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TV Reviews
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The Ultimate Fighter
10/5 UFC's The Ultimate Fighter: Debrey's detailed review of latest episode and fight
Oct 7, 2006, 21:27
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UFC's The Ultimate Fighter 4: The Comeback
Episode 8
October 5, 2006
Aired on Spike TV (taped May/June 2006)
Report by Nick Debrey, MMATorch.com Contributor
After the recap of last week's victory by Matt Serra over Pete Spratt we see Shonnie Carter at the house loading up the dishwasher. He's complaining about how messy the other fighters are and that he's their babysitter. He decides that since all the welterweights in the semi-finals are from Team Mojo, he's going to go to the gym with Team No Love and train with them. As he gets into their van Team No Love tells him that he's unwelcome. Jorge Rivera is especially upset because he will be fighting Team Mojo's Patrick Cote this week and doesn't want Shonnie spying on him. He and Shonnie exchange words. Shonnie goes on and on about how he doesn't give a f***. He ends up going with them to train with them.
After their training session Team No Love decides to stick around and watch Team Mojo train. We then see Team Mojo in the van on their way to the gym. They are pissed off because Shonnie has abandoned them. Matt Serra is especially upset because Shonnie needed their help and now he's turned their back on them when not everyone on their team has fought yet.
[Commercial Break]
Team Mojo arrives at the gym to train and sees Team No Love there. Members of Team Mojo aren't happy but Team No Love explain that it only makes sense given the fact that Shonnie attended their training session. Matt Serra gives Shonnie a lecture and Shonnie agrees not to train anymore with Team No Love. Serra tells us that he doesn't like what he's seeing from Shonnie.
At night while Shonnie sleeps all the fighters talk about him. Team Mojo learns from the fighters on the other team about what Shonnie had said earlier. They hear that Shonnie said that he didn't give a f*** about his team and that fighting wasn't a team sport anyway. Now members of Team Mojo are even more upset.
We see Georges St. Pierre at the gym training with Patrick Cote. St. Pierre tells us that he and Cote are longtime friends and training partners. He says that Cote will win in his fight against Rivera.
Jorge Rivera is training with Mark DellaGrotte. We learn that these two are also friends and train together. DellaGrotte says that Rivera has made a lot of gains since TUF4 started and that he's a more well rounded fighter than Cote.
At the fighter meeting Dana White tells the fighters that he knows many of the guys thought Rich Franklin was a dick. He then adds that he hopes they'll like their next coach better. In walks "The Iceman" Chuck Liddell and the fighters applaud.
We see Liddell training with Matt Serra. Serra says that he likes Chuck. Cote is also training with Chuck and he too is happy. Liddell explains that he doesn't want to change the way anyone fights but that he might be able to add something to their fights.
[Commercial Break]
We see Cote training and telling us he that he likes to fight that he likes to exchange and go to to toe. Dana White tells us that Cote has been big in Canada but that he lost his only three fights in the UFC. As we see the clips from UFC 50 where Cote took on Ortiz, Dana White explains that Cote took that fight at the last minute against when Guy Metzger got an injury. It was the main event and though he lost, Cote proved he was a tough kid. His next fight at UFC 52 was against Joe Doerksen. As we're shown clips from that fight we're told that Cote was completely dominant but got caught with a rear naked choke in the last round. Finally we see his last UFC fight against Chris Lebben from The Ultimate Fight Night 1. That was super close. They banged with each other but Cote lost a split decision. Cote tells us that he thinks he won that fight. He says that he thinks he's the best fighter in the UFC with the worst record. Dana is very impressed with him because he's stepped up to the plate for the UFC.
[Commercial Break]
Rivera is training at the gym. He said he used to fight a lot and that he's made a lot of bad decisions in his life. The UFC has helped him and that he uses MMA as a release for his anger. Dana tells us that Jorge had a lot of victories in the smaller shows and has beat Travis Lutter too.
First we see fight clips of Rivera taking on David Loiseau from UFC 44. Loiseau cuts Rivera open with his elbow and the gash looks pretty nasty. Rivera keeps fighting though and very nearly beat Loiseau by KO but the round ended. Rivera won the fight by unanimous decision. Next we see Rivera fight Lee Murray at UFC 46. He loses to Murray by submission with an armbar. At UFC 50 he takes on Rich Franklin. In round one he starts well but Franklin comes back hard and wins the round. Dana goes on to says that Rivera wins round two. Franklin was bleeding in round three and takes the fight to the mat. Franklin gets an armbar and Rivera taps. That loss sent him out of the UFC. However after winning three of four fights outside of the UFC he was brought back to fight Dennis Hallman at UFC 55. He won that fight by unanimous decision. He then fights Chris Leben at The Ultimate Fight Night 3 and loses by TKO in round one. Dana White says he thinks that a lot of fighters including Rivera looked down on the reality show fighters. He says that he thinks Rivera took Leben lightly. Rivera says that Leben got lucky and that Leben knows it. White explains this show will be a good opportunity for Jorge to get back in the UFC. Rivera tells us he knows he can beat Franklin.
Cote says he knows Rivera is going to attempt take him down and that he doesn't want to go to the mat with Rivera. Rivera says he sees himself knocking Cote out with a head kick. Cote says he wants to knock Rivera out very bad.
[Commercial Break]
FIGHT – PATRICK CÔTÉ vs. JORGE RIVERA
Round 1 – The fighters clinch and Jorge brings Cote down to the mat. Cote gets him into his full guard. Jorge drops a few fists and gets Cote against the cage. Cote lands a kick from his back to Rivera's chin. Rivera gets knocked down. Cote then pounces on top of Rivera. He ends up in Jorge's half guard and throws some punches to the head. Jorge gets him back into full guard. Cote punches Jorge in the ribs repeatedly then lands a few to his face. He lands some hammer fists toward the end of the round though Jorge gets to his feet. Cote lands a punch while Jorge lands a kick as the horn sounds to end the round.
[Commercial Break]
Round 2 – After an quick exchange they clinch and go to the mat. Cote ends up in Jorge's half guard. Jorge gets a partial guillotine but cant hold it Cote gets back on top in full guard then maneuvers himself into half guard. Cote drops some shoulders to Rivera's face before the ref stands them up. Cote lands some rights then Jorge grabs a clinch and the two go to the mat with Cote on top. He throws a few punches to the body to end the round.
RESULT: Patrick Cote by unanimous decision.
STAR RATING: ***
ANALYSIS: I enjoyed this week's fight. The kick Patrick Cote landed to Rivera's chin while on his back looked pretty devastating. That was certainly the turning point. Cote is the big winner this week beyond the fact that he won his fight. The fact that we saw Cote step in at the last minute to take on Tito Ortiz at UFC 50 helps to elevate his profile. Also, hearing someone with the profile of Georges St. Pierre, along with Dana White, extolling his virtues can't help but have fans take another look at him.
Jorge Rivera came out of this week's show looking fine. Seeing him beat David Loiseau and coming pretty close with Rich Franklin reminded viewers how good he is. Despite getting knocked silly by Cote kick, he hung on until the end. The only thing I didn't like was when he said that Leben got lucky in their fight. Though there may be truth to that, I always prefer it when a fighter takes the high road and says that their opponent was the better fighter that night. Still, he generally came out of this week's show looking fine despite the loss.
The big loser on the other hand has got to be Shonnie Carter. Leading up to the start of TUF 4 many of the commercials were highlighting his pimp antics and that immediately raised his profile. Winning as an underdog had to have also made him look good in the eyes of fans. Ever since then though he's slowly been showing himself to be an ass. Abandoning his teammates this week and ranting about how he doesn't give a f--- showed his true colors.
Next week the semi-finals start. Hopefully some better fights will come out of that and some momentum will have begun from a decent fight this week.
To email me, Nick Debrey, click on my email link at our Contact Page
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