The episode was supposed to begin with team selections but before we could do that there were a few injuries that needed to be addressed. Brian McLaughlin and Karn Grigoryan were both injured. The only thing I have to say about this is that that's the rules and it sucks! Both are great fighters, but the one thing that I can't understand is what Karn did. If I remember correctly, the doctor checked him out after the fight and Okayed him. Karn was the one who insisted that his nose needed to be checked out; this is the one thing a fighter should not do! Everyone knew that if you had an injury that was too severe then it meant it was time to go home. He had it made, he was in the house. What you didn't see is that both of them stayed the first night in the house, but Karn brought it on to himself by having a doctor check him out and confirm his fractured nose. So basically what I'm trying to say is that all he would have had to do is just shut his mouth and he would have stayed in.
Team Selections
As everyone can see the team selections are now final. To be honest, going into the house I was looking forward and wanting to be on Frank Mir's team. Everyone at my gym all had the same idea that there may be a language barrier with Nogueira since he is from Brazil. Seeing that Frank Mir is such a good commentator and a great ground fighter, we figured that Frank would be a better fit. When I was put into Nogueira's corner for the preliminary fights to get into the house, to my surprise, I felt very comfortable with my corner men. Every move I anticipated, my corner called out to me. I felt very much at ease knowing that we were on the same page. After the fight, my mind had a different outlook and I now was hoping to be on Nogueira's team. Don't get me wrong, I came here to learn as much as possible and would be satisfied no matter what team I was picked to be on. Both coaches have been fighting for a long time and are at the top of their division. They both have a tremendous amount of knowledge and insight to pass on. So when the day to pick teams came, I was pretty much at ease because I felt that I was going to get good training either way; this would not be a wasted opportunity.
After being picked by Nogueira, I realized that God had placed me there for a reason. Everyone seemed to be on the same page. We were all there for ourselves, but let's be honest, without each other we can't get ready for the fights to come. We all knew we had to unite and become a team. This is an individual competition, but you need your team in order to win it. As everyone could see by our "family" meals, we immediately bonded and united. Junie thought we were a bunch of fags because we all ate together as a team, but in actuality it's just words of jealousy. We all believed that our unity was our biggest strength, just like their individualism was their biggest weakness.
What about the prank that was pulled by Krzysztof?? At the time, we did not know who did it; we just assumed that the whole blue team was involved. We weren't really upset. In fact, it was pretty funny. The only thing is that it was just the second day so we had all decided not to retaliate and just sit back and see what happens. If it continued, we will get them back where it really hurts.
As ya'll all could see there was quite a bit of drinking in the house. Junie took it upon himself to go overboard and make a name for himself by being the poor everyone feels sorry for me, the drunk kid that has nothing. The fact of the matter is all the shit talking and name calling that comes out of his mouth is nothing but a big front. Junie is a good guy and likes to have fun like all of us. But when he began to drink, he turned his jokes into a reality. I would say that after crying on the pavement, you would think that Junie learned his lesson. But after seeing next week's commercial you can see that there is a lot more to come!! You will have to wait till next week for that!
Tom Lawlor vs. Ryan Bader
To be honest, at times this match up seemed to be a toss up. Both are very very good wrestlers and both have a good stand up game. You would think that you wouldn't want to put these two together because it would be too close up of a match. If Ryan's strong point was wrestling, it was better to put him up against another wrestler instead of a good jiu-jitsu of which Team Mir has two black belts. We all believed in our coach's decision and felt that it was a good match up. There was a bit of sense that Tom was the underdog, which he mentioned in one of the confessionals. This is only because we had the pick and when you pick first, you usually pick the weaker link so you can win and keep control of the game. That definitely was not the case, Tom is a very solid fighter and we just felt that his wrestling was just a tad bit lower than Ryan's.
The fight began well, they traded punches and Ryan tried to take Tom down. Tom defended it beautifully, broke off to the side, threw a few more punches and separated himself. (Textbook in my opinion) Eventually, Tom stretched a little too far and over threw his right hand, that's when Ryan took him down with a double leg. There were some exchanges on the ground, and then Ryan posted up and stood up on his feet. When Ryan began to stand up, Tom did exactly what you are supposed to do and guarded him with his feet. The only thing Tom did wrong was that he pushed Ryan away instead of kicking him away. This caused Ryan to be able to stand straight up and still be in striking range, that's when Ryan threw Tom's leg over to the side and hit him with a powerful punch to the face, knocking Tom out. Up to that point, it was a very even match and it would be interesting if it had gone to the second round.
So now that Ryan has won, Team Nogueira holds power for the next fight selection. Tune in next week to see what all the actions about!
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