First, let me start by apologizing for the late blog post. I received the DVD the day of the episode and I’ve been so busy.

Episodes 11 and 12.

Bader vs. Marshall -

I thought Bader did his thing. He is a great wrestler with unbelievable power! It wasn’t the most exiting fight but he pulled out the win! I personally thought Elliot should have thrown less high kicks and stay in ow stances and focus on the punching. All the credit to Bader. I wasn’t happy how Mir said Bader wasn’t a good fighter and that he was just a wrestler. That was plain wrong — Bader is a great fighter!

Myself vs. Roop -

Going into the fight I had so much respect for Roop. He was a great person to hang around with. It’s so much easier fighting someone who you don’t like. But I liked the guy. We shared food and chatted all the time. I had to put that aside. The other obstacle in my mind before the fight was how tough Roop was mentally. His thumb was really bad and lot of fighters would have backed out. He had a war with Polakowski a week before he had to throw down with me and has no hesitation in doing so. He is one tough dude. In fact, after the win, I went over to him and called him “The toughest dude in the house” but that wasn’t shown. He really was the toughest.

The strategy I had was to go out there and overwhelm him with big shots — and sub him. I wanted to cut the distance fast and stay out of his kicking range. I was swept and stayed cool. As soon as I locked that Kimura I stayed relaxed and slowly adjusted my hips and legs. Right after the fight I felt so free. It was the last day living in the house and a few hours later I was able to call my family and friends.

Side note: The actual fights occurred as follows: Wednesday: Bader vs. Marshall then Efrain vs. Junie. Thursday: Myself vs. Roop and then Krzysztof vs. Vinny. This also meant I didn’t sleep much on Wednesday night before the semi’s. There were only four fighters left in the house who needed to fight and I was one of them. Everyone else was in crazy party drinking mode. Wednesday was nuts! I had to put in ear plugs and cover my head with a pillow. Then I moved my mattress into the closet to stay away from the singing.

After the fight, Dana had some more great words about me. He really thinks I’m a great fighter. He even said “I think this guy is one of the best fighters ever to get on this show.” This really blew my mind. I was silent for a minute just thinking it over. It’s a lot of pressure but I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing. Training everyday like my life depends on it.

Vinny vs. Krzysztof -

Again I can add that Vinny is a beast on the ground! His guard is nuts. Once in his guard the trouble begins. Props to both fighters.

Efrain vs. Junie -

I like the way Dana handled Junie this season. He knew Junie wanted an out and if would have gotten thrown out he would have left with all his pride. Dana didn’t let that happen.

As for the fight itself, Efrain played it smart. I knew Junie wasn’t going to take Efrain down. When I saw Junie shoot in and Efrain stuff it, I knew it was going to end soon. The elbow strikes when Junie shot in were genius. Junie said some things after the fight that made him look even worse. I know he didn’t mean he was going to give up fighting. He’s on the card against Kaplan!

The finals -

Efrain and I are good friends. We slept in the same room. We cooked together. We chatted all day. We know a lot about each other. I respect him as a fighter and as a man. It’s all business when the cage door shuts. He knows it and I know it. I am honored to fight him.

Editor’s Note: FiveOuncesOfPain.com would like to publicly thank Phillipe and Spike TV for making this great content available to us all year long. It has been an absolute pleasure working with Phillipe and it was an honor being able to feature his work on our site. We’d like to wish Phillipe the best of luck on Dec. 13 in Las Vegas in his continued quest at becoming the next “Ultimate Fighter.”

I really enjoyed last night’s episode. The fight was exiting and it really showed the personality of both fighters. The fight was between the two nicest guys in the house. I would find it more difficult to fight someone who happens to be a really nice guy rather then fight an asshole.

George Roop is quiet and soft-spoken and has a really “chill” attitude about fighting. I could sit and talk to him and feel really comfortable.

As for John “the hug monster” Polakowski, he is just one big package of fun! How could you dislike the guy? Every day he would see you he’d start it off with a great big hug. At first it was kind of weird but after getting to know the guy it was fun.  He gave such a friendly feeling to the house.  John and I got along so well. He is so nice that I couldn’t imagine him hurting someone in the cage. The funniest thing I could remember is when he hugged Dana after his fight. That was hilarious!

I felt bad for Roop. Everyone knows how difficult it was to come that far and get into the house. Even though he hurt his thumb his spirit never shattered. From the looks of the thing and with my medical background, it appeared broken.  His thumb injury just made him seem even more hungry for battle. Who would want to have the fight of your life with an apparent thumb fracture? He has the heart of a lion. Not to many fighters have that mental ability. That is what makes him scary.

Pre-fight you saw Nogueira tease Roop. It was all fun and games.  Big ‘Nog is a really down to Earth guy. As you can see he comes over the house every night before one of us fight. I’m glad he did. Even if his advice was really basic and not very strategic, it still raised our spirits and as a fighter you felt stronger and more ready.  Again, might I add how happy I was to be on the red team!?

I thought the fight was pretty action packed. It was back and forth.  I would have to agree with Dana and would have rather saw a third round. I guess the judges gave lots of credit for Roop’s takedowns.  It was an all out battle and even though John lost I hope to see him still in the UFC.

In the post-fight carnage you saw John drinking for peace. John is really funny guy when he gets drunk. You can’t help but love the guy. Then you saw Junie get pissed at a few guys for throwing food at us in the jacuzzi.

Junie has a really short temper and sometimes people just want to push his buttons to have him react, as you saw in the previous episode where he’s trying to fight everyone in the pool.  Spike didn’t show how that actually escalated.  They continued throwing food as us and pretty soon someone got so mad that a beer bottle flew up into the kitchen and shattered on the floor. I’m not going to say who threw it. It just got worse from there.

For the semi-finals, as you all can see I chose Roop. It is my sole strategy to enter into the finals and take the easiest fight. I think Roop was the weakest link but not because of his skill level, as he is very skilled in all areas of fighting. I felt Roop was weak because he was injured. He had a hurt thumb and he had just fought. Look at his eye. He only had a week to recover from John before he fought me.  If he was wasn’t that injured then I might have chosen someone else.

Dave’s reaction to the fight was surprising. He still could not accept that he lost. His excuse was using the wrong game plan. He said, “I wanted to take Phillipe’s best punches and show him that he can’t hurt me.”

Now that is just plain stupid.

No one plans on getting hit during a fight. In any fight each person tries to avoid getting hit. If that was really his game plan, then he’s a moron.

The night after the fight he made himself look like a fool. Drinking urine with Tom and getting punched in the face by Tom. It just made him look even more foolish. I believe he did this only to get camera time. Well, it worked — he got a few minutes of camera time!

What wasn’t shown was him holding the cup of urine and trying to chase camera men as if he was going to throw it at them. He got out of control. At one point an assistant producer had to remind him not to mess with the camera men. That was a specific rule we were to follow: “Camera men do not exist. Don’t look at them! Don’t talk to them!”

The pranks were hilarious on this episode. Making Krzysztof’s room the “UFC Storage Room” cracked me up. Notice no one really helped him clean the room up. I felt bad for him after that. But Krystof is a funny guy and his prank pretty much screwed the whole house.

I remember waking up that morning and walking into the kitchen to eat breakfast. Seeing the kitchen table missing, I knew something was up! Krzysztof, myself, and most of the guys were upset that no one cleaned their dishes after they ate. I was furious about this. I personally need to live in a clean house. I will never leave a dish int he sink overnight. People took advantage and lived like slobs. So Krzysztof’s prank sort of punished everyone especially those who didn’t feel like washing dishes was necessary.

The coaches challenge was a great surprise. I think Nogueira is a true sportsman. Even though he never played soccer before he still pulled out the win! As soon as we got there he started warming up. He put on the soccer gear; like knee pads and gloves and really got into it. He was dripping sweat trying to win the match. He jumped and leaped to block out balls. I was proud of him. He knew each fighter on the team could really use the $1,000 each and the pressure was on. Mir should have got into it a little more. I mean, it is an $18,000 soccer match!

Al Stankie’s is a great character on the show. He kept our spirits high and brought a sort of old school boxing environment to training. He doesn’t know much about MMA, takedowns or ground work. “Why go on the ground and smell all those farts when you can just beat him on the feet,” he said. I like working with him as did most of the guys on our team. His combos were more related to straight boxing though. It didn’t matter. I just needed to get my punches out for a few rounds.

Things you should know about Al: he screams out funny things during training all the time like “Manchita!”  I think that’s his Mexican girlfriend. “Ain’t nothing but a party, baby!” Also “HOEEEE!” and much more!
Stankie loves flirting with young girls. He one time interrupted a cast meeting and ask one of the assistant producers to come home with him as a joke. He wears rash guards and beanies all the time even in public and at restaurants. His son was a New York Yankee, Andy Stankowitz. He has a great vibrating massage machine that feels incredible on my back. He talks a lot and sometimes doesn’t stop. But overall he was fun to be around and I enjoyed him as did everyone else on the show, including the production personnel.

Regarding the fight, I was sad to see Kyle lose. I agree with Nogueira that he acted like team leader. If you analyzed his attitude after the fight you can see what kind of a person he is. He was still proud to have fought Krzysztof. He accepted that he needs to work on his ground game. He is a good team player and has a great outlook on fighting. He took the loss gracefully. I’m also proud of Krzysztof. He is an excellent fighter with so much experience. I see him taking his career far. He also has a great heart fighting with what I thought looked like a broken thumb.

This episode was one of my favorite’s so far, mainly because it was the episode I fought on!. I’m greatly satisfied by Spike TV’s editors. They included some great clippings of my training and confessionals! I believe that people got the chance to see an accurate portrayal of the real me.

Now, let’s start from the top…

If you’re ever on a reality TV show, don’t eat other people’s food! I learned it this the hard way. People ask me, “Didn’t you taste it?,” and my answer is always the same, “No.” I really couldn’t taste the urine at all. It tasted just fine. And, might I also add this was the first time I ate Tom Lawyers’ fruit. I never “pillaged” it with my teammates before. I suffered the consequences though and took full responsibility for it.

After the fruit platter incident I decided along with my teammates to add some special white Wasabi sauce compliments of Kyle Kingsberry to my sushi. It was a disgusting idea. However the rule was stated: “You shouldn’t eat other people’s food.” So we went along with it.

I personally couldn’t add my own sauce because I didn’t think I could let one out while thinking I was going to use it to sabotage a sushi platter. Fortunately, my good friend Kyle had no problem with that. The incident when Kaplan ate the sushi actually occurred weeks after we fought. Editing made it seem that Kaplan ate it before hand. Good job to the editors. It took about three to four days before Kaplan actually ate the sushi but he did. He loved sushi just as much as I did! Especially those Phillipe Nover California Rolls. =)

Side note to my Filipino readers. If you look at the bathroom scene where we are setting up the sushi, check out the red and blue sign on the left. It says “Sipag at Tiyaga” in yellow (which means hard work and patience in Tagalog). I made that sign out of foam. Although it fell apart, when it was up I thought it would bring some good spirits to our team.

Can someone say “Balut?” Watching that scene made me hungry. This unhatched duck egg/fetus is really tasty and I recommend all the readers to go out and buy one! Side note. Nogueira and Lyoto Machida ate them also on Big ‘Nog’s birthday before dinner. I remember Machida swallowed the whole thing with no hesitation! He’s the man! He would have eaten the shell to if I didn’t tell him to peel it. Warrior’s food, baby!

Junie did confess his thoughts to me about Kaplan. A small betrayal. Surprisingly, Iike I stated before. Junie and I got along just fine. He’s a good kid who “just needs some love.” Haha. Him giving me a small snippet of how Kaplan fights and what his weakness were gave me a boast of confidence. However, I think the fight would have gone the same way even if he didn’t mention to me how Kaplan fights.

People ask me, “Why did you submit him instead of grounding and pounding him for a TKO?” You have to remember that you need to be ready for the next fight injury free. I didn’t want to risk hurting my hand and be injured in the semi’s. I went into this fight with strategy. Making sure I can get the win without getting hurt. A submission was the best way in doing that.

I was surprised at Mir that he thought I didn’t use strategy to beat Kaplan. He said “Phillipe just took something that Kaplan gave him.” That’s not true. Kaplan didn’t give me anything. I earned that victory with elements of speed and power. No one can truthfully deny that and downgrade that victory. This wasn’t Bonnar and Griffin. It wasn’t close. It wasn’t a war. I walked over him in just over a minute. He should just accept it! That is the only way to grow from a loss. Accept it and come back stronger. I am a better fighter. Plain and simple. We could fight 10 times and I’d beat him 10 times. I’m not saying Kaplan is not a good fighter because think he is. I think he is really good fighter for getting that far. I just proved that I’m better. To this day Kaplan has not given me the credit I deserve.

I can now see why Junie took my side before the fight. I agree with Junie when he stated that Kaplan is a know-it-all and needed to be humbled. Before every training lesson and fight I empty my cup and fill it up again with even better more improved knowledge. Unfortunately for Dave, his cup is always full.

As you all can see Dana was really impressed by me. I’m glad he enjoyed the fight. After all, he’s the man you want to impress! When he said I remind him of a young GSP, I thought to myself: those are some really big shoes to fill. The pressure is on now. I really want to show the world that I’m not the next GSP — I am Phillipe Nover. I want to pave my own path in MMA. I have a lot of respect for GSP as a fighter. He is someone that I look up to and I’m glad Dana can categorize me the way he did. But I still have a lot of growing to do as a fighter and a person.

I would also like to shout out all the male nurses out there. Males can be nurses and still be cool! Not everyone is a “Focker.” Thanks for reading my blog guys.

Let me start by saying that with all the hype and talk that Junie promoted himself he should have beat Roli in the first round. Junie was first pick overall and fought the last pick overall. Either Roli was just better than everyone expected or Junie really wasn’t as good as he said he was. I chose the latter.

Junie was upset with his performance and so was Frank Mir. I would be too if I was him. He barely won the fight and Junie only has a few weeks to heal and sharpen up his skills before the semis. I remember him coming home after the fight with a swollen from getting and giving kicks. I can honestly say Roli might have humbled him a bit. Might I add emphasis the words “a bit,” especially for a guy like Junie.

I respect to Roli for being the underdog and fighting his heart out. He also has many tools but must improve, most notable when it comes to his standup and overall strength. I just know Roli is the kind of person to take that fight home to the drawing board, accept his flaws, and come back better.

I guess you can finally see my baking abilities. I can’t tell you how much my girlfriend laughed after seeing my cake for Big ‘Nog. All I can say is it came from the heart. I’m not the most experienced baker but I tried. Looks can be deceiving. ‘Nog and the team said my cake was tasty! Jules’ cake was even better with all that cookie dough inside!

Man I’m getting hungry writing this. ‘Nog must have really liked us to come over for his birthday. He could have done anything else. But he came over to share his moment with us. Again I must say how proud I am to be on the red team.

After hearing the comments from Nelson and Vinny, I couldn’t stop laughing. They called us gay and said we take showers together! Ha-ha. The blue team is just a bunch of haters! They wish they had the love we had! Just because we all fight in a cage for living doesn’t mean we can’t show some love for each other. Of coarse in a completely straight and non-gay fashion! We really did cook, clean, eat, train, and go to sleep and wake up together — in different beds of course! It made time go by faster and helped a lot.

I never knew that Vinny and ‘Nog had a falling out like that. I know Vinny can run his mouth a bit sometimes. He talks much about the “girls” which is funny. In the Philippines, we’d call Vinny a “Playboy.” He’s the kind of guy that young girls want, but mothers should watch out for. I do think that Vinny’s jiu-jitsu level is world class. He really is a freak of nature on the ground but you should never disrespect the world champ. And he did just that by labeling ‘Nog’s jiu-jistu “basic.” You really have to watch what you say on reality TV; everything is captured.

Vinny is still a little fish in MMA compared to ‘ Big Nog — the great white shark! He did apologize for his actions but I don’t know if they made up off-camera.

Jules is a really nice guy. I’m sad to say that his skill level wasn’t up to par with most of the guys on the show. Especially his ground game. He was pretty much a white belt on the ground. He had absolutely no chance on the ground against Vinny. He did have a chance on the feet with him but he didn’t execute the plan. He was supposed to throw his hands, let his strikes go and stay away from the clinch or any take downs. I thought the game plan was stick and move. I think was he overwhelmed and was afraid to commit punches. In fact, I think he threw two punches the entire fight.

Next week the lightweights go at it and I can’t wait! Speaking of next week, come join me on Nov. 5 at 8 p.m. ET in New York for a TUF 8 viewing party that I’m holding at Aviator Sports and Recreation. The place is enormous so bring as many people as you can find! We’ll be hanging out at the sports bar on the second floor so be sure to stop by show your support for 5 Oz.! The bar serves food and the Aviator used to be a hangar for jets — which you’ll see when you drive along the airstrip. There’s even an airplane parked in the front. For more information, just click here for the Aviator’s website. See you there!

The one thing I can say heading into this episode was that Junie was really dying to fight ASAP. He was going to explode if he didn’t get in that cage soon.

As you all can see, Junie decided to pick Delgado. It was a smart pick for him. Delgado didn’t win his fight to get in the house so Junie thought he would be an easy kill.

On the show, the editing made Delgado’s black belt look really fake. From first hand experience rolling with the guy, I can say he really did deserve a black belt. Black belts come at all different levels. He
might not be in the ranks of Vinny or Elliot on the show, but he sure did feel like a black belt. I also do think he had way better Jiu-Jitsu then Junie. That’s why during the fight Junie never wanted hit the ground with Delgado.

Junie is just full of surprises. The incident where he pulled out the black belt and spit on it wasn’t just disrespectful to Roli; he disrespected the art itself and all the black belts in the room.

All I remember is Anderson Silva that day looking really pissed off and saying something in Portuguese that probably meant “That guy Junie is a an asshole.” Anderson Silva is the last person you ever want to piss off. Junie doesn’t seem to have a problem with that. Even Mir himself didn’t approve of his antics. However he also didn’t punish him for it. If I was Mir I would refuse to teach him and corner him.

I never understood the concept of disrespecting your opponent. That is downgrading your opponent’s abilities before the fight to make yourself look better. What this actually does is make your opponent look
unskilled and if you beat him, so what? You just beat someone who you said “sucks” anyway. So how much better can you be if you accused your opponent of “sucking?”

A smart fighter must never underestimate an adversary. Instead, praise him up for being well-skilled in his craft and formidable in the cage. This way when you beat him it only makes you look better because you beat someone who is good. Anyone can beat a scrub so why call your opponent a scrub?

The fight between Junie and Delgado went the distance. I didn’t think Junie had the conditioning to go the full three rounds but he did.  With all that drinking alcohol and eating frozen pizzas he still managed to pull out a victory. Junie is pretty athletic but he would be so much better if he just focused and cleaned up his act.

I really wanted Delgado to win that fight.  I have to hand it to them; they both fought there hearts out. For the days following the fight they were both really beat up limping around the house. I know Junie went to the hospital for an almost-broken ankle and Delgado had two black eyes.

The show started off as a continuation of Junie’s antics. We recapped the fight between Nelson and Efrain. Then Junie jumped over the cage and embarrassed himself, his team, and his coaches. It was totally out of line. At that point I remember standing and watching in total disgust. I remember thinking why doesn’t Mir just ask Dana to throw him off the show. If I was his coach I wouldn’t corner him, train him, or even allow him to come and train at the training center. That is the background from which I come. My coaches wouldn’t tolerate behavior like that. I also agree with Shane Primm saying that “It was Junie’s attempt to steal the spotlight. And it is the most disrespectful thing you possibly can do after a fighter wins a fight.”

Junie was sitting in the pool with Shane and said something along these lines: “So I hear you guys are trying to set Phillipe up with me next week if you have control? So is he the sacrificial lamb?”

That’s pretty funny. I did speak freely and openly to my teammates, coaches, and even some of the fighters on the other team that I wanted Junie next week as long a we sustained control. So he found out the plan. I wanted to fight him because I thought he was all talk. His fighting skills didn’t impress me at all. He did well against Jose Agallar who was a one-dimensional fighter that wanted to turn the fight into a jiu-jitsu match.

I just think Junie is overrated and I wanted to also put an end to his behavior by shutting him down in the cage. He was also first pick overall so I wanted to prove to everyone he didn’t deserve to be picked first. He knows I wanted him but you can see in the next episode he has control and winds up fighting someone other than me. That was odd being he presented himself as such a badass. Junie talked smack to everyone on the show — even to their faces. He never disrespected me to my face. He always called me a “Tough Filipino.” He either respected me as a fighter or he feared me.

As you can see the pranks got a bit out of control to the point where our coaches tried to get involved to put an end to it. I do admit that it was fun pranking the other team. Vinny really can’t take a joke at all. That was out of line. I witnessed him with my own eyes peeing on Efrain’s pillow. Luckily I had a extra pillow which I offered Efrain to keep. All I can say regarding pranks is that it only gets worse. You’ll have to wait and see.

Anderson Silva stopped by as a guest coach. While the man is an animal in the cage, he is a charismatic, smooth, soft-spoken, respectable guy outside of it. He shows the world that really good fighters aren’t knuckleheads and bar brawlers. They are professionals and take life seriously. I look up to him as an overall human being. The lessons he showed us was just what I needed. His kick, knee, and elbow combos were perfect for my game.

The fight between Shane and Eliot was a disappointment. I believed in Shane. He reached too far for that clinch and opened himself up to get body locked and taken down. He did fight the choke well, better than a lot experienced fighters would have. Good luck to him and I know he’ll be back. What was more disappointing to me is that our team lost control. If our team had control I would have faced Junie next. That’s what the plan was.

In somewhat recent news, I hear that the UFC is preparing overseas events all over the world. The Philippines seems to be what everyone is talking about. If anyone has seen Chuck Liddel’s latest video on UFC.com it was him getting ambushed by 4,000 Filipino fans at an Asian mall in the Philippines. It’s simple: Filipinos love the UFC!

I trace my roots to my Filipino family on my mother’s side. I practically grew up there every summer. I take pride in having Filipino Blood running through me.

I believe Filipinos naturally have a liking for combat sports. All throughout Filipino history you will find times periods with invasions and turmoil. We have a very recent war-like history that still occurs to this day.I guess you can even say it makes us tough. If the UFC plans on expanding it’s reach as far as Manila, I’m 100 percent there if I am fortunate enough to make it into the UFC.

Overall, it would be a tremendous honor to fight in the Philippines! Hopefully I won’t pass out due to the hot Filipino sun! Haha, just kidding.

After watching the episode a few times I was appalled to see how much focus was given to Junie’s and Nelson’s antics. I hope the people watching can separate that type of a so-called MMA fighter from the new age professionals that truly deserve to be on the show.

The UFC and MMA in general have blown up to incredible proportions in the last 10-to-15 years. The only thing stopping MMA from getting main steam are the politicians and conservatives who believe MMA is “to barbaric and violent.” Junie and Nelson particularly brought evidence to that point.

They got drunk and inner-thoughts of violence broke out. They started breaking things like delinquents as a way to show how angry and cool they can be. That is not how a human being should act and even further not how a professional fighter should act on  television.

The incidents that occurred on the show brought us back a few years politically in the struggle to bring the UFC to every state. Even in my hometown of New York, MMA is banned! MMA is not about bar brawls or street fights. The people who still think it is, now have someone to look up to: Junie! Young kids and parents will watch that episode and be turned off. I would not want my kid to be involved in something like that.

I feel ashamed of the two cast members. At one point I almost felt sorry for them but those feelings ran dry after realizing that they weren’t genuinely sorry for their actions. As you can see I haven’t been getting much face time on the last few episodes. I try to stay away from drunk violent behavior not only on the show but in life in general. People like that have nothing to offer. I was sleeping tucked in my bed during that pool incident. I made sure I slept early almost every night so I can the most out of training the next day. I got on the show with one goal in mind. And that didn’t include drinking like a imbecile in front of five million people.
Junie should have been thrown out right after he threw that glass at Kyle. That was assault. He should have been arrested. I wasn’t comfortable sleeping in the house with a drunk on the loose. Thoughts of him pulling out a kitchen knife and stabbing another fighter crossed my mind. Sorry Junie, but if I was Dana you would have been gone!

Junie jumping over the cage after Efrain’s fight was just a way to get more camera time. He will now be the person America loves to hate. Just the plan he had in mind.

I really hope the fans can learn something from this episode. And that is it: drinking alcohol is just poisoning your body and it will hurt you.

I think Nelson’s performance was great for the first three minutes. After that his tank was close to empty and he couldn’t give it his all. He knows he could have done better and he knows its mostly due to his conditioning level. Efrain looked great in the fight. His take downs were on point. He had solid knees. He looked great in the scramble also. My hat goes off to Efrain for keeping his cool and winning the battle in the cage (where it matters) and not with his mouth!

Wrapping up things from last week, I must say that Eliot definitely deserved getting back into the house. I think he won the fight. He fought such a tough battle against Karen and was pretty beat up after. I remember him icing his body up with this icing machine he had. He is definitely a UFC-caliber fighter.

As everyone saw tonight, I wound up on the red team as Nog’s first pick. It felt great to be picked first by Noguiera but at the same time I felt some pressure. I felt I needed to fill in some big shoes. Being first pick for the red team meant you must be a bad ass. I was really happy to get picked by Nogueira rather then Mir. He is the reigning world champion!

As you can see we really focused on the team aspect of things. We trained together, cooked and ate together, and we even slept in the same room. My room had Delgado, Efrain, Jules, John, Kyle, and myself. Our team, as you can see from the episode, almost felt like a family.

This week’s episode was certainly not short on drama. It was the craziest thing when Brian and Karen had to leave. When Dana said “You gotta go,” he really meant it. From that point on we never saw them again. When we got back to the house all there stuff was gone.

As for the rule about not fighting due to a broken nose, it covers the safety of the fighters. Unfortunately the whole competition is over a six-week period. So you not only have to win your fights, but also win and come out unharmed.

Junie Browning also saw a lot of camera time, which I am sure he was fine with because he loved the attention. He is this emotional roller coaster that got overwhelmed with the entire situation. He said he had a hard time growing up and it was reflected well on this episode. I think that having the ability to drink and eat almost anything you want made him go nuts.

I’ve read in the past where some people have blamed the UFC and Spike for making alcohol so readily available. I really don’t think they are to blame. I believe as an adult we should be responsible for ourselves. Not only are we adults, but also professional athletes (well, at least some of us are). So there should have been close to no drinking in the house. Spike and the UFC didn’t tell us we have to drink or force it into our mouths. We didn’t have to do anything we objected to. We didn’t even have to train or get up in the morning if you so willed not to. It really is as “real as it gets!”

Finally, we have the fight. Ryan is so powerful. After watching the fight over and over on TV, he looked like he hit Tom with a brick. Tom stood his ground well but made a small error which cost him the fight. I think Tom should fight at 185 lbs. and not at 205 lbs. He is just not big enough. Nogueira didn’t talk openly to the entire team about his fight pick. I think he just pulled Ryan to the side and told him his thoughts. The matchup was perfect.

One last thing: I was asked about the fried chicken reference last week. Well, in the kitchen there was some KFC and it smelled the place up. I think it was ordered for the Spike workers. Cold cuts would have been better. At least it wouldn’t have smelled.

I received a lot of positive feedback from my first blog submission last week here on FiveOuncesOfPain.com and I wanted to thank everyone for their support. A few people mentioned they would like me to get into more detail, so before I get into my thoughts from the second episode, I will share more thoughts about the premiere.

First, I wanted to give everyone some more background on me. I fight out of Brooklyn, New York with Team Insight. We are small MMA camp that really hasn’t hit the main scene. My coaches are Ralph Mitchel and Clarence “Cee” Everett. I also train jiu-jitsu under Alexandre “Soca” Freitas. Some other team Team Insight fighters you have to watch out for are Nardu Debrah, Dave Branch, and John Beneduce.

I’ve been training under Ralph Mitchel since the age of nine-years old. He started me off with traditional arts; Muay Thai kickboxing, Judo, JKD, Filipino Arnis, and basic street self defense.

After watching my training partners compete in mixed martial art fights I felt that I could do it also. And after winning my first fight, I was hooked! I am born and raised in Brooklyn and I still live here.

Two of the most talked about things from the first show was Jason Guida’s failure to make weight and Jose Agallar’s controversial comments during his confessional interview.

Jose’s interview kind of surprised me because I never knew Jose was that crazy. He seemed like a cool guy when I spoke with him. He even gave me some good fight advice against Joe Durate. I rolled with the guy to warm up. I never knew he had views like that. I am really surprised about what he said on his interview. A lot of my friends and family disliked the kid.

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Editor’s Note: FiveOuncesOfPain.com is proud to announce that TUF 8 lightweight competitor Phillipe Nover has joined the site as a guest blogger. Nover will be sharing his thoughts for us every week throughout the current season of TUF. Below is Nover’s first submission.

I flew in from New York slightly dehydrated and underweight. I didn’t know what to expect. I felt weak and light headed that day. Not to mention nervous as hell.

A combination of all these things hit me smack in the face. I could remember looking up at the ceiling lights standing there.

All of a sudden my face felt heavy and my teeth felt a “pins and needles” type feeling. I blanked out for a few seconds. It never happened to me before. I was embarrassed and everyone thought of me as this nervous weak guy.

I knew Joe Duarte felt over-confident that he’ll be fighting the guy who passed out. I feed into his delusion and didn’t boast myself or talked smack. I pretended to be this inexperienced dude who only knew a little Jiu-Jitsu. That’s what I told Joe when he asked me what my training back ground consisted of.

Joe is one tough guy and he was a great obstacle to overcome. He’s a great fighter and I really believe he still has a long future in fighting.