Could it be over this soon for TUF 11 contestant (and CagePotato guest-blogger) Rich Attonito? Richie Boom-Bats looked like a true ass-kicker in his round-of-16 match against Kyacey Uscola, until an illegal knee put an abrupt end to the fight. But instead of taking his DQ victory and sailing into the quarterfinals, Attonito wound up with his hand in a cast. Read on to find out what Attonito had to say about last night’s action-packed episode…

During the Tavares-Hammortree fight we catch a glimpse of Yager cheering Brad on against his own teammate. Afterward Nick pulls Yager aside and confronts him about cheering for the other team. Yager hears Nick out but I don’t think it mattered much to him as he seemed to have his own idea about whose team he’s on. That’s when we catch a four-way discussion between Yager, McCray, Noke, and Tavares about forming their own alliance called the Minority Report.

The rest of the guys on Team Ortiz didn’t take the situation lightly. Especially Kaycey Uscola who likened Yager to the S— on the bottom of his shoe. The bickering we saw in practice aside, this was something major that began to break the unity between some of the fighters on Tito’s team. I understand Yager is close with Brad but I didn’t think it was appropriate to cheer for the other team. If anything he should have sat quietly or cheered impartially just to encourage the fighters. Only one fighter is gonna win the contract so its definitely an individual sport, however, your team and training partners are whats going to help you get there. If this was the mafia, Yager would be getting whacked out for going against the family.

Shortly after the fights are picked and who’s up but yours truly. Chuck decides to send me in to take out one of Team Ortiz’s top picks in Kyacey Uscola. I think it surprised most of his team that we decided to go after him. Kyacey was the most experienced and seasoned fighter in the house and in my opinion one of the top guys. I was definitely going to be the underdog in most people’s eyes.

(Props: iBakedAcake)

This poor, misunderstood Jamie Yager kid just can’t catch a break. During last week’s fight, he cheers for his buddy Brad Tavares, instead of his Team Punishment teammate James Hammortree, which just gives Nick "Blown-Out O-" Ring something else to be upset about. "You’re with us or against us…you need to support us, friendships aside," Nick says. "I hear what you’re saying, and I respect where you’re coming from," Yager says. But Ring doesn’t feel very heard or respected. He goes back to the house to bitch about Yager some more with his housemates.

Yager has his own crew — himself, Tavares, Kris McCray, and Kyle Noke — which he has dubbed "The Minority Report." Noke is not sure why he’s been included with the other multi-ethnic types, but he’s cool with it.

Anyway, this is one of those two-fight episodes, thank God, so we won’t have to suffer through too much girly-ass drama and house bullshit. Still in control, Chuck Liddell chooses his boy (and ours) Rich Attonito to go up against Kyacey Uscola. Uscola (18-15) is a skilled wrestler, and has had a long career that’s seen him lose to such notables as Chael Sonnen, Gegard Mousasi, Joey Villasenor, Mike Guymon, and Kyle Noke. He’s going to miss the birth of his child while being on the show.

(Chris Haseman would be proud.)

In last night’s episode of Coaches Who Won’t Fight Each Other 11, Team Punishment suffers another setback when Dana "Angel of Death" White comes in and tells Chris Camozzi that he has to leave the competition because of a fractured jaw. Bummer, brah. And so, Tito has to replace his last pick with a guy who got beaten in the preliminary round. After weighing his options, he calls back Seth Baczynski, who lost to Court McGee but showed heart in the process.

Team Liddell’s Charles Blanchard has an advanced degree in giving back-rubs to other dudes. A rub-down given to Team Ortiz’s Nick Ring at 2 a.m. opens up the ridicule floodgates from Jamie Yager, who busts Ring’s balls about the massage and the fruity way he leans against a bathroom door. Yager simply won’t be happy until all his teammates hate him. Later, an altercation in practice leads to Yager calling Ring a "bitch." Ring is ready to throw down, but Tito cools everybody out and explains that they’ll all have to help each other if one of them hopes to win this thing. By contrast, Team Liddell is "Happy Camp," according to John Hackleman.

Cage Potato guest blogger Rich Attonito returns with his take on last night’s episode.  Read on to find out what it feels like to be Chuck Liddell’s second pick, and why his oatmeal-making technique makes for important television.

After the preliminary fights were done, Dana White congratulated us and gave us a brief run down of what was to come. Team picks were going to be held the next day, but first we were going to be taken to the fighter house where we would be spending the next 6 weeks of our lives together. For better or for worse.

The lights of the Las Vegas strip lit up the night as we barreled down the highway in two sets of vans. I remember feeling a great deal of relief and for the first time in the past several days I was able to relax a little bit, until the vans arrived at our destination. Suddenly everyone started piling out of the vans and running into the house like someone had told them there was a million dollars inside for the taking.

("FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU-")

After last week’s battle royale, we’re left with 14 middleweight hopefuls, who run up in the TUF house like speed-freaks in a blackout. Is it just me, or is the house nicer than usual this year? It looks like somebody’s actual home, not a reality show barracks. Where are the TapouT bunk beds? Man, is it going to be sweet when they wreck the place.

Not all the fighters survived their qualifying fights completely intact. Chris Camozzi is dealing with a mouth infection from a broken tooth and Clayton McKinney is nursing a jacked shoulder.

It’s time to choose teams, and the coin toss goes Tito Ortiz‘s way. He opts to take the first fighter, which will allow Chuck Liddell to pick the first matchup. The picks go down like this…

Team Punishment: Nick "The Cock" Ring, Kyacey Uscola, Kris McCray, Jamie Yager, James "The Ball Peen" Hammortree, Clayton McKinney, Chris Camozzi
Team Liddell: Kyle Noke, Rich Attonito, Charles Blanchard, Josh Bryant, Brad Tavares, Court McGee, Joe Henle

(Whaddaya say boys? Once more on the way to the nursing home?)

The rampant speculation train just keeps right on rolling when it comes to Chuck Liddell’s next fight. After persistent rumors that an injury to Tito Ortiz had forced the UFC to change their plans for his first fight after the TUF coaching gig, the newest iteration comes to us via Heavy.com, which claims that Liddell will now be meeting Randy Couture for a fourth time at UFC 116 on July 3. If true, that would put the fight on the same card as the planned meeting between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin, which would pretty much guarantee the kind of pay-per-view numbers that would convince Dana White to forego base-jumping and just be shot out of a cannon over the MGM Grand and into the moat at Excalibur.

So, is there any reason to believe that it’s actually going to happen? We have no idea, but with all these rumors flying around it seems less and less likely that the Liddell-Ortiz bout will actually happen as planned. At this rate, we’re expecting to hear the Chuck Liddell vs. James Toney rumor any day now.

(Props: BloodyElbow)

We know what you’re thinking: At some point, CagePotato should stop referencing the 2008 sci-fi thriller Cloverfield, and move onto more current films like Avatar or The Bounty Hunter. To which we’d respond, "Look, he’s blurry and enormous, what do you want from us?" This recent pic, lifted from John Hackleman’s Facebook account, shows that the Chuckbelly is still in full-effect, despite Liddell’s recent naked-squat regimen. But before you start laying down money on Tito Ortiz for Chuck and Tito’s third meeting in June, we should point out that Tito’s been going through some undisclosed personal stuff that may be at least as distracting as a bloated stomach. Then again, Chuck’s been hanging out with The Situation lately, and if that’s not cause for concern, we don’t know what is.

Update, 11:21 p.m. ET: Chuck looks good from the front, and Dana White is pissed. See for yourself after the jump.

(Sorry, Chuck. If you had your own clothing line, maybe Dana would let you replace the Ultimate Fighter logo with your own brand name. But you don’t, and now you look like an asshole. Photo courtesy of twitter.com/spike_tv.)

The eleventh season of The Ultimate Fighter kicks off on March 31st. Here’s some stuff we’ve learned about it lately…

— According to recent reports by FiveOuncesofPain and Bloody Elbow, the middleweight castmembers selected for the show include KOTC/Bodog vet Kyacey Uscola (18-15), Australian EliteXC vet Kyle Noke (16-4-1; won a unanimous decision over Uscola in September), Victor O’Donnell (8-1; seven wins by submission), Travis Lutter BJJ student Cleburn Walker (8-4), Kris McCray (5-0; all wins by first-round stoppage, three in under a minute), American Top Team product Charles Blanchard (7-2), Warren Thompson (5-0; all wins by stoppage), and Charlie Lynch (6-0; all wins by stoppage). The Boston Herald also reports that Greg Rebello (9-2) and Woody Weatherby (7-3) will be part of the cast.

— Chuck Liddell’s assistant coaches will be his longtime trainer John Hackleman, highly regarded boxing coach Howard Davis Jr., jiu-jitsu ace Scott Epstein, and Strikeforce middleweight champ Jake Shields. Tito Ortiz’s assistant coaches will be his longtime trainer Saul Soliz, WEC lightweight Rob McCullough, BJJ ringer Cleber Luciano, and, as promised, a public-relations specialist to be named later.

The eleventh season of The Ultimate Fighter is set to kick off on March 31st, and Tito Ortiz doesn’t plan on sleepwalking through his second tour of coaching duty like some people we know. As we see on this recent Inside MMA appearance, Ortiz vows to train his guys hard — not just as fighters, but as businessmen:

So will Ortiz be giving seminars on personal branding in between the sparring sessions? ("Nobody leaves this gym until they give me three new t-shirt designs!") Will he make his guys watch old tapes of him on Celebrity Apprentice? As Bruce Buffer points out, Chuck Liddell will probably just show up and be Chuck, so maybe there is an advantage for the TUF 11 hopefuls to work under a master self-promoter like Ortiz. And maybe Tito’s personal attention to his team will make him the surprise good guy of the season…

("Tito, you ever notice how our chins start at the same height, and yet the top of your head extends three inches above mine? It’s kind of unsettling, actually.")

As much as we could all use a long break to recover from the atrocities of TUF 10, this goddamned show will be back before you know it. Spike TV has announced that the eleventh season of The Ultimate Fighter will premiere on March 31st. As you’ve already heard, the coaches will be Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. Both UFC legends have previously held coaching gigs on TUF (Liddell on the first season, Ortiz on the third), both previously enjoyed long light-heavyweight title runs, and both have earned one victory in their last five attempts. Liddell can barely speak anymore, and every time Ortiz opens his mouth it’s like acid in our ears. Keep your expectations low, that’s all we’re saying.

The show’s cast will be made up of 16 middleweights; UFC vets Nick Thompson and Jason Lambert tried out for the show, though their spots in the cast haven’t been confirmed. It’ll be interesting to see how well the combination of Chuck and Tito draws compared to Kimbo Slice, who helped put 5.2 million asses in sofas on Saturday night. They’ll probably need at least one well-known personality in the cast if they want to avoid a massive ratings dropoff. Can Chad Ochocinco cut to 185?

(Props: MMA Fanhouse)

At the post-fight press conference following the TUF 10 Finale, Kimbo Slice was as pleased as you could reasonably expect considering he’d just narrowly scratched out a victory against a guy who all but refused to fight him. Though fans and pundits expected Slice and Houston Alexander to put on a one-round war — a backyard brawl brought to the Octagon — we instead got Minowaman vs. Zuluzinho part 2. "We were prepared for somewhat of his attacks, but I wasn’t prepared for the ring-riding that he did," Kimbo said. Still, he wasn’t going to let Alexander bait him into making a mistake:

(Top: Kimbo and Roy demonstrate the difference between "built like a black man" and "built like a polar bear." Directly above: The Amanda Knox verdict affected some fighters more than others.)

Okay, so "Heavyweights" wasn’t the best season of The Ultimate Fighter we’ve seen. Let’s be honest: Project Runway had a more talented group of fighters this year, and there weren’t as many divas. But tonight’s finale card will still give us a very entertaining night of fights, with two worthy TUF finalists, Kimbo Slice’s (possibly) last stand, and the always exciting Jon Jones looking to launch to the next level against Matt Hamill. Round-by-round updates from the TUF 10 Finale are after the jump; refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest. We begin our evening’s entertainment with a grudge match between two ex-football players…

(Justin Wren: The mohawk and tattoo say "badass." The leopard-print shorty-shorts say "barback at a gay nightclub." / Photo courtesy of the UFC TUF Finale: Weigh Ins set on CombatLifestyle.com.)

Spoilers after the jump…

After his latest “Do you wanna be an [expletive] fighter” speech on the last episode, Dana White is surprised that nobody is stepping over Matt Mitrione to take his spot, which is strange because Scott Junk made it very clear that he’d just do that, wrecked eye notwithstanding. One guy who definitely isn’t down to fight is (wait for it) Kimbo Slice, who’s concerned about his arthritis-stricken knee and starts throwing out excuses. Bottom line is, he won’t be able to perform at full strength, and he can’t stomach another loss, so he’d just rather not fight, if that’s cool.

“I am in no position to fight a kickboxer like James McSweeney at this point,” he says, adding that it would “demise” him a little bit taking the fight knowing he wasn’t healthy. Dana White is a little taken back; he didn’t expect this from Kimbo, whose gameness was supposed to be his best quality. But that’s the situation. The season’s poster boy turns out to be a total bust. I demand a refund.

Luckily, Matt Mitrione feels healthy again. He tells Rashad that he’s been cleared to fight, and Rashad tells us "I bet he called the doctor and the doctor said ‘listen kid, I told you two days ago you could fight,’” which is hilarious because that’s pretty much exactly how it went down. Finally, Mitrione admits that his head injury story was exaggerated to mess with James McSweeney and keep himself entertained. Ohhhhh, now it all makes sense…

(Props: MrBavers)

This Wednesday’s season finale of The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights will be a two-hour mega-episode featuring four fights — the last two quarterfinal bouts and both semifinal matches — along with some heated emotions courtesy of Marcus "Big Baby" Jones. As you can see in the above preview, the eye-pokes that Scott Junk sustained in his fight against Matt Mitrione turn out to be career-threatening. When Jones hears the bad news about his friend, he gets way up in the face of the meatheaded culprit and promises him death. Mitrione figures if he keeps quiet and doesn’t make eye contact, the Babystorm will eventually drift away. Does it work, or does Matt catch a beating that knocks them both out of the competition? And how anti-climactic will this "final twist" be? Only three more days until all the questions are answered and we can finally put this awful season behind us.

After the jump: Speaking of finales, DWtS had theirs on Tuesday, and they brought Chuck Liddell back for a martial arts-themed dance showdown with Mark Dacascos. It was everything we hoped it wouldn’t be, and so much more…

(Schaub vs. Madsen stoppage, via bothmiddlefingers)

Matt Mitrione is still bitching about his alleged brain damage. He says a doctor’s visit revealed that he has some minor swelling in the brain, which turned into a migraine. As a result, he’s a little slow and it’s taking a little longer for him to say things. Trevor Wittman calls horseshit — swelling of the brain is life-threatening, and the doctor wouldn’t just send him back to the house. Coach Rashad still can’t get a clear read on if Mitrione really wants to continue fighting; he has to want it for himself more than his coaches want it for him. James McSweeney — who’s scheduled to fight Mitrione in the third quarterfinal match — feels that Mitrione is just playing games, and in his book, Meathead just went from "rat" to "two faced little bitch without a heart."

While rolling with Demico Rogers, Kimbo Slice tweaks his knee. He’d obviously be the first fighter to return if Mitrione has to withdraw from the competition, but Coach Rampage is worried that McSweeney would focus on the bum joint with kicks. (In Kimbo’s charming personal dialect, McSweeney is a "tree chopper.") Later, a doctor tells Kimbo that he’s missing some cartilage, but Kimbo won’t get a cortisone shot because big needles freak him out. He suffers through an ice bath outside the TUF house, while his housemates laugh at his agony.

(Props: Smoogy on this epic UG thread.)

Just as Pop Idol spawned American Idol, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? launched Oh, lucky man!, the UFC wants to turn its Ultimate Fighter property into a global franchise. As Dana White told MMA Junkie following UFC 105, international versions of TUF will begin production in seven or eight countries early next year:

(Nelson vs. Wren. Props: CreativeProjectTV)

With seven of his guys advanced to the quarterfinals, Coach Rashad decides that the fairest way to proceed is for him to take a hands-off approach. Everybody will train together, but there won’t be much coaching anymore. The guys are on their own.

Roy Nelson and Justin Wren are friends. Roy wants to get their fight over with so he can go back to giggling and shooting the crap with his homey, and he feels bad that he’ll have to take Justin’s dream away.

Matt Mitrione‘s brain hurts, even more than usual. He dry-heaves at the house, and can barely stay in a sitting position in the van. Wren thinks he’s milking it. Kimbo says "he already has sand in his vagina. He already pulled out by going to the hospital." If he can’t continue, Dana says he and the coaches will decide "who the alternate is who deserves to be in there." Deserving or not, we all know it would be Kimbo Slice. But nobody seems to mind the favoritism. Rampage is pulling for Kimbo to return because he’s improved so much during his time in the house. Kimbo says he’s a fight contractor, putting tools in his belt to build a solid fight foundation, and if he gets a chance to put his haymakers on you, you a done-dada.

Sneak Peek: Team Rashad Prepares For The Quarterfinals

Tonight’s episode of TUF 10 will feature the season’s first quarterfinal matchup, in which polar-bearish grapplers Justin Wren and Roy Nelson — arguably the two strongest fighters in the house — go toe-to-toe in a Youth vs. Experience matchup. Because they practice on the same team, each dude always has one eye on the other, though the vibe between them is generally respectful. Rashad feels uncomfortable with the prospect of training his guys against each other, because he doesn’t want to look like he’s playing favorites — though that ruse won’t last long considering Schaub and McSweeney obviously are his favorites. Check out the episode tonight and come back tomorrow morning for group discussion…

(Props: CagePotato reader Pete V.R.)

Now that TUF 10‘s round-of-16 is in the books, we all have a better sense of who these guys are and how far they’ll go in the competition. So, it’s time to rank the Elite 8 based on their performances. Going from valedictorian to dunce…

JUSTIN WREN

Wren put an MMA veteran to sleep, took zero damage in the fight, and made it look easy. You couldn’t ask for a more successful first match than that. Few people knew who this guy was when he came into the house, but suddenly he’s a front-runner. Grade: A

ROY NELSON

Like Wren, Nelson used a methodical grappling attack to take his opponent completely out of the game. The only difference is, Wren finished his fight, while Nelson was content to pile on pitty-pat punches until the ref stopped it for him. Not taking any undue risks is a smart strategy when you’re looking at three fights in six weeks, but hopefully he’ll show some killer instinct in his next fights. Grade: A-

Marcus Jones vs. Mike Wessel – Watch more Funny Videos

Matt Mitrione‘s win over Scott Junk on last week’s episode was a bit of a shock to the TUF guys, who expected more out of the Hawaiian UFC vet. Junk says he would have won the fight if it went to a third round — kind of a bold statement considering he almost had a heart-attack trying to make it to the second horn.

Rampage has his now-famous door-destroying session. "You know what sucks about that, it shows everybody how fucking cheap our doors are," Dana says. Rashad doesn’t understand the outburst. "If you put in nothin’, you get out nothin’," he says. After Rampage cools down, he feels embarrassed about the incident, especially because the door never did anything to him.

In the aftermath of the last fight, Mitrione feels like his brain is a little rattled, and goes right to bed. Wes Sims feels it’s the perfect opportunity to throw him a party. He barges into Matt’s room screaming "CELEBRATE!" while spraying some undisclosed shit into his room. (Silly String? Axe Body Spray?) The brain-damaged Mitrione is in no mood, and politely asks Wes to leave.

(Props: eBay via CP reader Simon S.)

As you might recall, Wes Sims was living under a bridge before he was selected for TUF 10, and the show represented his best chance to turn his life and career around. Sadly, Justin Wren had other plans for him. Cut to present-day, where an eBay seller named "iwawrestling" from Lancaster, OH — who claims to be Wes Sims — is selling a skull cap that he either stole from Kimbo Slice, or accepted as a gift, or bought at a dollar store and is now trying to pass off as Kimbo’s. Either way, it’s on the auction block for the super-low price of $28:

Our first reaction is to thank Wes for not turning to porn in order to make ends meet. But for some reason this feels even less respectable. Without an autograph on the hat, or a certificate of authenticity signed by Kimbo himself, it’s basically just a skull cap that Sims is trying to get a few bucks for. Maybe Sam’s Club still needs a tire technician, Wes. Please look into it.

Mitrione vs. Junk, TUF 10 – Watch more Funny Videos

The hate train continued on last night’s ep of The Ultimate Fighter, which opened up with the coaches mocking each other’s losses. Rashad imitates Rampage getting wrecked by Wanderlei Silva in their first fight, and Rampage imitates Rashad’s "stanky leg" routine against Machida. Rampage calls Rashad "Gayshad." Rashad calls Rampage a whiny bitch. God, I could watch this all day.

So, back to business. Rashad picks Matt "Meathead" Mitrione to fight Scott Junk, who is frighteningly amped up in the staredown. Dana White likes Scott in the fight, because of all his experience. By default, Mike Wessel vs. Marcus Jones will be the final fight in the round-of-16.

Directly after the picks, Rampage and Rashad get into it again. You can watch the scene here, but basically, Rashad says he’s going to make Rampage quit just like he quit in the competition (!), and Rampage says that it’s his fighters who have quit, not him. (Cut to a very hurt-looking Kimbo Slice.) Rampage repeats that he’s not a coach, but he brought some dudes who can coach, and they’re doing a great job, ain’t that right? (Cut to a very confused looking Wes Shivers and Zak Jensen.) The coaches nearly come to blows. Rashad has one shoe off, totally ready for it. Rampage: "Take both shoes off. I’m in your face now. Touch me. Please."

(Props: MMA Fanhouse)

Following yesterday’s UFC 104 press conference, AllElbows.com‘s E. Casey Leydon got up in Dana White‘s face, and the conversation inevitably turned to Kimbo Slice. Despite multiple reports from TUF 10 castmembers that Kimbo had a large "posse" in attendance for his fight — yes, that’s the word they keep using — Dana claims that only Slice’s manager was there, while his wife and kids were definitely not. "I’ve never seen such crybabies in my whole life as the heavyweights [on TUF 10]," Dana says. Here’s another example: Roy Nelson told USA Today that Kimbo had his own media room and could make phone calls. Dana’s response:

After the jump: A longer DW interview with Ariel Helwani, where Dana discusses Cain Velasquez‘s potential as a future champ, selling two Brazilian main-eventers, the necessity of teammates fighting each other, an update on the Dan Henderson situation, those Showtime knuckleheads, Bernard Hopkins’s criticism of MMA as gay porno, why "Big" John McCarthy isn’t reffing at UFC 104, and Chuck Liddell’s future in the sport.

Darrill Schoonover is a drunk. He has a few beers in his belly by 8 a.m., followed by a few shots of whiskey, in an attempt to exact a brutal revenge on the dog that bit him. Unfortunately, it seems to be affecting his work. Schoonover gets handled by Brendan Schaub in sparring, and James McSweeney spills the beans about Darrill’s alcohol intake to Coach Rashad. Rashad and his assistant coaches tell him to cut it out, or at least wait until he’s won a fight before he starts celebrating. "You can’t forget why you’re here," Rashad says. But he also sees the potential in Schoonover: "Darill is that little diamond in the rough…There’s something in Schoonover that [Team Rampage] just don’t know."

Phil Nurse stops by to work with Team Rashad, and we see that scene from yesterday, where Darrill is drunk enough to challenge Rampage to a fight. They have words; most of Rampage’s words involve some reference to "titties." Schoonover wants to take on Rampage in a sparring session, or at the very least head-butt him.

The next fight is announced: Schoonover vs. Zak Jensen. We figured Darrill would get a tougher opponent, but maybe his performance in practice has made Rashad nervous. Anyway, it looks like another easy win for Team Rashad. "Titties!", Rampage shouts after Darrill’s name is called. "Fuck you bitch," Darrill replies. "Got milk, bitch? Got milk?", Rampage says. Darrill nearly goes after Rampage, but Rashad breaks them up. "Walk up on me again, your ass gonna be in trouble, trust me," Rampage says. "You feel froggy, then jump."

(Mike is not taking your bullshit. No sir, not today.)

Quote of the day from Team Rashad member Mike Wessel, via an interview on Heavy.com:

Wessel went on to deny Rampage’s claims that Team Rashad didn’t actually like each other, and while he was in a venting mood, he figured he’d blast the TUF producers for all the special treatment given to Kimbo Slice. As the story goes, Slice got to bring an audience to his fight against Roy Nelson:

Justin Wren vs. Wes Sims – Watch more Funny Videos
(The sad ending of Wren vs. Sims.)

Last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter began with Matt Mitrione tweaking his shoulder while rolling with Titties. Back in his football days, he would just take a cortisone shot and get right back into action. But Rashad tells Matt that he ain’t getting no damn cortisone shot, because of the damage it’ll do in the long run. He’s just going to have to suck it up and deal.

Marcus Jones is itching to fight next, and asks Rashad — who still has control of the picks — to give him a match. Rashad keeps it mysterious, telling Big Baby he very well might be fighting next; who can say, really? Jones interprets it as a promise, and gets hyped up: "It was like I was cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, you know what I’m sayin’?"

Rampage is understandably bummed out by the fact that his team still hasn’t won a fight. Losing messes with Rampage’s sex life, which doesn’t need any more setbacks. The team practices aren’t doing much to encourage him, either. Zak Jensen is unable to perform a drill where he has to shimmy to the cage with a guy on top of him. He’s a good wrestler, apparently, but shuts down when he’s on his back; even Kimbo controls him from top position. Scott Junk says that Zak talked himself up so much when he first arrived at the house, but he’s just a "turd" at practice. Rampage won’t get his hopes up if Zak is picked to fight.

(Props: UFC)

Though he jacks up his shoulder on tomorrow night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter, Matt "The Rat" Mitrione is still very much DTF (down to fight). In fact, he tries to convince Coach Rashad that he should be picked to fight next, despite his arm being in a Saran-Wrap cast. Rashad openly calls him "Meathead" now, and casts doubt on his injury. Meanwhile on Team Bumpage, Marcus "Big Baby" Jones is also impatiently awaiting his first match, and becomes convinced that he’ll be picked next. And look, we get a rare glimpse of Wes Sims trying to shake water out of his ear (I think?) as Jones walks past him at the 2:15 mark. The end of the promo still promises a Kimbo return, and vows that fight #5 ends in a "shock result no one saw coming." Rashad is shown crouching over one of his guys in the Octagon while others shout "wake up!" First double-knockout in TUF history?

After the jump: UFC old-schooler Oleg Taktarov stops by BJ Penn’s gym in Hilo to plug his role in Predators, and Brock Lesnar destroys a few more training partners in preparation for his UFC 106 title defense against Shane Carwin.

TEAM RASHAD’s remaining fighters:

Justin Wren (Rashad’s #3 pick), Darrill Schoonover (#6), Matt Mitrione (#7), Mike Wessel (#8)

TEAM RAMPAGE’s remaining fighters:

Wes Sims (Rampage’s #4 pick), Scott Junk (#5), Marcus Jones (#7), Zak Jensen (#8)

Thanks to a couple of boneheaded fight picks by Quinton Jackson, followed by a couple of spot-on matchups by Rashad Evans, Team Rashad has gone up 4-0 on this season of The Ultimate Fighter. We’ve seen this kind of thing happen before on TUF, where one side takes an early lead and has the other team playing catchup. But this feels different. Rampage started off as an inept coach, and last night’s episode showed that he’s basically stopped trying. His team is absolutely rudderless. The psychological advantages that Rashad’s guys have over Rampage’s are profound. Could Team Rashad actually sweep the first round of fights, 8-0?

Strictly based on talent, it’ll be a close race from here on out. Obviously, the order in which the fighters were picked by their coaches isn’t a direct correlation to their talent levels — otherwise Roy Nelson would have been picked second overall and Kimbo Slice would have been picked ninth, not the other way around — but for the last four preliminary fights, each team is now left with one top-eight pick, and three bottom-eight picks. If Rashad is smart (and he absolutely is), he’ll do the following…