The broadcast was the most watched show of the day with men between the ages of 18-34 and 18-49.

The fact that the series finale was the most watched since season six and the entire season was the most viewed by males between the ages of 18-34 since season five further solidifies the fact that interest in the sport is continuing to flourish.

All in all, the ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter ended up turning in overall household rating of 1.5.

The finale main event between Diego Sanchez and Clay Guida delivered a 3.1 rating in men between the ages of 18-34 and 3.3 with men between 25-34.

Dan Henderson heads over to the house for a big barbecue with his team. Henderson commented that it was nice to hang out with the guys and not just talk “fights”. Michael Bisping has dinner with his team and lets all the fighters know how much they mean to him having spent the past weeks together.

Both fighters work out game plans with their coaches for their upcoming fight and as always both coaches believe their fighter has what it takes to succeed.

Lester and Wilks have fought once already on the show. Wilks is the same fighter who knocked out Lester’s teeth and eliminated him from the competition before Lester was given his second chance. However not too uncommonly seen, these two fighters have grown to really respect one another.

Frank Lester vs. James Wilks

Herb Dean gets the fight underway and both fighters meet in the middle. Both fighters work their jabs but it doesn’t take long to see Wilks’ reach advantage starting to pay off. Midway through the round Lester finds his target with his wide looping hooks. Wilks looks for the takedown but Lester defends well. Back on the feet Lester finds more success with his wild hooks. Wilks recovers and again finds his range to keep Lester at bay for the remainder of the round.

The second round starts off with more of the same from the first. Wilks keeps Lester at a distance working his jab and picking him apart as well as busting his nose with around three minutes left in the round. Lester continues to counter when he can while Henderson is yelling for him to be the aggressor. With the round coming to a close, Wilks pushes the action landing more jabs and a few knees to the head with the Thai clench.

Wilks continues to punish Lester in the third round and Lester looks gassed. Halfway into the third round Lester takes a knee to the face that leads to Dean halting the fight in favor of Wilks.

WELTERWEIGHT SEMIFINAL

- James Wilks def. Frank Lester via TKO – Round 3, 2:20

Here are the two final match-ups this Saturday night on Spike.

LIGHTWEIGHT FINAL
- Ross Pearson vs. Andre Winner

WELTERWEIGHT FINAL
- DaMarques Johnson vs. James Wilks

Lightweights:
– Andre Winner vs. Cameron Dollar
– Ross Pearson vs. Jason Dent

Before Dollar starts his training at the gym he reveals to coach Dan Henderson that he has a few heart ribs. Henderson says Dollar will be alright come fight time but then corrects himself saying that they “have” to be better. Dollar express that he wants to stand and bang with Winner, however he goes on say later that if he was to take a body shot around his ribs that he will “fold”. Winner has no problem banging with Dollar as you can see the U.K. fighter stressing his stand up in training.

Andre Winner vs. Cameron Dollar

At the start of the first round Dollar throws a few faints before both fighters begin trading leather back and forth. Winner seems to be landing the harder shots and more of them.

Dollar works for a takedown but Winner defends and keeps the fight standing. On the feet Dollar lands a few solid shots but again it’s Winner getting the best of Dollar.

The fighters tie up briefly enough for Dollar to trip his opponent but Winner reverses and ends up in the mount position. Winner baits Dollar, transitioning into a triangle choke as Dollar turns to get off his back. It’s only seconds later that Winner tightens the chokes and forces the tap.

The next lightweight match promises to be a war. Dent isn’t happy hearing that Dana White has not been impressed with Dent on the show thus far. However, Dent explains he has only been fighting intelligently, taking minimal damage so he can really show his skills in the semifinals. We expect nothing less from Pearson who says he will be looking for the knockout.

Ross Pearson vs. Jason Dent

The entire first round is a stand-up battle between both fighters as they showcase their striking game. Pearson seems to be delivering more blows and coach Henderson feels this as well screaming for Dent to work in a takedown as the first round comes to a close.

In the second round both fights again remain standing and trading for the first two minutes before Pearson takes Dent to the ground. Pearson gets in a few strikes from the top position before Dent escapes and gets back to his feet.

Pearson successfully takes Dent back down to the mat in the final minute of the round and finishes strong with great ground and pound before the bell saves Dent.

In the third round Dent comes out looking hopeful but it isn’t long before Pearson again takes Dent to the ground at his will. On the mat we see more ground and pound from Pearson and missed armbar attempts from Dent but Pearson rides out the round in control and walks away with the unanimous decision.

With U.S. fighter DaMarques Johnson and team U.K. fighters Winner and Pearson advancing to the finals, be sure to check back next week right here at FiveOuncesofPain.com to see who will fill the last slot on this seasons TUF finale. Will it be team U.K. fighter James Wilkes, or will the American Frank Lester muster up and be the second U.S. fighter in the finale?

White then makes the fight announcements for the semifinals.

Lightweights:
– Andre Winner vs. Cameron Dollar
– Ross Pearson vs. Jason Dent
Welterweights:
– Nick Osipczak vs. DaMarques Johnson
– James Wilkes vs. Frank Lester

At the house both teams gather together to have a barbecue and celebrate the beginning of the semifinals. At that time Richie Whitson overhears Jason Pierce discussing his dislike for the U.S. team with David Faulkner. Whitson and Pierce get into a heated argument that ends with Pierce challenging Whitson to move to 170 lbs. but things resolve in the end.

The next morning Whitson again hears Pierce chatting with Team U.K. and sharing information about the U.S. fighters and their training. Whitson and some of the other fighters are not happy to hear this and neither is Henderson who confronts the denying Pierce. Nick Osipczak however confirms later that Pierce had shared information about Johnson for his upcoming fight with him.

DaMarques Johnson vs. Nick Osipczak

Herb Dean is our referee and the first round begins as both fighters open with jabs and a few legs kicks. About one minute in to the fight Johnson score a takedown but it isn’t long before Osipczak is back on his feet.

With 2:50 left in the first round Johnson throws his opponent back to the ground.

Osipczak attempts an armbar but Johnson pulls his arm out ending up in half guard. Johnson attempts to move into mount but Osipczak defends and keeps his opponent in half guard. While Osipczak is on his back he defends well landing many elbows from the bottom.

Both fighters are back to their feet with under a minute remaining in the first round and Osipczak catches Johnson and follows shot after shot. Johnson appears to be done but in the last seconds Johnson digs deep and counters back making for a very exiting end to the first round.

The second round heats up when Osipczak shoots for a takedown and Johnson sprawls ending up in side control. Johnson delivers unanswered blows and controls most of the fight on the ground. With 1:16 left in the second round Johnson moves into mount but Osipczak quickly rolls and gives up his back.

Osipczak simply covers up while Johnson continues to reign down punches in what appears to be the end of the fight, however Herb Dean allows the fight to live out it’s final seconds.

Osipczak, appearing dazed raises to his feet as Bisping repeatedly asks him if he is “ok”.

Both fighters are game for the third round and continue to bang it out for the first half of the round although Johnson appears to be the more dominant and aggressive fighter.

Once again Johnson takes the fight to the ground being the more dominant fighter and landing a few shots from the top. Johnson again passes Osipczak’s guard, moves into the mount and takes the back.

Osipczak grabs an arm and successfully turns into Johnson and into his his guard.

Here Johnson appears to take his first rest in the fight and rides out the rest of the third round taking minimal damage although not without valiant effort from Osipczak.

White announces the obvious winner (Johnson) in what was a “hell of a fight”, said by both Bisping and Johnson.

Tune in next week and visit FiveOuncesOfPain.com next week for “The Wrap-Up” and see both lightweight semifinal bouts.

WELTERWEIGHT SEMIFINAL
-DaMarques Johnson def. Nick Osipczak via unanimous decision

As it turned out, Frank showed amazing heart and a warrior spirit and managed to outlast Dave. We knew going into the fight that Dave didn’t perform as well in fights as he did in training, but I think it still came as a shock to us to see him give up on the takedowns almost completely. I don’t think he went for even one in the second round.

Dave’s a terrific fighter, but he’s one of those guys that seems to find it difficult transferring his gym form onto the big stage. There are a few guys out there like that and it’s a difficult problem to overcome.

It was a great win for Frank Lester and he did well to come back from his first defeat. To be honest, though, I wasn’t too happy with the fact Lester was allowed back into the competition after his first defeat. Let’s face it, it’s team versus team, country versus country and both sides went into the show on an even playing field. If one of their guys doesn’t want to fight, it’s not our fault. We did our jobs. We all went on the show wanting to fight. Jason Pierce didn’t.

If one of their guys pulls out, we should get the automatic victory. I didn’t agree with them letting Lester back in the competition. It just didn’t seem fair on our boys. Pierce had the opportunity to fight and he chose not to. He wasn’t forced out of the competition.

Even though I didn’t agree with his inclusion, I take my hat off to Lester for the heart he showed against Dave. I was really shocked to see Dave pull out on his stool heading into the third round and was actually pretty angry at the time. None of us expected Dave to go out like that. He was super-fit in training and could do three rounds standing on his head in the gym. I don’t like seeing anyone quit on their stool like that.

We were all disappointed with Dave that day, but I think Michael Bisping and the other coaches would have been the most stunned, as they train with Dave on a daily basis. Nobody could really explain why Dave quit the way he did, but I think it probably tied in with the problems he was having with the mouthpiece. He seemed to have a lot of psychological problems with that and it could well have affected him during the fight.

At the end of the fight Dave mentioned how he had a kid and that he didn’t want to risk himself in the third round if he didn’t feel right. Maybe he just didn’t want to take a chance in those final five minutes. It’s a tough sport and you never know what might happen. Dave didn’t want to go there, whereas Frank did.

Going into the semi-finals, Team UK all felt really confident about our chances. We all felt we had the better team. We had big hopes for the lightweights, Ross Pearson and Andre Winner, and were excited to see how they got on.

Our only fear heading into the semi-finals were that they might pair off Team UK guys against other Team UK guys…

The two U.S. fighters who are able to be brought back to fight Faulkner are Mark Miller, who sustained a broken nose his last fight and Frank Lester who had gotten his teeth knocked out in his. Lester appears to want this opportunity a bit more and in the end Dana White informs Dan Henderson that Lester will fight Faulkner.

For the week up into the fight Henderson asks Michael Bisping if they would switch training times so that Team U.S. could sleep in for a week instead of waking up and training at 9 a.m. like they had been for the past four. Bisping immediately declines wanting to wager that decision on the upcoming fight. By now both teams and coaches are in the discussion and as the teams begin to line up for the fight announcement Bisping sprays water in Damarques Johnson’s face. Johnson answers by throwing his hat at Bisping and the trash talk begins.

Eventually things cool and we learn that Bisping was actually mad at Cameron Dollar for what he believed to be a racist comment and assumed that Johnson had said it.

As Henderson was informed at the beginning of the season Team U.K. had to adhere to Henderson’s wish and Team U.K. began training in the morning hours but were not at all pleased about it.

Frank Lester vs. David Faulkner

The first round kicks off and both fighters land leg kicks and eventually tie up and are against the cage wall. Not much damage is done by either fighter and they eventually break and meet back in the center of the cage.

Both fighters land a few shots but the seemingly more aggressive Faulkner eventually scores a takedown. Lester is quick to use the cage wall to get back to his feet.

As the first round comes to an end it looks as though Faulker is tiring.

As the second round is under way you can hear Henderson continually instructing Lester to use his jab although it doesn’t seem Lester complies. Faulkner holts the round about 30 seconds in by spitting out his mouthpiece.

The fight resumes and Faulkner’s poor conditioning becomes apparent as Lester forcers the action. Lester lands looping shots to the head and body of Faulkner who seems to be a bit less accurate with his hands. Faulkner hangs on to till the end of the round but looks completely exhausted.

With no surprise the fight is a draw and will go on to a third round.

As Bisping begins to coach his fighter in the corner Faulkner shakes his head and repeatedly says that he is done and apologizes to his teammates.

With Faulkner throwing in the towel it’s Lester who comes out with a very impressive victory that makes Team U.S. evenly matched with Team U.K. at four wins each.

The news of the bout comes from a recent report by MMAWeekly.com who cited sources close to the fight.

The fight replaces a bout between Matt Brown and Anthony Johnson that was canceled when Johnson injured his knee in training. Brown then also took himself out of the event due to nagging injuries.

Markham’s last fight was at UFC 95, where he suffered a knockout loss to Dan Hardy. Shortly after the fight it was discovered that Markham’s rapid weight cut caused a partial collapse of one of his lungs. He is now said to be fully recovered from that injury.

In his UFC debut prior to the Hardy fight, Markham defeated Brodie Farber by first-round knockout with a head kick.

Grant made his UFC debut last month at UFC 97 where he scored a split decision victory over Ryo Chonan. Grant is currently riding a five-fight win streak that has pushed his professional record to an impressive 14-2 so far in his young career. However, Markham will represent Grant’s toughest test to date.

They weren’t even playing proper tennis rules and neither Mike or Dan (Henderson) could get it over the net. You didn’t even have to serve in the serve box.

Mike was as gutted as we were at the end of the match. We all wanted to receive the extra cash from the coaches’ challenge and it was pretty painful to watch it all unfold. From the first ball being hit – or not – we knew we had no chance of winning.

We’d have loved to have won the $1500 and obviously hated losing to the Americans at anything. You could tell from the first point we were going to lose, but still had to stand there and watch the whole thing play out. As soon as Mike started serving under-arm, we knew it was a lost cause.

Mike always puts on a good front, but he really hates losing. He was being wound up by the Americans that day and he hated every second of it. That DaMarques (Johnson) definitely got under Mike’s skin a lot that day. Fair play to Mike, though, because you need that kind of attitude to reach the elite level in sport. He’s obviously got it.

The Americans can have that tennis win. We were just concentrating on the fights.

The next fight for us saw Ross Pearson finally get unleashed from his cage. He’d been raring to go from day on, because he’s basically half-man, half-pit bull. He’s always looking to chase after people and fight them.

We knew that Richie Whitson had good hands and stand-up, but we were also aware that Ross had done some boxing in his time and possessed the better technique. We felt confident matching them up next.

In the fight itself, Ross actually attempted a few takedowns, secured the third and then got Richie’s back. The finishing arm-bar just showed Ross’ versatility as a fighter. The fight was pretty even on the feet, but Ross had the advantage in his wrestling and submissions. You could tell very quickly that Richie wasn’t comfortable with Ross on the ground. Ross fought a very smart fight and capitalised on Richie’s weaknesses.

Going into the fight, we all really expected a slugfest. Both guys were crazy strikers and we all anticipated an explosive battle. It went a little like that for a while. Ross even admitted to me that he got rocked by one of Richie’s punches and his vision actually shut down in one eye for a bit. That may have been an attributing factor to the takedowns.

We moved 4-2 up on the Americans with Ross’ win over Richie and Team UK were well in pole position. We had a massive mental advantage in the house and the team bond within Team UK was unbreakable at this stage…

Team UK welterweight David Faulkner has a whole different set of problems on his hands as his gag reflex is making it nearly impossible to keep his mouth piece in his grill for any kind of duration of time. Team UK coach Michael Bisping lets him know that being able to keep a mouthpiece in his face is one issue he will need to deal with immediately if hopes to eventually step into the Octagon.

When the fight of the night is finally announced it is revealed that Team US lightweight Jason Dent will clash with Team UK’s Jeff Lawson.

Lawson, Faulkner, and Dean Amasinger all equip themselves with wrestling masks and have a miniature last man standing match, Wrestlemania style, which was capitalized by a high risk suplex off of the diving board into the house pool.

Dana White calls Pierce in on the day of the fight to figure out where his head is at, and whether he is going to be willing to fight in the future. The welterweight has looked dismal at best in the days leading up to the conversation with the president of the UFC.

Pierce says that “mentally” he wants to fight but it sure doesn’t look like it judging by his body language. He looks more like he wants to be anywhere else in the world than a house where physical combat is an inevitability.

“There is no way this kid wants to fight,” assesses White.

And with that, Pierce is told he will not be continuing in the competition this season. Pierce sure acts like he’s disappointed, but one would have to wonder how much of it was just that, an act.

Lawson controls the pace of the first round with his ground game. When the bell rings for the second round both fighters look visibly gassed. During a sloppy, hard to watch second round that sees both men with their hand on their knees gasping for wind, Dent ends up securing an anaconda choke for the submission win.

Team US is back in the mix. They are just one win from tying it up with the score currently being 4-3, Team UK.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com learned of the news from multiple sources close to the fight on Monday afternoon.

Johnson, 7-2, apparently suffered a severe knee injury while preparing for his welterweight contest vs. Brown. There’s no word regarding how long he will be sidelined.

Additionally, immediate word was not available regarding whether Brown would remain on the card against a replacement.

Johnson was signed to a UFC contract just three fights into his pro career. Entering the Octagon with a perfect 3-0 record in his UFC debut vs. Chad Reiner at UFC Fight Night 10 in June of 2007, Johnson improved to 4-0 after requiring just 13 seconds into the fight to defeat Reiner.

He would sustain his first career loss in his very next fight at UFC 76 in September of the same year, submitting to Rich Clementi due to a guillotine choke at 3:05 of round 2. Since that time, Johnson has gone 3-1 and has boosted his stock with all three of his wins coming via KO or TKO.

Brown, 9-7, is an alumnus of the seventh season of The Ultimate Fighter. A talented and tough fighter, Brown entered the competition with a less than stellar record, based somewhat on the fact that he was held back by personal issues during the early stages of his career.

Since becoming a permanent member of the UFC roster, Brown has compiled a 3-1 record with wins over Matt Arroyo, Ryan Thomas, and Pete Sell. His only defeat was a split decision loss to Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 88 this past September.

The TUF 9 finale will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Pearl at the Palms and will be headlined by a lightweight bout between Diego Sanchez and Clay Guida. In addition to the lightweight and welterweight finals of TUF 9, a lightweight bout between Nate Diaz and Joe Stevenson is also scheduled.

Team U.S. welterweight Jason Pierce seized the opportunity to grab an aerosol can and proceed to spray every inch of the house in a fashion that would make a reclusive Howard Hughes proud.

Pierce wasn’t too excited about the practice that Dan Henderson and Cyrille Diabate had planned for the day. Pierce believed that he should be taking it easy since he was planning on having to fight. Diabate made it clear that he feels as if Pierce always has something or another to complain about.

This season’s coach challenge featured a tennis match-up between coaches Henderson and Michael Bisping.

A cold, hard $10, 000 cash was on the line for the coaches, while $1,500 would go to every member of the winning team. There would be a total of six tennis matches where the winner would have to have an advantage of two games to obtain victory.

Neither fighter stands much of a chance of breaking into the world of tennis anytime soon. The game was reminiscent of a tennis match you can catch at your local junior high school physical education class.

When it was all said and done Henderson ended up taking all the glory with a final score of 6-2.

“I lost a tennis match,” Bisping said following the bitter defeat. “But who cares. You can stick your tennis up your ass. I’ll see you on July 11. We’ll do it like men.”

Bisping announced that his U.K. lightweight Ross Pearson will face off with Whitson in this weeks bout.

While Whitson came to fight, he was routinely outmatched when the two would exchange strikes. Pearson controlled the fight with crisp striking and a series of takedowns before eventually sinking in the fight ending armbar late in the first round.

Team U.K. improves their lead over Team U.S. to 4-2.

At the house this week we are shown more dislike and hatred amongst the U.S. fighters as Cameron Dollar admits that, “This house does so many weird things to you”. Dollar also feels he will be picked to fight next among the lightweights only moments before we are back at the training facility where Bisping pits Dollar against Team U.K. fighter Martin Stapleton.

Bisping is quick to apologize to Dean for missing his fight before the next Team U.K. practice. Bisping himself believed the act to be “inexcusable”.

During Team U.K. training, Bisping works on a game plan for Stapleton which includes avoiding Dollar’s takedowns and wrestling while working a striking game of his own.

Dan Henderson’s game plan for Dollar is the exact opposite however, predicting the fight to end by Dollar’s ground and pound. Dollar grew up wrestling and expresses his love for it while also admitting that his standup game is “terrible”, but that’s not the only thing he spills before the fight..

“As much as I love fighting; I hate fighting,” says Dollar. “Every time I fight it scares the hell out of me”.

Cameron Dollar vs. Martin Stapleton

Referee Steve Mazzagatti kicks off the first and both fighters meet in the center of the ring. Faints are thrown but Stapleton comes in with a quick jab unanswered by Dollar.

Stapleton moves in for the takedown and Dollar catches him on the way in. Stapleton having dropped to his knees works again for the takedown but this time succeeds. Dollar immediately scrambles to his feet and answers with a hip toss, moving into side control.

Dollar eventually gets Stapleton’s back throwing leather from behind and tries to sink in a rear naked choke but Stapleton defends. Dollar again reigns down a barrage of punches off Stapleton’s back before tightly sinking in the fight ending rear naked choke at 1:34 of the first round.

Team U.K. – 2 Team U.S. – 3

Henderson now controls the next pick amongst the welterweights and it will be U.S. fighter Frank Lester against U.K. fighter James Wilks.

Lester expresses his hate for Wilks for being a “trader” having actually moved from the U.K. to California some odd years ago.

While Wilks remains calm up until it is time to warm-up for the fight, Henderson has to have a chat with Lester explaining the importance of being calm and focused going into a fight.

Frank Lester vs. James Wilks

Both fighter meet in the center of the ring and Wilks lands a few jabs while Lester circles the cage looking for shots.

About 1:30 into the round Lester hurts Wilks with a couple lefts as he falls to the mat. Lester follows and looks to end the fight but Wilks scrambles and ends up taking side control.

Wilks secures a kimura but Lester defends. Wilks looks to take a leg and then a guillotine choke but Lester escapes them all.

The fight is back on the feet as both fighters trade leather. Lester’s punches seem to be doing the most damage just before Wilks lands a solid knee to the mouth of Lester. Wilks then works for a takedown and rides out the rest of the first round.

As Lester walks back to his corner you hear him say, “My teeth got knocked out”, undoubtedly from the knee delivered by Wilks.

Lester’s corner delays the start of the second round while trying to dislodge pieces of Lester’s teeth from his mouth guard as Bisping and his team yell in protest.

Just moments later the second round begins but it’s Wilks who comes out the dominate fighter. Wilks backs Lester into the cage wall and lands a flurry before taking the fight to the ground.

Once on the mat Wilks quickly moves to mount position and as Lester tries to roll over, Wilks takes an arm and finishes the fight with 1:54 left in the second round.

After the fight we are told that Lester had lost 4 false teeth in this fight. Having still fought a great fight I hope he is given another shot someday in the UFC.

Team U.K. now leads 3-2 over Team U.S.

LIGHTWEIGHT ELIMINATION BOUT
-Cameron Dollar def. Martin Stapleton via submission (RNC) – Round 1, 1:34

WELTERWEIGHT ELIMINATION BOUT
-James Wilks def. Frank Lester via submission (arm bar) – Round 2, 3:06

I was confident we’d make it 2-0 with Andre. I’ve trained with him in the past and I know how good and how well-rounded he is. Santino had a really tough fight in the elimination process, too, where he pretty much
got battered for five minutes before pulling off a miraculous knee to win.

The coaches would ask us who wanted to fight and who we wanted to fight. They picked Dre because he was doing well in training and seemed to be straining at the leash. He was just peaking at the right time and was
ready to go.

We knew Santino was dangerous on the ground, so the plan was to basically beat him on his feet and keep the fight standing. Dre is good enough to strike with anyone and we knew that he’d have Santino’s number
so long as he kept the fight standing.

You could see during the fight that Santino realized he couldn’t do anything with Dre while standing. His face dropped as he realized Dre could pretty much boss him on their feet. He was just getting picked off
and that was all going to plan.

The only thing I didn’t envisage happening was Dre finishing the fight so quickly when Santino decided to pull guard. It was just a short right hand that did the trick. It was a perfect win for Dre. He didn’t put a foot wrong.

We were all thinking we’d get eight consecutive wins at this point. Confidence was really high and we were just really enjoying the experience. I think the Americans realized that they had to start taking the competition more seriously or they’d just be whitewashed out of it.

They saw how things were going and that’s why they put DaMarques (Johnson) forward for their next fight pick. They needed a win or else we were just going to run away with it.

I was a bit concerned by the match-up between DaMarques and Dean (Amasinger). I have a similar build to DaMarques and I know how much easier it is to pull off a triangle choke with my dimensions. Dean obviously had trouble with triangles in his previous fight, so there were clear danger signs when the fight was made. DaMarques is very good with triangles, and Dean was very good at getting into them during his
elimination fight.

Dean’s forte is his strength and power, and our hope was that Dean would just simply out-muscle DaMarques and grind him down.

I could tell on the day that Dean wasn’t right on the day of the fight, though. He seemed a bit nervous and just wasn’t his usual bubbly self. Part of that was due to Mike (Bisping) not being there, but Dean just
didn’t seem in the right frame of mind.

During the fight itself, Dean actually started well. He threw a couple of leg-kicks and seemed to be doing alright on his feet. He didn’t stick to his game plan, though, and that was to stay on his feet and keep it
standing.

Dean got the takedown off the single leg and that proved to be his undoing. I think Dean was actually hurting DaMarques on his feet, but his instincts told him to shoot for the takedown and that was the beginning of the end.

The defeat was hard to take for all of us. We’d all grown very close at this stage and nobody wanted to see Dean lose like that. Realistically, though, it was only a matter of time before someone left. There was no
way we were going to just walk it 8-0.

In hindsight, the defeat probably helped to actually put us all back on track. It made us re-focus a little bit and train even harder.

After we all watched Dean lose, it was a natural fighting instinct to want revenge. We all wanted to get in there and take it out on the Americans. The reaction to Dean’s loss was pure anger on our part. We
all wanted a piece of them.

Looking back, it was actually really useful to fight first. Everyone else was unsure when they were going to fight and therefore had to constantly monitor their weight. They could be called to fight at any time. That’s quite stressful on both the body and the mind. I got my first fight out of the way and then I knew I had at least three weeks to wait before the semi-finals. That gave me a good idea of when I needed to make weight and provided me with some kind of schedule. I was pleased it worked out that way.

I wasn’t too surprised to be picked first by Team USA. I remember I felt pretty tired after my elimination bout with Tommy Maguire, and I figured Team USA probably thought my fitness wasn’t what it should have been. Maybe that’s the reason they picked me.

Later on, while talking to the coaches, we decided that made Dan Henderson liked the idea of Mark Miller getting somebody who would stand with him. We all knew Mark was a striker and perhaps Team USA saw me as Team UK’s weakest striker.

That didn’t bother me. I can fight standing and on the ground. For the majority of my fights in Britain I’ve started standing and then taken the guy down and beaten him on the ground. I was happy to fight Miller wherever he went.

During the fight, things didn’t exactly go how I expected. Straight from the off I became involved in a brawl. All game plans went out the window. I got a bit excited and was enjoying things a bit too much. I’ve never actually done that in my career before.

I should have been using my range more, but I was just getting stuck in and fighting his fight. That was a risky tactic and he actually caught me a couple of times.

We were both a little nervous and we both really wanted to win. That’s probably why things got a little scrappy and hectic in there. He was actually a little better on the ground than I expected, and I was surprised I couldn’t secure a dominant position against him on the ground.

It worked out fine in the end, though. I was over-the-moon with the high-kick to finish matters. The high-kick is probably the most exciting way you can finish any fight and I was delighted to knock him out with it. It was actually the first kick I’d thrown in the fight and it did the job. I was just glad to just put the guy away and finish the fight, to be honest – I needed a bit of a rest.

It was the first time I’d ever knocked anyone out with a head kick in MMA. I’d put a few people away with kicks in kung-fu, but it was my first in MMA. I was so pleased to win like that.

A lot of the Americans were backing Mark to win the whole thing and they all saw him as one of their strongest competitors. Mark and his coaches were just expecting him to run through me with ease. It was nice to prove them all wrong.

After that fight, the mood in the house changed dramatically. The Americans always saw us UK guys as the underdogs, and my knockout of Miller provided them with a rude awakening. We were all buzzing after it. It gave us a lot of faith and confidence and told us that we belonged at that level. All the other UK guys were raring to go after that first fight.

I wasn’t impressed with the Americans’ idea to start writing on our clothes. I didn’t find that funny at all. I’m all for doing pranks and playing games so long as they’re funny, but scribbling stuff on our clothes was neither funny or clever. It was pretty pathetic and we didn’t even really get caught up in that stuff. They hadn’t won a fight yet, and that’s where it all counts. That’s the real scoreboard.

My win over Miller got us off to a 1-0 start and, to be honest, it was probably the proudest moment of my career so far. I was representing my country and I overcame adversity to beat one of the favourites in the tournament…

DeFranco reminds us that he was in the process to be in TUF season 2 but had to withdraw and rush to the hospital after being informed that he had a brain aneurysm. Santino was told he would never fight again, however only time would tell he would be able to compete as a mixed martial artist and get another shot at becoming The Ultimate Fighter once more.

Before the second bout between Team U.S. and Team U.K. we see short clips of both Santino and Andre training for their fight.

Santino DeFranco vs. Andre Winner

This bout was unfortunately a little stale with Santino landing a few leg kicks and Andre throwing seemingly fast and powerful hands but doing little damage. Santino has two takedown attempts however both were defended well by Andre.

Three minutes into the first round Santino goes for a double leg but instead of driving through for the takedown he pulls guard. Santino shows us an incorrect way of holding rubber guard however still trapping Andre’s right arm. Eventually, Santino goes for the easily anticipated omoplata (shoulder lock) but Andre immediately frees his arm and reigns down heavy blows to his opponent. Mazaggati stops the fight with 1:11 left in the first round. Team U.K. lightweight Andre Winner’s hand is raised via TKO.

Team U.K. now leads the Americans 2-0.

“I need to make sure the next pick is definitely something that is gonna go our way”, said Henderson, following the second loss for the U.S. team.

Back at the house we see more issues and more fighters with ego’s out of the U.S. team. Jason Dent and Jason Pierce both expressed that it’s been much easier hanging out with Team U.K. then the Americans.

After a training session Pierce later goes on to tell coach Henderson that he doesn’t do well against the “short, stocky guys”, when Henderson wants to pit him against one. So, why is this guy on the show again? I hear every other fighter who is taller or just has a longer reach talk all day about the advantage they have over their opponent and it is some advantage to have.

Everyone meets back at the training center for the pick of the next fight and control is back to Henderson. Henderson decides to pit Team U.S. welterweight Damarques Johnson against Team U.K. welterweight Dean Amasinger. Hendo made this choice knowing that this was the Americans chance to get up on the scoreboard.

Bisping having seen tape of Johnson winning a few fights by triangle makes a point to work on triangle defense with Dean. Bisping also recalls Dean getting caught in the submission multiple times in his elimination bout.

As Amasinger is prepping right before his fight you notice that Bisping is missing. None of the team or the coaches know where Bisping is at but Dean tries to keep positive believing that Bisping must have a good excuse to not show up however, admitting that it bothered him a bit.

Damarques Johnson vs. Dean Amasinger

The fight begins with a powerful leg kick delivered to Johnson. Dean throws another leg kick but it’s caught by Johnson. Johnson gets the takedown but Dean quickly scrambles back to his feet.

Once back on the feet Dean shoots for the takendown as Johnson locks in a kimura while falling to his back. Johnson works to tweak the arm but it’s Dean who appears to be the stronger fighter and is able to defend long enough for Johnson to give up the submission.

Johnson keeps great wrist control until he eventually locks in a triangle. Johnson adjusts and begins to make the choke tighter. As a last stand effort, Dean lifts Johnson off the mat for a slam but only secures the submission forcing the tap with 3:20 left on the clock.

Team U.K. now leads 2-1 over Team U.S.

Bisping’s absence is continued for the remaining minutes of the episode while Team U.S. has finally tasted a long awaited victory.

Tune in next week to see if Team U.S. can keep the wheels turning and find out why Bisping was MIA for his team’s first loss.

The first I knew of Rob being in the house was when he launched an egg at me. Thankfully it bounced straight off and didn’t explode. Before long everyone else knew who he was and what his game was all about. He was pretty small, but he made up for it in stupidity. I felt sorry for the Americans and all the guys that Rob targeted with his antics.

I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt to begin with. But when your first introduction to someone is them throwing an egg at you, what can you do? He was probably even more annoying than his brother (Junie) was in the previous series. Rob knew he wasn’t sticking around and he just wanted as much attention as possible.

I got on with all the American lads, aside from Rob. We were all pretty much united by our hatred towards Rob, as bad as that sounds. He just didn’t get along with anyone at all. I didn’t get to know the Americans too well at the beginning, simply because we just seemed to be training and sleeping all the time. We didn’t have much time to just chill out and chat. They all seemed like good guys, though.

I was really pleased with the house, too. It looked great. It was proper massive with loads of rooms. Because we had to share rooms with three or four other guys, I was expecting the house to be a lot smaller. It wasn’t, though. It was more than big enough for the two teams. It also had a wicked swimming pool, basketball court, pool table and football goals. It was brilliant.

Funnily enough, the way they decorated the house was causing a lot of people to have weird dreams and nightmares to begin with. We had lots of skeletons and coffins on the walls and it was messing with our heads a little bit. The way the place was lit was also a little bit creepy. We also then had the cameramen following us around all the time and that took some getting used to and disrupted us a bit. After a week or so, though, we all just got used to it.

The living arrangements weren’t half as bad as I thought they would be, either. I was very worried about sharing a house with a load of idiots, but everyone was really level-headed and fine to get along with. I think the two teams were a lot more serious this season because they knew what was at stake for their countries. There was a lot more dedication and discipline involved this series.

None of the British guys drunk alcohol while they were still in the competition. We were all taking it very seriously. The Americans went ahead and did their thing and we didn’t hold it against them. If they can go away and get drunk and then still have the cardio the next day, good luck to them. I wish I functioned that way.

We weren’t even tempted to start acting up through boredom, either. Due to the sheer amount of training, you don’t really have time to be bored. There’s always something to do.

In order to keep myself entertained in the house, I basically just did a lot of gambling. I love to gamble. Dean “The Queen” Amasinger and James Wilks were my two main gambling buddies. We just made up lots of games to keep us entertained in there.

I loved the experience so much that I pretty much forgot to miss anything back home. The weather was nice, the surroundings were great and I just enjoyed every second of it. I was actually surprised at how little I missed things like television. It didn’t even dawn on me that we didn’t have a television until a few weeks in.

Basically, I was there for a reason and I had a massive incentive to make all the sacrifices I did. I had my eye on the prize throughout.

Editors note: For more Nick Osipczak news and info, you can visit his website slicknickmma.com

Michael Bisping introduces Mario “Sucata” Neto (Grappling) and Dave Jackson (Thai Boxing), who are actually his own coaches but will be helping Bisping train Team U.K.

Henderson however seems to have a bit more aid with Gustavo Pugliese (Boxing), Ricardo Feliciano (Grappling), Cyrille Diabate (Thai Boxing), and finally Heath Sims will assist Henderson as a wrestling coach.

In the third episode we were left with the coin toss ending in the favor of Team U.S. meaning they will pick who fights first. The first fight is announced by Hendo and it will be the heavy-handed Mark Miller (10-4) vs. FiveOuncesOfPain.com‘s very own residential TUF blogger Nick Osipczak (3-0). Both teams and fighters appear excited with the match up as usual in previous seasons.

Bisping and his coaches are seen reviewing tape of Miller’s elmination bout to evaluate a game plan for Osipczak. While watching tape, Bisping notices that Miller brings his hands back to his hips after throwing instead of back to his chin as well as backing into a defense when pursued.

Later, Bisping mentions having trained with Osipczak for his fight with Chris Leben seeing that he is a southpaw. However, Nick Osipczak is comfortable with fighting both southpaw and conventional. After fighting southpaw for his preliminary bout, Nick decides to try to get the upper hand on Mark Miller by fighting conventional. We are also told by Nick that he started with Kung-Fu for two years prior to training in MMA.

We are shown a glimpse of Osipczak training for his fight with Miller before we are brought back to the house for the first time in this episode, and yes the pranks finally begin although seemingly tasteful compared to last season, hands down. DeMarques Johnson starts things off by taking a shirt left behind by the U.K. team and writing “Team U.S.A. 1, Team U.K. 0”. Later in the episode Johnson finds wrestling shoes (belonging to Ross Pearson) at the gym left behind by Team U.K. and continues to write, “Team U.S.A. – 2, Team U.K. – 0”. Bisping has a chat with his team telling them to basically stay calm and remember what they are really here for; to prove they are real MMA fighters. “We’re here to win the god damn show.”, said Bisping.

While Miller admits he is not a “game plan” guy and he, “rolls with the punches”, Bisping forms a game plan for Nick Osipczak. Nick is taught to always cut corners when backing up and to counter over Miller’s lead hand. Before the fight Bisping works a game plan with Osipczak to take down Miller because they believe Miller has nothing to offer on his back.

Mark Miller (10-4) vs. Nick Osipczak (3-0)

Both fighters tie up at the beginning of the first round but it’s Osipczak who throws Miller to the ground. Osipczak falls into Millers guard but has Miller up against the fence. Miller tries for a kimura but fails while Nick moves to half guard and over commits trying for the mount. Miller gets the top position in the exchange but not much damage is done. Once back on the feet the fighters exchange knees, a first for Mark Miller who showed little to no Thai boxing in his first fight. Miller lands some heavy hands and knocks Nick to the ground but it’s Nick who gets top position again while Miller tries for another Kimura but again is lost.

Half way through the first round the fighters are on their feet and are trading leather. Osipczak continues to keep the pressure on Miller, forcing him into the cage. Both fighters trade a few knees which is a surprise for Miller who wasn’t showing any knees in his last fight. Osipczak ducks a punch and captures a double leg for an almost picture perfect take down at 2:10 into the first round. Nick continues to throw strikes from inside the guard. Miller scrambles to his feet but Osipczak sinks in a guillotine with one arm in and pulls guard. Miller obviously taps twice but Herb Dean doesn’t call the fight. Again the fighters scramble to their feet but Nick takes Miller down again just before the end of the first round.

The second round starts off with Miller throwing a left and a right hook. Miller pulls guard and goes for a guillotine choke but Nick is already in half guard and moves quickly to side control to defend the choke and throws short elbows to Miller’s face. Miller lets go of the choke only to start another. Nick passes to the mount while Miller still holds on for the guillotine but eventually bucks Nick off. Miller lands in the guard position for a short while before Osipczak throws numerous elbows and a triangle attempt that fails. Miller gets side control but Nick Osipczak immediately gets back to full guard. Nick continues to throw elbows from the bottom. Both fighters are back to their feet and Nick Osipczak throws a beautiful high kick to the head of Miller for the K.O.

Nick Osipczak wins via K.O. (high kick) over Mark Miller in the 2nd round, 3:54

I am personally very impressed with Nick in his victory over Mark Miller. He showed that he does have power in his strikes despite what Hendo said about him in the first episode. Now we have a tall and lanky striker in the U.K. Team who has already shown his takedown abilities against a shorter, stockier opponent as well as submission attempts and what appeared to be a first round submission by guillotine choke.

I wanted to also add that Mask, the loved owner of Tapout and ongoing supporter of MMA from the early days was present on this episode. Although not seen, he could be heard ringside if you listen carefully. Mask, you will truly be missed and thank you for believing when so few did. You truly offered your own hands in the molding of what MMA is today.

Be sure to check out Nick Osipczak and his TUF 9 Blog exclusively, only on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

The news was first reported by John Morgan of MMAjunkie.com, who states in his report that signed bout agreements have yet to be secured but that both fighters have verbally committed themselves to the fight.

The TUF 9 finale will take place on Saturday, June 20 at the Pearl at the Palms in Las Vegas and will be televised on Spike TV. In addition to the finals of the current season’s lightweight and welterweight tournaments, the show will be headlined by a lightweight bout between Diego Sanchez and Clay Guida.

Schafer, 11-3-2, is 2-0 since returning to the UFC. He made his Octagon return this past September at UFC Fight Night 15, where he recorded a first round submission victory over Houston Alexander. Schafer then recorded a first round TKO win against Antonio Mendes at UFC 93 this past January.

He will look to improve to 3-0 in his UFC comeback when he faces Drwal, a Polish fighter with a lifetime record of 15-2. Drwal made his Octagon debut at UFC 75 in September of 2007, losing to Thiago Silva via second round TKO. He did not fight again for a year and a half, returning at UFC 93, where he knocked out Italian fighter Ivan Serati just 2:02 into their fight.

Both the U.S. and U.K. fighters get along well except for Rob Browning, brother to the infamous Junie Browning from last seasons TUF. It took no time at all before little bro filled the shoes as the house pest and found his way to the fire water. A dozen thrown eggs and a couple of confrontations later both teams were prompted to set some ground rules down for the house, obviously trying to prevent any antics that happened last season.

The next day was training day for both teams. Dan Henderson told his fighters that he will be focusing on ground and pound, working the clinch, and wrestling after expressing that he believes wrestling to be almost “non-existent” in the U.K. Michael Bisping and his group head into the cage for some sparring, promising that his team will be on weight, in shape and ready to fight.

Bisping also kicks off the mind games early this season with a little trash talk to U.S. fighters Damarques Johnson and Jason Dent which in turn only stoke the fire for the U.S. team.

Now it’s time for the two elimination fights which will finalize the U.S. roster.

First up are the welterweights: Kiel Reid vs. Frank Lester.

The fights starts and Reid finds an immediate home for his right hand following up with a takedown. Lester scrambles to his feet but Reid goes for a standing guillotine. Lester fights the choke and each fighter land a knee. Reid looks for a double leg but Lester defends and locks in a standing kimura. Lester pulls guard yanking back on Reid’s arm causing him to drop head first into the mat knocking him unconscious.

Lester tweaked Reid’s arm into a real bad spot before Mazzagatti saw what happened and stopped the fight. “I didn’t know he went to sleep, so I just kept yanking and yanking,” Lester says.

Frank Lester moves into the house by way of TKO in the first round.

Next are the lightweights: Jason Dent vs. Rob Browning.

The fighters meet in the middle and both are trading strikes moderately before Browning shoots in for the takedown but Dent defends well. Browning has a couple of push kicks to offer and Dent throws a high kick that connects with his foot. Browning shoots in but Dent stuffs the takedown once more. Browning turtles up under the bigger fighter and has nothing to offer on the ground as Dent closes up shop with some heavy hands from the top and a series of knees to the ribs of Browning. Mazzagatti again stops the fight in the first round.

Jason Dent moves in the house by way of TKO in the first round.

So the U.S. team is finally set and of course Henderson adds that he is definitely happy to see Rob Browning go. Next week we will be treated to the first U.S. vs. U.K. fight in the season as well as the first in history of TUF and the U.S. has control over the pick.

Here are the FINAL 16 fighters for the 9th season of TUF:

TEAM USA
Welterweights: Lightweights:
Mark Miller                             Richie Witson
Jason Pierce                            Jason Dent
Damarques Johnson                Santino Defranco
Frank Lester                           Cameron Dollar

TEAM UK
Welterweights: Lightweights:
David Faulkner                       Ross Pearson
Dean Amasinger                     Martin Stapleton
Nick Osipczak                        Jeff Lawson
James Wilks                            Andre Winner

In episode two I thought the U.S. team looked a lot less prepared than us and didn’t seem to be as ready for the competition as Team U.K. appeared to be in episode one. The U.K. guys all turned up for that first day ready to do anything to get on the show and live their dream. We would have fought anyone to get through. The U.S. guys didn’t seem as keen, though. You had guys not making weight and then other people not wanting to fight their friend. It all seemed a little more half-hearted from them.

It was really encouraging to hear that Dana was using Team UK’s quality and determination to motivate the US guys. That told me we must have been doing something right in episode one. It was nice to know that Dana thought we all impressed in the elimination process and that he used our desire and determination to try and spur on the U.S. guys.

Watching the U.S. elimination process back, DaMarques Johnson probably looked the best of the bunch. He possessed some nasty elbows and really made a mess of his opponent with his ground-and-pound. He definitely looked the most well-rounded and aggressive out of the American team.

Santino DeFranco’s fight was amazing to watch, too, but, to be honest, I think it should have been stopped in the first round. He was taking an absolute battering for five minutes and barely knew where he was at the end of the round. Then he comes out for the second round, catches Waylon Lowe with a knee and chokes him out. It was a really crazy turnaround. That was the kind of thing that makes MMA such a special sport, I guess. You don’t get turnarounds like that in many other sports.

Despite some of their boasts, I didn’t fear of any of the Americans going into the house. I don’t ever judge a book by its cover and I basically just took all the U.S. team on face value. None of them had me wary or worried. To be honest, I knew very little about any of them. I don’t really follow the American scene too much and wasn’t aware of any reputations they may have had.

The only stuff we knew about the final eight were the boasts that came from their jaws. You can never judge anyone on what they say about themselves, though, because it’s usually just a load of rubbish that comes out.

All in all, I thought Team U.K. looked a lot better than the Americans in the elimination process. I read a lot of negative reviews of our elimination process on MMA websites, but I think they’ll see the light now that they’ve watched the Americans in action. We were much, much better than the Americans in the first episode.

I think people will now start to realize just how good the team was that we brought over to Las Vegas. We weren’t going over there to just muck around and come off second best. We all went over there with the intention of winning the competition and showing just how good we all were. We were never afraid of the Americans or too respectful of them. I was always confident that I’d be able to not only compete with them but also beat them.

I don’t think Team U.S. realized just how hungry us Brits were to begin with.