Just when you thought you’d seen it all and things could not get more grotesque, IT DOES! “The Ultimate Fighter” presents: “Two Boys and a Glass” starring Tom “I am going to drink your urine” Lawlor and Dave ”No, I am going to drink your urine” Kaplan.
Let’s just say I was ready to leave the house. The two pranks that were shown during this episode actually took place after the quarterfinals and before the semifinals. I do have to admit that Team Nog’s prank was very well put together; it actually surprised me that they came up with such a clever prank. It took me a few hours for me to clean out my room.
My prank with the dishes has a story to it as I did it to teach everyone a lesson. Bader, Eliot, Philippe and I worked really hard to keep the house clean, especially the kitchen and dining area -- no one wants to eat in a pigsty. Some of these guys were absolute pigs; Kaplan was the worst, as he would leave all his garbage and dishes anywhere he pleased. Vinny and Junie were no better. I had enough of cleaning up after everyone. Is it really that hard to wash your dishes after a meal or throw your wrapper in the garbage? I decided to move the table and all the dishes out to the basketball court. Ultimately, you would grab only what you needed and hopefully clean it since you didn’t have a million other dishes available. It actually worked! The kitchen was kept pretty clean after that and most guys pitched in and cleaned up.
I was very surprised at some of the comments made by Vinicius Magalhaes, my former teammate, and was shocked to hear him say that my wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu suck. I will agree with Vinny on one thing: wrestling is not my strong point. I had never wrestled before and never took a wrestling class until I signed with Team Quest. I am just starting to understand the wrestling game.
Vinny also said that I was taking Kingsbury lightly. In my past 30 fights, I have never taken anyone lightly. I always train hard for every fight.
Having Dan Henderson train with Team Mir for a few days before my fight with Kingsbury was very special. I have been with Team Quest for less than a year and really appreciated Dan’s support. It showed me that Dan cares and is proud to have me at part of the professional fight team at Quest back in Temecula, Calif. This definitely provided me with even more confidence going into the fight with Kingsbury.
I also had the privilege to train with Don House. Don is a great boxing coach and a cutman for the UFC. Frank Mir brought in Don to tape up my injured hand and Don would stay and work with me for an hour every training session. Don’s style is very different from what I was used to. He made me keep my hands wide apart and lower than normal. We would also work really hard on my head movement. The theory behind this style is that you will be able to see things more clearly and your opponent will not know when your punches are coming because your hands are not at the chin. The punches are coming from various angles.
I am one of those fighters who is very open to new ideas and I tried this style right away in my sparring sessions and it really worked. I decided to use the style in my fight with Kingsbury and I think it was very successful. My punches came from many different angles and I was moving my head a lot; I don’t think Kingsbury landed a single punch.
I was very surprised with Kingsbury’s game plan. I was sure he would stand and trade with me as he had the height and reach advantage, but every time I would land a combo or step forward he would immediately clinch. The injury to my hand did not help, as I could not use it to push off. I tried to maintain underhooks and throw a lot of knees to the thighs and mid-section.
At one point I felt him go for a takedown. I started to lose my balance and wanted to make sure that I did not end up in a bad position on the ground. Once in guard, I made sure to break down Kingsbury’s posture and attempted an armbar. The armbar sunk in tight, Kingsbury rolled and I just waited for him to break his grip. Once Kingsbury let go, I adjusted his wrist and extended my hips. I heard a yell and a loud “Tap.” Just like that, it was over.
After the fight I yelled out, “I have jiu-jitsu too.” I hope no one took that as disrespectful. Obviously Team Nogueira thought I was just a striker and their best chance to win the fight was on the ground. I was overwhelmed with emotion and just wanted to let them know that I was not a one-dimensional fighter.
I injured my hand again on the uppercut I landed in the clinch just before Kingsbury attempted the takedown. It hurt like hell, but the good news was that the rest of the body was good to go.
Now I’ll play the waiting game curious to know who my opponent will be in the semifinals. One more fight left.
Ed. note: This review was based on an advance copy of the episode. The urine-drinking scenes did not air; they were reportedly cut at the last-minute.