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.
Oh snap, it’s time for the Coaches’ Challenge already, and it’s…dodgeball? That’s more of a team sport, but conveniently, each game ends with a faceoff between Chuck and Tito. Dana brings out the money stack, and Yager makes a move for it. First team to win three games scores ten G’s for the coach and $1,000 for each team member. "I’m just excited to hit Chuck with my balls," Tito says. And yet, that’s not the gayest moment of the episode. Team Liddell wins the challenge in a 3-0 shellacking. Ortiz is the last out in each game. "He has trouble beating me in just about anything," Liddell says.
Okay, so here’s the gayest moment of the episode: For the sixth fight, Chuck chooses his fighter Court McGee (#6 pick) to go up against Team Punishment’s much-hyped #1 pick, Nick Ring. They face off, and Ring — who’s a lispy son-of-a-bitch to begin with — puts his finger in Court’s face and says "Oh no you didn’t…Just don’t go there, sister." As Ring explains, "If you’re gonna go out, go out with style." Christ, man. This is The Ultimate Fighter, not RuPaul’s Drag Race. Another detail about Ring: He wasn’t really into sports until he discovered the "rawness" of MMA…although he did play a little soccer when he was younger. Well that settles it.
Court’s a monster on the heavy bag. He’s also a former drug addict (cocaine, Oxycontin, heroin, you name it) who has been sober for 1,300+ days, since being thrown into rehab by his family. He tells the guys about the time he went on a four-day alcohol blackout and woke up in Iowa with no pants, which would be a hilarious story if Shonie Carter was telling it, but it’s mostly sad coming from Court.
Bad luck strikes Team Punishment again as James Hammortree wrecks his back during practice and has to be taken out of the gym on a stretcher. It’s a scary moment, but he comes back later saying it was just a bulging disc and he can probably still fight, so I guess all of his girlish screaming wasn’t really necessary.
Ring is undefeated, 8-0 as a pro and 2-0 as an amateur. And how many of his ten opponents currently have winning records? Three. Court’s competition has been slightly better, and he actually holds a win over Damarques Johnson.
It’s go time…
Round 1: McGee opens strong with a high kick and a takedown, but Ring locks him down on the ground and McGee doesn’t have space to do damage. Ring escapes and they trade kicks for a while. Eventually McGee shoots again but Ring sprawls this time, transitions onto McGee’s back, then gets into his half-guard. Ring starts scoring points with hard punches from the top. Unable to escape the position, McGee starts returning fire from his back in the closing moments of the round. Ring edges it out, 10-9.
Round 2: McGee starts off with a right straight. Ring returns with an inside leg kick, then a high kick. He lands two more leg kicks. McGee is working his boxing, but Ring is landing kicks at will. It’s at this moment that all three judges decide they’ve seen enough, and leave the gym to grab a smoke. The momentum begins to shift, quite obviously. McGee lands an uppercut in a clinch, then a knee and a punch combo. McGee with another uppercut, and some effective dirty boxing. Ring tries to clinch from six feet away, wading in with his hands in front of him like a zombie, and gets tagged coming in. Nick is looking lost out there. Court scores with body-shots in a clinch, and ends the round landing shots. There’s the bell. Unless the judges gave the first round to McGee, this should be going to Sudden Victory. But what’s this? They judges have already made a decision…
The scores are: 20-18 Ring (???), 19-19, 20-18 Ring (???!?!!?!!!?!?!). What the fuck. Ridiculous. Chuck is understandably pissed off. "That’s why you don’t let it go to the judges," Dana explains. Easier said than done, you asshole! Why don’t you just hire some competent fucking judges and we wouldn’t have this problem every other week? Oh, and remember
have a great Friday bro.
@Ratel – Mike Rowe does the ON CAMERA for a lot of the recent Ford commercials… mostly trucks.