(Video courtesy YouTube/oKAINo)

Nick Ring will likely never get away from the insinuations that he is gay (not that there is anything wrong with that), even though he  has a girlfriend and he and several of his teammates on the show have stated on numerous occasions that he put on the somewhat feminine persona while he was on The Ultimate Fighter to screw with homophobic superheel, Jamie Yager.

In Ring’s defense, he’s taking the rumors like a champ (no homo) and rolling with the punches.

Here’s what he said about the act on his Heavy.com recap of the episode that started the snowball rolling:

"So here I am, it’s late and I am now happy and feeling good about my massage. My lower back is feeling good and it is definitely thanking me and I go to the washroom to brush my teeth and get ready for bed and McCray and Yager decide it is time for them gang up on me and "have a talk".

From their bedroom, McCray loudly asks me a loaded question that goes a little bit like "Hey Ring, Why would you get a massage from a dude at 3 AM?" I knew exactly where he was trying to go with this one so I thought fuck it – I’ll play, so I answered "because I’m a big queer".

They started laughing hard in disbelief at my remark, and I walked into their room and leaned my shoulder up against the doorway while I flossed my teeth.
I knew that my reply would likely take most of the wind out of their sails but being the couple of Neanderthals they are, they relented by saying that I’m standing gay and tried telling me that I need to change my posture blah blah blah. I just thought it was funny so just poured it on more until they dropped it…

The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck could turn out to be very entertaining, but in general, we’re not expecting any surprises. The coaches already have their roles sorted out, and won’t be straying from them: Georges St. Pierre is the nice-guy champion who doesn’t let his opponents get under his skin, and Josh Koscheck is the trash-talking contender who gave up on being liked a long time ago. At this point, there’s no reason to think St. Pierre won’t dominate Koscheck in December like he did during their first meeting in 2007. But maybe Kos can take a page out of the Chael Sonnen playbook and force you to care about the rematch through the sheer power of his assholishness.

So anyway, here’s the first five minutes of next week’s TUF 12 premiere, courtesy of Spike. Koscheck vows to whip GSP’s fake ass. Dana White is so excited that he’s sweated through his Bruce Lee t-shirt. (Too early for gray, buddy.) It’ll be another "wild card" season — the setup that allowed finalist Kris McCray to fight five times in six weeks last season. Dana pumps up the cast with his usual arsenal of F-bombs. We meet the first two preliminary round fighters. And that’s pretty much it. No word on if any doors are destroyed this season, or if any raw fish is beaten off into. Okay, fine, maybe there will be a few surprises…

The Ultimate Fighter 12 Exclusive Promo – Watch more Sports Videos

Now that we’ve met TUF 12‘s lightweight contestants, it’s time to start building some hype for the rival coaches. SPIKE has provided CagePotato.com with this exclusive promo for The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck, in which St. Pierre and Kos face off during a pretty nasty-looking storm. Personally, we’d be huddled in a basement somewhere, but you know how these fighters are — you can’t tell them anything. TUF 12 premieres Wednesday, September 15th, at 10pm/9c, directly following UFC Fight Night: Marquardt vs. Palhares.

Spike has revealed the full cast of 28 lightweights who will be appearing on The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck, which premieres September 15th at 10 p.m., following UFC Fight Night 22. Of course, 14 of these guys will be eliminated in the first episode, so watch this trailer and get to know them while you still can. Some of the competitors jumped out at us, for various reasons…

The guys we’ve actually heard of: Nam Phan is a nine-year veteran of the sport who has competed for Strikeforce and Sengoku. Mike Budnik has already had a stint as a 155′er in the WEC, but was released after three straight losses to Shane Roller, John Franchi, and Rafael Dias.

The guy with the horrible nickname: Paul "The Wheel" Barrow. Christ. That’s even worse than Nick "The Promise" Ring.

Impressive stat alert: Cody McKenzie has finished his last nine opponents via first-round guillotine choke. That does indeed make him the #2 guillotine-choker in the world, among active fighters; only Travis Fulton (12) owns more.

The inevitable "crazy hair" guys: Jason Brenton (green hair), Alex Caceres (Yagerfro), Jeff Lentz (red hair), Marc Stevens (mohawk), Dane Sayers (red mohawk).

Full cast list is after the jump…

("Congrats buddy, here’s your piece of jagged f*cking glass." Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

MMA Junkie reported yesterday that TUF 11 winner Court McGee will return to the Octagon at UFC 121 (October 23rd, Anaheim) against Ryan Jensen. In doing so, the well-bearded Utah native follows a proud tradition of Ultimate Fighter winners who take on middling veterans directly after winning their six-figure contracts, and beat them (most of the time) before eventually dropping in weight (some of the time). As a helpful reference, we decided to put together a timeline of those first post-TUF fights, as well as some relevant statistics. Starting at the beginning…

Season 1 light-heavyweight winner: Forrest Griffin
First post-TUF opponent: Bill Mahood (0-0 in the UFC at the time)
Result: Griffin via submission (rear-naked choke), round 1
Is Mahood still in the UFC? No, the fight against Griffin was Mahood’s only Octagon appearance.
Does Griffin still compete at light-heavyweight? Yes

Season 1 middleweight winner: Diego Sanchez
First post-TUF opponent: Brian Gassaway (0-0 in the UFC at the time)
Result: Sanchez via submission (strikes), round 2
Is Gassaway still in the UFC? No, the fight against Sanchez was Gassaway’s only Octagon appearance.
Does Sanchez still compete at middleweight? No. Sanchez immediately dropped to welterweight after the show, and has spent the majority of his UFC career there.

("Why do they keep pitting me against Brazilians? It’s tougher to smash the faces of my fellow countrymen.")

TATAME is reporting that the UFC is planning to hold its second event in Brazil in 2011 and that the promotion could possibly do a Brazilian-only version of The Ultimate Fighter next year as well. 

Looking at the current UFC roster and taking into account the SPIKE TV series’ penchant for (except in a few cases) pitting the two coaches against each other at the end of each season, I’m guessing they are looking at Anderson Silva opposite either Vitor Belfort or Demian Maia as the coaches for the show.

("The best part is, stick this baby in the freezer and it’ll keep your drinks cold on a hot summer day." PicProps: UFC.com)

Matt Hamill fought and defeated Keith Jardine on Saturday night with a staph infection he didn’t know he had as well as a broken hand suffered early in the fight round and blurred vision from getting poked in the eye during the second, according to statements made at the "TUF 11" Finale post-fight press conference. That makes it a bit more noteworthy that their three-round battle rightfully claimed “Fight of the Night” honors.

“I thought I was going to be blind and deaf. Enough handicaps,” Hamill joked at the press conference about getting a thumb in the eye that caused Jardine to lose a point in the second stanza. Any laughter caused by that comment could probably best be described as “uneasy.”

Other post-fight bonuses – each amounting to $25,000 – went to Chris Leben for his come-from-behind knockout of Aaron Simpson and Court McGee for choking out Kris McCray in the “TUF” championship.  As for the infection – which caused the nasty-looking  lesion on his back you may have noticed during the broadcast – Hamill said he planned to get started with some antibiotics ASAP. Yeah, you might want to get on that. After the jump, a picture of Hamill’s foulness.

(Props: Hamill the Movie on Vimeo)

If for some reason that hot date of yours falls through this Saturday night, why not swing by CagePotato.com, as our weekend editor Chad Dundas will be running the liveblog of the Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale. The show starts at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Spike TV, so check your local listings and be wary of spoilers. (And join a MMA FightPicker pool if you haven’t already!)

Speaking of the finale, co-headliner Matt Hamill is now the subject of an inspirational biopic called Hamill, which follows the athlete’s life and career; you can check out the trailer above, and learn more about the film at hamillthemovie.com. The actor who plays Matt is Russell Harvard, who you may remember as the "bastard from a basket" in There Will Be Blood. Plus, Rich Franklin is in the flick as some sort of disapproving wrestling coach, I guess. Now if they would only make a movie based on Court McGee’s life…

(Ah, the good ol’ days…)

As the 11th season of The Ultimate Fighter officially comes to a close this Saturday, we’re left with the same complaints we have nearly every season: The format is stale. The fighters aren’t UFC-level. Hey, weren’t the coaches supposed to fight each over? And while any asshole with an opinion can say that something needs to change, notable CagePotato commenter Chris "Viva Hate" Morse actually sent us some concrete ideas on how to fix the show. Read his thoughts below and let us know what you think. So crazy they just might work? Or so crazy that Viva Hate should go back to trolling the comments section?

*****

With yet another dismal season of TUF winding down and fans once against asking if the show has run its course, it is obviously time for some improvements. The past two seasons have featured numerous fights that turned out to be large men hugging and slobbering all over each other due to a lack of cardio. The show that partially helped launch MMA into the mainstream is now weaker and weaker by the episode. Here is a list of ways that could help revitalize and reenergize this dying beast.

Season 4 of TUF was the "Comeback" season featuring UFC castoffs trying to get one more chance at glory. Why not take this one step further with TUF 13: The OGs? Bring back early fighters to train with current fighters for the contract. This would be great for two reasons. One, it would show just how far the sport has progressed from the early days. Two, who doesn’t enjoy a little nostalgia? At least we know Tom Lawlor would be glued to the TV. There is a list of guys who would most likely take the shot based on attempts in recent years to get back into MMA. A few names that come to mind are Dan “The Beast” Severn and Oleg “The Russian Bear” Taktarov. Even giving Royce Gracie the invite which would bring in guaranteed ratings. Sadly, Joe Son and Harold Howard will not be available.

(Keith Jardine: The love child of Michael Berryman and this thing. Photo courtesy of ESPN)

You know what time it is, Potato Nation — it’s time to steal some money from your girlfriend’s purse and wire it to a shady off-shore gambling site in the faint hope that A) You’ll win your bets, and B) They’ll eventually send you your profits. Lots of luck, suckers! As tradition dictates, here are the betting lines for Saturday’s TUF 11 Finale, courtesy of BestFightOdds.com 

Court McGee (-180) vs. Kris McCray (+175)
Matt Hamill (-138) vs. Keith Jardine (+125)
Aaron Simpson (-334) vs. Chris Leben (+292)
Spencer Fisher (-175) vs. Dennis Siver (+163)
Jamie Yager (-105) vs. Rich Attonito (+105)

John Gunderson (-245) vs. Mark Holst (+285)
Brad Tavares (-205) vs. Seth Baczynski (+200)
Kyle Noke (-185) vs. Josh Bryant (+170)
Chris Camozzi (-125) vs. James Hammortree (even)
Travis Browne (-185) vs. James McSweeney (+155)

So how can we beat the bookmakers on Saturday? Pull up a chair and I’ll lay it all out for you…

(Props: James Blair-BDog7)

You can call him a loudmouth liar with no heart — damned reality-show editing! — but to me, Jamie Yager was by far the most interesting character on the eleventh season of The Ultimate Fighter. In the Octagon, he kept his opponents guessing with wild high-kicks and a relentless pace. (Not that we don’t love a long, drawn-out, wrestling-based grind.) In the house, he had a way of pushing his fellow fighters’ buttons.

Since he’s still so new to the game, the only non-TUF fight featured in the above highlight reel comes from another reality show, The Iron Ring, which he also appeared on. Unsurprisingly, the video doesn’t include the anti-climactic ending of his fight against Josh Bryant. Can Fro Cop redeem himself at this Saturday’s TUF 11 Finale against Rich Attonito?

After the jump: To get that oily Yager taste out of your mouth, here’s another highlight reel that James Blair did for a more deserving fighter…

MMA fans have their work cut out for them this week, with three notable events featured on cable TV. Tomorrow night, Strikeforce: Los Angeles airs on Showtime (11 p.m. ET/PT), headlined by Robbie Lawler vs. Renato Sobral. On Saturday, the TUF 11 Finale goes down in Las Vegas (Spike TV, 9 p.m. ET/PT), with Court McGee and Kris McCray battling for the weird glass trophy, and Matt Hamill and Keith Jardine meeting in a light-heavyweight scrap. And on Sunday, Jamie Varner and Kamal Shalorus face off in a potential #1 lightweight contender’s match at WEC 49 in Edmonton (Versus, 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT). 

This week’s MMA FightPicker pools focus on the TUF 11 Finale, but we’ve also thrown in three matchups from the WEC card just to keep you on your toes. Feeling lucky? Then join some pools and show everybody how smart you really are. The current questions are after the jump…

(Bring him the gabagool and nobody gets hurt. Photo courtesy of Rich’s Facebook page.)

Our beloved TUF 11 guest blogger wraps up last week’s jam-packed episode, and explains why things got so heated between house heel Jamie Yager and the rest of the fighters. Rich and Jamie will throw down this Saturday at the TUF 11 Finale. Tune in and show your support!

Last week everyone was treated to the final episode of The Ultimate Fighter with certainly no shortage of drama. But first we got a visit from some guys who know how to handle drama the right way, the Marine Corps. My grandfather was in the Marines. Several of my uncles also served in the Armed Forces as well. So it was great when Dana surprised us with a visit from these guys.

We got a chance to see and learn some very cool tactical techniques they use for disarming people with weapons. They were so efficient at it, they made it look easy. After we got to train together they came over for a BBQ. We got a chance to interact with them on a more personal level and it was definitely fun to meet these guys and hear their stories. I have the utmost respect for the men and women of our country who sacrifice so much for our personal freedoms. I made sure I took the chance to express my gratitude to them.

You already know that Court McGee vs. Kris McCray will be the co-headliner at next Saturday’s TUF 11 Finale show (Spike TV, 9 p.m. ET/PT), and we also told you that Rich Attonito won the "who gets to kick Jamie Yager’s ass" sweepstakes. So who else will join them at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas? Spike has confirmed the following bouts for the event…

Josh Bryant vs. Kyle Noke: No, Bryant won’t be facing off with fellow semi-finalist Brad Tavares in a third-place match. Instead, he has drawn Kyle Noke, the Australian veteran who was upset by Kris McCray in the TUF 11 quarterfinals.

Brad Tavares vs. Seth Baczynski: You see what they did there? Tavares and Baczynski get to have a rematch after their quarterfinal match ended abruptly via soccer kick disqualification.

(The conclusion of the Tavares/McGee semi-final battle. Props: WWELegendKillerV1)

The two-hour last-actual-episode of TUF 11 begins with Tito Ortiz being whitewashed out of the production. Rich Franklin is slotted into the opening credits. His poster replaces Tito’s in the gym. Ace signs the bout agreement to fight Chuck Liddell. It’s almost as if Tito…never existed.
 
Rich was under the impression that he was just coming by to promote his fight with Chuck; he didn’t know Tito was completely off the show, and that he’d have to help Kris McCray train for his semi-final fight against Josh Bryant. Dana White calls up a few notables from the Xtreme Couture camp to help out as assistant coaches: Forrest Griffin, Gray Maynard, and Tyson Griffin. The guys help Kris with wrestling techniques, and Kris is surprised at how smooth the transition is.

It takes some getting used to for Chuck, though: "I go from fighting a guy I hate, to fighting one of the nicest guys in MMA." But when the time comes, he’ll be ready to rumble. 

(If you’re wondering why Tito has his jersey tucked in, it’s because he has to go out to dinner after this.)

Tomorrow night marks the last episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Liddell vs. Team Ortiz before the finale show, featuring both of TUF 11‘s semi-final matches. By now, most of the season’s early standouts — Nick Ring, Kyacey Uscola, Jamie Yager — have fallen by the wayside, and we’re left with four guys who scrapped their way to the semis through effective strategies and unbelievable toughness. It’s still anybody’s game, so let’s take a close look at who’s left…

BRAD TAVARES (Team Liddell)

Pro record: 4-0, all wins by stoppage
TUF record: 3-0
How he got here: The dynamic Team Tompkins product knocked out Jordan Smith in less than a minute to make it into the house, then outworked James Hammortree to win a three-round decision. His quarterfinal match against Seth Baczynski started out well until Baczynski soccer-kicked him in the face and was disqualified.
Odds of winning the show: 4-1. Though he’s a little unseasoned, Tavares is the only fighter in the group who never seemed like an underdog. He’s well-rounded, aggressive, and always exciting to watch. In this semi-final field, his success will depend on his ability to defend takedowns and avoid being smothered.

(Attonito and his ATT wingman Mike Brown. Props: Rich’s Facebook page.)

In the latest installment of his TUF 11 guest-blog for CagePotato.com, Team Liddell’s Rich Attonito discusses the battle between Jamie Yager and Josh Bryant on this week’s episode, tells us about some of the house-related chaos that you didn’t get to see on the show, and reveals the annoying dude who keeps yelling "heeeeey!" during the fights.

Wednesday’s episode started with a continuation of last week’s news of Tito pulling out of the fight with Chuck. The only way Chuck wanted to give Tito an opportunity of being a coach on the show was if he was able to punch him in the face at the end. Now that wasn’t gonna happen and Chuck was pissed. I remember him saying from the first day that Tito was never going to fight him and he was only using the show for exposure. I don’t know about Tito’s intentions coming into the show but it turns out Chuck was right about the fight. Regardless of the medical reasons, which are obviously very serious.

I knew this episode would be special because everyone wanted to see what was going to happen in the Yager-Bryant fight. Yager’s been the guy with the cocky attitude and the big mouth, and everyone has wanted to see if he could back it up. Up to this point he’s done a good job of that, but Josh put a painful stop to that when he beat Yager into exhaustion and forced him to quit going into the third round.

(Who’d you rather…punch?)

Apparently Jamie Yager doesn’t much like being called a quitter.

After watching last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter 11, in which his coach Tito Ortiz called him a quitter for failing to answer the bell in the third round in his quarterfinal match-up with Josh Bryant, The Chosyn 1 jumped on Twitter to voice his displeasure with The Huntington Beach Badboy’s two-facedness.

(Yager vs. Bryant, part 1; part 2 is at the end of the post. Props: KARELMMA)

Tito Ortiz has pulled out of his fight with Chuck Liddell, and the Iceman is a shadowboxing ball of anger, capable only of saying the word pussy. "That fucking pussy, I told you he was gonna do this," Chuck vents to Dana. "Don’t let that guy fight anymore, he’s a pussy…unless I can fight him, then it’s a different story." Meanwhile, Tito just sits in the next room, listening to Chuck go off about him. Tito on adversity: "I guess it’s God seeing what type of person I am." You don’t need God to figure that out, you pussy.

The last quarterfinal match is high-kickin’ afroninja Jamie Yager (Team Punishment) vs. wrestling specialist Josh Bryant (Team Liddell). Uscola shouts out Yager’s talent and speed, but the most obvious advantage is his size — he dwarfs Bryant, who has to be a natural welterweight. Yager is 2-1 as a pro, while Bryant is a perfect 10-0. Yager is expecting Bryant to shoot, shoot, shoot. Bryant clarifies: "My game plan is to hit him first…then take him down." Y’all ready for the best fight of the season?

(A face that will haunt your dreams. Props: Rich’s Facebook page.)

In the latest installment of his TUF 11 guest-blog for CagePotato.com, Team Liddell’s Rich Attonito discusses the challenge of fighting teammates, last night’s battles, and the Saul Soliz "fat fuck" incident.

With one quarterfinal fight down, we move right into the next matchup. This time it would be Noke vs. McCray, two guys in the house who were friends and training partners before the show. It was gonna be interesting to see how they would handle the situation. It no easy task to have to fight a friend, but with the stakes at hand the friendship would have to be temporarily put to the side so business could be handled. On top of that, the self-proclaimed gang "The Minority Report" was gonna have to deal with two of their street soldiers doing battle in the Octagon.

I knew when the show started that the possibility of fighting one or more of my teammates existed. I thought it would be an awkward situation since each of us would already know what our strengths and weaknesses were. After we got into the house it was only Charlie Blanchard and I left. When we both got picked by Chuck I knew the probability of fighting each other was greatly reduced, but still a possibility. I figured if we had ended up having to fight each other it would be no different then what we do in training every day, except a little more violent and it would count for a lot more then just macho points.

I always felt it’s necessary to have some degree of separation between myself and an opponent, and this wouldn’t change even if I did have to fight one of my teammates I was living with. For me it’s necessary to have some level of detachment from the guy I’m fighting so that I can get in the cage and do what’s needed to win, which could inevitably mean hurting the guy.

(Gif of Tavares getting kicked in the "chest," courtesy of smoogy.)

Kris McCray vs. Kyle Noke. Brad Tavares vs. Seth Baczynski. Tito Ortiz vs. Everyone’s Patience. Last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter was a wall-to-wall struggle. Here’s what happened.

After Team Liddell’s Court McGee became the first TUF 11 semi-finalist, following his submission of James Hammortree, it’s time for two more quarterfinal matches. First up is Kris McCray vs. Kyle Noke, two guys who used to be training partners. Dana White cares not for your personal relationships: "One of the things I want these guys to learn early? There are no friends in the UFC."

Tito Ortiz might be looking at neck surgery. There’s a disc pressing on his spinal cord, which is causing numbness in his legs and daily headaches, among other symptoms. He’s not going to let Chuck beat him because he wasn’t 100%. Instead of fighting injured and jeopardizing his health, he wants to get this taken care of. It’s basically the same story we heard last week from Nick Ring, who by the way, is out of the competition for one day and already has a full-on Freddie Mercury ‘stache.

Noke has two inches in height, 4.5 inches in reach, and a hell of a lot more fights under his belt than McCray. It’s time to bang.

(Photo courtesy of Rich’s Facebook page.)

In the latest installment of his TUF 11 guest-blog for CagePotato.com, Team Liddell’s Rich Attonito recaps the fights from last night’s episode, reveals Nick Ring’s house nickname, gives his thoughts on Court McGee, and reminds everyone how awful it is to be stuck in the TUF house when you’re out of the competition.

The Wild Card fight is under way and the match-up is Uscola-McCray. Right before their fight Kaycey got the good news that his son was born. Everybody knew how much Kaycey was anticipating the birth of his child since we got into the house. Now the moment had finally arrived, but there wasn’t much time for reflection because his fight with The Savage was looming. It was the first time we were gonna see two guys on the same team go at it and everyone was anticipating how it would play out. I personally felt like Kaycey would take this one. But I wondered if the birth of Kaycey’s child was going to be a distraction for him going in.

In the end, McCray walked away with the victory by submission early in round two. Kaycey hurt Kris’s knee early with some well-timed leg stomps, but he got overzealous and charged in, allowing Kris to lock him up and recover from the pain he was in. McCray’s got a pretty sick body lock and he put it on display in this fight, as he eventually used it to ground Kaycey and finish him off.

(Look on the bright side, Joe — you weren’t going to win that fight anyway.)

Last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter blessed us with two fights — the Wild Card match between previously eliminated Team Ortiz members Kyacey Uscola and Kris McCray, and the first quarterfinal match, which basically turned out to be a Wild Card match in itself. Allow us to explain…

Kyacey’s son, Charles Champ Uscola, is born. Kyacey is elated, and fired up to capitalize on his second chance after losing by DQ to Rich Attonito. McCray previously lost a decision to Josh Bryant, but showed a lot of heart in the process. Kris McCray considers himself the underdog in this fight. He’s less experienced, and Kyacey has the better wrestling pedigree. Tito will be watching from the bleachers, and promises not to say anything during the fight.

WILD CARD MATCH
Round 1: McCray starts out with a leg kick and a couple jabs, then a body kick. Uscola responds with a leg kick, and two inside kicks to McCray’s knee that make him wince. Uscola charges in, but McCray clinches and eventually scores the takedown. Uscola quickly gets up, but McCray is on him against the fence. Uscola fires a knee in the clinch. McCray works some knees to Uscola’s legs. One of them nails Uscola in the nuts and the ref warns McCray and separates them. They trade kicks. Uscola hip-tosses McCray, lands a knee to the body, and they trade punches when McCray fights his way up. McCray picks up and slams Uscola, who turtles on his knees. McCray works to take Uscola’s back, and throws down a couple of short elbows from the top. He tries to set up a rear-naked choke as the round ends.

In the latest installment of his TUF 11 guest-blog for CagePotato.com, Team Liddell’s Rich Attonito breaks down the Seth vs. Joe matchup from last night’s episode, his chess rivalry with Charles Blanchard, and his self-destructive method of coping with being sidelined. We hope you get into treatment soon, Rich…

After Court McGee and Nick Ring’s fight, we catch a glimpse of Nick’s emerging knee problem. How bad was it, only time will tell. But it definitely was a cause of concern for him. Especially when it gave out and brought him to the ground during training. At the time, no one on our team had any idea of Nick’s injury.

The last of the preliminary fights is announced: Seth Baczynski and Joe Henle will close out the first round of competition in the house. Seth definitely seemed like the favorite in this matchup due to his experience and well-rounded skills. I remember the fight him and Court had to get into the house being a war. Seth looked like The Terminator; he never stopped coming forward the entire fight like a machine. When Chris was forced to leave due to his broken jaw, I knew they were going to bring Seth back. He was the best guy out of all of the fighters that lost, and I knew Tito wanted to bring back a guy who would only strengthen his team.

Joe, nicknamed the Geico Caveman, had only started fighting six months earlier and was very new to MMA. He pulled out a late submission in his fight to get into the house, in which he was losing. Because of that Joe was perceived to be the weak link in the house. But perception can be deceiving. While he didn’t have some of the polished skills that a lot of the guys had, he had a ton of heart and potential. You could see him absorbing the techniques we learned daily and improving rapidly. Joe’s grappling is definitely his strength and we knew that if he could ground Seth and get on top, that he could definitely win. The Terminator versus The Caveman was certainly gonna be a fight to watch.

(Anybody feel like dining in hell tonight?)

Nick Ring is in bad shape after his fight. He felt his knee slip on him, and he tells the doctor that his ligaments are loose. This house is becoming a ghost ship. Court McGee hopes he can come back as Rich Attonito’s replacement after getting robbed last week in his fight against Nick, but will Nick need to be replaced himself?

The last fight before the wild card match is Team Liddell’s last pick Joe "Caveman" Henle against Team Ortiz’s injury replacement Seth Baczynski. "I don’t see how Seth doesn’t win this fight," Dana says, which feels like bad foreshadowing, but we’ll see.

Henle has only been a pro fighter since last July. He got into it "by accident" — finding an MMA gym randomly, trying it on a whim, and winning his first fights. Now he’s on TUF, completely outgunned by some of the more experienced fighters in the house. A substitute teacher and coach when he’s not fighting, Joe has an MBA in financial planning, but doesn’t want to be in an office all day. "I’m not the best fighter in the world," he says. "I will be, that’s for damn sure." Good attitude, but he might be too raw.

(We’re assuming he couldn’t find a big enough cross to do Kimo Leopoldo. Top pic courtesy of seandiesel.)

The rumors are true, folks. Not only will the winner of tomorrow night’s welterweight co-headliner between Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley earn a shot at Georges St. Pierre’s belt, but that fighter will also get to do a tour of duty opposite GSP on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter. Dana White confirmed the news today before the UFC 113 weigh-ins at the Bell Centre in Montreal. TUF 12 will begin filming in a few weeks, and is slated to premiere on September 15th. 

As for the results of today’s weigh-ins, the numbers are after the jump. No real surprises, although the weight differences in both heavyweight bouts were close to 30 pounds. Plus, Tom Lawlor showed up to the weigh-ins as Dan Severn, following previous weigh-in tributes to Just Bleed Guy and Harold Howard.

(Richie Two Times poses with Ol’ Glue-Head. Photo courtesy of the Rich Attonito Fan Page on Facebook.)

In the latest installment of his TUF 11 guest-blog, Team Liddell’s Rich Attonito tells you everything you need to know about hot tubs, cold pools, Chuck’s pre-dodgeball jitters, and the baffling result of last night’s fight. Enjoy.

With Team Liddell up 4-1 on Team Ortiz, we start to see some doubt arising from Tito’s squad. Kyacey felt like Kris may have been over-trained leading up to his fight. McCray seemed to gas-out in the second and third rounds, which raised some concern. Kris’s wind may have failed him, but his toughness carried him through. I haven’t seen a guy take punches like that since Vinny the Chin, the Long Island legend from YouTube.

I remember over-training being a concern in my mind going into the show. If you run your body down too much and don’t give it enough recovery time, you’ll begin to physically break down and become more susceptible to injury. I knew that both coaches would push their teams hard, which is perfectly fine because that’s what we are there for. But the lack of time in between training sessions to rest and the intensity that had to be continuously maintained, day in and day out, was definitely a cause of concern for many people. Trusting the coaches and their methodology of training and experience was critical in this setting.

To combat the effects of hard training and soreness, at night when the practices were finished for the day, everyone would jump into the pool at the house. The pool was pretty much as cold as any ice bath you could take. It was so cold it would burn when you got in. It was tougher for some guys then for others. McCray and Tavares would swim around no problem like they were in an eighty degree pool at a country club. I remember one time Kris was doing the backstroke across the pool and spitting water out of his mouth. Brad would often dive off of the hot tub and into the pool doing can-openers, suicides, and cannonballs. It wouldn’t take long before the rest of the guys starting joining in.

Don’t know about you guys, but I’m still reeling from the horrible decision on last night’s episode. Seriously, the way the judges scored Nick Ring vs. Court McGee made Garcia vs. Jung look like Brown vs. Board of Education. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start at the beginning…

Kyacey Uscola is pissed that Coach Tito had Kris McCray doing intense plyometrics in the days leading up to his fight, which might have sapped his energy. McCray doesn’t feel he was overtrained, and his boy Jamie Yager appreciates that he didn’t make any excuses: "I’m proud of you that you went out there and did your dizzle. ‘Nuff said." James Hammortree thinks Tito is just pushing them to their limits, and "some of us haven’t had that before." To Nick Ring, the TUF workouts feel like a vacation compared to what he normally does.

Kyacey’s bad vibes get back to Tito, so he arranges an Airing of Grievances. Tito defends his methods to Kyacey, explaining that he’s training his guys to fight back to back to back, and points out that Kyacey’s cardio has visibly improved since he entered the house. Tito doesn’t doubt himself, despite the score, which is 4-1 in Chuck’s favor. He still feels that the fighter who gets his hand raised at the end of the show will be a Team Punishment member.

In the wake of last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Liddell vs. Team Ortiz, CagePotato.com guest blogger Rich Attonito discusses the frustrations of being sidelined due to injury (yet stuck in the prison-like environment of the TUF house), and how underestimating Josh Bryant turned out to be Kris McCray’s downfall.

The Wild Card speculations begin and everyone’s curious to see who the picks could possibly be. None of this had any impact on me anymore since I had a broken hand. I was going to have to sit by and watch the entire competition unfold in front of me and there was nothing I could do about it. I tried to remain positive and be as helpful to the guys on my team as I could. Mostly giving them some pointers with their wrestling, since that was what my background was in.

I spent a lot of time doing cardio and trying to exercise the rest of my body as best I could. I had to keep myself in as best of shape as possible so that eventually when my hand healed my transition back to training would be easier. Also, the only relief from the monotony of the house was when it was training time. Now I was barely even going to be afforded that luxury, as it was near impossible to do anything with my hand being as badly broken as it was.

Clayton was another member of the walking wounded in the house. After re-visiting the doctor he found out he was going to need shoulder surgery. I remember he didn’t want to get it done because he was still thinking about having a chance for a Wild Card spot. But after a little time he realized that his injury was severe and the only thing to do was go under the knife to get it fixed.

(Hey Jamie, what did you think of Precious?)

We’re halfway through the round-of-16, and the guys are looking a little beat up. Clayton McKinney is out for a couple months with a shoulder injury that he has to get surgery for. The recently-smashed Charles Blanchard is also injured, and says he’s in no condition to beat anybody. (Not that he was when he was healthy, but whatever.) And of course Rich Attonito is sidelined with a broken hand. Which begs the question: Is anybody going to be well enough to compete in the wild-card match? James Hammortree and Kyacey Uscola seem like they’ll qualify by default — but two more guys may need to come back to fight for Rich’s spot as well. Maybe we’ll meet one of them tonight.

Tito has control, finally, and chooses Kris "Savage" McCray to go up against Team Liddell’s Josh Bryant. McCray and Bryant have a lot in common, even if Josh doesn’t "look or act" like a fighter. First off, they’re both undefeated. Bryant is a perfect 10-0 professionally, while McCray is 5-0 as a pro and 4-0 in amateur competition. They also had less-than-ideal childhoods. Bryant mentions that he didn’t get along with his stepfather (or mom, for that matter), and moved out as soon as he could. Later, McCray says he’s afraid of no man, except his father when he was younger, but they have a good relationship now. I’m guessing their relationship changed as soon as Kris got big enough to kick his dad’s ass.

But there are also some obvious differences between the two fighters. While McCray looks like a true middleweight, Bryant is another one of those guys who could easily be competing at welterweight. And while Bryant is your garden-variety white dude, "Minority Report" member McCray is Austrian, black, and Mexican, an ethnic mixture that most people mistake for Puerto Rican until he starts speaking German.