Recap and Intro
The fighters move into the house and character development begins in earnest as Jeffrey Lentz is tagged right away as an odd duck because he smokes, which is a way to stand out on a show based around grueling athletic competition. Here I always thought there was only room in one’s life for cigarette smoking OR mixed martial arts training but I guess I was wrong. Jeffrey weighs in on the issue saying “I got cardio for days.” Sounds good. Alex (aka Bruce Leroy) is also put front and center as he plays the harmonica and talks about wrestling an alligator. Both coaches discuss draft strategy. St. Pierre decides to engage in some bush league bamboozling wherein he’ll try and trick Koscheck into picking his boy Marc simply by accidentally showing Koscheck his picks and labeling Marc as his #1.
Team Selection
Koscheck wins the toss and decides to pick the fighter meaning that St. Pierre will get to pick the first fight. Wouldn’t you know it he takes the bait and picks Marc #1 over his real #1 Michael. St. Pierre wastes no time in picking him up.
Teams in Order of Selection
Team Koscheck: Marc, Sevak, Sako, Andy, Nam, Aaron, Jeff
Team GSP: Michael, Jonathan, Spencer, Alex, Kyle, Cody, Dane
Training Session GSP
St. Pierre claims that he is best used as a training partner while Greg Jackson and company will be the real coaches. Koscheck takes a much more hands on approach. Then goes off on a minor tangent about how he is the heel of the UFC (is he?) and that all you have to do is hang with him for a bit and you will fall in love with him.
Match Selection
St. Pierre has the first choice and goes with
Alex Caceres vs. Jeffrey Lentz
St. Pierre says that he made the fight because Alex asked for it and that showed that he had confidence. Alright, I would want to fight the smoker as well. Dana White, in a talking head interview, scolds St. Pierre for being too democratic and then admitting that maybe he’s a control freak. You think?
After commercial we spend some time with Alex. We learn about his Bruce Lee obsession and how he originally got into martial arts training.
Jeffrey spends his face time doing himself all sorts of disservices. First he gloats about being from New Jersey and insinuating that he has some sort of advantage because Jersey has produced some of the toughest fighters. Then proves to us just how tough he is by talking about how much he wants to hurt Alex. Not beat, not outperform, hurt. I’m all for competitive spirit but when he spat those words at the camera it made him damn near impossible to like, and to make matters worse he’s squaring off against Bruce Leroy who may be in the running for most likeable housemate ever.
Fight Day
Alex spends a shit ton of words trying to convey that he’s in a Zen state of mind. Jeffrey just gets nastier saying that his persona is just a cheap way of getting people to remember him and that it won’t matter because once he puts him to sleep nobody will remember him anyways. If nothing else it is far better to listen to than the usual canned, scripted, overtly PC lines we get from all other reality shows. As a cherry on top Jeffrey says that he wants to hurt Alex so bad that he’ll never want to fight again. The man’s game face is on.
Round 1:
For most of this round the fight looked surprisingly advanced considering the supposed skill level on display. Jeffrey keeps Alex pinned on the fence or on the mat for a majority of the round. Near the conclusion of the round things turn a bit clownish and both fighters begin throwing garbage punches so at to score a miracle knockout. Alex goes for a few guillotines, no avail. Then right at the bell Jeffrey hits a textbook hip toss takedown that solidifies the round for him. 10-9 Jeffrey
Round 2:
A wrestling match breaks out in the early moments. Jeffrey goes for a takedown but ends up giving his back. More ground work, Jeffrey takes the top and Alex slaps on his triangle choke. Jeffrey tries valiantly to powerbomb his way out of it but can’t do it and eventually has to tap.
Alex Caceres def. Jeffrey Lentz via 2nd Round submission
Usual postfight analysis and handwringing.
