TUF Season 9 Episode 5 Re-Cap

The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 Episode 5

Last week we found out saw the first UK vs. USA fight and Nick Osipczak beat Mark Miller by second round KO after a high kick in what was a competitive fight. Team UK is up 1-0 going into this week.

Fight Announcement: Andre Winner (Team UK) is chosen by Bisping to fight Santino Defranco (Team USA). Andre is described as quick and fast on his feet. Winner didn’t look real good in his first fight but did hit a big knee about 2 minutes in for a win. Defranco tried out for the second season of TUF but was diagnosed with two brain aneurysms and had to have brain surgery. He was cleared about 9 months later to continue his fighting career. Santino pretty much got pushed around in his first round fight but was able to come back and get the submission. I have Winner as the favorite coming into this fight.

Lightweight Fight- Andre Winner (UK) (9-2-1) vs. Santino Defranco (USA) (13-4)

R1- The first three minutes of the round were very uneventful. Defranco continued to unsuccessfully go for take downs and eventually pulled guard. Winner was able to get in some Ground and Pound and Defranco just covered up and got beat down. Winner seems like he is a good finisher and has a lot of skills but he was very average throughout the majority of the fight before Defranco just gave himself up. If Bisping can coach Winner up then he can be a contender but he needs to improve his game a lot during his time in the house if he wants to get to the finals.

Winner: Andre Winner by TKO R1

Team UK is up 2-0 and Henderson says that he needs to make sure the next pick goes his way. To me that means having Damarques Johnson, as he was the fighter that really stood out in the preliminary round. Henderson has his guys running stairs after they go down 2-0. Dissension seems to be growing among Team USA as there is a lot of bickering amongst team members.

Fight Announcement: Henderson picks Damarques Johnson to fight Dean Asaminger. Dean looked like he had good raw skill in his first fight just looked real green (only highlights were shown of his fight because it went to a decision).

Pre-Fight Bisping was not there and nobody seems to know where he was.

“In 9 seasons of the The Ultimate Fighter we’ve never had a situation where a coach didn’t show up for a fight”- Dana White

“My basic goal is just to make sure that he never wants to fight me ever again”- Damarques Johnson.

Welterweight Fight- Dean Asaminger (Team UK) (4-1) vs. Damarques Johnson (Team USA) (13-6)

R1- Damarques got a kimura and almost got a submission but lost it and gave up position. Damarques continued to work and got a triangle and submitted Asaminger. Good performance by Damarques and good work from the guard position. Damarques looks like the Welterweight to beat and has a good bit of personality as well. Bisping never showed up for the fight.

Winner: Damarques Johnson by Submission (Triangle Choke) R1

“Life is good. I’m drinking beer tonight”- Damarques Johnson

Remaining Fighters:

Lightweight Fighters:
UK- Andre Winner (defeated Gary Kelly, Santino Defranco)
UK- Jeff Lawson (defeated James Bryan)
UK- Martin Stapleton (defeated Dan James)
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- Dean Amasinger (defeated Alex Reid)
UK- David Faulkner (defeated James Bateman)
US- Damarques Johnson (defeated Ray Elbe, Dean Amasinger)
US- Jason Pierce (defeated Berger)
US- Frank Lester (defeated Kiel Reid)

My favorites so far are:
Lightweight: Richie Whitson (USA) and Martin Stapleton (UK)
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)