The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 Episode 4 Recap

Last night’s Ultimate Fighter 9 episode(4) was pretty good. We were introduced to the team’s assistant coaches. Michael Bisping has brought along Mario “Sucata” Neto as his wrestling and submissions coach and Dave Jackson for Thai Boxing. Dan Henderson brought in Heath Sims, Cyril Diabate, Ricardo Feliciano, and Gustavo Pugliese.

They show Team UK training and they look like they are training very hard. Even Michael Bisping says that he doesn’t think Team USA is training harder than them and from the footage they show, it’s tough to argue that.

Bisping is always talking trash, trying to get inside Team USA’s head and it’s working. DaMarques Johnson seems to be the most aggravated by it and I really think he shouldn’t let it bother him. I mean, that’s a part of competition, especially in a sport so high in adrenaline and testosterone. Talk trash back.

The fight announcement comes and Dan Henderson has chosen Mark Miller to take on team UK’s Nick Osipczak. Team UK Coaches review the tapes of Mark Miller’s fight, as Bisping was held up with Visa issues and didn’t get to see the USA elimination fights. He notes that Miller doesn’t “know what a knee is” and that he always leads with multiple jabs and then backs off. They later show him training with Osipczak and Bisping asks him if he’s going to fight southpaw or orthodox. Osipczak says that they think he’s a southpaw so he might as well continue to lead them on, even though he fights both and is a better orthodox fighter.

Back at the house Team USA finds a Team UK t-shirt left in a common area. According to the ground rules the teams put down upon moving in to the house, it’s fair game. They take a bleach pen and write Team USA: 1, Team UK: 0, and hang it up with a ransom note on the front door. Team UK returns, finds the note, finds the t-shirt and has a good laugh. Later on while Team USA is at the training center they find a pair of wrestling shoes left behind by a member of Team UK. Again they write on them with a Sharpy marker and Team UK finds them when they come back to the gym. The boots belong Ross Pearson and he’s a bit upset. He ask Jason Dent “Who writ on me boots”, but Dent doesn’t understand what he’s saying right away until Pearson re-words it. Dent replies that he had nothing to do with touching anyone’s stuff. Anyway…

Both fighters weigh in and the fight is on the next day. Herb Dean starts the match, both fighters touch gloves and the war is on. Before the fight, Bisping advises Osipczak to take the fight to the ground because Miller is not expecting it to go to the ground and he thinks that miller is a one dimensional fighter that won’t do well on the mat.

Round 1 seas a lot of heavy exchanges and Osipczak shows that he has a tough chin. The fight goes to the ground with guillotine and kimura attempts failed by both fighters. At one point Miller is in Osipczak’s guillotine but his arms in as well. Osipczak is squeezing and twice it almost looks as if Miller is tapping. Herb dean asks if he’s tapping and lets the fight continue while Team UK objects. More ups and downs. This is a great fight. The round ends with both fighters looking quite fatigued.

Round two sees the Miller open it up with  some good punches but it goes to the ground pretty quickly as Miller tries for another guillotine. He’s not really in a good position to crank the guillotine and eventually Osipczak breaks free.  Osipczak connects with some short elbows but Miller eventually reverses the position and Osipczak is now in halfguard. MIller attempts to stand as Osipczak goes for a leg triangle choke. Miller slips through it and goes to side control briefly. Osipczak get’s halk guard back but it’s not going anywhere so Herb Dean stand them up.

Miller is looking for a striking opportunity and is not holding his hand up high. Osipczak throws a beautiful high kick to the side of Miller’s head and drops him, out cold. He steps over Miller and celebrates as Herb Dean assists Miller. “Look low, kick high. Oldest trick in the book,” Osipczak says.

Miller is shows in the dressing room, fatigued and upset, but holding himself together. I know from my recap that it doesn’t sound like a very exciting match, but I’m trying to recap from memory of the night before. This was a really good fight and Miller did well, he just got caught. Osipczak played the game well and came out on top. I hope we see more good fights like this.

The previews of next week emphasize that Team UK looks a lot more cohesive than Team USA. Why do Americans have to be so dramatic?