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On this episode of The Ultimate Fighter, we find out why Bisping was a no show for Amasingers fight, Dollar finds his fighting spirit, and Wilks has a part time job as a dentist.
The episode starts off with Bisping picking Martin Stapleton to fight Cameron Dollar in the lightweight division. Dollar seems less than enthused about the idea of fighting a British Marine.
Once the fight announcement was made the episode picks up with Team UK training, and Bisping telling Amasinger they would talk about his absence later. Bisping goes on to tell the viewers that he had jet lag, and went to take a nap and basically passed out. At least Bisping is man enough to admit that what he did was inexcusable and unforgivable. Although, he still hopes that Amasinger will be able to forgive him eventually.
Cameron Dollar spends his time before the fight talking about how nervous he is, and how he gets scared to death before his fights. Stapleton on the other hand is upbeat and confident that he will be the victor. Stapleton spends a little time joking with the US team, and telling the viewers that he is afraid of no man.
The two fighters go on to form a game-plan with their respective coaches. Dollar admits that he likes wrestling, but doesn't like, and in fact isn't very good at fighting standing up. (Most fighters don't admit so open and honestly their dislikes and weaknesses). Stapleton and Bisping plan on Stapleton stuffing Dollars shots and beating Dollar with stand-up.
Fight time! Both fighters have decent records: Stapleton is 5-1 while Dollar is 4-1. The fighters meet at the center of the octagon, and Stapleton (not Dollar) looks apprehensive. Stapleton looked pretty stiff, and wasn't very aggressive initially. Dollar on the other hand seemed to be more comfortable once the fight started despite all the talk about his nerves and fear.
Dollar and Stapleton tie up, and Dollar hits Stapleton towards the back of Stapletons head (quite possibly directly on the back of the head). Stapleton is dazed, and Dollar takes him to the mat. Dollar gets Stapletons back and finishes Stapleton due to tapout by rear naked choke.
I think that most of the fans of the show would consider this an upset. I personally thought Stapleton would make it to the finale. I also thought that Dollar was going to get whupped during this fight. But, this is what makes MMA and the UFC so great. Anybody can talk, and some can train and look good while doing it, but only a few have what it takes to win in the octagon. The octagon is the ultimate proving ground, and Dollar proved that despite nerves and fear he has a fighting spirit, and the ability to win, even against British Marines.
Now, it's Team USA's turn to pick the next fight. Henderson chooses Frank Lester to fight James Wilks of Team UK. Apparently Lester has an extreme dislike for Wilks, which nobody really seems to understand. Lester spends a lot of time and energy talking about how much he can't stand Wilks, and how he wants nothing more than to bury elbows into Wilks' face.
Lester seems confident with the match-up, but so does Team UK. Lester's confidence seems to encourage a member of team USA to put bounty on Wilks' teeth. $100 for every tooth that gets knocked out will be paid to Lester.
Both fighters then meet with their coaches to set up their game-plans. Hendersons plan for Lester is for Lester to keep his punches in tight, and to just calm down. Once Lester was selected to fight he became so excited that he wasn't sitting still, he was pacing around, shadow boxing constantly, and talking about nothing else but the fight. Henderson felt the need to try to reel Lester back in a little. So, Henderson sat down with Lester and told him to remain calm in the ring, and to try and focus.
Wilks on the other hand seemed to have the game-plan of submitting Lester by any means necessary.
The first round of the fight was pretty exciting. Both fighters landed some good shots, but the climax of the first round was when Wilks knocked out four of Lester's teeth via a knee to the face. After the first round Lester looked tired, and it seemed as though he had lost his desire to fight.
In between rounds Team USA had to literally pluck one of Lester's teeth out of his mouth-guard which took more time than what is normally allotted between rounds. Bisping was upset that Team USA was given the extra time to fix the "equipment malfunction".
Wilks came out in the second round and pressured Lester, who fought back only when pressed. Wilks took Lester down and mounted him without much resistance from Lester. A few seconds later Wilks had Lester tapping out due to an armbar.
With those two fights in the books that leaves six fighters left to fight. Next week they will be showing two more fights, and someone apparently has herpes. The standings are now Team UK 3 Wins, Team USA 2. That's about it for this weeks episode, see all of you MMA Junkheads next week.
Written By: Maxwell Destree. If you would like to see more of my articles visit my blog at http://mmafighttalk.wordpress.com/
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