Drugs
Watching Court tell the guys about his drug history was hilarious. I don’t know if he was aware of this while he was recounting his drug days, but he was horrifying everybody around the table with his little story. I could see them all just thinking “WTF?”
Now, after saying that, I also want to say that I really admire Court for getting over his addictions and pursuing his dreams. He is so strong about it, too. I was not on his team and I had no idea about his training until I watched the show. From watching him in training I can see that he is really committed and driven to become a better athlete.
Hammortree hurts his back
That was pretty scary for me to hear about. I was at a doctor’s appointment when the incident happened and when I got dropped off at the gym the guys had told me about an accident in training involving McCray and Hammortree. They made it sound like Hammortree could be paralyzed because he couldn’t feel his legs and was carried out on a stretcher. I was relieved to see he was alright when I got back to the house but it didn’t look like he would be healthy enough to pursue a wild-card spot. I did really feel bad for Hammortree. He is a good dude.
Training For Court
In training for this match I think that we all took it for granted that I would win the fight against Court and we definitely weren’t taking Court seriously. In hindsight this was definitely a mistake that could have cost me the match. Having fought Court now I know that he is tough as nails and there is no quit in the guy. He’s definitely not somebody to underestimate.
I can also see from the show that in training, they were taking me very seriously and had a solid game-plan for taking me out of my element. We definitely didn’t do anything like that for Court and really wish now that we had made a game plan around his strengths like they did for my own strengths.
Fight Day – Nick Ring versus Court McGee
It was funny to watch Hackleman talk to Court about me. Not only was he disrespecting my skills but he was bashing my hometown and implying that because I am from Calgary, there is no way I can be tough. Apparently, according to Hackleman, you need to live in California to be tough. I just thought that Hackleman was being pretty rude in saying that I’m a nobody, and making fun of my town just wasn’t necessary.
The Fight
I know that there was a lot of controversy surrounding this fight but I really don’t see what all the bitching was about. I clearly won round 1, and while Court did come back strong in round 2 I still won most of round 2.
The simple fact is that I hit Court more than he hit me using a wider array of weapons to do so. This type of competition is mixed martial arts and it involves a variety of techniques. It’s not just about punches and I am glad that the judges recognized that. I was able to tie him up on the majority of the punch exchanges. I felt like I controlled it a lot better than I am getting credit for on the video that spike put out (you’ll notice that most of the people they ask about the fight are on the blue team).
While it is quite clear that that round 2 was far from a domination, the fact is, I still won more of the round than I had lost. 60% is still better than 40% and it is still enough to win. It’s just simple math. I don’t like all the bitching because I fought very hard for that round and I took a lot of punishment and I also feel I earned it — even if it was close.