in his place.
May 15th, 2008 at 6:55 am
Virginia in da house! I’m actually pulling for Amir because he is from the big VA
Yeah I thought it was very disrespectful how shultz acted towards Forrest. Forrest could dismember him without breaking a sweat. So yeah, watch what you say 2X LOSER! HA! go back to FagLand with your frosted queer hair.
Yeah the knee to the cranium hurt and he just sat there not working with his head on the mat, that will definitely get the fight stopped. You have to keep your head in check the entire match or you will lose. Unless your head is detached from your neck.
May 15th, 2008 at 6:59 am
I forgot to add, You wanted to push him down the stairs or punch him in his sleep… Why? because he beat you in a fight?
It’s not Amir’s fault you couldnt seal the deal and ground and pound him out. From the look of it you have no real ground game and a more experienced fighter would have submitted you in the 1st round.
May 15th, 2008 at 7:11 am
Wow, Turd Ferguson manages to be the biggest idiot yet. Did you really say that Gerald Harris had no ground game? And can you not understand why he might have felt like punching Amir? Ever lose at something and get irrationally angry at the person who beat you, when really you’re just mad that you lost? I know I have. Then again, I’m not a moron, so you and I obviously can’t relate to one another, TF.
May 15th, 2008 at 7:16 am
Dude, he was just expressing his frustration. I dont imagine you would want to go run around and hug everyone when you lose at something.
When I lose or get frustrated, I want to take it out, by smashing something or someone… typicaly whatever caused that frustration. I dont actually do it, but its just how I feel.
May 15th, 2008 at 7:16 am
I was refering to turd over there, just for the record.
May 15th, 2008 at 8:01 am
It was a pretty good fight! I would’ve liked to see a little more action on the ground. It seemed that you weren’t really getting anywhere on the ground. You had a couple of really good shots while you were down there, but Amir seemed to contain you pretty good. All in all you have to love the sport and the competition. Plus the thing that alot of us love about MMA is the uncertainty of the outcomes. You can be the best and get caught. You got caught……. but don’t give up. You’ve got e bright future if you keep on going.
May 15th, 2008 at 8:03 am
Dammit Turd. I was pulling for Schultz since he is from Fagland. Fagland repreSENT.
Yeah, I don’t know what that means either. Hmm. Wait a minute, I think I’ll cheer for all the guys since they’re from Earth. Sweet thing is, Earth’s MY home planet! Yeah, coincidence, right? Ha! No way, Earth has all the best fighters. Mostly because Brazil there. FEDOR is from Earth too, word.
May 15th, 2008 at 8:09 am
I thought gerald had the fight. I agree with the refs decision to stop it only because there was no improvement on geralds part. Keep your head up gerald you did good out there just got caught. But the punching him in the face while sleeping is funny. Felt the same feelings before.
May 15th, 2008 at 8:55 am
It was a awesome fight I can’t wait to see ya in the UFC dropping guys like Chris Leben on their heads!
May 15th, 2008 at 9:37 am
It didn’t look like either of them were gassed. It looked like amir got a lucky strike and stunned him. unfortunately a premature fight stoppage but hey it happens. As far as the second fight dammit, schultz got gassed and the decision was complte bullshit.
May 15th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Hey Man tough loss nut I respect how you hanled this loss, and went right back to training…best of luck to you…I hope to see you on the finale card, so we can see how you have improved as a fighter….good luck man.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:08 am
There’s no fuckin way Amir and Gerald are the same weight. Gerald has atleast 15 pounds of muscle over Amir and he still couldnt take him. Amir is an animal. Gerald is a cry baby that cant handle a loss like a man. “punch him in the face while asleep” what a bitch
May 15th, 2008 at 10:27 am
It’s really sad that so many MMA fans take advantage of direct access to fighters by slamming them in forums and lashing out with comments. Don’t you realize how fortunate we are that guys like Harris take the time to do this? You don’t see anywhere near as many professional athletes from other sports online, chatting and blogging. Keep taking it for granted and acting disrespectfully and it will become a thing of the past.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Too bad..you sucked in the fight and got beaten fair and square.
Now, you did do quite well in the 1st two minutes, but after that, you grounded Amir and sat on him. You had nothing once Amir was down.
In the 2nd round he got you with a good shot and when you were down, you didn’t move. The ref warned you, but you continued to curl up like a turtle.
But..I hope to see you return as you seem like a decent guy. Maybe with some additional training you can fight Tito’s girlfriend and win. (-:
May 15th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Good Point Reality….I read Amir Sadollah’s blog and he said that they edited out the part after the show where Gerald went into his locker room and congradulated him on the victory and said there were no hard feelings and stuff….basically he showed a lot of class after the fight but they didn’t show that on Spike they just showed the angry stuff….I like Gerald Harris he is a workhorse and i wish him luck in the UFC…
Faryan- they both weighed in for this fight so what are you talking about, if he was 15 pounds heavier he wouldn’t have been allowed in the cage….
May 15th, 2008 at 11:20 am
At least you turned up to the fight, not everyone in the house did that! You got caught, everybody does sometimes…
I thought it would all end soon when you powered through him for that first take down, you landed some good shots, but Amir defended well though. I really liked the slams you did , especially the first one, that was one of the coolest things I’ve seen on this season so far!
Thanks for writing for CP and sharing your experience with us!
Hope to see you back in the octagon or another ring soon Gerald
May 15th, 2008 at 11:31 am
BIG CHRIS I said 15 pounds of muscle over him. There’s no doubt that Gerald is much more muscular than Amir. How do you explain the size difference? They’re both the same height but Gerald is much more muscular I dont get it. Something is not right
May 15th, 2008 at 11:47 am
I gotta say, the way you put it Gerald… “I wanted to push him down the stairs, or punch him in the face while he was asleep, but then I would have gotten sent home.” I lost all respect I might have had for you. Getting sent home was the only thing that kept you from punching a man in the face, while he was asleep? C’mon, man.
We understand you’re upset about it, but seriously, there’s better ways to describe you’re anger to your fanbase… even if that’s what you wanted to do (which I can’t believe it was), you don’t tell people that. Just “punch him in the face” woulda been fine, “repeatedly” even, anyone could understand that, leave off the “while he’s asleep” part next time.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Pretty sure he was joking around
May 15th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Sarcasm? Like when i say im hungry enough to eat an entire cow. I dont expect people like you to lecture me about gluttony and how there are starving people in the world who need that cow meat. Relax bud
May 15th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Right over their heads.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
First fight opinion, I honestly think Gerald Harris showed good hands and looked like he actually hurt Amir a little, it wouldn’t have been too crazy an option to keep it standing at a distance. Everytime they were standing Gerald seemed to have the edge. He got caught everytime Amir scrambled.
Second fight, I dont know, personally i found it ridiculous because it seemed like they were trying to go for the 1-shot victory with every punch/kick and it seemed like there was zero technique behind it all. Schulz is a loser anyway, mouthing off even after Forrest said they would go to a third.
With regard to the punching in the face thing, everyone has feelings like this, you guys are flaming because he actually said it out loud?
May 15th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Gerald and Amir are both great guys. Gerald of course was more likely to win; but he simply underestimated Amir.
I do like how modest Amir was after the fight.
As for Shultz and Cale — I wanted Shultz to win. But if knocking out with a punch is the only way your expecting to win, the odds are against you. Seriously, if Shultz would have thought to tackle him at all during the match — he may have won. It was apparent that Cale came to that idea quite faster.
May 15th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
I hate the internet sometimes. Its way too easy to bash people and see no repercussions. There is no way any of you would be talking crap the man’s face.
Anyways, i was really pulling for you, I hope you get back in the tourney somehow.
May 15th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
good fight, good slams.
May 15th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
well said johnnynormal
May 15th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
You fought like a champ man. I know Amir but I can’t take anything away from you, I was not only impressed by your skill I was amazed. You have a long long future ahead of you. My hats off to you.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Well i was informed from a buddy of mine that there was some trash talk thrown my way… After reading what I said I have to agree it wasn’t what I really wanted to say.
I was tired and I blame it on that.
ok, here is what my main point was. Harris did not impress me much during his fight. He had good slams, but then again he is a wrestler. I was not impressed by his ground game and he never had Amir in danger in the fight. If Amir was a more experienced fighter he would have subbed him in the 1st round.
My hat is off to any guys who get in that ring and do what they do. Vrax you can suck my balls
I think the MMA world is slowly but surely coming to a caveman mentality. “I just wanted to punch him in the face and cry because I lost a fight” or “I just like to hurt people and this is legal” People who say that shit are pure D-bags and don’t need to be in the sport.
I understand its heartbreaking if you lose… I mean i’ve failed at life for the better part of it and I know what failure is. You just have to pick yourself back up and get back in the gym… or whatever you do. It’s life, not everyone gets a trophy and a hand job after a victory.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:34 am
Was up, man 30 comments - that’s pretty cool. This will be my only user post in here, but I have to just say thanx for the comments - except for a couple
If some of you don’t know my background I stand up comedy for a while, so for me to say I wanted to punch him in his sleep is a joke - you know sarcasm. Also, a lot of the bad post are restating things I said in the blog - I never said he got lucky and even though I didn’t agree with the stoppage, I didn’t deny it. It was my fault.
Well, I gotta go - sorry I didn’t comment on the second fight - I do think Schultz was wrong for saying something to Forrest like that - it got real quiet. Especially when Forrest is the 1st Ultimate Fighter. It could have went a third round, but the way Cale dominated the 2nd, It overshadowed the whole fight. If the rounds were switched around it would have been 3, but Cale won the entire 2nd round, so I think they called it 29-28 or even one judge had Cale by like 4 points?
I understand what you mean by picking yourself back up and getting back in the gym, but this is a different situation. I’m waiting on another man to get injured or his chance taken away to get mine back.
Gotta go, see yall next week.
If you have the time stop by the TUF website and hit up the forums
May 16th, 2008 at 8:37 am
What they didn’t show was Gerald come into our locker room after the fight, and tell me he was sorry for being upset and good luck in the tournament. Editing is the all powerful force on the show, but I don’t want anyone to think of Gerald as anything but completely professional and a great person, with a great future. None of us like to lose, and in this pressure-filled situation, especially, it’s easy to be overcome with the emotion of the moment.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:44 am
While being on the show was the greatest opportunity I’ve had in my fight career, I would have to say the one thing I didn’t care for was becoming friends with someone, and then fighting them. Gerald, kinda picking up on this, and having the sense of humor that he does, was quick to mess with me afterwards. He twisted his ankle in the fight, and was limping a bit, so I offered to get him a bag of ice. His reply was quick, “Don’t try to help me NOW …” After I realized he was not serious, I thought that was really funny.”
May 16th, 2008 at 8:54 am
While being on the show was the greatest opportunity I’ve had in my fight career, I would have to say the one thing I didn’t care for was becoming friends with someone, and then fighting them. Gerald, kinda picking up on this, and having the sense of humor that he does, was quick to mess with me afterwards. He twisted his ankle in the fight, and was limping a bit, so I offered to get him a bag of ice. His reply was quick, “Don’t try to help me NOW …” After I realized he was not serious, I thought that was really funny.”
May 16th, 2008 at 9:24 am
You showed you had heart and alot of fight.. amir was just tough and unfortunate he got great timing on you with your head down. You cant feel bad about how you fought and even Dana said you have some vicious slams. Keep training and learn from this loss just like every other fighter does and come back even stronger the next time.
Remember you always learn more from your mistakes than from your success. I think you have a ton of potential and belong in that ring with the other top guys.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
That was the best TUF fight this season. Very active, you both looked pro! Amir was impressive!
May 17th, 2008 at 12:26 am
I’ve got absolutely nothing against Gerald Harris, but let’s get real here: 0-2 in the IFL, then he gets TKO’d by some dude who had NEVER fought MMA professionally before entering the house? He also got TKO’d be Benji Radach in the IFL. BENJI RADACH! Seems to me as if Gerald Harris’ striking defense has more holes in it than a Texas oilfield.
I wish Gerald well, I suppose, but at this point in time he’s WEC material, if even that.
May 18th, 2008 at 4:05 am
The thing to learn is that if the Ref tells you to improve your position, DO IT!
May 18th, 2008 at 9:20 am
I disagree, if you read his early blogs he said that he was teaching and fighting during the IFL bouts. After the losses he moved to Oregon to train full time with Team Quest. If he would have won this fight, you wouldn’t say that, but since he got beat everyone just turned on him. No one was saying anything bad before the loss - why all the hate now.
May 18th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I think the only option was to pull guard? U can’t do much from a single leg.
May 27th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
you fought well and you were dominating until he caught you with the knee. Your wrestling is great, and although you said in the interview before the fight, that you were confident in your standup, your action in the octagon seemed to show otherwise. I am not putting you down Harris, you are a class act and I wish nothing bu the best for you. If you work more on your stand up, until the point you are fully confident with it in the octagon, your ability to shoot will only come through more.