TUF 13 Fighter Blog: Shamar Bailey Talks Episode 10

Shamar Bailey’s final TUF 13 blog

I can’t believe we’re already at the end of the season and our last blog. Time sure flies.

Not much to talk about other than the fights themselves, so let’s get right to it.

After watching my fight, the coaches saw the potential of the judges playing into Ramsey’s fight with Chris. It was definitely clear what Chris’ game plan would be against another wrestler, so the coaches just stressed the importance of being relentless and being in Chris’ face, smothering him, and that’s what Ramsey did.

I was kind of surprised that Ramsey caught him; it wasn’t very technical, but he closed the distance and made Chris fight. I guess some times its best not to out technique a technician, it’s just best to make a technician fight. That’s what he did, and it worked out for him. I tried to out technique Chris; Ramsey went another way. It didn’t look good, but he caught him, and at the end of the day, all that matters is who’s hand gets raised.

With Tony’s apology to his team, nobody really believed that he was really sincere. At the end of the day, I can’t be the judge of that; I don’t know what Tony’s heart was, but people just didn’t get the feeling like he was being sincere. He kept acting like he didn’t remember what happened, though most people thought he did remember what he said and what he did.

As for his fight with Chuck, it came down to technique and speed. Tony was the more technical of the two and quicker to the draw. When Chuck realized he was a little bit slower, he looked a little scared to pull the trigger. Every time he did, he’d get beaten to the punch.

The end of this episode brings our time together here to a close as well.

For me, being a part of The Ultimate Fighter this year has been a good experience. It was a bit of a roller coaster ride, up and down emotionally, and trying to adapt to different things being thrown at you. Obviously thinking you won a fight and having the judges give it the other guy adds to that ride, but at the end of the day, it taught me how to adapt.

I learned a lot. It has changed my training style and my approach to the fight game, so I think it’s going to make me a stronger fighter. I’m always trying to learn and bring new things into my training. I thought I was good enough to try some of those things in these fights and out-point my opponents and get to the finals, but the judges saw differently. At the end of the day, if you have a dream and you’re talented enough to make that dream come true, you need to do everything in your power to make it happen.

Getting my name out there is helpful, and hopefully I can use this as a platform to really explode onto the next level of the sport.

I’ve changed my whole approach to the fight game as well. I’ll definitely continue to learn and continue to evolve, but I know to push the pace and get the job done. More than anything, that’s what I’ve learned. The UFC has a product that they expect to be delivered and you’ve got to deliver it, and that’s what I plan on doing in my next fight.

At the start of the year I mentioned the picture of my brother that was on my bed, and how he was locked up when this started. He’s home now, and I think the chance to see me perform on this season of The Ultimate Fighter meant a lot to him. He’s definitely proud, and he got a little bit more respect when he was locked up from watching it.

There was a time when he had an infected tooth — he needed a root canal — and the guards weren’t giving him a whole lot of attention. The infection kept getting worse and worse, then they saw a picture of me and him, they recognized me from the show, and they finally gave him some medication and proceeded with the surgery. I was upset to hear about it, but I was happy that something as small as me being on the show could help him out while he was inside.

He’s definitely proud. We support each other, we’re very competitive, and now that he’s out, he’s looking forward to getting into the fight game too. He’s always pointing out things I could do better. It’s nice to have somebody that I know has my back also being my best critic. I think as long as he can keep himself in line, he’s going to help push me to the next level as well.

I want to thank everyone at HeavyMMA.com for giving me the chance to put this blog together every week; it’s been a pleasure.

Shamar

Note: After the final episode aired, it was announced that Shamar will face fellow Team dos Santos member Ryan McGillivray on Saturday night as part of The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale.