The Weekly Wrap: May 23 - May 29

TUF 9

He may have lost four of his front teeth in the first round, but Frank Lester was back in the Octagon on this week's episode of “The Ultimate Fighter.”

The Californian replaced the injured Jason Pierce and defeated Team U.K.'s David Faulkner in the final first-round fight of the season. The two traded punches and worked extensively in the clinch in the first round. Lester got busy early in the second frame, hitting Faulkner with heavy punches and knees and wearing him down to the bell.

Both fighters were gassed before round three. Faulkner, who has had trouble gagging on his mouthpiece and spat it out in round two, refused to get off the stool for round three, later complaining his mouth was dry to the point that he had trouble breathing.

Lester came in with facial and muscle soreness. He got the fight over fellow welterweight Mark Miller because Miller had suffered a broken nose in his loss.

The win ties the country-versus-country series at 4-4. The semi-finals begin next week with a welterweight fight that is being promoted as producing heavy fireworks and a possible battle between teammates. With first-round fights complete, the remaining TUF 9 field is set. From Team U.K., it’s lightweights Andre Winner and Ross Pearson and welterweights Nick Osipczak and James Wilks. From Team USA, it’s welterweights Lester and Damarques Johnson and lightweights Cameron Dollar and Jason Dent.

Some serious tensions boiled to the surface this week, as coaches Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson butted heads over swapping Team U.S.A.'s morning training time for the U.K.'s afternoon slot. Henderson was under the impression he could make the switch whenever he wanted, but Bisping resisted. Producers decided Bisping had to move his team to the morning. Bisping also squirted Johnson in the face with a water bottle and accused him of making a racist remark toward him, creating a tense situation that was diffused when it was explained to Bisping that Dollar, not Johnson, had made the remark in question.

This week’s episode did a 1.1 rating on Spike TV for 1.4 million average viewers, a slight increase from last week’s 1.0 rating.