Team USA didn’t exactly get off to a promising start on the second elimination episode of The Ultimate Fighter: U.S. vs. U.K. last night. Welterweight Jason Pierce fainted during the show-opening lineup (but won his first fight anyway), making him the new Phillipe Nover. Lightweight John David Shackleford showed up with a damn herpe on his head (and was immediately dismissed), making him the new Paul Bradley. Welterweight Christian Fulgium was kicked off for not making weight, making him the new Jason Guida. And Steve Mazzagatti couldn’t decide if he wanted to stop fights early or late, so he decided to do both, making him the same old Steve Mazzagatti. Here’s how the elimination-round matches went down:

Mark Miller (WW) def. Kevin Knabjian via TKO, round 2

Richie "The Choking Tomato" Whitson (LW) def. Paul Bird via submission (rear-naked choke), round 1

Santino DeFranco (LW) def. Waylon Lowe via submission (rear-naked choke), round 2

Jason Pierce (WW) def. Steve "Red Nose" Berger via decision

Cameron Dollar (LW) def. Tom Hayden via submission (rear-naked choke), round 1

Damarques Johnson (WW) def. Ray Elbe via TKO (mount ‘n’ murder), round 1


After the eliminations were over, two more fighters were brought in to replace Shackleford and Fulgium. So next week we’ll be seeing Kiel Reid take on welterweight fill-in Frank Lester, and Jason Dent go up against Rob Browning, who has previously competed at featherweight, and "apparently" is the brother of Junie Browning. (Right, Dana. I’m sure that was a complete shock to you.) Other notes on the episode:

— Dan Henderson may turn out to be the least charismatic coach in TUF history. He has this punchy, mumbly, Chuck Liddell thing going on. Personality-wise, Bisping is going to ride roughshod over this dude.

— Quotes of the night: "I get to do whatever I want, legally, to another human being, and that’s the best feeling in the world." (Paul Bird before losing his elimination fight, making him the new Hitler Dog.) "I’m here to get paid and hurt people’s feelings, so………it’s time to do the man dance." (Damarques Johnson)

— Fun fact: Steve Berger had lost 12 of his last 16 fights coming into the elimination round.

— We’re pleased to announce that Team USA’s Santino DeFranco will be guest-blogging the season for us. Stay tuned!