On last night’s edition of “The Ultimate Fighter,” viewers got to see not one, but two eliminations with Jeremy May losing via TKO in the first round to Matt Brown and Luke Zachrich losing via a second round TKO.

Earlier in the day, Adam Morgan was able to catch up with May and Spike TV was also kind enough to put 5 Oz. of Pain in contact with Zachrich.

I spoke with the former Division I wrestler about his loss last night to Daniel Cramer and while Zachrich was introspective about some of the reasons why he was defeated, he was unwilling to make excuses.

You can read the transcript of our conversation below.

Sam Caplan: On TV last night, they portrayed Daniel Cramer as a pretty boy. Was that an accurate feeling in the house, and do you think anyone took him lightly because he didn’t look like a traditional fighter?

Luke Zachrich: No, not really. It was more just one of those things that everyone in the house just joked with him about. When he got on the show we were told he used to work at a country club and that he’s from Connecticut. He’s got a degree in economics. He’s a very smart, talented kid. As far as how I was looking at things going into that fight, he obviously kicked the crap out of Jeremiah Riggs just to get in the house and I took nothing away from him. I didn’t want to look at him in a light where I thought it was going to be an easy fight because he’s obviously a lot tougher than he looks.

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During last night’s episode of “The Ultimate Fighter 7,” Jeremy May became one of the latest fighters to be eliminated from the middleweight tournament after losing via knockout at the hands of Matt Brown.

Courtesy of Spike TV, FiveOuncesOfPain.com was able to speak with May a day after the loss was shown on television. We not only were able to get Jeremy’s thoughts on the fight itself, but also how he felt about his portrayal on the show, his knee injury, his beef with Matt Riddle, and a lot more.

Adam Morgan: After having a chance to watch a few episodes of the show, do you feel that the way they represented you on television was a fair assessment of how things really went down?

Jeremy May: It’s funny, like that one episode where they showed me messing around with everyone? That was an accumulation of about six weeks of messing around with people. Everyone else was messing around with each other too so they took six weeks of messing around with people and smashed it into one episode and said “Jeremy does this, Jeremy does that, Jeremy does this,” and made me look like a total douchebag! They made me look like I did that all in one day.

I don’t know, I just like to have fun and I’m not afraid to step out of the box or put a smile on someone’s face even if it’s just mine. It was kind of accurate, I guess.

Adam Morgan: Do you feel that they singled you out in particular?

Jeremy May: I think considering the fact that I wasn’t afraid to mess around and joke around with Rampage right off the bat, they took that and they had to use someone as a villain on the show and apparently they wanted to pick me to do that.

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This episode, as they told us at the end of last week’s episode, we have two fights on tap for the evening. First, we have Matt Brown vs. Jeremy May as we were told last week and another fight to be determined later.

After the fight pick of Brown vs. May, Team Forrest is riding back in the van cracking jokes about how they’re going to end up telling their grandchildren about Matt Brown. Brown has apparently earned himself quite the reputation in the house in a very short period of time.

Back at the house, Matt Riddle and Brandon Sene are doing a little bit of boozing and to everyone’s surprise, so is Jeremy May. Even Team Forrest is a little suspect of his actions, telling him he should probably be more responsible when he has to represent his team in a fight the next day while May talks about how he’s had twelve shots of vodka.

May reveals during a one on one interview that he had simply filled a vodka bottle with water and was taking shots of water. Oh Jeremy, you jokester you. It’s well established throughout the house that Jeremy is the outsider of the group and everyone in their own way reveals how much they can’t stand the kid. Tim Credeur even goes so far as to say that May represents an image that the sport has tried to distance itself from. Harsh words.

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During last night’s episode of “The Ultimate Fighter 7,” Brandon Sene became the latest fighter to be eliminated from the middleweight tournament after losing a very close three round decision to Dante Rivera.

Courtesy of Spike TV, FiveOuncesOfPain.com was able to speak with Sene a day after the loss was shown on television. We not only were able to get Brandon’s thoughts on the fight, but we were able to discuss in great detail his background as a sniper in the Marines.

Sene’s military background made for a very unique interview, which you can view in its entirety below.

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This week’s episode starts out with a recap of last week’s fight between Tim Credeur and Matt Riddle. It was a very entertaining fight with Credeur coming out on top via armbar in the second round. Credeur tells Riddle that he’s one of the toughest opponents that he’s ever faced and tells the camera that he thanks Riddle for making him a better fighter.

Credeur tells Riddle that he owes him an XBOX 360 and promises to buy Riddle one with his winnings for stopping the fight. Riddle is pretty stoked about getting an XBOX even though he lost the fight. His teammate Jeremy May, however, is not happy.

“You don’t defend the armbar and you get an XBOX,” is what May has to say during the van ride home. Cut the kid some slack, Jeremy. He fought his ass off against an experienced opponent. Riddle and his teammates are obviously a bit annoyed with Jeremy and his antics as a whole, not just this one incident. A lot of them think he needs to cool his jets, and I agree wholeheartedly.

During a Team Rampage training session, Rampage brings in Michael Bisping, season three winner, to motivate his camp. Bisping comes in and tells the guys what a great opportunity this is for them and to make the most of it.

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When we last left you, Team Forrest’s Jesse Taylor secured a RNC to tap out Team Rampage’s Mike Dolce and take control of the house.

Here are the teams, sans Dolce, coming into tonight’s episode:

Team Rampage

* C.B. Dollaway
* Matt Riddle
* Patrick Schultz
* Daniel Cramer
* Gerald Harris
* Jesse May
* Brandon Sene

Team Forrest

* Tim Credeur
* Amir Sadollah
* Jesse Taylor (Won)
* Matt Brown
* Cale Yarbrough
* Dante Rivera
* Nick Klein
* Luke Zachrich

As we join the house the fighters are, you might want to sit down for this, drinking. Jesse Taylor is having trouble opening his beer to celebrate his win and once he accomplishes that he goes on to the second house favorite of breaking something (the shutters). Jesse seems like he has trouble doing alot of things but opening a beer isn’t one of them.

Matt Riddle (Rampage) and Dante Rivera (Forrest) are exchanging insults and busting each other’s balls. Rivera states, “on camera,” that if Riddle ever beat him he’d retire.

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Wednesday’s airing of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality television series on Spike TV was one of the most-talked about in recent memory. During the airing of the show, former University of Iowa wrestler Paul Bradley was dismissed from the cast of competitors after it was determined that he had an outbreak of Herpes Gladiatorum.

Herpes Gladiatorum is a skin condition not uncommon within amateur wrestling and it is contracted through skin-to-skin contact. The show depicted an emotional Bradley revealing that he had quit his job as a wrestling coach at the University of Buffalo in order to try and earn a UFC contract. Soon after, the last image we saw of him was his exit from the show.

The developments were fascinating and dramatic but left a lot of unanswered questions. Fortunately, Bradley was gracious enough to agree to an exclusive interview with FiveOuncesOfPain.com (www.FiveOuncesOfPain.com) where he revealed more information about his condition; updated his current status in regards to his personal life and professional career; gave his thoughts on how his dismissal was handled; and much more.

The full transcript of that interview is now available.

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PreSale tickets for The Ultimate Fighter Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest go on sale today.

• UFC Fight Club members – buy tickets 4/17 @ 1pm EST.
• Newsletter members – buy tickets 4/18 @ 1pm EST.
  Presale Code: middleweight
• General Public – buy tickets 4/19 @ 3pm EST.

Click for the latest TUF 7 Finale content on Five Ounces of Pain

Over the past two weeks, the first two shows have been all fights, either entire fights or highlights of fights. Now that we’ve got the field narrowed down to 16 fighters who are going to stay in the house, it’s now time to pick teams. Rampage wins the coin flip and Dana gives him the usual choice of either you can pick the first fighter or you can pick the first fight.

Rampage goes with picking the first fighter and he picks one of the favorites to win it all, C.B. Dollaway. Rampage goes on about how impressed he was with Dollaway’s performance to make the cut and therefore he was Quinton’s first pick. Forrest Griffin gets the next pick and takes Tim Credeur. The coaches went back and forth on picks and the teams are as follows:

Team Rampage

• C.B. Dollaway
• Matt Riddle
• Paul Bradley
• Daniel Cramer
• Gerald Harris
• Mike Dolce
• Jesse May
• Brandon Sene

Team Forrest

• Tim Credeur
• Amir Sadollah
• Jesse Taylor
• Matt Brown
• Cale Yarbrough
• Dante Rivera
• Nick Klein
• Luke Zachrich

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MMA Junkie  is reporting that a lightweight match-up between Spencer Fisher and Jeremy Stephens has been confirmed for The Ultimate Fighter 7’s season finale on June 21st.

Fisher (20-4) comes to this fight after pulling out of a fight with Marcus Aurelio at UFC Fight Night 13 due to injury. His last actual fight was at UFC 78 where he suffered a unanimous decision loss to Frankie Edgar. In that fight Fisher was unable to defend Edgar’s takedowns and spent the majority of the fight on his back. If everything goes as expected, Fisher shouldn’t have to worry about working off his back against Stephens, who is very much stand-up oriented.

Stephens (13-2) also comes to this fight after pulling out of a previously scheduled match-up. Stephens had agreed to face Terry Etim on the undercard of the upcoming, UFC 84  but had to pull out due to a “minor legal situation”. Stephens differs to Fisher in that the last time he stepped inside the caged walls of the UFC Octagon, he tasted victory. He impressively dispatched TUF 5’s Cole Miller via a 2nd round TKO earlier this year.

This fight is the 5th “non-TUF” fight to be scheduled for the TUF 7 finale which is in stark contrast to last year’s TUF 6 Finale which, except for the main event and Jonathan Goulet, was entirely made up of fighters that participated in that season of the Ultimate Fighter.

The event will be headlined by a welterweight clash between Diego Sanchez and Luigi Fioravanti. Other bouts on the card include, Drew McFedries vs. Marvin Eastman, Evan Tanner vs. Kendall Grove and Josh Burkman vs. Dustin Hazelett.

Read more TUF 7 Finale content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

After tonight’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest, sixteen fighters have been eliminated and sixteen will remain on the show to live in the house and compete for the contract. Those sixteen fighters are as follows:

• Mike Dolce
• C.B. Dollaway
• Nick Klein
• Jeremy May
• Dante Rivera
• Amir Sadollah
• Cale Yarbrough
• Paul Bradley
• Matthew Riddle
• Luke Zachrich
• Timothy Credeur
• Brandon Sene
• Gerald Harris
• Daniel Cramer
• Jesse Taylor
• Matt Brown

There were some very interesting and entertaining fights from tonight’s episode, including a vicious knockout of Dan Simmler. He was out cold from the first punch in the second round from Matt Riddle, but Riddle got in three more hard punches while Simmler was out cold on the mat. He didn’t have any clue where he was at and the doctors said his jaw was most likely broken. Brutal, brutal knockout. Probably one of the most vicious knockouts in the show’s history.

Jorge Gurgel Academy’s Matt Brown put on a great display of skill and tenacity in a win over Josh Hall, one of Rampage’s former teammates with Team Punishment. It was a very back and forth battle but Brown had the guts and the conditioning to ground and pound his way to victory. Also of note is that Luke Zachrich, who also fought his way into the house, fights out of Jorge Gurgel Academy as well which could make things interesting should the two have to fight one another down the line.

Upon first impression it seems like the first two shows of the season have successfully weeded out the more inexperienced and unprepared fighters and have really made it the best middleweight fighters possible. That is something I like because the competition on the show last year was extremely weak. I am impressed and very entertained with the show so far but we’ll see how long it lasts. Fighting your way into the house was a unique twist but from what the trailer looked like for the rest of the season, it’s back to business as usual: guys being idiots, getting drunk, destroying the house, etc. Let’s hope that it continues to be entertaining and doesn’t fall into the same, tired formula as the last few seasons.

Check out more TUF 7 content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com!

MMA Weekly is reporting that Josh Burkman has signed a bout agreement to face Dustin Hazelett at the TUF 7 Finale on June 21.

Both fighter are coming off of tough losses. Burkman lost via decision to Mike Swick at UFC Fight Night 12 and Hazelett suffered a TKO loss to Josh Koscheck at UFC 82. The bout should provide a clearer picture in the middle of the welterweight pack and should determine whether or not Hazelett or Burkman are ready for contender status yet.

Check out more TUF 7 content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com!

Spike TV issued a press release Friday afternoon to announce the ratings for UFC-related programming that aired on Wednesday night.

The one-hour premiere for the seventh-season of “The Ultimate Fighter” averaged a household rating of 1.3 and had an audience average of 1.7 million viewers. That’s only slightly above the final average for 2006, but where TUF cleaned up was in the male 18-34 demographic, as the premiere of TUF 7 averaged a 2.21 in the highly-coveted demo.

Preceding the TUF 7 premiere was the three-hour live fight telecast of UFC Fight Night 13, which garnered an average household rating of 1.1 and 1.3 million viewers. In the male 18-34 demographic the show averaged a 1.56.

UFN 13 peaked during the main event featuring Kenny Florian vs. Joe Lauzon, with 1.8 million viewers tuning in.

In other UFC-related ratings news, the series premiere of “DEA” earned a 1.0 household rating. The show was up 227% from where the same time slot was a year ago.

My latest CBSSports.com article is now available.

With the latest season of “The Ultimate Fighter” having just premiered on Spike TV this past Wednesday, I decided to break down who I consider to be the favorites to win this year’s tournament.

Click here to read my TUF 7 handicapping breakdown.

The folks at Spike passed this on to us - a Burger King sponsored contest where you can “have it your way” in Vegas.

Winner will host a TUF Finale party on June 21st.
Details below. Click graphic to enter.

Check out tons of TUF 7 content on FiveOuncesofPain.com

Much is being made about two of the stoppages that took place during UFC Fight Night 13 on Spike TV last night and I just needed to give my two cents.

I really believe we need to start giving the officials in MMA a lot more slack. Is there a tougher sport to officiate in the world than MMA? If you’re an umpire and you blow a strike call, a hitter gets sent back to the bench. In MMA, if you make a bad decision then a guy can get sent to the hospital.

This sport would not be where it is today if there weren’t compassionate, competent referees that existed to see to it that MMA evolved from human cockfighting into a legitimate sport. If we had a bunch of irresponsible, bloody thirsty cowboys in there calling the fights then the list of states where MMA is currently prohibited would be much higher.

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If you didn’t enjoy last night’s season premiere for the seventh season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” then chances are you don’t like fighting.

The first episode of TUF 7 was pretty much nothing but fights. UFC president Dana White set the stage with a variation of his infamous “Do you want to be a f—— fighter” speech and informed the cast of 32 fighters that they would have to fight their way into the house.

Most of the fighters were stunned by the development but didn’t have much time to mope around because they had just 48 hours to make weight for their first fight. One fighter, John Clarke had to cut 17 pounds. It never ceases to amaze me when fighters don’t show up on weight because even if there were just 16 fighters, there still is a chance a fighter could fight soon after their arrival.

Despite being bigger and more experienced, Clarke slumped after a quick start and ended up being arm barred by 21-year old Cale Yarbrough.

In addition to the fights, we were also treated to the comedic stylings of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Forrest Griffin. Both had several one great one liners that really added to the entertainment value of the show. A new innovation for the show which served to be a great utilization of the colorful personalities of White, Griffin, and Jackson were the cut-ins during the fights. I felt the commentary of the three really added something to some of the fights.

With wall-to-wall fighting, a narrative of some kind was needed otherwise there would be very little communication during the course of the full hour since so much time was devoted to the fights. Once the show gets underway I hope they keep the cut-ins so that Griffin and Jackson’s comments are more audible than the typical communication we hear from the corner.

Griffin is already a recognizable star coming off his appearance during the first-ever season of TUF, but if last night was any indication of things to come, he’ll be an even bigger star coming out of this.

As for Jackson, he was made for TUF. Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, and Randy Couture are three of the biggest draws in the history of mixed martial arts. Jackson has the fighting ability and charisma to join them as the fourth biggest but he just needs to get the exposure. I’ve felt for awhile that the UFC really has not done a good enough job of promoting Rampage but TUF is a major step towards rectifying the problem. When the season is all said and done, Jackson will have taken a major step towards reaching the same plateau as Ortiz, Liddell, and Couture.

A lot has been made about the departures of Couture, Mirko Cro Cop, Tim Sylvia and the potential losses of Ortiz and Andrei Arlovski, but if the UFC can build Rampage into the megastar that he has the potential to become, it will help offset some of the defections they are experiencing.

The change in formats was a welcome one for a formula that had become predictable and stagnant. But while we are promised eight more fights next week, what happens after the first two episodes air and everyone is in the house? Change is good but the show needs sustained change. Hopefully some other surprises are planned.

Results from last night’s full-length fights are as follows:

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REMAINDER OF THIS ARTICLE ON SAM CAPLAN’S PROELITE.COM BLOG

Men’s Fitness magazine caught up with quote-machine Quinton “Rampage” Jackson for a topical interview as he promotes the season debut of The Ultimate Fighter 7. Jackson brings the ha-ha’s…

MF: Everyone knows you rule the Octagon when it comes to fighting, but how do you feel about your coaching skills for the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter?
QJ: “Coaching skills? I shouldn’t even be allowed to carry a Coach wallet.”

MF: Can you recall your very first fight?
QJ: “My mom said I’ve been fighting since I was in Pampers. But the first fight I remember happened when I was 5 years old. I let this kid borrow one of my Hot Wheels cars. A few days later I asked for it back and he said he had lost it. I started walking home and I thought, ‘No, I can’t let him get away with that.’ So I came back and just whooped up on him. He was one of my good friends but I liked my Hot Wheels better.”

MF: (What do you say to) Old naked guys in the sauna who don’t mind letting their junk hang out?
QJ: “Get your old wrinkled ass out of the sauna. That’s why your ass is wrinkled. You spend all your time in the sauna and not working out. At least put on some Speedos”.

Here is the full interview.

Read tons more Rampage Jackson content on FiveOuncesofPain.com

When: June 21, ‘08
Where: Las Vegas, NV @ The Palms
Watch: Spike TV

Here’s the latest on the TUF 7 FINALE event:

• Diego Sanchez vs. Luigi Fioravanti
• Josh Burkman vs. Dustin Hazelett
• TUF Finalist vs. TUF Finalist

Fight card subject to change; bouts will be added as we confirm them.

Check out more TUF 7 content on 5 Oz. of Pain.

Sources close to Sherdog.com have confirmed that winner of season 1 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Diego Sanchez will headline “The Ultimate Fighter 7″ season finale.

According to Sherdog, Luigi Fioravanti will most likely be Sanchez’s opponent with the two both having verbally agreed to the bout.

Sanchez (18-2) last fought at UFC 82 where he snapped a two fight losing streak by destroying David Bielkheden. The consecutive losses Sanchez suffered before UFC 82 came at the hands of top UFC welterweights, Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch.

Fioravanti (12-3) also made his last appearance inside the Octagon at UFC 82 where he scored himself a lopsided decision win over Luke Cummo. Fioravanti has gone 3-3 in the UFC while fighting at both middleweight and welterweight.

Personally, I’m all for Diego Sanchez as the main event for the finale but Fioravanti as an opponent doesn’t really excite me too much. I would’ve thought that a third fight between Sanchez and Josh Koscheck would have worked perfectly as the main event. To me, that fight just seems logical in this setting and I remain hopeful to the idea that this fight comes to fruition.

“The Ultimate Fighter 7″ will feature 32 middleweight fighters who will be coached by current UFC light heavyweight champion, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson and winner of the Ultimate Fighter season 1, Forrest Griffin. The show will air its debut episode on April 2nd directly after the conclusion of UFC Fight Night 13.

Read more TUF 7 content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.