Episode 5 of The Ultimate Fighter opens Rocky-Style as we flash back ever so slightly to the Brock Lesnar/Len Bentley argument that closed last week’s episode so entertainingly. As it turns out Len’s dramatic exit from the room had no affect whatsoever on the former champ as he just plowed right ahead with his tirade, talking about how his fighters need to leave it all on the line and then inappropriately making it all about himself as he started to carry on about his fight with Cain Velasquez. Len wanders back in and starts stating his case that he was ripped off under the wacky 2 round format of this show. I would agree with that assessment but Brock just shrugs it off condescendingly.
Back at home Les continues to rage against Brock.
Fight Announcement:
Team Dos Santos still has control in this competition and with their pick the captain calls decides to go with.
Mick Bowman vs. Clay Harvison
Coack Lew continues on with his controversial coaching methods as he implores Mick not to screw up his master plan and not to make him look like an ass. Junior Dos Santos, meanwhile, is angry at him for not sticking to wrestling during training and instead trying to branch out into jiu jitsu and boxing.
Mick, who happens to be a Brit, is given subtitles for his interview. I agree with the decision because I like to know what people are saying at all times, but considering that it does not continue on through the rest of the episode it almost feels as though the producers were using it as a way to build his character (“Mick, you know, the guy with the thick heavy British accent”).
Mick uses his facetime on the show to basically break down the fight with Clay on a point by point basis. Clay follows suit and discusses how he is going to utilize lots of jabs to win the fight.
To really get the storyline moving, however, Clay continues to obsess over Chris Cops and his supposed double agent activities. His proof? “I know a shady person when I see one.” The conspiracy theory keeps getting bigger and bigger in the mind of Clay and he begins to theorize about how Chris probably sold out Charlie by giving all his secrets to Ramsey and how that cost Charlie the fight on last week’s episode. At the point of boiling over he states that he will “merc” (??) Chris’ ass and that he has no problem breaking the law. Alex Jones would be so proud.
Somebody adds fuel to the fire by writing “Chris Cope Double Agent” in the sand pit (how convenient that there is a sand pit on hand). That night around a campfire Team Lesnar is gathered and Chris calls them out asking if people think that he is a double agent. He reiterates his dedication to the team, everybody seems to buy it and all is seemingly well in Team Lesnar land.
However back inside the house Chris turns on Tony and begins accusing him of writing the message in the sand. Things get really heated and it is soon very, very obvious that this team is still rather divided.
We learn that Clay has lost his brother and his father and that he had his brother’s ashes tattooed into him which is heartwarming and entirely creepy at the exact same time.
The mystery is solved, Mick in the joker who wrote the Chris Cope message. He expresses surprise over how seriously people seemed to take his little gag.
Mick Bowman vs. Clay Harvison
Round 1- This was a round that pretty clearly went to Clay and it went to him because he was easily the hungrier of the two fighters. He landed some great standing shots to a downed Mick. Mick kept trying to counter with upkicks but he just could not connect. Near the end of the round Clay started to slow down a bit but even though he was gassed (at least to my eyes) he finished strong and took the round. 10-9 Harvison.
Round 2- Clay seemed to have gathered himself nicely in between rounds and comes out aggressive early throwing heavy kicks and pushing the pace past what he was actually capable of. After a minute or so the pace slows and the two get tied up along the cage. We the viewers start to pay for the excitement of the first round as clearly both these guys are pooped. One can only imagine what these two would look like in a hypothetical third round. Mick gains an advantage and starts peppering Clay with jabs. Right at the end Mick goes for a takedown which would have probably won him the round but he is stuffed. Maybe that saved the round for Clay but I don’t think so. 10-9 Bowman.
Clay Harvison def. Mick Bowman via unanimous decision
Sadly the judges disagree with me and all three hand Clay victory. He is that annoying yet watchable type who could be good for this show going forward. We all need somebody to hate, right?
But alas his run on this show is also short lived as when we get back to the locker room he begins complaining about a sore pinkie. They remove his glove to reveal that his finger was broken and that the bone is sticking out. Amazingly Spike doesn’t shy away from this gruesomeness. Dana White declares to the camera that he is done on the show and considering the injury I would say that that is a pretty safe bet. At this point pretty much anybody who is not injured is going on to the quarterfinal round.
Final Thoughts
Good stuff this week as we were treated to this highly contrived storyline involving the misadventures of Chris Cope and everybody else’s inability to trust him. I would say that Dana White is probably one of the biggest control freaks out there, which is fine except for when those tendencies bleed on through on screen. We all know that the formula of placing a bunch of testosterone driven males in a house together and then feeding the public the chaos that ensues has been good for business. The problem is that business has been so good for the UFC that going on this show now means more than it did 2 or 3 years ago. Guys will work their whole lives just to get on this show and they are going to be much more cautious about throwing it all away. That means we really aren’t going to see the misbehavior that we saw in the past which also means that we won’t see the high drama that previous seasons provided. Dana White, however, is not one to sit around and wait for things to happen. This means that any little thing he can drum up as so-called high drama is going to get top billing. Remember last year when there was controversy in the house because Nam Phan was jogging too much? Maybe a direction to go is to get more into the past lives of these guys. Let them tell their live stories and then let them discuss fighting and strategy. I’d rather something more organic like that as opposed to grown men wringing their hands over a professional athlete jogging too much. That said despite my misgivings this whole Chris Cope storyline is working for me.
