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)

TUF Season 9 Episode 1 Re-Cap

The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 Episode 1

Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson are the coaches for this years TUF. This season we will see a UK versus USA theme. Episode 1 features 16 UK fighters fighting it out to see which 8 guys end up in the house. Dana White meets up with Michael Bisping at the Wolfslair and it looks like that is where this season of TUF starts off. This season will feature Lightweight and Welterweight fighters. Both Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson are at the fights. This is prior to their fight to see who would be the TUF coach so Dana has flown them both in to observe.

Lighweight Fight- Gary Kelly (2-1-1) vs. Andre Winner (9-2-1)

Kelly trains at Wolfslair with Bisping.

R1- Winner looks like a much bigger Lightweight than Kelly. Winner hit a big knee to the head at the two minute mark to win the fight. Neither guys looked particularly good up until that point but Winner hit the big shot and advances.

Winner: Andre Winner by KO (Knee) R1

Lightweight Fight- Jeff Lawson (13-2) vs. James Bryan (3-1)

R1- Lawson showed some jiu jitsu and got a tap out victory with an armbar.

Winner: Jeff Lawson by Submission (Arm Bar) R1

Welterweight Fight- Che Mills (7-2) vs. James Wilks (5-2)

R1- Mills rushed in and took Wilks down but quickly found himself in a heel hook and tapped.

Winner: James Wilks by Submission (Heel Hook) R1

Lightweight- Martin Stapleton (5-1) vs. Dan James (3-0)

R1- Stapleton got a take down to start the fight. Stapleton got some Ground and Pound and landed a Rear Naked Choke and got the tap. So far Stapleton looked like the most complete fighter based on what has been shown.

Lightweight- A.J. Wenn (7-2) vs. Ross Pearson (9-3)

R1- Lots of clinching early. Pearson got a sweep to get Wenn down but Wenn popped right back up and they clinched some more. Pearson got a take down at the two minute mark but again couldn’t hold Wenn down. Pearson hit some knees at the end of the round and Wenn got saved by the bell.

R2- Pearson hit a big shot to open the round and then finished off Wenn with some Ground and Pound.

Winner: Ross Pearson by TKO (strikes) R2

Welterweight Fight- Tommy Maguire (5-2) vs. Nick Osipczak (3-0)

R1- Maguire got Nick down early in the round. Maguire grabbed a guillotine when they stood up and then pulled guard with it but Nick broke the hold but let Maguire up. Nick is really thin but took advantage of Maguire and controlled the stand up and finished off Osipczak.

Winner: Nick Osipczak by KO R1

Welterweight Fight- Alex Reid (10-9-1) vs. Dean Amasinger (4-1)

Not a great record but Reid shows some fire in his ring entrance.

Only highlights are shown of this fight. Dean looked like he controlled the fight. Alex caught him in a triangle but Dean survived. This is the first fight that goes to the third round. Seemed like Alex was more worried about showboating then winning the fight but he did end up with Dean in a triangle when the bell rung. Dean looks like he has some good skills, he just looked really green.

Winner: Dean Amasinger by Decision

Welterweight Fight- James Bateman (2-1) vs. David Faulkner (2-1)

Faulkner is a Wolfslair fighter.

R1- Both of these guys looked like they knew what they were doing in the cage. Faulkner was able to get a leg lock on Bateman and tapped him.

Winner: David Faulkner by Submission (Heel Hook) R1


Lightweight Fighters:
Andre Winner (defeated Gary Kelly)
Jeff Lawson (defeated James Bryan)
Martin Stapleton (defeated Dan James)
Ross Pearson (defeated A.J. Wenn)

Welterweight Fighters:
James Wilks (defeated Che Mills)
Nick Osipczak (defeated Tommy Maguire)
Dean Amasinger (defeated Alex Reid)
David Faulkner (defeated James Bateman)

If I had to pick one fighter from each division as “guys to watch” I would pick Martin Stapleton and David Faulkner.