The eighth episode of The Ultimate Fighter 11 is all business and it has to be as there are two fights for the price of one.
Team Punishment fighters, Kycaey Uscola and Kris McCray, face off in the first TUF "wildcard" fight. The concept of the wildcard is to give two fighters who lost close or competitive bouts a second chance in the competition. The episode barely stops long enough to mention the fact that Kyacey's son was born. A few seconds of tears of joy, a call with the mom and it's on to the mood music of pounding drums to set up the fight with Kris McCray.
Tito Ortiz decideds to take a backseat to the fight sayng, "I will be on the bleacehrs and I won't say anything. I'm going to let these guys fight it out as men". Oh, the testosterone is palpable!
The fight begins with McCray and Uscola feeling each other out, jumping in to throw a single strike and then disengaging. Kyacey lands a few front kicks to McCray's left leg and suddenly Kris grimmaces in pain. Uscola jumps at the perceived weakness but McCray is able to tie Kyacey up in the clinch and throws a few knees until one catched Uscola in the groin (good thing he already had his kid -- zing!). The round continues with each fighter securing takedowns but neither is able to convert their position into serious threats.
The second round starts out with McCray scoring a quick takedown and securing a kimura. Kris twists, Kyacey taps and that's all she wrote.
Kris McCray def. Kyacey Uscola and advances to the quarterfinals.
Kris looked like a completely different fighter than the one that faded away in his three round fight with Josh Bryant. Then again Uscola is the defintion of a journeyman fighter with his 18-15 record.
For Kyacey, losing a fight the day after your son is born has to be one of the all time deflating gut shots.
With the field set is time to pick the quarter final match-ups. That means getting Tito, Chuck and Dana in a room together to hash out who should fight who. If that sounds like a recipe for a disaster then you know your UFC history as the three begin bickering like the Three Stooges, except more f-bombs and less eye-pokes. After a few minutes of deliberation arguing Dana exiles Liddell and Ortiz out of the room so he can make the final call on who is going to fight.
White announces the following fights:
- Nick Ring vs. Court McGee
- Kyle Noke vs. Kris MccCray
- Brad Tavares vs. Seth Baczynski
- Jamie Yager vs. Josh Bryant
Back at the TUF house Forrest Griffin shows in a creepy trenchcoat (he looks like he's a bully from a John Hughes' movie) and brings UFC Undisputed 2010.
Wow, they're really subtle with the product placement, aren't they? It's almost like a real life Truman Show...
Nick Ring, the guy whose having issues with his knee, goes to visit the doctor and it's pretty clear that his previously reconstructed ACL is hanging on by a thread. The doc recomends that Ring undergo another ACL surgery and Nick isn't sure if he should go under the knife in the middle of the TUF tourney or keep fighting.
Later that night Dana White shows up at the house to talk to Ring to see if he's commited to withdrawing from the fight with McGee. While the doctor said that "technically" Nick could continue it's pretty clear that Ring has lost faith in his ability to fight with his knee being held together by a thin piece of tissue.
With Ring pulling out Dana gathers the cast up to tell them that someone is going to get another shot at redemption. Considering all the injuries and "second chances" that have already happen they might as well just call the show TUF: Second Chance. After Joe Henle hears that Ring is done he thinks, "hey, it must be me because everyone else is hurt". Seems like sound logic but not if James Hammortree has anything to say about it.
Hammortree runs after Dana, who conviently walks past the "Do you want to be a f*&^ing fighter?!" quote hanging on the wall, to tell Dana that he wants Ring's spot. With a willing fighter Dana walks back into the house and informs the cast that "Hammertime" (seriously, this guy has the greatest nickname and name of all time) will take over for Nick, much to the dismasy of Joe Henle. But as a random castmember says, "closed mouths don't get fed."
With the injury drama done it's on to the second fight of the evening.
The first round is all McGee who is clearly the more techinical fighter as he gets the best of every exhcange and handles Hammortree's takedown attempts with ease. At the start of the second round Hammortree lunges for a double leg and McGee easily gets underhooks in and transitions to a standing guillotine. Hammortree's inexperience rears it's ugly head as he fails to escpae and taps out to the basic submission though he does get an A+ for the little extra NBA style flop of "exhaustion" at the end there.
Court McGee def. James Hammortree and advances to the semi-finals.
Dana White declares that McGee is the dark horse in this race, which totally makes sense with McGee's amish warrior look.
In the tease for next week's episode we get two more quarterfinal fights and we finally get to see what happens with Tito Ortiz.
