The episode begins with a recap of Shonie Carter’s win over Rich Clementi. Ultimately we just get more video footage of Matt Serra yelling. Matt says Shonie’s win was a win for the entire team. Shonie admits Matt helped him win the fight. I think just about everyone agrees with that statement. Matt Serra then manages to mock both coaches from Season 3. He says that he’s not like Tito Ortiz in thinking that he’s the reason the fighter won. To be fair, Tito was coaching more raw fighters that did greatly benefit from his guidance. Serra gives all credit to Shonie for winning the fight, then does his best attempt at Ken Shamrock’s “We got the Hammer” catchphrase. Shonie thanks all of his teammates for their support during his fight. Looks like Matt and Shonie are going to become BFFs.
In another twist to this season, eliminated fighters are not leaving the house. Dana White believes that since these are better fighters, there is a greater chance at injury. The defeated fighters still help their teams in training and wait in stand-by for one of their victorious teammates to get hurt. I know these men are professionals, but this new rule has to cause some fireworks somewhere down the line. Someone is going to stir over a controversial loss and blow up. Not this week though. Rich congratulated Shonie back at the house and took the loss like a gentleman. Boring.
Secret Firepit Meetings
Team Mojo organizes a meeting in front of a fire to discuss strategy. It seems like they want mess with Team No Love. Instead of picking fights that they want, they will pick fights that they think Team No Love doesn’t want. I’m sure they arrive at the same conclusion either way they look at it, but it’s still an interesting strategy. Team Mojo has already laid out the first round matchups.
Shonie Carter must have been extremely stoked about the pairings. Not only did he write them all down in his journal, he also drew out an 8-man tournament bracket. I did stuff like that. Except I was in 6th grade. And instead of in my journal I did it in my Language Arts notebook. And instead of TUF 4 brackets I made King Of The Ring brackets. Enough about me, this show is about Shonie Carter.
While Shonie snores on the couch, his teammates find his journal laying about. Luckily his teammates found it before Team No Love found it. The guys joke about it but agree it’s an issue that needs to be brought up with Shonie. Matt Serra jokingly wonders why they even have secret firepit meetings if Shonie’s just going to spill the beans via man-diary.
Matt tells Shonie about the journal and nothing really comes of it. Shonie is receptive to their concerns and agrees to take better care of his most personal inner thoughts that he cannot share with his teammates. No one thinks Shonie is selling secrets to Team No Love so they forgive and forget. Accuse Shonie of treachery? How dare they!
Meanwhile, Charles McCarthy wants to know if he’s fighting next. He takes a chance and just asks Team Mojo if he’s next to fight. Team Mojo obviously keeps it to themselves. McCarthy doesn’t like the uncertainty that goes along with not having the Hammer. Team Mojo has some fun with him and makes him sweat it out.
Training Session
Team No Love takes the day off. Since the teams don’t have a specific coach, they control how much they train and what they work on. The advisors are there just to help out. Georges St. Pierre calls Team No Love lazy and that they think they are veterans that don’t need training. Or that’s what I think he says. Seriously, how come they gave Michael Bisping subtitles yet they don’t do it for this guy?
Charles McCarthy disagrees with St. Pierre’s assessment of Team No Love. McCarthy thinks his team is being smart by not over-exerting themselves the day before a fight.
Team Mojo decides to train. Mark DellaGrotte, one of the advisors, says Team Mojo works a lot better as a unit than Team No Love. They push each other in training and takes that time seriously.
Fight Announcement
Shonie Carter speaks for Team No Love. Actually, he sings. In a perfect tenor, Shonie croons, “Charles McCarthy….it is not you.” McCarthy stepped forward after his name was delivered, and looked pissed when he was told it was not him. Shonie hit him with it a second time, just to let him know he wasn’t fighting. Charles still stood there and didn’t go back into his line of teammates. Shonie laughs about McCarthy’s reaction and says he’s going to do it every time. Then he makes a fart noise with his mouth. This guy is gold.
The participants in this middleweight bout are going to be Gideon Ray from Team No Love against Edwin Dewees from Team Mojo. Dewees says it’s a classic grappler vs. striker matchup, with Ray assuming the role of the striker. Gideon thinks he was picked to fight Edwin because Team Mojo thinks Edwin can take him down easily and submit him.
Both teams laugh at Charles after the fight announcement. Team Mojo mocks him in the van ride home while Team No Love opts to mock Charles in the locker room. It was a funny bit and Charles seems to be less-pissed about it now.
UFC Fight History
Gideon Ray is 32 years-old and is fighting out of Chicago, Illinois. He likes to do it all: stand-up, wrestling, submission, et al. He claims he gained an interest in fighting by watching Bruce Lee movies as a kid. He’s 0-2 in the UFC.
His debut was at UFC 51 where he met David Loiseau. Ray took the fight on four days notice. Loiseau kicked his ass in this fight. Ray put up an admirable effort for taking the fight on short notice, but the fight was stopped after the first round when doctors wouldn’t let Ray continue due to a nasty cut.
Next for Gideon Ray was Ultimate Fight Night 1 and TUF 1 competitor Mike Swick. Swick knocked Ray out in about twenty seconds. Ray believes he can not only compete with the best middleweights, but he can become the best middleweight.
Edwin Dewees is from Phoenix, AZ, and is 23 years old. Despite his age, Edwin has had over 40 fights and is known for his submission skills. Edwin is also 0-2 in the UFC.
Edwin’s first taste of the UFC came against Rich Franklin at UFC 44. Edwin took Rich down to the mat in Rich’s second fight in the UFC, but that was about all the youngster could do. Franklin punished Dewees and the referee stopped the fight in the first round.
Ultimate Fight Night 2 was the setting for Dewees’ next UFC battle. He took on Chris Leben and despite taking Leben down to the mat as well, he got caught in an armbar and submitted in the first round. Dewees says that loss still haunts him and he’s completely embarrassed by his performance that night.
Fight Day
Edwin says there is going to be a beating tonight. Gideon guarantees blood and lots of action. Foreshadowing?
Gideon Ray vs. Edwin Dewees – Round 1
Both men exchange some pretty sharp kicks for the first minute of the fight. Why isn’t Edwin going for the takedown? I thought that was the purpose of matching up with Gideon. Gideon grimaces as his kick draws ankle-to-knee contact. Edwin clinches with Gideon and presses him up against the cage before tossing him down on the mat. Matt Serra keeps calling Edwin “Bam-Bam” during the fight and it’s really annoying.
Edwin tries pass guard and nails Gideon with a right hand in the process. Gideon is holding onto Edwin from the bottom so Edwin rams Gideon’s head into the mat with his chest. Gideon tries to escape but gets caught with a few more shots. Edwin briefly gets Gideon’s back but Gideon quickly rolls on his back again. Gideon reverses position in a sweet little move and is now on top of Edwin. Gideon comes with the hammerfists as Edwin attempts a triangle choke. The round ends.
Rich Clementi is cornering the winded Gideon Ray. Matt Serra gives the first round to Edwin.
Round 2
Edwin seems content to start this round on his feet as well. Actually, Edwin seems to be getting the best of this exchange. If you are the striker in a grappler vs. striker matchup, and the grappler is out-striking you, then you suck. Gideon attempts a spinning backfist and Edwin quickly turns Ray’s miss into a takedown. Edwin is now in Ray’s half-guard. Gideon has a hold of Edwin’s right arm so Edwin can’t do anything but drop an occasional left elbow. Gideon connects on a short left elbow while in guard that opens Edwin up. Blood starts pouring out of Edwin like a faucet. Referee Herb Dean calls for timeout. Someone from Team No Love yells that it’s over and Edwin seems to nod his head in concession. Matt Serra tries to keep Edwin from getting discouraged. The doctor says Edwin is fine to continue and they resume in the half-guard position.
Edwin is gushing blood. He’s actually holding his wound with his right hand while he’s punching Gideon with his left. Ray reverses the position again and immediately goes to work on the cut. Gideon decides to stand the fight up but the referee calls timeout once again. Edwin gets wiped off and the restart the fight with 1:30 left. Edwin blocks a backfist attempt. Edwin is the aggressor here and that’s surprising. Gideon should be attacking. Edwin fails at a takedown attempt and Gideon connects on a diving punch to a seated Edwin. The round ends amidst speculation of a third round.
The judges declare the fight a draw. We move on to the third round. The third round is sudden victory, which means the winner of the round wins the fight. The scores from rounds 1 and 2 have been wiped out.
Round 3
Gideon goes for a spinning heel kick but misses and is taken down. It seems like every one of Edwin’s takedowns have come as a result of Gideon missing some wild shot. Blood is still pouring out of Edwin and it’s all over the mat. He could write his name on the mat if he wanted to. Edwin is on top of Gideon and starts landing some shots but Herb Dean calls timeout because Edwin is bleeding in Gideon’s eyes. Edwin is toweled off once again and they get back in position.
Gideon has half-guard and Edwin does some more chest smashes to the head. These look a lot more painful than the ones in the first round. Gideon tries to bridge out of the mount but is unsuccessful. Edwin gets side control and throws a couple of knees. Back into the mount and Edwin is being active enough to keep Gideon out of the fight. Gideon seems to be going for a referee stand-up at this point. Gideon rolls Edwin over with 45 seconds left in the fight and throws wild hammerfists. Gideon is actually panting in between his flurries. The horn sounds to end the fight.
The winner by unanimous decision is Edwin Dewees.
Post-Fight
Edwin thought he had the fight won after two rounds. While Edwin did control most of the second round, the cut was more than enough to give Gideon that round. Dana White was impressed with Edwin’s composure after receiving the cut. Gideon thought the fight should have been stopped due to all the blood. The doctor said the amount of blood loss was not a risk medically while Dana added that the blood didn’t interfere with Edwin’s vision.
When they showed clips of Gideon Ray against David Loiseau, the fight was stopped because of a cut on Gideon. Gideon didn’t lose nearly as much blood as Edwin and his cut was on the back of his head. Edwin’s cut was on the top of his forehead. It had to have some effect on his vision. If Ray’s fight against Loiseau was stopped, there was certainly just cause to stop this one. Gideon wasn’t robbed in this fight, but he has a point when he says it should have been stopped.
Speaking of good points, something very interesting was brought to my attention concerning this fight. The UFC constantly encounters mainstream media attention for the amount of violence in their sport. I’m reminded of Bill O’Reilly’s interview months ago. With that kind of scrutiny, how does it look when the UFC broadcasts a fight where the mat closely resembles a murder scene? Head over to the Ultimate Fighter Forum to discuss what effect you think the fight had on the UFC’s violent image.
Next Week
The fighters watch UFC 60 featuring Matt Hughes vs. Royce Gracie. A new trainer shows up and rubs Matt Serra the wrong way.
