CAUTION: SPOILERS INCLUDED – After Ryan McGillivray’s stunning upset of Len Bentley last week on The Ultimate Fighter: Team Lesnar vs. Team dos Santos, Junior dos Santos’ squad has pulled into the lead. Will they add to that advantage this week?
More blogs by TUF cast:
Tony Ferguson for SBNation
Ramsey Nijem for MMAFighting
Charles Rader for Around the Octagon
Clay Harvison for USA Today
Javier Torres for MMA Valor
Len Bentley for MMA DieHards
Ryan McGillivray for Top MMA News
Shamar Bailey for Heavy
Zach Davis for MMA Weekly
Chris Cope for MMA Junkie
Chuck O’Neil for Bleacher Report
Lew Polley for MMA Junkie
Coach dos Santos is happy to have control of the fight picks again, and his assistant Lew Polley believes that he’s found the reason for the squad’s success.
“I believe Team dos Santos is outworking Team Lesnar,” said Polley. “Everyone’s eager to fight because they’ve been training so hard and everyone knows they’re ready. I’m just excited for these fights to come around.”
The opposing coach, Brock Lesnar, is not about to pack it in yet though.
“We’ve lost a battle but we can still win the war,” he said.
This week’s fight will pit Team dos Santos’ Ramsey Nijem again Team Lesnar’s Charles Rader.
In the house, Nijem is taking his share of abuse for his choice in nail polish for his feet (glitter) and his television viewing habits (Glee), as well as his tendency to strip in the house, but at the same time, he makes it clear that he is in the house to fight and to win.
Speaking of winning, Lesnar brings a special guest to the gym the next day, one of the winningest fighters in UFC history, Hall of Famer Matt Hughes. Hughes begins the workout with the four team members yet to fight, and they couldn’t be happier to be learning from the legendary two-time champion.
Rader weighs in for the bout at 170 pounds, and Nijem checks in at 170 as well.
“If you don’t beat that guy, it will be a disgrace,” said Lesnar to Rader. “You know he paints his toenails?”
Well, the kid with the painted toenails made his presence known early as he bulled Rader into the fence and kept him pinned there for the first half of the frame, until an inadvertent low knee from Nijem forced a momentary halt to the action. After the bout resumed, Nijem again smothered his foe against the fence until he was able to score the takedown with 1:09 left. Rader got back to his feet quickly, but he couldn’t shake the grip of his opponent, who hit another takedown with under 40 seconds remaining in the round.
The second begins with more of the same, as Nijem takes Rader to the canvas. The two rise almost immediately, but soon end up back on the mat. This time, Nijem takes Rader’s back and works his strikes until he sinks in a rear naked choke that ends the bout via tap out.
“I knew we lost that fight when Ramsey got in the Octagon,” said Lesnar. “I saw it in Ramsey’s eyes. It wasn’t in Charlie’s eyes.”
Team dos Santos now leads the competition 3-1. Here’s how the teams look:
Team Lesnar
Len Bentley – Eliminated on episode three by Ryan McGillivray
Charles Rader – Eliminated on episode four by Ramsey Nijem
Tony Ferguson
Clay Harvison
Chuck O’Neil
Chris Cope 1-0
Nordin Asrih – Eliminated on episode one by Shamar Bailey
Team dos Santos
Shamar Bailey 1-0
Ryan McGillivray 1-0
Javier Torres – Eliminated on episode two by Chris Cope
Ramsey Nijem 1-0
Zachary Davis
Mick Bowman
Justin Edwards
For weekly recaps of The Ultimate Fighter, as well as fighter profiles, stay tuned to UFC.com.