The Ultimate Fighter 4, Episode 2: Crimson Mask

A quick note – remember that the next UFC PPV is on Saturday 8/26, which might be too late by the time some of you read this. Worry not, as we are going to watch it and I’ll give my thoughts next week.

In other UFC news revolving around The Ultimate Fighter, it was announced previously that TUF1 coach and light-heavyweight champ Chuck Liddell would face Wanderlei Silva at UFC65 in November. Dana White has talked about making the fight Liddell vs. TUF3 coach Tito Ortiz instead, which would also mean Forrest Griffin’s possible rematch with Ortiz would be off. Keith Jardine, from TUF2 will face TUF3’s Mike Nickels at UFC64 on 10/14. TUF2 winner Rashad “snooze inducer” Evans has a match on UFC63 on 9/23 against Jason Lambert. Big thanks to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter for the updates.

Onto the show, as is standard we get some highlights from last week’s fight. Matt Serra, who remember is more or less team leader, says it feels like they all won. He won’t take anything away from him, it was all Shonie. For his part, Shonie says Matt was a great cornerman. He thanks the team for working with him. Matt imitates Shamrock as he says they now “have the hammer!”

Dana White (as Dana White) says that since the fighters this season are so much more advanced, the risk of injury is greater. Thus, when someone loses they won’t go home. They’ll train, support their team, and step in as needed. Rich walks back in the house and immediately congratulates Shonie. He’ll jump on the opportunity to come back if he gets it.

Matt tells us that Team Mojo has “firepit meetings,” outside (remember last season where a drunk Mike Bisping crashed Team Dagger’s meeting?) and talk strategy. They discuss who will be fighting who, but I can’t recognize half of them so don’t ask me for details. Just like every other reality show team, Team Mojo thinks they could take everyone in a shutout.

Later, as Shonie sleeps on the couch, Matt, Edwin, and two others find his journal on the kitchen counter. In it he has written down all the matchups they decided in their secret firepit meetings. They laugh at how stupid Shonie is for leaving this out, and Matt says they’re going to have to have a talk with him.

The next morning, the group confronts Shonie and he’s all, “dude, my bad.” That’s drama. I don’t think Shonie is awake yet. Matt doesn’t think there’s any conspiracy there.

Charles McCarthy asks some of Team Mojo who will be the next to fight. He doesn’t care, he just wants to know. Matt thinks he has a problem with them being in control. There is the implication that Charles is worried about making weight also.

Team No Love train. Or not. Since it’s up to them, they decide to take a day off instead, lying around on the mats. Georges St. Pierre says that a lot of them are lazy. Charles weighs himself (the foreshadowing hammer of doom is readily apparent here) and doesn’t look happy. In confession, he says they all know the value of staying healthy. Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you LIE AROUND!

Later, Team Mojo arrive. What a wild concept, they TRAIN! Mark DellaGrotte, one of the trainers, says Mojo work better as a unit, helping each other out. Matt says that helping each other out might get them to the semi-finals.

Time to announce the first middleweight fight, with Team Mojo still in control. Matt gives Shonie the honors and he sings, “Charles McCarthyyyyy…” Charles steps up. “…it is not you…” Charles stays where he is and Shonie sings it again. Charles still doesn’t budge and everyone is laughing at him. Shonie tells us that Charles was pissed, but he doesn’t care. He’ll f*** with him again in the next announcement. Shonie is growing on me.

In actuality, Shonie sings, they have selected Gideon Ray. Oh good, I get to see if my pre-show-favorite-without-ever-seeing-him-fight is any good. Edwin Dewees will represent Team Mojo. Ah, crap, two of my favorites already fighting. Edwin says that his style should match with Gideon’s in his favor, as a classic striker vs. grappler matchup. Gideon thinks they chose him because they see him as a stand-up fighter, and they assume that Edwin will take him down and submit him quickly. He never actually denies this, however.

EVERYONE is making fun of Charlie, with most of them making a “he looked like he crapped his pants” reference. Gideon even makes fun of him to his face. That’s awesome.

Team No Love is back in the gym, actually training this time. Gideon is from Chicago and is 32, fighting for six years. He got interested from watching Bruce Lee movies. He’s got a hybrid style.

His record with UFC is 0-2. His first fight was at UFC51 versus David “the Crow” Louiseau on four days’ notice. He was a late replacement, but for the life of me I can’t remember who dropped out. He says it was like a dream come true. From the clips, he seems to acquit himself quite well against a main event-level opponent. He gets a nasty cut from an elbow as the first round ends, and they stop the fight.

His second fight, in his words, didn’t go very well. He threw a lazy jab and was just pummeled by TUF1’s Mike Swick in 22 seconds. He thinks the fight was stopped early, but he’s not making excuses, saying he lost. Dana says Gideon has only lost to guys who are really good. Gideon thinks he can not only compete in the UFC, but hold a title.