THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER SEASON 14 – EPISODE 5
Last week: Dennis Bermudez defeated Stephen Bass via TKO to continue Team Mayhem’s undefeated streak. We got a second fight between Dustin Pague and the green-haired Luis Gaudinot which Pague won by submission. Team Mayhem is now 4-0 in the fights this season, and that’s not sitting well with Coach Bisping. Meanwhile, Mayhem still suspects that he has a mole somewhere on his team, and he’s determined to find out who it is.
Tonight, we’ve got one featherweight fight and plenty of hijinks. Here we go.
We open with post-fight highlights from last week. Luis is understandably upset. I’d be more upset about being seen in public with that hair, honestly. I just never get used to it. Team Mayhem celebrates and leaves the gym as a unit.
And then the madness begins. Diego starts screaming at someone on Team Mayhem; I couldn’t really make out who it was. Bisping supports this action until Diego turns around and punches the wall, and at that point Bisping gets pissed. He tells Diego he could break his hand and then he’d be out of the competition. Diego Brandao is a scary dude.
Back at the house: Mayhem and coaches arrive at the house. He’s got a present for Dustin: it’s a black cowboy hat with a red B on the front that stands for Beast. It’s a rip-off of Josh’s similar hat, so Josh calls Dustin a swagger jacker. I don’t know where that term started, but I’ve been hearing it a lot lately and it’s pretty stupid.
Mayhem starts fishing around for the mole, and the finger is pointed at John Dodson. Mayhem says he’s going to use this information to his advantage. He’s going to switch up the matchup he had planned, which means he’s putting Diego on ice for a week. They’re going to go with Dustin vs. Akira instead, believing it gives them a big advantage in because Akira will be out of shape. And it’ll piss off Diego, which is a bonus for Mayhem.
Training Session: Team Mayhem. Steven keeps the ruse going, even going so far as to weigh in and allow Dodson to see where he stands. Meanwhile, Dustin quietly trains for the fight that Team Bisping won’t see coming.
Training Session: Team Bisping. Bisping talks about having Dodson as a spy. They’ve fallen wholeheartedly for the ruse and they’re under the belief that Diego will be fighting Steven. They’re in for a rude awakening. Diego is pumped and ready for the fight that isn’t going to happen.
Back at the house: Ferguson steals Neace’s cowboy hat. The next morning, Dustin can’t find his hat. He thinks Akira took it, so he goes in search of the cowboy hat thief. Cue the foreboding music. Dustin says he’s going to destroy everything that Akira owns. He’s ready to fight Akira right now, but cooler heads prevail.
At the gym, Neace goes into Bisping’s locker room and starts throwing equipment all over the room. This obviously doesn’t please Diego, who picks up a sledgehammer and smashes a whole in the wall dividing the two locker rooms. Akira says he wants a bare-knuckle fight with Dustin, in the garden, tonight. Some of these people are legitimately crazy. Bisping does his best Akira impression but tells Akira to cool it and wait for the fight.
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENT
Dustin and Akira are still going at it. Akira swears that he’s innocent and still wants a bare-knuckle fight. He says he’s going to make Dustin his woman, but in more crass terms. There are a lot of bleeps in this segment. In fact, there are more bleeps than there are actual words.
Mayhem books the fight: it’s Dustin Neace vs. Akira Corassani. Akira takes his shirt off and walks briskly over to Neace, and they immediately butt heads. Dustin drops and takes Akira to the mat, ending up on top in half guard. Both teams scramble to break them up, and it takes almost everyone to get them separated. Bisping calls one of Mayhem’s coaches a “short piece of shit,” and Mayhem takes issue with this and pushes him away. Now the teams are separating the coaches. This was pretty awesome.
Dodson says that everything that just happened was his fault, but he shrugs and says “shit happens.” When the season first started, I thought Dodson would be the most likable dude on the show. I was wrong.
The teams line back up and Mayhem says he doesn’t know how they’re supposed to act normal after that. Now that we know the first bout, we know the second: Steve Siler vs. Diego Brandao. Diego says his weight is at 151 and he’s confident.
Bisping’s still hot about Mayhem pushing him. They yell at each other a little bit more. Mayhem talks to Dodson and tells him he caused a lot of trouble.
Training session: Team Bisping. Bisping says that a guy like Akira could go a long way in the sport, but he has to focus. Tiki works with Akira on getting off his back.
Training session: Team Mayhem: Mayhem is teaching leglocks and various submissions. Dustin says he’s the cream of the crop for grapplers in the house. Mayhem truly is one of the better teaching coaches in the history of the show.
Bisping skips weigh-ins. Yes, again. The team believes that when Bisping doesn’t show up for something, it means he was probably out partying the night before.
WEIGH-IN: Dustin Neace (145) vs. Akira Corassani (146)
Mayhem says Akira is a whack-job, but they’re taking him very seriously. Dustin will be in his face the entire time.
Bisping shows up as weigh-ins are concluding. He apologizes to Akira for missing his weigh-in.
T.J. and Josh move Mayhem’s giant M from his parking place into the handicap spot. Mayhem simply parks the Mayhem-mobile in the handicap spot.
DUSTIN NEACE vs. AKIRA CORASSANI
Round 1: For two guys who hate each other, this sure is looking like any other fight. They spend over a minute feeling each other out, with Akira occasionally throwing wild overhand rights. Dustin tried a spinning back kick, but Akira catches it and puts him on the ground. He works from a standing position briefly before going into Dustin’s guard, where he lands a big elbow to the head. Dustin attempts an escape, but Akira keeps him planted. Akira lands a few more elbows, but Dustin attacks the leg and gets a heel hook. Controversy erupts when Akira appears to tap and Neace lets go of the hold, but Herb Dean does not step in. Mayhem is adamant that Akira tapped, but Bisping says he didn’t. For the record, Akira totally tapped here. Akira escapes a second kneebar attempt and both guys get back to their feet. Dustin takes off his ankle wrap in the middle of the fight. Dustin shoots for a takedown and dumps Akira to the mat, but Akira gets back to his feet and lands a punch as the round ends. Super close round, but I’ll give this one to Dustin for the submission that wasn’t a submission. HeavyMMA.com scores the round 10-9 for Dustin Neace.
Round 2: They exchange punches before Akira gets Dustin against the cage. He holds him there for about 30 seconds before Dustin gets away. They’re both landing big punches, but Akira absolutely drills Dustin with a right and drops him to the mat. He tries to finish on the ground, but Dustin manages to survive. Akira continues throwing bombs in the form of punches and elbows. He stands up, and Dustin hits him with an up-kick on the way down. He’s okay and continues to throw huge punches from inside the guard. Akira into side control. Dustin fails on a triangle attempt and Akira keeps landing big shots. Akira stands up and nearly gives up a triangle and an armbar, but Akira stays away and the round ends. HeavyMMA.com scores the round 10-9 for Akira Corassani.
The first round was close enough that I believe they’ll give this fight to Akira.
After the fight, Akira does something that pisses off Dustin and they have to be separated again. Mayhem squirts water on Bisping. Low and behold, Keith Kizer from the Nevada commission walks into the cage and asks Akira if he’s done with the show, because he’s about to be suspended. Bisping says he’ll handle Akira and Kizer walks out.
OFFICIAL DECISION: Akira Corassani d. Dustin Neace via decision
Team Bisping finally has a win. Not only that, someone called a tow truck on Mayhem for parking in a handicap spot, and a tow truck comes by a takes the car away while Team Bisping looks on.
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