What better way to start a recap of a show than by recapping a recap? Travis Lutter made Scott Smith look bad last week and Smith didn’t look any better when the showed the highlights. The trainers question Scott’s decision to fight Travis, as it was a bad matchup for him. Rich thinks Matt Serra may have influenced Scott’s decision, feeding Scott to Travis so his friend, Pete Sell, could have an easier first round fight. Even Team Mojo member Shonie Carter thinks Scott was thrown to the wolves. Yeah, Scott really got screwed. He threw one punch and tapped in under two minutes. I don’t think it really mattered who Scott battled in the octagon.
Team No Love now has control of the fight selection. They also need to replace Jeremy Jackson at welterweight after he was kicked off last week. The two options from Team No Love to replace Jeremy are Rich Clementi and Pete Spratt. Matt Serra thinks Team No Love will pick Rich to return and as a result, will pick Rich to fight Matt. Mr. Serra thinks a lot. He also thinks Rich is the cockiest guy in the house and wants to work him over. Cockiest in the house? The undisputed champion in that division has got to be Shonie Carter.
Killing Time at Home
Shonie gets an idea to make a raft out of empty water bottles. Charles McCarthy is annoyed by Shonie and calls him selfish, mean-spirited, and rude. Jorge says Shonie is a clown but claims Team No Love will get the last laugh. While not hating on Shonie Carter, Rich spends his afternoon cleaning the water bottles out of the pool. It seems as though Shonie lost steam on his plan after assembling the bottles in the pool. Unfortunately, this is not the last of Shonie and his bottles.
Fighter Meeting
Randy Couture informs Team No Love that they have 24 hours to choose a replacement for Jeremy. They argue that they could argue about it all day but in the end, decide that a coin toss is the fairest way. Pete is heads and Rich is tails. The coin lands on heads. Pete Spratt is back in the tournament but Rich doesn’t think Pete has the desire to continue. He’s right as Pete admits he’s on the fence about taking the spot after winning hit. There is still a chance he could give his spot up to Rich. Pete thinks he has a lot to work on and Rich has a better chance to win the tournament. It seems like if Team No Love had discussed who to put in Jeremy’s place, Pete would have conceded to Rich without a coin toss.
Back to the House
Reason #14 why Shonie Carter rules: Of all the characters he could pick to compare himself to, he chooses Nosferatu. Shonie claims he has a sleep deprivation disorder which disables him from keeping a regular sleep schedule. This is why he can be found playing pool by himself at 4 a.m. Mikey Burnett is also annoyed with Shonie and says he’s doing the best he can to tolerate him. Mikey asks Shonie to stop playing pool because all the sleeping housemates can hear him. That sends Shonie back outside where he returns his water bottles to their rightful home: the pool. Mikey says he would be driven to homicide if he had to live with Shonie for more than three months.
Team No Love whines to Din Thomas about Shonie. It isn’t a coincidence that everyone that hates Shonie’s antics is on the other team. The losing team. Din picks up on this and thinks Team No Love is just bitter about Shonie because they suck at fighting. Shonie does, however, admit to acting spitefully towards Team No Love. His dislike of Team No Love has also driven him to hate the color navy blue. Oh dear, this thing is really getting out of hand.
Rich sees an opening with Pete Spratt’s indecisiveness. Even though Rich lost the toss, he feels like he still has a shot to get back in the tournament. Rich says he even made Pete a cash offer for the spot. In less important but more showcased events, Shonie put the water bottles in a trash bag and floated around the pool. He was wearing speedos as well. It has been roughly 30 minutes spent on empty water bottles. You aren’t going to find a bigger Shonie Carter fan, but even I am getting fed up with this nonsense.
Fight Announcement – Welterweights
Matt Serra thinks Mikey will pick him to fight. With Pete back in the competition, Matt doesn’t think Team No Love will match Pete up with him, since he’d do the same thing Chris Lytle did to him.
Din Thomas has staph infection and he’s trying to hide it from Team No Love. As a result of the staph, Din says he feels exhausted. He didn’t do a good job of hiding his staph, mostly because it is a skin irritation that can easily be seen.
Pete Spratt steps out for the announcement. Pete announces that Matt Serra will fight…next week. OOOHHH! Spratt got ’em with the okey-doke! Serra actually looked a little pissed but that’s because Matt really wants to fight. The fight will be Din Thomas vs. Mikey Burnett. Thomas isn’t worried about his staph because he says he is on medication and will be ready by fight day.
Fight History
Din Thomas is 2-2 in the UFC and debuted as a lightweight against BJ Penn at UFC 32. Penn knocked Thomas out with a knee. Thomas says he didn’t know what happened until he got to the back. Thomas evened up his record with a unanimous decision victory over Fabiano Iha at UFC 33.
Thomas returned to the octagon at UFC 39 but was on the losing end of a unanimous decision to Caol Uno. His last fight in the UFC was against current teammate Matt Serra at UFC 41. It was a very controversial fight that most people thought Din Thomas won. Matt Serra was announced as the winner, but the decision was reversed because the scorecards had been added up incorrectly. The fact that the decision was changed to the rightful winner should take all controversy away from the decision, but that fact is overlooked when arguing wins and losses.
Din stopped fighting because he wasn’t having fun anymore. He was just fighting for the paycheck and lost his love for MMA. He feels rejuvenated now and is excited to start fresh in a new weight class.
Mikey Burnett is the “veteran” of the bunch. He was a part of the Lion’s Den way back when it wasn’t an embarrassment. Mikey fought Eugenio Tadeu at UFC 16 and won by TKO after the ref stopped it due to strikes. Mikey’s other bout with the UFC was at UFC 18 when he upset Townsend Saunders. Mikey won by decision but that fight was in 1999. Burnett hasn’t fought since then. A plethora of personal problems prevented Burnett from partaking in pugilism after that. From a nasty divorce, to becoming a father, to battling alcoholism, Burnett spent seven years away from the octagon. He says he wouldn’t be here if he didn’t think he could win the whole thing.
Fight Day
Both men want to keep this fight on their feet. Mikey has more power in his punches than Din, but Din is the slicker fighter of the two. Hey, look at this. I was watching an episode of The Ultimate Fighter and it turned into The Contender. What a treat for a boxing guy covering TUF.
Mikey Burnett vs. Din Thomas – Round 1
The two stay true to their pre-fight hopes and keep it on their feet to start. They feel each other out for about 45 seconds until Mikey misses on a haymaker. The miss, however, propelled Mikey into Din and scored a takedown for Burnett. Mikey really looks uncomfortable on the ground. Din attempts a triangle choke but Mikey evades it and decides it’s better if he lets Din back up. Good call.
Mikey lands a stiff leg kick on Din’s left leg. Din shoots for the takedown and Mikey sprawls to stuff it. Mikey finds himself in Din’s guard once again but this time Din already has his leg up for the triangle. Mikey lifts Din up and powerbombs him down to the mat as his last chance to escape the choke. Din holds on and Mikey taps to the triangle choke.
The winner by submission is Din Thomas.
Post-Fight
Now that he is through his first round match, Din Thomas believes he will win the whole thing. Mikey says he is unsure about his future. He feels like he can still fight but he doesn’t know which way he will go. Dana and Randy give him a little pep talk after the fight and tell him to keep training.
Next Week
Jorge Rivera gets news that his daughter is born. The fighters pick on Charles McCarthy. Rich Franklin joins the coaching staff. That could be interesting as Rich tells the guys he was told he will fight the winner of the show. That all sounds pretty lame but it can’t be any worse than this episode. Hopefully we can actually see a fight next week.
As always, head to the forum to chat about the episode or this season of Ultimate Fighter.
