TUF Season 9 Episode 6 Re-Cap

The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 Episode 6

Last week we saw Andre Winner (UK) and Damarques Johnson (USA) both get wins. We also saw Michael Bisping miss one of his fighter’s fights, this was the first time this has happened in TUF history. The UK is up 2 fights to 1 but Damarques Johnson looks like the guy to beat in the house so far.

Fight Announcement- Bisping picks Martin Stapleton to fight Cameron Dollar. Good pick by Bisping in Stapleton as I think he’s one of the top Lightweight fighters in the house. Dollar is a wildcard as he seems like one of the weird apples in the house and sometimes those guys are tough outs in competitions like this.

Bisping says that he was jet lagged and basically passed out and woke up after the fight. He apologizes to Dean for not being in his corner.

Martin Stapleton is described as a good strong wrestler, with good cardio. Bisping says the strategy will be to stop Cameron’s take downs and have Stapleton use his striking to win by TKO.

Dollar says he grew up on wrestling and loves it. Dan Henderson says that Dollar is more interested in learning techniques on the ground then he is in his stand-up game. Definitely looks like Bisping is spot on with his game plan. Hendo’s game plan for Dollar is to get Stapleton against the fence and take him down and finish him. I really like how it seems like they are focusing more on game planning in this season. I don’t remember this being a big focus in previous seasons. Cameron says he is scared going into the fight but says that it’s good to fight scared.

Lightweight Fight- Martin Stapleton (UK) (5-1) vs. Cameron Dollar (USA) (4-1)

R1-Dollar got a good take down with what looked like a judo throw and quickly took Stapleton’s back. Dollar landed some decent shots and then locked in a Rear Naked Choke and tapped out Stapleton. Pretty big upset based on my thoughts going into the fight and now we are tied with UK with 2 wins and USA with 2 wins.

Winner: Cameron Dollar by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1

“The look on Bisping’s face was as nice as I was expecting it to be”- Dan Henderson

Fight Announcement: Dan Henderson picks Frank Lester to take on James Wilks. Wilks is talked up as a jiu jitsu fighter with underrated stand up. Hendo says Lester’s strategy will be to stick and move and focus on good hard punches and picking him apart on his feet.

Welterweight Fight- Frank Lester (USA) (3-2) vs. James Wilks (UK) (5-2)

R1- Wilks pushed forward for the first couple of minutes and was definitely the more under control and fundamental striker. Lester got a take down and got some brief Ground and Pound but Wilks was able to reverse and take side control. Wilks couldn’t get anything on the ground. They stood up after Wilks missed a guillotine and Frank connected with a couple of looping punches but Wilks fought back with some good punches. Wilks finishes the round with a take down. Wilks just looked like the he had superior fundamentals and that’s what got him through the first round. Wilks went for an arm triangle right at the buzzer but couldn’t clamp it in. Wilks 10-9.

R2- Lester takes a while to come out of his corner and Bisping jumps all over the referee. Lester says he has a tooth stuck in his mouthpiece and the corner works to get the tooth out of the mouthpiece and get the fight started. Wilks has an effective front kick that he works to keep his opponent at a distance and likes to work the Muy Thai clinch as well but hasn’t been as effective with that move. Frank got hit with a good punch as he was getting to his feet and then they both landed some decent shots. Wilks got a take down and took side control and quickly worked to full mount as Frank is really gassed right now. Wilks goes for an arm bar and gets it and Frank taps out. Good showing by Wilks. He didn’t look great but he looked really solid. UK regains the lead 3 wins to 2 wins. Apparently Frank lost 4 teeth (he said they were fake teeth that he lost as a kid) in this fight.

Winner: James Wilks by Submission (Arm Bar) R2

Remaining Fighters:

Lightweight Fighters:
UK- Andre Winner (defeated Gary Kelly, Santino Defranco)
UK- Jeff Lawson (defeated James Bryan)
UK- Ross Pearson (defeated A.J. Wenn)
US- Richie Whitson (defeated Paul Bird)
US- Cameron Dollar (defeated Hayden)
US- Jason Dent (defeated Rob Browning)

Welterweight Fighters:
UK- James Wilks (defeated Che Mills)
UK- Nick Osipczak (defeated Tommy Maguire, Mark Miller)
UK- David Faulkner (defeated James Bateman)
US- Damarques Johnson (defeated Ray Elbe, Dean Amasinger)
US- Jason Pierce (defeated Berger)

My favorites so far are:
Lightweight: Richie Whitson (USA)
Welterweight: Damarques Johnson (USA) and David Faulkner (UK)

Eliminated:
Mark Miller defeated by Nick Osipczak (Episode 4)
Santino Defranco defeated by Andre Winner (Episode 5)
Dean Amasinger defeated by Damarques Johnson (Episode 5)
Martin Stapleton defeated by Cameron Dollar (Episode 6)
Frank Lester defeated by James Wilks (Episode 6)