The Ultimate Fighter 4, Episode 9: You Always Hurt the One You Love

UFC’s latest Ultimate Fight Night on Tuesday more than fulfilled all expectations, from the physical, emotional, and for UFC, financial. The special drew their highest TV rating by a large margin and gave viewers exactly what they wanted – not only a decisive victory, but a decisive end to the years-long feud.

In a preliminary match not shown on TV, Rory Singer beat TUF3 finalist Josh Haynes by unanimous decision, proving further that Josh should never have made the finals. Matt Hammill, Tito’s protégé from TUF3, beat TUF2’s Seth Petruzelli via unanimous decision as well. The fight was not very impressive until you realize that this was Matt’s third MMA fight, having focused solely on wrestling. He definitely showed some ring smarts, aggravating the mouse under Seth’s eye. Matt will have trouble going against a striker, as his standup defense is lacking.

Ed Herman, TUF3 favorite who ended up losing in the finals, looked terrible falling to a triangle choke submission to Jason “the Athlete” MacDonald. Herman got in next to no offense and spent most of the 2:43 struggling in the triangle against the man with the worst nickname in the history of the UFC. Kendall Grove DID look impressive, striking Chris Price into submission in the first round.

The main event saw Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock give the crowd a replay of their UFC61 fight. Tito took control early and gave a textbook example of “ground and pound,” legitimately knocking Shamrock out in 2:23. After the fight, Tito did his “gravedigger” routine and flipped Shamrock out as Ken approached him. As it turned out, Shamrock was coming over to shake Tito’s hand (my stepson and I joked that Shamrock was going to ask Tito to please stop hitting him), and the two made up. Tito was very magnanimous, but singing Ken’s praises and plugging his “Punishing him into retirement” t-shirt didn’t much go together. Shamrock did, in fact, announce his retirement, while Tito confirmed his 12/30 match with Chuck Liddell, and if you think I’m not getting that one, you’re nuts.

Speaking of PPV, UFC64 takes place on Saturday 10/14 with a double main event. TUF2 coach Rich Franklin defends his middleweight belt against Anderson Silva in what looks on paper to be an absolute war. Also, Sean Sherk and TUF1’s Kenny Florian go at it, with the winner crowned the new UFC lightweight champ (the belt has been vacant for some time). Sherk is definitely the favorite here, but that never stopped Kenny before. The only other matches with TUF implications are dark matches between Keith Jardine and Mike Nickels, and Yushin Okami taking on Kalib “my ribs hurt” Starnes.

Previously, Shonie Carter, Matt Serra, Chris Lytle, and Din Thomas made the semi-finals in the welterweight division, while Patrick Cote, Edwin Dewees, Travis Lutter, and Pete Sell are your middleweight semis. Travis is the only fighter from Team No Love to make it to the semis. Oh, and Jeremy Jackson is still an idiot.

Recapping last week’s fight, the general idea is that Jorge was controlling until the big foot, which Shonie demonstrates. The newly blonde-bearded (if it was like that last week, I didn’t notice) Shonie tells us that Jorge got mollywhomped. I’m just gonna smile and nod. Charles says that Jorge looked like he wanted no part of the second round. Remember that Jorge claims to not remember much of the second round.

Team Mojo trains again, with Chuck Liddell… and Matt Hughes. Matt sucks up, wondering why they didn’t get a special announcement. Matt replies that he’s not Chuck Liddell. Now I’m trying to decide who would win in a fight between them. Yikes. I’d have to go with Hughes, actually, provided he could get Chuck on the ground.

Anyway, Patrick Cote notes that Georges and Matt got along well, considering they were scheduled to fight soon. Eh, friends fight all the time. Matt makes fun of Georges’ Shonie-decorated hat, which I find amusing. Later, Georges asks the guys if they need anything, as he’s headed out. They already have two coaches there. Patrick jokes that he wants to get away from Matt, and Georges confirms this in an interview. Matt, unsurprisingly, doesn’t really care.

Matt puts on a takedown/slam clinc, saying that he enjoyed training with more experienced fighters. Interestingly, no one seems to be complaining about Matt “spying” on them as they did with Rich, and actually rolling with them would give Matt much more information than just watching! Matt Serra thinks that he’s nice enough, if a bit cocky.

Dana tells us that the people who should have won the preliminary fights did win, so the semi-finals should be awesome. It’s time to interview the semi-finalists, in order to pick the matchups. The middleweights are first. Travis Lutter claims that he can beat any of them. Patrick wants to fight Edwin. Edwin wants Cote. Pete wants to fight Travis, so that Cote can have the easier fight and make the finals. Okay then. Matt Hughes doesn’t understand it either.

Dana brings the middleweight semi-finalists together and reminds them of the prize – not only a title shot against Rich Franklin (or Anderson Silva) and $100,000, but a one-year, $100,000 sponsorship with Xyience. I understand that the fighters make more in sponsorships than they do for the actual fight purses (not counting people like Liddell, of course), so that’s a big deal. Indeed, the matchups are Pete Sell vs. Travis Lutter and Edwin Dewees vs. Patrick Cote.

Welterweights are up next. Shonie looks just like Fred Sultan, Samuel L. Jackson’s character in The Great White Hype, a terrific boxing comedy. Anyway, Matt tells the “Jedi Council,” as he calls it, that he wants to fight Shonie. He’s hungry for his shot at redemption (from the earlier loss via the infamous spinning backfist). Din wants Chris because their styles match up well. The council likes his reasoning, with Hughes saying he should sell cars. Din says he will, after he kicks Hughes’ ass. Heh. Shonie, “cool as a cucumber on an iceberg in the Antarctic,” which would seem to be pretty cool, chooses Din because he’s already beaten Chris and Matt. Of course, he says this in a long, rambling way. Hughes says he had to have been sitting around all morning thinking about what to say. Dana mentions to Chris Lytle what Shonie said, but Chris doesn’t appear to have an opinion on who he wants to fight.

The council deliberates, and they decide that it’s too dangerous for Anakin… ah, crap. See why you should never mention Star Wars around me? As I expected, Dana makes the fights as Din Thomas vs. Chris Lytle and Shonie Carter vs. Matt Serra. I actually figured he might try to save the big rematch for the finals, but I’m betting that Dana doesn’t feel confident that Shonie will make it past Din or Chris. Plus, you’ll probably have a finals of Matt and Din, which is another rematch.

After the match announcements, Matt Hughes decides to take everyone out for sushi. I ate sushi for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and I have to say I can’t figure out what the big deal is. It’s fish wrapped in rice and seafood. This is an appetizer, not something to base an entire restaurant around. Of course, it’s one of those things that the “upper crust” use to prove how hoity-toity they are. Sorry, give me a $10 all-you-can-eat any day.

Din sits across from Georges, and Matt Hughes screams at him from across the restaurant. Matt asks whether, since GSP is avoiding him, he should stay away tomorrow. Georges says to show up, that they can teach each other something. Din tells Georges to kick Matt’s ass, and Matt hears him. On the way home, Matt Serra calls Hughes a dick, among other things.

At training the next day, Din tells Chris that whoever wins between the two of them will probably win the whole thing. Hmm. He wants Chris to win if he doesn’t. They like to train with each other because they bring out each others’ strengths. Interesting – they’re training to fight each other by training WITH each other. Din says that their training sessions can go on PPV, and indeed, it’s entertaining. Neither have a problem fighting a friend.