The Ultimate Fighter Season 12 Episode 4 Recap

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Episode #4 opens with a look back at last week’s fight between Michael Johnson and Aaron Wilkinson. From there we move into Team GSP’s locker room where “Iron” Mike is still hanging out and this time he brought advice. He speaks about the need for confidence in fighting and how you can never stop believing in yourself. Dane speaks about how truly moved he was and how everything Tyson was saying applied directly to him.

Back at the house tensions are high (because it’s filled with testosterone driven cage fighters filled with alcohol) and all of the scorn seems to be falling on Alex (aka: Bruce Leroy). A few housemates are perturbed that during the last fight he was yelling at Michael to “Fuck him up” or something of that nature. He tries to defend himself but the whole house has decided to gang up on and hate the guy so the argument only escalates until Sevak becomes unhinged and charges Alex. A few of the guys step in and prevent anybody from being ejected out of the house. We all know by now that reality producers make their living off of unlikeable enough people whom they can transform into super villains but I’m not sure Alex is the right guy to be carrying that torch this season. He’s arrogant, sure, and has a mouth on him, but there is something inherently good natured about him. I think we all remember Jamie Yager from last season, somebody who seemed dead set on being as aggressively annoying as possible without the slightest hint of humanity behind it.

Next we get more of Josh Koscheck’s antics as he tries, barely, to get under the skin of Georges St. Pierre. That includes wearing a speedo, making barely veiled homophobic remarks, calling him a nerd and accusing him of walking like a robot. It’s hard not to see that as a producer scripted set piece.

Fight Announcement

St. Pierre still has control of the board and decides on:

Kyle Watson (Team GSP) vs. Andy Main (Team Koscheck)

Back at Camp Koscheck coach Dave Camarillo studies Watson via his iPhone. Andy spends time working on his striking because it is his self professed weak point.

Weigh Ins

Kyle Watson: 155 Pounds

Andy Main: 155 Pounds

Josh Koscheck tries to appeal to Andy’s emotionally in the lead up to the fight by reminding him that if he loses the fight he will have to continue living with Kyle for the next seven weeks, and that every time he sees him he’ll remember the time he lost the fight. All signs point to this resonating with Andy.

Kyle’s training is also coming along as planned. We see him going through the regular motions and sparring with St. Pierre. Meanwhile coach John Danaher pontificates about the different pressures each fighter is facing. According to him Andy is feeling it because his team is in an 0-2 hole and desperately need to turn things around, starting with him. Kyle on the other hand is, because of his advanced age (30), the unofficial captain of the team and to be the first one to lose would be a terrible let down for the entire team.

Fight day roles around and we get the usual canned lines and platitudes from the fighters.

Andy Main vs. Kyle Watson

Round 1: Both fighters come out swinging and a nice boxing match breaks out with both fighters landing good shots to the kisser. Watson moves the action to the cage but Main quickly grabs the back and begins to slowly. . . slowly go for the rear naked choke. Watson seems very calm, almost too calm for somebody who is in big trouble. Main keeps working the jiu jitsu until the action falls to the floor. Watson reverses the fight and takes control. He has to power through some nasty up kicks to get the ground control but lands some nice fists in the process. From there he keeps Main horizontal for the remainder of the round delivering some nasty elbows to the head. 10-9 Watson because even though he lost the first half of the round he more than made up for it with the pain he inflicted in the second half.

Round 2: Main comes out swinging again and again has luck in finding his target. It’s short lived though as Watson gets a double leg takedown at the knees and begins grinding Main into the mat just like at the end of round 1. Main gets up and punches Watson right in the face which seems to motivate him even more. Watson gains the back and starts working his own jiu jitsu. His is more successful as after a minute or so Main wears down, makes a mistake and is forced to tap to the rear naked choke.

Kyle Watson def. Andy Main (2nd Round submission)

Koscheck kicks a chair and then, as a talking head, blames Andy for his loss saying that he broke from the gameplan. Dana White, who was very quiet this episode, says some useless line about Koscheck being a fierce competitor and that he’ll never stand for this. Just words put into the universe to make sure stupid people keep watching.

Final Thoughts

This episode did slip in the ratings though it was my favorite thus far. Besides the blow out in the house which tickled my reptilian brain the real fight was a close, cerebral game of chess that could have gone either way. Plus (big plus) despite their big tease of more Mike Tyson this week he was only there for one scene and did limited damage to the show.