After a quick recap of what you missed last week and the opening credit sequence we jump straight into the house where Alex (aka Bruce Leroy) is taking a victory lap after submitting Jeffrey Lentz last week. I figure it’s better to talk smack after you win as opposed to the obnoxious bile Lentz was spewing before the fight but I guess gloating is frowned upon as the housemates lined up to talk shit about Alex. Spencer goes so far as to imply that Jeffrey should have stabbed him in the eye. All in all, at least from the viewer’s vantage point, it seemed mild and even playful which stands in contrast to last week’s teaser about Alex going too far (!!!).
We get the obligatory yet useless training session sequences. St. Pierre brought in world class wrestler Gia Sissaouri to help his team out. Koscheck calls his team out for being lackadaisical but is kind of lackadaisical himself in his reaming.
Fight Announcement
St. Pierre goes with his #1 pick Michael Johnson to take on Koscheck’s #6 guy Aaron Wilkinson, the only Brit in the house.
Johnson looks to be much bigger and stronger than your average Lightweight and certainly more so than the scrawny Wilkinson. But as Joe Rogan will quickly remind you, physiques do not always win fights.
There is a throwaway segment in which Koscheck partakes in some juvenile delinquency and has the guys box St. Pierre’s car in so tightly that he won’t be able to squeeze in to his seat. Cue humorous shot of St. Pierre trying to do just that while his voiceover narration says “A lot of people take my kindness as weakness.” I don’t think anybody takes any part of you as weakness.
Both fighters make weight. Then Mike Tyson stops by to lend support to Team GSP. St. Pierre, though it’s stated that he’s been friends with Tyson for a while, nerds out more than anybody and does an impression of himself playing Punch Out back in the day.
Michael Johnson vs. Aaron Wilkinson
Round 1: A tale of two halves really as Johnson lets his potential shine early on, landing big punches that daze his opponent and an authoritative takedown that he wasn’t fully able to capitalize on. Then Wilkinson turns it around, wearing Johnson down to the point that he can wrestle him to the mat and then takes complete control. He lands wicked elbows and, more importantly, keeps Johnson from standing back up. The round was tight as could be but I think Wilkinson’s late round dominance outweighs Johnson’s early fight fireworks so Wilkinson 10-9 on our scorecard.
Round 2: Similar in structure to the last round with Johnson going for the knockout early, gassing, and then Wilkinson takes over. He doesn’t do so here as dramatically as he did in the last round. I found myself conflicted on the matter as my inbred love of the upset butted heads with my curiosity about the future of Michael Johnson and just how far he could go. This round was also near impossible to score but we went 10-9 Johnson more as a representation of how close the entire fight was than anything else.
Round 3: Dana White wastes no time in announcing that the judges have declared it a draw and after that Johnson wastes no time in finishing the fight. He comes out like a rabid dog, swinging with these huge wind ups that take Wilkinson down. Once there Wilkinson eats some ugly hammerfists, gives up his back and is rear naked choked out to end the fight in overtime.
Johnson def. Wilkinson via submission in Round 3
Wilkinson was a game opponent, no question about that, and certainly a strong favorite to grab a wild card even at this early stage. The post fight interviews were their usual bore except for the fact that Wilkinson got hit so hard it made his British accent even thicker. In the preview for next week’s episode we see that the UFC will be exploiting the image of Iron Mike for at least one more week. Maybe if he made sense even sporadically he would be a decent screen presence but as he stands now he is just a laughing stock of a cartoon figure and that’s kind of sad considering just how incredible he once was.
Final Thoughts
This episode was your average run of the mill affair. Both of the coaches are coming off extremely well and that makes for a particular brand of enjoyment (Rampage’s insufferability made for a wholly different kind). Sure Koscheck was a little douchey this week with his insignificant stunt. But he wrote it off as gamesmanship and St. Pierre wrote him off as one more person who can’t help but bully him so I’m hardly going to hold it against him. Big beef with the show though…this ambiguous tie you always speak of…Why can’t we see the scorecards? Do you know how hard it would be to actually have a tie? Or better yet, how about just do them all three rounds anyways. I would joyfully trade in my training sessions for another round of actual MMA action.
