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TV Reviews
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The Ultimate Fighter
UFC Ultimate Fighter Review 10/24: In-depth rundown and analysis of latest Team Hughes vs. Team Serra
Oct 26, 2007, 19:20
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Review of The Ultimate Fighter - Season 6
October 24, 2007 episode
By Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor
We start with the recap of the previous episode where Troy knocked out Paul, who then returned home to attend his cousin's funeral. Team Serra is up 4-1 and Team Hughes has no say in the quarterfinals unless they sweep the next three fights.
The announcement for the next fight is up and Serra picks... Ben Saunders vs. Dan Barrera. Neither one has gotten a lot of face time just yet so all I know is that Dan is in fantastic shape. Montage of Dan working out like a madman and giving his all. But perhaps he's giving too much in practice, risking injuring one of his partners. Blake and Jared seem to take the brunt, especially Jared as he gets caught in the Jimmy parts with a knee from Dan. Dan's philosophy is much like Stone Cold's in that you're going to catch a few from time to time and you just have to suck it up and accept the black eyes and bloody noses and bruises. But high-pitched Jared is pissed and believes it was intentional. He tries to show up Dan and gets tossed aside, then leaps to his feet and tries to stand over Dan. If I were Dan I would have sent Jared flying into the next room for trying an intimidation tactic like that.
Flip to crazy Ben who seems confident in his chances. Montage of Ben sparring. Every time I see those shorts the guys wear with what looks like their underwear hanging out I want to give them a wedgie. Serra believes in Ben, who is smiling like the Joker.
Dan is woken up by God everyday at 4:15 in the morning. At least he saves money on batteries for the alarm clock he doesn't need. He runs 4 to 5 miles every morning. His wife says he needs medication. I could do without the shot of Dan in his tight swimming trunks returning from the pool.
Paul returns and is ready to train but Dan is in the bathroom. Seems he spends a lot of time in there. Black and white footage of Dan posing in the bathroom mirror... with his flipping shorts down around his ankles. Ugh. Apparently he thinks he's filming an 80's music video in there as he shadow boxes, poses, and prepares himself. At least he has his shorts pulled up, but he does have toilet paper stuck to his foot.
Matt Hughes decides it's time for Dan to get schooled and then proceeds to obliterate him in practice. He totally dominates him and maybe gives these guys something to shoot for. And Dan loves it, pain is his friend. And I believe him; he's not at all down and is accepting it all in stride, an attitude that will serve him very well in life.
But holy crap, what the hell happened to Dan's hand? It looks like it's been flattened beneath a car tire and then over inflated to compensate. Looks like he's got some deep bruising or something. Mac has a great look of scepticism on his face as Dan proclaims he's fine.
Commercial for UFC 78 with the headline being Rashad Evans vs. Michael Bisping. Rashad has looked great whereas Bisping got some home cooking in his decision victory over Matt Hamill. I got to think its Evans via probably a 2nd round TKO.
Matt Arroyo from Team Serra sees Dan's big balloon hand and tells his coaches. They decide to not tell Ben about it, however. Dan gets his hand checked out and the verdict is... Dan returns home and tells the guys that it's a metacarpal break. Don't know whether to believe him or not after other guys throughout the series history have joked about having serious injuries. Sure enough, Dan was joking and should be fine for the fight.
Montage of Dan painting and discussing his wife, who's quite good-looking. Dan is deeply, deeply religious and... not good, some sort of emergency has arisen and Dan is on the phone. They cut to a commercial break just after Dan's wife says she knows she's dying...
Well, apparently Dan believes his wife had a seizure of some sort. He prays with her and gets her sister to come stay with her until he returns from the show. He's handling it amazingly well, better than most. Scarola folded under much, much less pressure yet Dan is there, still ready to fight. He must feel like a piece of crap. Wait, there's more... Dan quit his job to come on the show, he's laying it all on the line.
Both men prepare themselves for the upcoming battle. They both seem ready and this should be a hell of a fight. In the pre-fight interview Ben says, „I got you, man. Your horse, your dog, your woman... I'll take care of them.‰ And then laughs that maniacal laugh of his, drawing lots of, „Ooooh's!‰ from the guys here.
The Tale of the Tape shows Ben being much taller (6 inches) and as soon as that damn graphic promoting Impact moves we can see that Ben has an enormous 8-inch reach advantage. He's also slightly more experienced which may help him in the end.
The Assman, Herb Dean, is our official tonight. Note- we all call him the Assman here because he has the uncanny ability to always get in the way of the camera shots during all the fights he referees. So we're always yelling at him to move his ass.
Fight: Dan Barrera vs. Ben Saunders
The action starts and they're both slightly tentative. Ben gets a knee in. Ben mixing in the kicks. Ben is smiling as Dan jabs him. Dan catches Ben with a right overhand, knocking him down. Ben smiles from the ground as blood comes from both nostrils. Dan stands over him and neither man is doing anything. Herb Dean lets this go on for at least 20 seconds as Team Hughes yells for Dan to back off. Finally, they stand up. Aw geez, another standoff as Ben is on the ground with Dan standing over him. They feign throwing punches and kicks but do nothing. What the hell is this, Ali-Inoki? This crap goes on for like 30 or 40 seconds before Herb Dean finally wakes up and steps in. Took him long enough, he should have stepped in after 5 seconds of non-action. Now we got some action as Dan fakes a Superman punch and they both look for openings. Ben is bleeding good from his nose and mouth now, although he's still smiling like Mick Foley. Ben connects with a knee that opens a cut on Dan's forehead. Before long he's bleeding a red streak. Round ends with another Ali-Inoki homage. Hughes is pissed that Dan won't listen.
Round two opens with more tentativeness. The size difference between the two is quite remarkable. Dan is having big problems trying to counter Ben's reach. Ben keeps getting him with punches and Dan can't do anything about it. More leg kicks from Ben and Dan can only bleed on himself. Oh man, Ben lands a knee and Dan takes it like a champ. Ben just keeps peppering Dan with punches and kicks. Dan is knocked down by a knee. Back to the feet where Dan is bleeding badly now. He tries to evade and starts jogging around the octagon. More knees from Ben and then a Cro-Cop style kick that Dan blocks but still had to do damage. The ring girl in the background is either concerned or horrified or both. Herb Dean steps in as Dan is bleeding more. Dan bends over and Dean calls a stop to it... for about a second before Dan says he wants to continue. One minute left. More powerful blows as both men let it all hang out. Round ends.
Both sides expect a Sudden Victory round. Dan has a nice gash traveling vertically down his forehead. Not exactly like the cut Marvin Eastman got in his fight with Vitor but still a nasty looking cut. But stop the presses, there is a winner. Dana has the fight even, as does everyone else except the judges. Via a majority decision the judges award the fight to Ben Saunders. Hughes is irate and complains to a Nevada State Athletic Commission guy. In the second best line of the night (Ben's line from up above was a bit better) Dana has this to say, „I don't want to say anything bad about the judging, but that was some horrible judging.‰ And yes, he said that without dropping the f-bomb once.
Winner: Ben Saunders by majority decision
The Team Serra locker room is ecstatic. Matt Arroyo says that Ben should get the $5,000 bonus. Dana one-ups him and says both fighters will get the $5,000 bonus. Great move by Dana there. Bottom line is that it was a great fight marred by the finish. Definitely the best fight so far this season and one of the best fights in TUF history. Dan's got a good shiner going on and a cut on his left eyebrow to go with his forehead cut. Serra comes into the Team Hughes locker room to offer props to Dan. Hughes is off by himself questioning his team and whether he wants to continue or not. And apparently he was doing that in the back of a semi trailer as a big metal door slides down to close the show.
Next Week: Will Matt Hughes quit as coach?
Regardless of whatever you decide to do, thank you for your time.
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