Great recap Yenta. I was also really unimpressed with Junie. I've never seen a fighter talk himself up so much and do so poorly in his fight. And yeah, there is a weird bonding that happens between guys after a tough fight. Especially with Roli, who I agree could have gotten knocked out with a cotton ball stood in there for 3 rounds and never backed down. That made the other fighters, especially Junie, respect him. As for the weight limits, I've come to understand that fighters can weigh 1 pound over the limit in non-title fights. For title fights, they just weigh the exact limit.

I can guess at the motives for the one pound weight allowance - maybe in case the scales are not 100 percent accurate? It is the same rule for both fighters and they all know it in advance.

I pretty much agreed with everything you wrote. Only I kept thinking I'd seen better fights behind the gym in high school. they both looked like they didn't really want to be there. I kept yelling at Roli to MOVE and to raise his hands (does he have a fear of being hit in the nipples?)

I noticed Junie didn't touch gloves at the start of the first round. I think he had a pretty serious attitude change by the end of the round, though.

I will be surprised if his sudden humility lasts very long. I do think he will train harder - and make weight before the next fight. That hour of torture the day before had to effect his endurance.

Lowered respect, especially for Mir - for picking Roli and for picking on him in the house about the black belt (and I agree that a "real" black belt normally takes years of intense training - but there are places you can get one by just paying enough money and - optionally - taking a few classes.)

You are doing a great job of recapping... you even noticed the most important point (Dana, are you reading this?) - the lack of adequate footage of the ring girl (maybe they thought the fighters looked girlish enough this week?).

yenta-honey...

Awesome recap! I am finding myself more and more fascinated by this whole sport, it is really interesting to see how these people deal with competition, adversity and even defeat. I can't help but wonder how many of these guys were bullies as kids, though, because some of that mentality (screwing with someone for no other reason than because you can) is just incredible to me. I would have thought in the adult and so-called professional world of MMA it would be frowned upon, but I guess that's not exactly the case. And it is a reality TV show, so I'm sure bad behavior is like ratings gold, if they were all perfect gentlemen and said "please" and "thank you" there'd prolly be a lot less people watching.

Weirdly enough, I actually have some martial arts experience, I took 2-3 times weekly classes in Tae Kwon Do for three years (in a vain effort to try to keep my ass from getting beat up so much... it didn't work, I found that it was lots easier for me to run like the wind and leave most of my tormentors in my gay dust) and it was NOT AT ALL EASY to graduate to the next belt color. It took me those three years to get to blue belt (the style we were learning had about fifty belt colors before you could hope to touch black) and I had to go an awful lot in order to learn what I needed to learn. The funny thing was that as a dancer I had the easiest time learning the various "form" routines (they call them "katas" in other disciplines), which some of my classmates (some of them a lot older than me) tended to struggle mightily with... of course, I was always wishing we were doing these routines to a cute Madonna song, but that would probably have been frowned upon.

Keep up the great work, luv!

love, J-Mo :)

"... leave most of my tormentors in my gay dust"

Hey J-Mo, apparently some of your gay dust landed on Nathan Lane.

Apology??? What apology?? "I was just fucking around with all that black belt stuff." I never once heard the word "sorry" from that little loser. And Frankie's all like "he went over to Nogueira and apologized all on his own." I call shenanigans on that sorry-ass apology!

Nogueira is one of the best coaches I've seen on TUF, in terms of how he cares about his guys and how he treats people. And he's certainly no slouch in the fighting department either. :)

I have to give props to Roli, who I thought would go down really quickly, for lasting all the way through 3 rounds. Junie was as big a disappointment as I thought he'd be - all talk, no action.

Hey, J-Mo!

I studied various forms of karate for years. My understanding is that Tae Kwon Doe is pretty much a (great) sport rather than a serious self defense program and seems to emphasize kicks over hand techniques.

I know what you mean about the forms and us stretch-challenged folk. I watch SYTYCD and think how easy it would be for those people to learn and execute all the forms. I consdier myself fairly coordinated, but they master in a few days what I couldn't do - ever.

Another great recap.
The screen shots and comments of the "fight" are classic!

It just astounds me that people trying to go pro at this have not figured out that you have to be in shape. Maybe they should have some Billy Banks Ti-Bo videos in the house. I am sure they could create a drinking game that goes along with it.

Yenta you are too funny!!!

Im actually starting to watch this show, and OMG what a group of drama queens. Who knew? My husband thinks I'm crazy, of course.

J-Mo I so agree with the bullying thing. It's so obvious that some of these guys miss the days of tormenting other kids on the playground. I'm a school teacher and I'm all over that stuff!!!

Wild Heart you are so right about the apology. Junie is so pathetic. And, Im so psyched that there's another female reading these : )

Oh well, back to my grading...

Hi folks,

Freeway Shark: I really appreciate your taking the time to explain the weight cut-off business. I don't understand the reasoning, but at least I now know when to expect the weight limit to be fully enforced. And, also the bonding thing, which I still don't understand, but I'm willing to take your word for it : ) I have to say, though, if I was in a fifteen minute brawl against somebody, chances are I wouldn't come out of it wanting to hug them. Maybe it just a mars/venus thing?

J-Mo: I love that you studied Tai Kwon Do. How cool is that? I bet you were sexy as hell out there doing your kicks and forms : ) I once looked in to self-defense lessons and a good friend, who was a pretty serious boxer, advised me to get a large dog instead. I now have two and a half dogs (one only weighs in at seven lbs) and I must admit I feel pretty safe : )

OYWHATNEXT: ???? but feel free to mention Nathan Lane any time. Love Him.

WildHeart: What a riot your post is : ) and I totally agree the little turd ducked on apologizing. Nogueira is definitely a hot ticket. I'd have no trouble entrusting my son to him as a coach, where there's no way I'd want my son to hang out around Frank Mir.

Fire@will: I totally missed that Junie didn't touch gloves at the beginning of the fight. Wow, how embarrassing for me and what a little schmuck he is. I will however send Dana White e-mail demanding more on screen time for the ring girls just to make you happy : )

McL: I love the tai boe drinking game idea. Too funny.

Rosesarered: I bet you're an awesome school teacher. Please kick some bullying booty on my behalf as well.

I saw a commercial that makes it look like Krazy is going to be out with injury before he ever even fights. I wonder if that's who Shane Primm is going to replace? If that rumor is even true. Sigh.

Hugs,
Yenta

Yenta:

Maybe I'm just restating what has already been said, but the reasoning behind the one pound weight allowance is due to the fact that fighters weight themselves on scales other than the "official" weigh-in scale while cutting weight. Due to the differences in scale calibration, they give that one pound leeway.

I think Junie is a better fighter than he showed in his fight with Roli. I hate defending Junie, but I think cutting weight took it's toll on him. It's no excuse, as he should have been closer to fight weight already, but there it is. Cutting weight takes its toll not only physically but mentally and we all know that the mental aspect of the fight game is not Marilyn's strong suit.

J-Mo:

Sorry you were picked on. You really chose the wrong martial art to study (TKD) for self defense. For pure self defense, I can't think of a better MA than boxing...maybe Muay Thai. Others may argue that knowing some ground fighting is necessary, but the problem with that is it's rare that fights stay one on one. If a fight goes to the ground there are too many variables. Did you get hurt falling on cement? Are there weapons involved?

I think you had it right all along. Run! Because seriously, what moron gets in a street fight?

HeyBuddy: "Because seriously, what moron gets in a street fight?" LOL!!!

With your permission, I'm definitely plagiarizing that line.

And, to both you and Fire@will thanks for the further clarification on the weight stuff.

Hugs,
Yenta

I think it absolutely is a guy thing Yenta

Hey Buddy & fire@will...

Yeah, I prolly did pick kind of a weird discipline to study, but as a gay kid I think TKD appealed to me because it was so much like dance (I'm sure the hardcord TKD people would howl if they read me write that) and relied a lot more on legwork (something I am good at). You are right, though, I found it much easier to simply get the hell out of there, and most of the bullies I dealt with were too stupid, fat and slow to catch me, LOL...

love, J-Mo :)