The Ultimate Fighter 14: Episode 3 Recap & Review

Previously on The Ultimate Fighter:

Coaches Michael Bisping and Jason “Mayhem” Miller pick their squads, and went right to work in training. Team Miller fired the first salvo in the prank war. At the weigh-in, Team Bisping countered with some taunting of their own.

Then, in the first featherweight fight, Bryan Caraway earned Team Miller the first victory of the season by choking out Marcus Brimmage of Team Bisping.

Coming up: Team Miller picks the first bantamweight match-up. Who will move one step closer to becoming The Ultimate Fighter?

Hit the music!

Mayhem explains how Caraway’s win over Marcus Brimmage has set the tone for the team and made everyone more confident. He walks into training with a ton swimming noodles under his arm, and the team starts practice by beating the hell of each other with them. He gives himself a “strong B” for his coaching to this point.

Bisping and his coaches take the tires off Mayhem’s car and put them in the Team Mayhem training room in response to Team Mayhem’s prank from last week. Mayhem gets a good laugh out of it, and gives Bisping props for the response. The two coaches shake hands as they pass each other in the foyer of the training center, Mayhem suggesting Bisping needs to focus more on training and winning the fights than responding to pranks, which leads to cut scene of Bisping saying he thinks Team Mayhem is getting a little too cocky for there having only been one fight.

The Team Bisping training session is supposed to be 60% — good technical sparring — but it’s more like 90-95%.

Akira Corassani says he wants to put fear into his teammates so they know, “Who’s Daddy, Who’s the King.” Bisping tries to calm him down after a hard sparring session, but over his shoulder, Diego Brandao and Marcus are smashing on each other.

Bisping tries to tell them to knock it off, calling time on the session, and Diego gives Marcus a little shoulder nudge. Marcus says he didn’t mind the hard sparring. Diego gets in his face, saying he’s going to knock him out.

Bisping tries to talk some sense into both of them, explaining it’s sparring and they’re there to help each other get better. He calls Diego “a ticking time bomb” based on his emotions, which are still elevated. Bisping tells Diego he was the same way when he was on the show, saying, “I was the same way with Matt Hamill; we hated each other.”

“The Count” offers the standard “these guys are fighters, not bankers, and no one wants to look like pussies” explanation, and the Team Bisping teammates eventually hug it out, but it’s pretty awkward.

Back in the house, Akira is doing all kinds of random stuff to make people laugh. Roland Delorme describes him as “That Guy,” the guy at the party who wants to be the center of attention and is always running his mouth. He hates “That Guy.”

Akira explains that he’s a creator, an artists, an entertainer, and that he wants to help make the days go by faster for everyone.

When everyone else is sleeping, Akira puts various things in everyone’s gloves: rice, pistachio shells, marshmallows. He puts the #3 pool ball in Dustin Neace’s glove, as Neace disclosed to everyone that he has three testicles, leaving him a little note signed “Mr. X.”

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENT – BANTAMWEIGHT FIGHT #1

Team Mayhem maintains control after winning the first featherweight. Mayhem selects Johnny Bedford as “our executioner for this fight,” and pairs him with Josh Ferguson from Team Bisping.

Bisping and Ferguson knew the match-up, as Ferguson pulls a sign out of his shorts that say, “F*** You Bedford.” That gets Bedford fired up, and they yap at each other during the face-off.

Team Mayhem goes to training and find all the junk in their gloves, and Roland Delorme explains that they know it’s Akira.

Dustin Neace laughs about the pool ball in his glove, then says in the competition to play pranks; he’s here to win. Johnny Bedford echoes the sentiment about Team Mayhem as a whole, and how that is not good for Team Bisping. Bedford has an injured right hand, but he’s more than ready to fight through it, and predicts a knockout over Ferguson.

Akira and TJ Dillashaw put a bucket of water over the main door to the house. At Team Bisping’s training session, Bisping talks up his charge in the next fight, and Ferguson looks solid working in the cage with his coaches.

Ferguson says he grew up in a family of seven kids, he’s used to fighting, and that he’s going to blow Bedford’s mind early.

Bisping explains that he’s using things from Marcus’ loss to help prepare Ferguson for his fight, a sign that he’s actually a pretty solid coach. He wants Josh to use angles, cut off the cage, and maintain space when he can.

Dustin Pague walks into the house, the bucket of water falls straight down, crashing and breaking on the ground, without getting him wet. Bedford explains that Akira’s pranks don’t bother him, but says it seems like it got to Dustin Neace.

Neace calls himself a “sleeping bull,” and decides to return the prank favor to Akira, filling his bed with rice. He leaves him a note to show “I’m not scared of him one bit.” Akira and Neace get into an argument about the validity and fairness of their pranks that turns into an “I’m going to beat you up” dick-swinging contest. Neace is clearly rattled by Akira’s antics.

At the house, Louis Gaudinot, Josh Ferguson, and John Dodson label the balcony the “Flyweight Balcony.” Dodson explains that all his friends in the house are on the other team, and the three of them christen themselves “Death Leprechauns,” after struggling to spell leprechauns.

Louis says that he, Dodson, and Ferguson have made a little pact to share information, that’s how they knew Ferguson was going to fight Bedford, and how the “F*** You Bedford” sign was made. Behind closed doors, Ferguson tells Bisping about Johnny’s hand, and that Dodson is willing to give them inside information.

WEIGH-INS

Team Mayhem asks if Team Bisping has another song for them. Both guys make weight, one fighter from each team says they think their teammate is going to win, and when the two touch hands after the face-off, Bisping asks Bedford, “What’s wrong with that right hand?” He asks Mayhem too, and goes on to say his whole team is going to get wiped out before he (Mayhem) gets wiped out too.

Bisping calls Mayhem “Toilet Brush Head,” easily the lamest insult name in the history of insult names. Minus-2 points for Michael Bisping.

FIGHT DAY

We get the Johnny Bedford history lesson. He’s been fighting for six or seven years, has a wife and kid at home, and they’ve been dirt poor. He’s thought about giving up fighting, but never did, and now he’s here on The Ultimate Fighter, and Josh Ferguson is in his way to making the finals.

Ferguson says it’d be nice to get the first win for Team Bisping, but ultimately, it’s all about himself, “Numero Uno” as he says.

Both guys predict earning some extra money from their performance.

JOHNNY BEDFORD vs. JOSH FERGUSON

Round 1: Ferguson gets the best of the first flurry, landing a couple quick hooks. He throws a kick, Bedford catches it, and lifts Ferguson off the ground. He tries a guillotine, but it’s not there, and Bedford takes him to the ground against the cage. Bedford keeps Ferguson on the ground for a couple seconds, but doesn’t land much.

Ferguson gets back to his feet and is doing better in space, but eats a couple shots as Bedford closes the distance. Bedford initiates a clinch, and his size advantage gives him the edge in close, landing some knees. Ferguson lands a solid hook in space, but Bedford clinches again, and get a trip takedown. He moves to side control right in front of Team Bisping, and looks for a kimura. Mayhem tells him to “take it off and hand it to Bisping.”

He switches it to an armbar and Ferguson escapes to his feet. He stays close and grabs a headlock, but does nothing from there. They separate with 30 seconds left, and with 10 seconds left, Bedford ducks under a punch, gets another takedown, and ends the round backpacking Ferguson.

Round 2: Ferguson presses in behind his hands, landing the better shots. Bedford snaps a leg kick into Ferguson thigh, but Ferguson responds with a couple more solid punches. Despite the size advantage in Bedford’s favor, Ferguson is getting the better of the striking in space.

Bedford clinches and drags Ferguson down again, landing in his guard. He postures up and lands a couple love taps. Ferguson can’t do much off his back and has a solid mouse under his left eye. Bedford floats over to side control, but Ferguson recovers half-guard. Bedford drops a couple short elbows into his face, but is mostly just dominating with control.

Ferguson finds and opening, gets up to his feet, and charges in with a flying knee attempt. Bedford catches him and dumps him on the canvas, landing in side control. With 90 seconds left, Bedford starts dropping short elbows to Ferguson’s face. Bedford is trying to pass from half-guard, but Ferguson is keeping him there. The final 30 seconds wind down with Bedford in top position trying to land punches and elbows.

Mayhem is confident they’re getting the win, and rightfully so. Dana White talks about the height and reach advantage Bedford has, and calls the first round a “good scrappy round.” Bisping recaps Round 2, clearly frustrated with Ferguson’s decision to try the flying knee.

Result: Johnny Bedford by Unanimous Decision

Mayhem starts poking Bisping, saying he’s noticing a recurring theme of his team winning, and apologies to Team Bisping for their coach failing them. The win has Mayhem pumped up in their locker room. Bisping is still confident his team will come back.

On the next episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Bisping continues to get info from their secret mole Dodson, as Mayhem starts to catch on. A frustrated fighter questions Bisping’s training techniques.

All this, plus two fights in one electrifying episode. Who will move one step closer to becoming the next Ultimate Fighter?