Tuffies: Recap and Awards for Episode 9 of the Ultimate Fighter
In a surprisingly good episode of the Ultimate Fighter, we get to see a good fight, some training and why you don't mess with a man's cereal.
When discussing Krzystof's (heretofore to be known as K) win over Kyle Kingsbury, Junie Browning says that his sister could have caught Kyle in an arm bar. That might be true, but since going off the sauce, Junie sure has become a grump. Going into the final first round fight, Mir has four guys still alie, and Nog has three. John "the Hugger" Polakowski and George Roop are next to decide the last fighter to move on.
Junie calls John nuts. Pot. Kettle. Anyway, John says that he likes to give long hugs and really let people now how he feels. He also had Efrain do a painting that says "Fire the Cannons" to get himself worked up for the fight. Whatever works for you, John.
Roop is a classic, skinny white boy who learned to fight to defend himself. (See McCrory, Tamdan.) Roop's right hand got twisted up in training and he is having trouble making a fist. That's not good news.
When John eats his breakfast in the morning, he notices that all of his marshmallows are missing from the Lucky Charms. He is pissed. He's right. You don't mess with a man's Lucky Charms. Though he is the nicest guy in the house, he won't let this go. He won't even give anyone on Team Mir a hug! Nog says that on the inside, John is a mean guy. Apparently, that only shows up when you mess with his breakfast.
Roop's hand is a huge concern. He's constantly icing it, but it's still frighteningly swollen. Mir and the other coaches are training Roop to avoid using his right hand. Roop seems willing to fight with his hand blown up like a balloon.
At the weigh-in, John tries to give Mir a hug. Mir seems a little annoyed. I can see why Nog gets along with John, because they're two of the most genial guys ever to be on TUF. At the house, Nog talks smack to Roop, but it is the most fun-loving smack ever spoken. Roop and John even hug the night before the fight. Awww.
They hug again when they go in to touch gloves! Then they start punching eachother in the face. After some stand-up where Roop's hand isn't a factor, he easily takes John down and works some quick ground and pound. John is slippery, and keeps moving around. Roop is dominating, but John is hanging on. Roop gets John's back but can't do anything with it, so John reverses and is on top. It turns to a ground and pound war, with both fighters landing punches. First round over.
In between rounds, John asks if he won the first round. His corner lies to him and said "Oh yeah."
John comes out much more aggressively in this round, landing a few damaging punches to start the round. Nog yells for John to knock him out. That doesn't seem very helpful. Roop takes John down and throws some big home run punches. Roop takes John back, and tries to flatten him out for a rear naked choke but John is defending well. This round goes to John, in my opinion, because John's defense is so good. Third round?
Nope. George Roop is the winner. Dana White thinks the fight should have gone to the third round, and so do I. John takes it well, and says that he shouldn't have left it in the hand of the judges. Now Mir has five in the next round, and Nog has three. Back at the house, some of guys let loose by throwing eggs at Junie. Junie does the really smart thing and tries to catch the eggs. When they splatter all over him, he gets angry. John has a solution -- shots for peace! Everyone, drink!
When deciding on the next round fights, K and Eliot want Bader, Bader wants Eliot, and Vinny wants K. Phillipe wants Roop, Roop wants Phillipe but thinks Junie is the weakest, Junie wants Efrain, Efrain wants Junie. This will be easy to make these match-ups. The match-ups are Bader vs. Eliot, Phillipe vs. Roop, K vs. Vinny and Junie vs. Efrain. That will air on Dec. 3 in back-to-back episodes.
Nice guys finish last award: John Polakowski, the hugger.
Mr. Facetime (Achievement in being sure to get as much camera time as possible): Junie Browning
Best Product Placement Award: Lucky Charms. It might have been unintentional, but Lucky Charms got a ton of exposure due to John's meltdown over his missing marshmallows.
