The Ultimate Fighter: U.S. vs. U.K., episode 1 highlights – Watch more free videos
(Last night’s stoppages, not including David Faulkner‘s heel-hook on James Bateman, because my DVR cut off before the last fight. Fuck a Time Warner Cable.)

The Ultimate Fighter: U.S. vs. U.K. kicked off last night with the elimination matches at Wolfslair Academy, where 16 British TUF hopefuls were whittled down to four lightweights and four welterweights. Here’s how the fights panned out…

Andre Winner (LW) def. Gary Kelly via KO, round 1

Jeff Lawson (LW) def. James Bryan via armbar, round 1

James Wilks (WW) def. Che Mills via heel-hook, round 1

Martin Stapleton (LW) def. Dan James via rear-naked choke, round 1

Ross Pearson (LW) def. A.J. Wenn via TKO, round 2

Nick Osipczak (WW) def. Tommy Maguire via TKO, round 1

Dean Amasinger (WW) def. Alex Reid via decision, round 3

David Faulkner (WW) def. James Bateman via heel-hook, round 1

Notes…


— Martin Stapleton is the owner of the gnarliest cauliflower ear in MMA history. Stapleton’s ear is so big, it has its own cauliflower ear, and that ear is bigger than my ear.

— Jeff Lawson’s armbar win over James Bryan means my early prediction is still in play, but his physical twerpiness was almost Blevins-esque. More impressive was David Faulkner, who seems to be a leglock savant; Bisping called it, and David did it.

— Even though the elimination matches featured a lot of exciting stoppages, the overall talent level wasn’t that impressive. Nobody on Team U.K. looks like a world-beater at this point. Bisping seemed to be psyched about Team U.K.’s chances at the end of the episode, but he’d better hope that the American fighters are as amateurish as his gang.