By Jesse Holland
Episode six opens with a fight announcement and Matt Serra selects Ben Saunders to fight Dan Barrera. Considering the amount of drama we’ve been subjected to in the past five weeks, opening the show with a fight pick is a welcome change.
If Ben wins, Team Serra will be 5-1 and control the quarterfinal picks. I’m not sure if Hughes’ blood is boiling just yet, but it’s definitely started to simmer.
Team Hughes gears up for training and Dan promises God he’s going to go “balls out“. Hopefully Dan doesn’t try to implement the North/South choke with that philosophy.
It seems Dan is also getting a little overzealous in training. Aside from mauling Blake, he gives Jared the patented B.G. James knee drop right to the Yam Bag. Because Jared already has such a high-pitched voice, no one can immediately tell if he’s been hurt.
Paul returns from his cousin’s funeral and is quickly shuffled off camera. Some of the guys are wondering why Dan is always in the bathroom during training. Drugs? OAB?
Nope.
Latrine-cam reveals it’s vanity, or should we say Danity, as D.B. finds the best training partner to be his own reflection.
As punishment for roughing up his teammates, Dan gets Coach Hughes for his next training partner. Lest there be any doubt as to the difference between coaches and contestants, Hughes was on him tighter than the Virgin of Nuremberg.
While I appreciate the lesson, Hughes actually did his team a disservice by injuring Dan’s hand. By the time he left the gym it looked like a Boxing glove dipped in a bowl of pigs-in-blankets.
Mac compared it to a latex glove that’s blown full of air. I was kind of hoping he would put one of his head and inflate it as an homage to Howie from Maui.
Team Serra gets wind of the injury and Serra himself gets a little too excited at the prospect of Dan’s hand falling off. Coach Longo telepathically diagnoses it as a broken hand.
Despite a negative X-Ray, Dan pulls a fast one on his teammates by pretending he’s off the show. Judging from the forced laughter, not everyone was glad to see him stay.
In a tender moment, Dan whips out a picture of Mrs. Barrera and the first question he gets is whether or not she is Jewish. I don’t see the relevance but I guess you never know when you’re going to need a good recipe for kosher brisket.
In our second consecutive family emergency, Dan calls home to have his wife scream at him. While her description sounds similar to a panic-attack, Mrs. B is certain she’s at death’s door. A sympathetic Dan advises her to eat some cottage cheese or Cheetos.
I probably would have recommended an anti-depressant but hey I’m sure curdled milk is just as good.
A part of me feels bad for Dan, who must now fight with both a physical and mental distraction. Dan’s ability to mute his angst has me wondering if he’s been down this road before.
It’s fight day and Ben admits to being as giddy as a schoolgirl. I can only hope he doesn’t fight like one. He also claims he’ll take care of Dan’s dog, his horse and his woman.
He might want to hear the audio replay from that last call before making that kind of commitment.
Like many religious zealots, Dan declares that God is on his side. Why it always has to be one or the other is something these guys can never explain with any coherence.
Round one is underway and a quick look at the clock reveals it’s 10:40 p.m. Two rounds! A brief lock-up and a standing knee from Ben who follows that with a nice kick. He misses the next one and Dan lands an inside shot. Another knee from Ben who then misses with a soft kick and Dan makes him pay with a crushing hook.
Ben folds up like a cheap lawn chair and Dan pounces on him. Ben quickly recovers and tries to lock Dan into a submission. Dan wiggles free and stands over him. Hughes is screaming to let him up but Dan just stands there. Time ticks away and Herb Dean finally stands Ben up.
Ben resumes the kicks. Dan closes in and a hit/slip sends Dan to the mat but he stands right back up. No damage. Dan gets a hold of Ben and throws him down. More standing and circling. Dan misses another opportunity. Herb stands Ben up once again.
Ben immediately shoots and gets the takedown but a wily Dan is on his feet almost instantly. Both exchange good shots but Ben is pushing the action. Ben slips on a kick attempt. Round one ends.
Wow.
Lots of action but it was a very close round and a tough one to score. Ben was the more aggressive of the two and landed more shots, but the few strikes Dan landed caused 10x more damage. I give it to Ben 10-9 but just barely.
Round two starts and Dan is oozing blood. Ben lands a nice stiff jab. Then a low kick, then another. Dan eats a huge knee. Ben connects with a jumping kung-fu kick. Then a low kick. Then a high kick. Dan is taking real punishment. Two more low kicks and another huge knee after Dan tries to clinch.
A bloodied Dan is getting picked apart and looks lost. Herb stops the action to check Dan’s vision. Serra doesn’t like the break in momentum and lets Herb know it. The fight resumes and Dan continues to get creamed until the buzzer. This round was all Ben. I give the fight to Ben on a close first round and a dominating second.
Everyone looks surprised when the judges announce there is a decision. Ben wins by majority. Team Hughes is dissatisfied with the decision. Coach Hughes walks over to Keith Kizer (NSAC Director) and asks him if he got the judges from a classified ad.
Hughes 1, NSAC 0
Dana calls it the worst decision he’s ever seen. Apparently he missed the Din Thomas/Clay Guida fight. The first round was very close and probably could have gone either way, but calling it the worst of all time is a bit much.
Dana does however reward Dan for a strong effort and gives him a $5,000 bonus in addition to the 5k bonus Ben gets for winning.
Afterwards Serra pops into the Team Hughes locker room and congratulates Dan on a war. He also admits to expecting the fight to continue for a third round. Meanwhile Hughes finds a quiet place to reflect on his string of losses and wonders if he made the right picks.
Stay tuned next week as Matt Hughes stomps through his team like Godzilla in Tokyo, Dana eggs him on, and Team Serra looks to keep the humiliation going.
See you then!
153 Comments »
Ah just like Fedor, I am Number 1!
Hughes is such a competitor and doesnt like to lose, I dont blame him. No worries brah you can deal with all that anxiety in the first round with Serra and take it out on him then !
I was always wondering, do you think the fights they show on TV happen in that order? Or do you think they could mess around the fight order?
Because Hughes has 3 straight wins he must have to gain partial control of the finals. Do you think one of them loses first? But yet they show the two guys that win first to build it up for ratings?
herm?
Questions Questions.
matt hughes will detroy serra, then win against st. pierre, and for his last career fight. he’ll fight anderson silva. and win both MW and WW titles.
[quote comment=”193196″]matt hughes will detroy serra, then win against st. pierre, and for his last career fight. he’ll fight anderson silva. and win both MW and WW titles.[/quote]
? lets just start with serra, Then we will talk about anderson, and pierre.
[quote comment=”193184″]I was always wondering, do you think the fights they show on TV happen in that order? Or do you think they could mess around the fight order?
Because Hughes has 3 straight wins he must have to gain partial control of the finals. Do you think one of them loses first? But yet they show the two guys that win first to build it up for ratings?
herm?
Questions Questions.[/quote]
Interesting question. The dude who messed up his leg and folded up like a chair in battle is shown rolling on the mat very healthy. I think you bring up a valid point. I am inclined to think they are building the drama.
But then again, with Serra running his mouth - maybe not.
OMG .. Barrera has the best ground and pound ever .. That stare is evil…
Finally there is BLOOD
who won fight i was wtachign world series
[quote comment=”193196″]matt hughes will detroy serra, then win against st. pierre, and for his last career fight. he’ll fight anderson silva. and win both MW and WW titles.[/quote]
LOL!!!
Herb Dean the worst ref in UFC. Lets them run around, and just wait around.
anybody have like some cottage cheese or cheetos????
it is kinda sad to see hughes unveiled as so unprofessional because he was truly a great champ. I don’t know if Serra can beat him in the octagon, but he is obviously the better MAN. Doesn’t matter as GSP will bitch slap hughes again anyway
I hope Serra kills Hughes! Of course all of hughes guys have lost because they haven’t listened to him… Then he blames the judges on tonights fight? It was a close fight the first round. For next weeks preview hughes is talking like he doesn’t want to be there any more? At least Serra congratulated the other fighter on a close fight…
How dare you censor an internet site?! How about having the balls to deal with real life, and not using big brother tactics to only allow opinions you agree with.
[quote comment=”193196″]matt hughes will detroy serra, then win against st. pierre, and for his last career fight. he’ll fight anderson silva. and win both MW and WW titles.[/quote]
LMAO!!!
[quote comment=”193274″][quote comment=”193196″]matt hughes will detroy serra, then win against st. pierre, and for his last career fight. he’ll fight anderson silva. and win both MW and WW titles.[/quote]
LOL!!![/quote]
That must be Matt Hughes talking about himself in the third person. As Matt Serra would say, “What an ass.”
I thought I was a pretty good judge of a fight. Am I crazy or did Barrera win round one? Am I missing something in how they judge a fight. I wonder if any of these guys were judging the Bisping fight? Seriously, I would love to know. Just a thought.
So, now Serra gets to pick the quarter finals, and Hughes is pissing his pants because he’s losing. First, Hughes needs to get his team together and quit beating the crap out of them, because it’s pretty obvious it’s the stress he put on his guys is wrecking them mentally and physically. Get some balls, man. If your guys keep losing, it might not be just because they’re not “following the game plan.” And I just want to give Dana props for giving both fighters the 5 grand, i think it should have gone to third round.
I [quote comment=”193184″]I was always wondering, do you think the fights they show on TV happen in that order? Or do you think they could mess around the fight order?
Because Hughes has 3 straight wins he must have to gain partial control of the finals. Do you think one of them loses first? But yet they show the two guys that win first to build it up for ratings?
herm?
Questions Questions.[/quote]
think you may have something with the fight lineup. Very interesting. I’ll watch closer next time.
[quote comment=”193231″][quote comment=”193184″]I was always wondering, do you think the fights they show on TV happen in that order? Or do you think they could mess around the fight order?
Because Hughes has 3 straight wins he must have to gain partial control of the finals. Do you think one of them loses first? But yet they show the two guys that win first to build it up for ratings?
herm?
Questions Questions.[/quote]
Interesting question. The dude who messed up his leg and folded up like a chair in battle is shown rolling on the mat very healthy. I think you bring up a valid point. I am inclined to think they are building the drama.[/quote]
Alot of the footage is not in a linear timeline they piece it together to fit the show, e.g. if two fighters that fight are having a fued they will take footage from the whole to fit the theme of that show. e.g. the footage of bowman on the last show annoying mac is probably from all over the six weeks, they have alot of footage.
who won?
Gotta say that I really didn’t see too much of a scoring contraversy. I mean yes Dan had one big punch in the first round but if you re-watch it as I did that was all he really had. Ben had a much more technical knee that landed flush. Really both were great strikes and the only differance was that Ben’s hit while Dan was moving in so he took a step back but didn’t fall, Dan’s hit was while Ben was at a distance and moving back and he fell. Bottom line is that neither fighter was seriously hurt or knock out by the very well placed strike (Ben attempted an armbar adn was laughing after his). If a fighter is stunned on his feet for a two seconds adn recovers or stunned and falls for two seconds adn recovers there shouldn’t be a differance so I think the judges got that right. And even if you think Dan’s big strike was closer to a knock out then Ben’s knee, Dan did nothing else for the round while Ben pressed teh action and landed more kicks and punches.
I’ve been training a while with guys who I know are much better than I am and yet occasionaly I’ll get a luck dodge and land a clean nice shot. That doesn’t mean I’m better than them or that they didn’t kick my butt even though they didn’t land as nice a shot becuase I’m backing up and covering up. There are plenty of problems with the current scoring system but not giving a round to a guy who landed only one or two shots is not it.
Plus that second round easily could have been 10-8. Ben killed him in that round. Again I think its bias, if he landed even on shot that even tripped Dan to the ground he might have gotten it. But because Dan was a well conditioned athlete that could stand while being 7/8ths knocked out he got to continue while a less conditioned (but more skilled) fighter would have lost that round if he fell only 1/2 knocked out. Plus those severe cuts could have ended it.
In my mind the biggest problem was Herb Dean. That was horrible job by him and he’s had a few bad ones now. What in the world was with constantly letting two fighters (one on the ground and one standing) who aren’t pressing the action stay there as long as they want. After a few seconds when its obvious that Dan’s not goign to press and Ben just wants to get up WHY THE HELL WAIT, just stand them up. THEN THE WORST THING I’VE EVER SEEN, STOPPING THE FIGHT TO ASK A DAZED FIGHTER IF HE WANTS TO CONTINUE AND GIVING HIM TIME TO RECOVER!! If a fighter is in trouble you stop the damn fight and if he’s not you stay right on top of it and wait till the nano second he is and then stop it. You don’t hand him an unfair advantage of extra recovery time.
[quote comment=”193318″]who won?[/quote]
Nobody should of won, it should of went to Round 3.
Ben Saunders won Majority Vote over Dan Barrera.
Damn, all my Kentucky/Ohio guys are out already!
I thought Dan was a wrestler? Thats the way they showed him, always wearing the ear protectors as wrestlers do, and it seemed like he was alaways sprawling. Made no sense why he did not take him down.
You know, I gotta say I was actually into this fight. This season has been so-so. But tonight was different. The whole time I was yelling at my t.v. “the knees bro! watch the knees! The guy would just not listen to me.
[quote post=”3691″]Nobody should of won, it should of went to Round 3.
Ben Saunders won Majority Vote over Dan Barrera.[/quote]
Ben is a wicked striker though, and he definitely won the 2nd round. I think it should have gone to a 3rd round, but honestly, barrera couldn’t even see he was bleeding so bad.
It should have gone to a round three, but I think the way the second round was going Dan was minutes away from being knocked out. He is so one-dimensional. All he could do was punch and half the times he was punching when there was six feet of distance between the two.
[quote comment=”193196″]matt hughes will detroy serra, then win against st. pierre, and for his last career fight. he’ll fight anderson silva. and win both MW and WW titles.[/quote]
and then you wake up
and yes of course it was split rounds. The judge that Hughes was yelling at was like “come on Matt” It made me laugh.
Not that I think Serra’s IQ is through the roof but I’m questioning what goes on in hughes mind. he constantly underestimates the opponent (he hasn’t met a fight for his team yet that he didn’t “love teh matchup). Then he overtrains his guys and lastly he really doesn’t offer any great advice during the matches. You can hear Serra yelling helpful advice but I’m not sure I’ve heard hughes yet during a fight, you only hear him later when he berates someone for not doing what he wanted.
[quote post=”3691″]You can hear Serra yelling helpful advice[/quote]
It would be hard not to. could hear hughes yelling his old stand by “that’s not the game plan”
[quote comment=”193348″]Not that I think Serra’s IQ is through the roof but I’m questioning what goes on in hughes mind. he constantly underestimates the opponent (he hasn’t met a fight for his team yet that he didn’t “love teh matchup). Then he overtrains his guys and lastly he really doesn’t offer any great advice during the matches. You can hear Serra yelling helpful advice but I’m not sure I’ve heard hughes yet during a fight, you only hear him later when he berates someone for not doing what he wanted.[/quote]
you don’t hear him because, according to his last blog, he gets lawler to yell what he tells him to yell. i’m not sure about what goes on, but it seems to me like matt holds a pretty high place amongst his training brethren…to the point he’s on a much higher pedestal and can get them to do stupid shit like yell for him.
as far as hughes post fight sulking, it strikes me as ironic that a guy like him is throwing around the idea of quitting when he’s down. great example there matt, real championship attitude for sure.
[quote comment=”193196″]matt hughes will detroy serra, then win against st. pierre, and for his last career fight. he’ll fight anderson silva. and win both MW and WW titles.[/quote]
Please. THis is the real world we’re talking about. I hope that was a joke.
It seemed like Barrera froze up during the fight. He wouldn’t engage when the ben went down, he just stood there and slapped at his feet. He should have backed off liuke hughes said or tried more take downs. i felt sorry after he said he left his fire man job but that was a choice he made in order to satisfy his need to be famous and his ego. Then he can pretend he’s not a narcissist by saying he’s religious. just Hughes. Watching himself in the mirror in the bathroom when he’s supposed to be training. Come on. He lost that fight. I don’t think it was that bad of a call by the judges.
I have not seen this yet but where is the outrage that the ref stopped a damn match to ask a dazed fighter if he wants to continue and asked him TWICE and gave him a ton of time to recover. I’ve never seen that before.
First of all Matt Hughes is a dick. He is a complete and utter dick. The fucking guy called himself “the queen” after making his team read a bible story with absolutely no respect for their beliefs because he’s a “giver”. If it weren’t for the UFC he would be a nurse or some crap because he just loves to help his fellow man so much. Awesome fighter. Worthless human being.
As far as this episode goes, I always thought MMA judges were washed up blackjack dealers, but I believe they might get them from classified ads. It probably would have been better for all involved if it went to a third round, but I give Dan the tfirst round but Round 2 could have been 10-8 for Ben. Either way Dana’s speech about “Don’t put it in the judges hands” comes out again. If you do what Rude Boy did, you don’t really have to worry about the judges.
Also, if you want to see a terrible decision, how about you look at the Bisping-Hamil fight.
Another side note: Dan’s wife seemed pretty hot, bu home girl is a fucking psycho. “I’m dying……..blah blah blah”
[quote comment=”193406″]I have not seen this yet but where is the outrage that the ref stopped a damn match to ask a dazed fighter if he wants to continue and asked him TWICE and gave him a ton of time to recover. I’ve never seen that before.[/quote]
You hear Serra yelling “C’mon Ref”…
Hughes has a legitimate question asking;
“Where do you get your Referees from?”
The stupid smile on the fighter’s commissioner was priceless.
I meant ‘judges’ not referees…sorry
GOOOO TEAM SERRA
oh and u havent guess by now i live on Long Island. Serra’s 1st school is 2 mins from my house:)
There was no grave injustice here. That fight could easily have been judged a draw or a win for Ben. Fortunately for Dan, they gave the fight to Ben. Had the fight continued into the 3rd, Dan would have been beaten senseless and knocked out. Dan was nothing more than a punching bag in the 2nd round. Ben was clearly the better fighter.
GO SERRA GO
SERRA IS NO JOKE THEY SAID IF HE GETS HIS STANDUP GOOD, AND IT LOOKS LIKE HE IMPROVED BECAUSE HE KNOCKED OUT gsp, THAT HE WOULD ALMOST BE UNSTOPABLE
the fight was borderline being stopped throughout the 2nd… and besides 1 punch that dropped Ben… Dan ate knees, kicks and punches throughout the 1st.. plenty to win.
What’s up with Ben Sanders’ he’s 1 creepy dude.
“I’ll take your horses, your dog, your woman I’ll take care of them”
I feel for Dan Barrera, he gave up a lot, his job, plus has a wife freakin’ out from an anxiety attack at home, did he fold like Joey Scarola… “Hell no”.. he’s got an injured hand but doesn’t let that phase him at all.
Barrera has a wrestling background and boxed for a few years, he’s really tough, but he’s not a smart fighter, he resorts to brawling… he’s getting killed on stand up, mainly by knees and he never attempts a takedown and yet he has the ability to do so. In the 1st round he knocks Sander down and lets him recover by doing nothing, despite everyone yelling at him to stand back!
I think Dan’s failure to listen would piss off any coach, pisses me off..lol. It’s kind of remeniscient of Andy Wang’s failure to listen to BJ Penn.
I’m glad Dana gave them 5k ea., that was cool… he’s still a cheap bastard though.
[quote comment=”193184″]I was always wondering, do you think the fights they show on TV happen in that order? Or do you think they could mess around the fight order?
Because Hughes has 3 straight wins he must have to gain partial control of the finals. Do you think one of them loses first? But yet they show the two guys that win first to build it up for ratings?
herm?
Questions Questions.[/quote]
I’m fairly certain the fights are in chronological order, I’m not sure about everything else. I’m sure some of the confessionals and house politics are slightly out-of-order to build up the two guys that are fighting.
Matt Hughes is an idiot. I don’t care how good of a fighter he is, hes a shitty coach.
He’s sitting there after the show wondering what went wrong, did he choose wrong guys, etc.
here’s one for you Matt, maybe your shouldn’t have destroyed your fighter hand acting like an idiot, teaching him a lesson.
Not only is Serra a better coach, but his fighters are proving they respect him more. Not everyone has hat it takes to be a coach, Hughes should just fight, Serra should just coach.
[quote comment=”193278″]anybody have like some cottage cheese or cheetos????[/quote]
Seriously! She’s 12 and like Cartman wants cheesy poofs as her last meal. Bless her heart.
That fight was brutal. How many kicks and knees to the head can a person take? The man has a steel plate in there.
what r u talking about sula alot of knees and kicks didn’t land cleany i think the judges should never b hired 2 judge mma again. it should have went 2 round 3.
[quote comment=”193406″]I have not seen this yet but where is the outrage that the ref stopped a damn match to ask a dazed fighter if he wants to continue and asked him TWICE and gave him a ton of time to recover. I’ve never seen that before.[/quote]
Didn’t that happen in the UFC with Herb Dean a couple of events ago?
I thought that maybe they had the second round 10-8 because it Dan was jogging away and not really agressive at all. But I had to give him the second round.
Cottage cheese or cheetos was great!
The fight should have definately went to a 3rd round there’s no question, my point is that Barrera took alot punishment.
i liked saunders a lot, he is a huge ww with great stand up, nice kicks and a long reach, so far him and mac have been the best fighters to fight and win, we’ll see what these other guys got…
I’ll tell ya’ there’s a lot to be said about improvement in Hughes practices with what he teaches, how he communicates strategy with his guys etc… but I think it begins with his picks. Matt likes strong wrestlers, Serra likes juijitsu and takewondo type guys with quick hands or feet.
Serra mostly picked fighters based on their skills not on their muscles.
Hughes mostly picks brawlers, wrestler types. The more muscles he see’s the better he thinks they will perform.
Unfortunately for Hughes, there are no mini me’s in the bunch.
It’s easier to teach a fighter to defend against a wrestlers takedown than it is to train him in jujitsu and the complete standup game.
Serra’s a smart coach, he works with his fighters as individuals he recognizes that learning comes with a fresh mind… not a tired one, hence he doesn’t burn them out with conditioning in practice and focus’s on learning and strategy.
Matt was so confident about his picks too, like Serra was the idiot for picking the guys he did.
great show as the fight was close. plenty of hughes being hughes, i loved the fact the guy’s wife hadn’t eaten or slept in days and was asking whats wrong( basic needs food and sleep and shelter) and i love the fact we are week 5 or 6 into tuf and they still play the clip of serra saying get this guy off the fning show-lol i love ufc, now all they really need is a solid line up of ppvs, i think bisping will gass and rashard will tear it up and good luck to serra hughes needs to retire.
but why wait like 8 moths for a gsp remath either way gsp has already fought huges twice and lost to serra so where do we go if serra wins? humm love to keep it interesting
[quote comment=”193583″]Matt was so confident about his picks too, like Serra was the idiot for picking the guys he did.[/quote]
what makes it funnier is how he still thinks he can win..lol…what a punk. Im glad saunders won - dan wth his beach muscles doesnt even look like a fighter, comes across as more of a poser
Matt Hughes is a punk, his fight with Serra will go 5 rounds, you heard it here 1st
Last nights fight was ok, I dont understand… If I was eatting leather standing I would take it to the ground.
Why didnt Dan just circle and scramble when he had ben down… or do a leap thingy?
He looked like he was shocked that he actually got the guy down.
Dans woman is psycho she is nuts… even if he quit his job there are always others floating around and he will get a few fights with the ufc (heck even wang got a fight…)
I expected more from dan.
Ben will likely make it to top 4. Serra favors him and will probably make him fight the pink haired guy (Shortie)
[quote comment=”193196″]matt hughes will detroy serra, then win against st. pierre, and for his last career fight. he’ll
fight anderson silva. and win both MW and WW titles.[/quote]
Wow is all I have to say to that, WOW!
TUF 1: Liddell’s team dominates Randy –> Liddell Destroys randy at UFC 52
TUF 3: Ortiz’s team dominates Shamrock –> Ortiz destroys Shamrock twice (UFC 61, UFN)
TUF 5: BJ’s team dominates Pulver –> BJ destroys Pulver at UFN
Is this an omen for UFC 79, is Hughes about to not only get beat, but beat down????? History isn’t in his favor….
I’m confused. First, I’m glad Dana gave out the bonus money. But to what standards must a fight reach to make it happen?This was NOT a great fight. Dan looked lost, running around the ring, not getting into Ben’s guard or letting him up (thus bringing the action to a grinding halt), getting asked TWICE if he wanted to continue. Ben fought intelligently, picking Dan apart from a distance, while Dan looked, well…..lost. I just don’t see that fight as being worth a fat bonus. If it was, EVERY fighter should get one.
[quote comment=”193394″][quote comment=”193196″]matt hughes will detroy serra, then win against st. pierre, and for his last career fight. he’ll fight anderson silva. and win both MW and WW titles.[/quote][/quote]
Hahahaha.
..you got some high hopes!
……….or your just high?
[quote comment=”193583″]Matt was so confident about his picks too, like Serra was the idiot for picking the guys he did.[/quote]
It goes to show you even if Serra loses to Hughes on the PPV he still has a mental victory over him through the show. Even if one of Hughes fighter wins the whole thing at the end, Serra spent six weeks beating him and his picks. I personally feel Mac may be the winner(as much as I dislike him) but Hughes really only picked him becuse of all the experience, it is not like Hughes did anything or help him develop into the winner. Serra has been training guys for years has spent a good portion of his career as a coach. It shows to in how his fighters respect him. Hughes thought he was the man and coach of the year because he brought his team chicken wings and compared himself to Biblical characters(with that kind of ego I am surprised he can even fit through the cage entrance), lol. I heard Hughes has a bumper sticker on his car that says, “MY OTHER CAR IS MY EGO! Hughes is to much of a baby to take the time and get past the competion with Matt Serra and teach. It was like Shamrock and Ortiz. Shamrocks fighter suffered because Hamhock was to worried about fighting Ortiz at the end of the season. I think it is a shame that Hughes is spending all this mental effort and energy in beating Serra and the only people suffering for his OBVIOUS GOD COMPLEX are his fighters. What could he possibly or how is he going to teach his fighters, when he can not even teach them the basic rule of Humility. Hughes has spent so much time on top of the mountain that he apparently has forgotten what it takes to get up there in the first place.
[quote post=”3691″]TUF 5: BJ’s team dominates Pulver —> BJ destroys Pulver at UFN[/quote]
BJ Penn only had 3 guys in the quarterfinals, 2 in the semis, and none in the finals.. Not exactly team domination for team Penn there.
Hughes will kill Serra
Well, I personally thought the fight was judged 90% correctly. I thought - First round to Dan 10-9; second to Ben 10-8; all Dan did in round two was run away. final score 19-18 Ben. same result.
Also, Herb Dean basically called the fight in round two, I believe. I have never seen the ref raise his hands “in the, its all over motion” and the fight continue. Man, they gotta do something about Herb, he has been involved in many “odd” situations/decisions.
Anyway, this season is the best, Hughes is gonna cry soon I think. This season really shows how much of a fool he is and I feel really bad for dudes that are gonna attend his school for real. I personally believe he has no idea how to coach: no in-fight advise, he rolls with his team when its time to “punish them”, Bible Studies, and he destroys Dan’s hand. WTF.
Anyway, head over to Matt’s Blog and read him totally contradict his closing statement from last nights ep. The dude is a total fool! I really hope he does fight Silva to get some free reconstructive surgery.
Jesse Holland is Hilarious man.. Great article, great episode. Yam bag, hadn’t heard that before.
[quote post=”3691″]I was always wondering, do you think the fights they show on TV happen in that order? Or do you think they could mess around the fight order?[/quote]
MR.NC17, I definately think that they fights are shown in the same order that they happen on the show. Especially the first fight, and the final two of the first round. Plus, when the teams are stategizing on who to fight next, the always talk about who’s left on the other team to fight - and it has always matched up correctly with who is still left according to the order the fights were shown on TV. So I think that the fights are shown in the same order as they happen. But as Kiwi said above, the footage from the house in not necessarily in sequential order because they will focus in on whomever is fighting that week.
[quote post=”3691″]I thought Dan was a wrestler? Thats the way they showed him, always wearing the ear protectors as wrestlers do, and it seemed like he was alaways sprawling. Made no sense why he did not take him down.[/quote]
My best answer to this would be that Dan is very inexperienced in MMA, only 1 fight, and Ben not only has good standup, but he also has a well versed ground game, according to Serra and himself. So that would lead me to believe that Dan thought that he would possibly get submitted on the ground with Ben. He had many opportunities to try and Ground and Pound but he chose not to. Unless you count quarter-ass punches to your opponents feet as GnP. Plus whenever he would have Ben on the ground and Dan was standing there, he corner would tell him to back up and let him up. So even his corner was fearful of him getting submitted. I think that he should have tried to take it to the ground and take that risk, especially in round 2 when he was getting dominated on the feet.
Is it just me or does Ben Saunders look like Sacha Baron Cohen? I kind of like him, but my favorite in the house and pick to win the whole thing is War Machine. From what I hear his stand-up is phenomonal and he is a tough tough dude. In the fight last night, I thought Dan won the first round, but the 2nd round could have been scored 10-8. I love how Dana said this was the worst judging he’s ever seen when it was just last month that the one he has a man-crush on was involved in the fight witht the worst judging ever.
[quote comment=”193231″][quote comment=”193184″]I was always wondering, do you think the fights they show on TV happen in that order? Or do you think they could mess around the fight order?
Because Hughes has 3 straight wins he must have to gain partial control of the finals. Do you think one of them loses first? But yet they show the two guys that win first to build it up for ratings?
herm?
Questions Questions.[/quote]
Interesting question. The dude who messed up his leg and folded up like a chair in battle is shown rolling on the mat very healthy. I think you bring up a valid point. I am inclined to think they are building the drama.[/quote]
All you have to see is the beat up faces of each fighter to know whether the fights are filmed in order. Blake looked like a raccoon so this episode took place after his fight.
pretty interesting to read thru: http://www.matt-hughes.com/
[quote comment=”193299″]I thought I was a pretty good judge of a fight. Am I crazy or did Barrera win round one? Am I missing something in how they judge a fight. I wonder if any of these guys were judging the Bisping fight? Seriously, I would love to know. Just a thought.[/quote]
Barrera definately won the first round. The second round he did almost nothing! I was wondering why he wasn’t engaging and throwing anything. Matt Hughes has every right to question the judges.
[quote comment=”193196″]matt hughes will detroy serra, then win against st. pierre, and for his last career fight. he’ll fight anderson silva. and win both MW and WW titles.[/quote]
You can wake up now.[quote comment=”193254″]OMG .. Barrera has the best ground and pound ever .. That stare is evil…[/quote]
Yeah, and once he has you down, he’ll throw an occasional foot punch so they don’t stand the guy up.
I can’t wait for next week. Hughes is gonna beat his team up. And rightfully so. He’s the coach and is trying to help his team. Many of his fighters don’t listen to his instructions during the fight and they lose. He needs to straighten those guys up. He has two more chances to get his guys into the quarter finals.
Did Dan say he was a firefighter? If yes, what a crappy union local they have. Has this guy not heard of a 6-week Leave of Absence under the Collective Agreement? He says he quit his job to come on the show, don’t fall for all that crap, he just probably hated his job. A firefighter has a union and a leave of absence is a simple process in a union environment. Just ask Rob MacDonald who got an LOA as a Toronto Police officer to go on the show. Sure seniority matters, but let’s be honest, Dan is not just out of school (cheetos).
It makes me laugh that he pulled a fast one on Dana and said he quit his job like there was absolutely no choice. That perhaps helped him with scoring the additional 5K (aside from putting up a great fight).
Everyone remember in the end, it’s one big play, don’t get too caught up in it. The fights are real, but everything else is just one big edited joke. You guys all already know that though.
What a weird chick he’s got, “I’m dying, I’m dying because the devil is here, blah blah”. The girl is 21 years old. Watch her when she’s 40. C’mon producers give us something better than that. His remark, he didn’t say go to a doctor, he said eat cheetos.
[quote comment=”193571″]I’ll tell ya’ there’s a lot to be said about improvement in Hughes practices with what he teaches, how he communicates strategy with his guys etc… but I think it begins with his picks. Matt likes strong wrestlers, Serra likes juijitsu and takewondo type guys with quick hands or feet.
Serra mostly picked fighters based on their skills not on their muscles.
Hughes mostly picks brawlers, wrestler types. The more muscles he see’s the better he thinks they will perform.
Unfortunately for Hughes, there are no mini me’s in the bunch.
It’s easier to teach a fighter to defend against a wrestlers takedown than it is to train him in jujitsu and the complete standup game.
Serra’s a smart coach, he works with his fighters as individuals he recognizes that learning comes with a fresh mind… not a tired one, hence he doesn’t burn them out with conditioning in practice and focus’s on learning and strategy.[/quote]
Excellent analysis Thorazine, exactly what I was thinking. Hughes thinks that imposing his will on his team and beating them up is going to make them perform better when they ahve a fight coming up the next day? Just stupid. Then for next weeks previews, when Hughes is complaining to Dana about his team, Dana tells him he says something along the lines of ‘You know what the answer is - beat the living shit of of them, bitch slap them.” Actually that’s precisely what Hughes has been doing and its one of the main reasons its not working. The other main reason, like Thorazine made clear above, is the way he went about picking his team. It’s like he’s trying to pick the guys that can be on the cover of some corny Men’s Fitness magazine instead of picking the ‘real fighters’.
After the judges scores were read last night, Dan said to Saunders “It was a 10-8 first round” What exactly did he mean by that? Did he seriously think he won the first round 10-8? He knocked Ben down once with a single punch, and Ben laughed at him. Other than that, Ben controlled the round. I can understand that Dan can think he won the round, 10-9, but thinking he won the first 10-8 is just crazy. If that’s the case, then he must think that Ben won the 2nd round 10-1.