T.U.F. 11 Thoughts – Episode 11

EPISODE 11

It was a long show (2hrs) so I’ll try to compress it as much as I can. The show opens up where the last one left off, with Dana introducing Rich Franklin as the new coach for Team Ortiz. However, Dana has a surprise. Also assisting Franklin for this last show will be Forrest Griffin, Tyson Griffin, and Gray Maynard. Not bad at all. McCray must be real happy. I would be. That’s some serious talent helping him get ready for his rematch with Josh Bryant.

Back to the house, some of the guys play a prank on some of the other guys, namely Brad Tavares and Jamie Yager. They use silly string and blow horns to wake them up. Brad is none too happy and destroys the chess set. Unnecessary. I like chess.

Fight time, Brad Tavares vs. Court McGee. I think Dana messed up by scheduling this fight now. These two guys are easily the best two left and I think they could’ve made a heck of a TUF Finale fight. Oh well. I think it’s going to be a hard fight to pick. The first round was more of the fighters feeling each other out. Some decent exchanges and leg kicks but it was basically McGee talking Tavares down twice which probably got him the nod for the first round. I scored it 10-9 McGee. Nothing really happened to either fighter though.

Second round had much more action. Tavares lands a great straight left. That was pretty much the story of this round. Tavares kept landing lefts, straight lefts and left hooks. McGee just couldn’t keep his right hand up enough. So much that it seemed like Brad was just waiting and picking his shots. McGee did land two big shots on Tavares but Tavares can obviously take a punch. Tavares won that round easily, 10-9.

Third round was much like the second. Tavares was winning the exchanges. He even delivered a nice knee to Court’s face that dropped Court. McGee wisely grabbed a hold of Tavares to stop the onslaught that would’ve taken place. From the looks of it Brad was walking away the winner. But after a couple of unintentional groin shots, Court landed a great shot that dropped Brad. Then landed another that took him off balance. McGee closed and scored a takedown and got Brad’s back and locked in a Rear Naked Choke. Nice.

It was easily the greatest fight of the season. Dana agreed and when he entered the cage he walked up to Tavares and had nothing but praise for him. You can bet Tavares will be fighting on the TUF Finale. That fight was amazing. Sadly they scheduled it on the show instead of the Finale. Both these guys could beat Kris McCray and Josh Bryant.

In between fights Dana brings in some United States Marines to train and demonstrate some techniques with the fighters. It was nice and it looked like they had a lot of fun. Good job on Dana’s part. The jousting activity looked really fun. Kind of like American Gladiators. I want a set for my very own. Who wants some?

Back at the house, Yager and Tavares decide to take revenge for the prank that got pulled on them. Yager hides everyone’s left shoe and Tavares gets beans and rice and throws it on some of the guys down by the pool. Hammortree doesn’t like it and walks into the house, grabs some trash, and throws it on Yager’s bed. Yager gets mad and throws the rest of Brad’s beans on Hammortree’s bed. Now they are in each other’s face talking trash. They break up and then Yager gets into it with Uscola. Then McKinney has something to say to Yager. Yager starts mouthing off again and the fighters call him out for quitting. He says he got caught, that he didn’t quit. What?! No bro, you quit. Q-U-I-T, quit. Yager keeps going on like he’s the man of the house or something. Uscola has had enough and calls him out and says he’ll meet him outside. Yager never shows.

Yager thinks he’ll be fighting on the Finale because 3 fighters wants to beat him down and he thinks Dana will let him choose who to fight. Sadly, he’s probably right. Hope he gets beat down. Even if he doesn’t, just make it past the second round and he’ll quit. Am I riding Yager too hard? No. I hate quitters and he quit. Go find a heart, Tin Man.

Fight time, Josh Bryant vs. Kris McCray. McCray has a record 5 fights in the TUF house. That’s just crazy. This fight wasn’t as good as Tavares vs. McGee, but it had it’s moments. I won’t run down every round like I did the first fight. I think the key here was that McCray came out fighting completely different than the first time he fought Bryant, and I think that confused Josh and he never got in the fight. Kris was looking for clinches and takedowns and dirty boxing. Like a whole new fighter. Josh did land some shots on McCray but no where near the amount Kris landed. It seemed like McCray could clinch and dirty box at will. Judges scored it 30-27, 29-28, and 30-27 for McCray. I thought McCray could’ve lost that second round, even would’ve leaned toward it, but no real argument against the judges this time. They are still horrible though.

So now the final is set, McCray vs. McGee live at the Palms on June 19. I’m sure we’ll see Brad Tavares and Jamie Yager on the card as well. Early pick, McGee by TKO. But, you never know. If McCray continues to evolve anything can happen. He really needs to work on that gas tank though.