Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010
It’s finally the wildcard episode, Aaron Wilkinson vs. Marc Stevens. The wildcard is supposed to be the people who put up the best fight. Wildcard options would have been Jeffrey Lentz, Andy Main, Sevak Magakin, Dane Sayers, and Spencer Paige who is now out with an injury, of course in addition to the two that were chosen. I honestly feel Sevak or Sayers should have been given the spot. Of course I am biased to team GSP and I wanted Sayers in there but even Dana admits if Sayers were to stay in, he knows with each fight he would show huge improvements. Unfortunately at this moment in time, Stevens is the “better fighter”. If they didn’t choose Sevak because the fight was over by submission in the first round, at least he was fighting the top contender Jonathan Brookins. Stevens was choked out cold in seconds by someone with half the experience. Lentz and Main , teammates of Stevens even show their doubt in the choice. Not saying straight out that he doesn't deserve it but mentioning that the guillotine loss was done in seconds.
So now for the Koscheck drama of the episode... I’m really getting tired of this guy. I know they edit the show so we can see all the bad stuff he does and none of the great coaching or training but there wouldn’t be anything to show in if he didn’t act out all the time. They can’t show GSP as the bad guy or the prankster because that’s not who he is. So since GSP won’t give him any reaction, Koscheck starts up with the medic on team GSP, Brad Tate. He’s making fun of Tate for being a male nurse. He gets in his face and even grabs on to him to jokingly start a bit of a fight. Both guys start to laugh and shake it off but you can tell Tate was not happy with the initial motion to fight. The end up fighting with a trash can and plunger so nobody gets hurt but its just one of those things were yeah they’re joking and goofing around but you know they completely hate each other. Walking in to the weigh-ins Koscheck pants Tate! Wow junior high flashback? As they’re sitting down waiting for the weigh-ins to start they get into an exchange of words again, of course all Koscheck has to use as an insult is that Tate is a male nurse. Apparently Tate is a paramedic but even if he wasn’t, being a nurse is not an insult! Maybe it’s not the most likely profession for a big dude to pick but it’s totally respectable. So Tate comes back with, what did you accomplish in life? How to fake a knee? OOOOH I love that he said this, I was waiting for someone to say it! That’s so awesome, Koscheck has totally done that, twice. Don’t believe me, watch his fights against Anthony Johnson and Paul Daley, here’s a quick youtube link you can watch too, its a really dumb video but the only one I could find with both fakes.
That comment definitely gets to him, he jumps up and tries to grab Tate's neck. Sayers tries to separate them but is grabbing the back of Koschecks neck to do it. He ends up getting pushed in the face by Koscheck too. After everyone calms down he walks out on the weigh-ins, way too frustrated with Koscheck to be there. Koscheck does go and apologize so I can respect that. The fight is between him and Tate, not Sayers.
Koscheck blames GSP! He accuses him of hiring Brad Tate to do his trash talking for him. Well for one thing if he did that would be smart, but GSP doesn't have to time to bother himself with petty stuff like that. He has told his team many times not to talk trash, it’s beneath them. Tate is part of his team. He feels like trash talking is like being in kindergarten, its pointless. But of course Koscheck always has an excuse for everything.
Bruce Leroy is complaining of a sore back a lot. This episode shows him getting stretched out while Johnson is sparring in the cage. Johnson figures it’s just an excuse not to train as hard. Back at the house Johnson brings it up and Leroy just says he's injured. When it’s his turn to fight he will train hard, right now he's hurt. They talk about fighting each other, both fighter sounds confident they would win.
GSP gets the remaining guys on his team together and asks them to write down the name of someone on their own team they would like to fight. As there will be 3 yellow and 5 red going into the next round, obviously two guys from GSPs team will have to face each other. If the two names match up and the fighters pick each other, they will try to make that fight happen. Go figure the match up is Leroy and Johnson. We'll see if Dana will go for it.
Both fighters are from the Koscheck camp. He admits it will be a hard fight to watch. He likes both guys and wants them both to do well. He is not going to be in the corner or either fighter. Wilkinson and Stevens have been training together a lot during their sessions. They are shown on the treadmills talking about helping each other after the show is over. They can both learn from each other. Stevens does have a great wrestling background and Wilkinson has a big stand up game, combining their talents would make for a great fighter.
Before the fight Wilkinson gets news that his Nana has passed. He's trying not to cry, it’s really sad to see. His mom says his nana would "kick his ass good style" if he were to come home and leave this opportunity. She’s trying to make him laugh but that's rough news to get. He’s completely alone in the house and he has no one to lean on.
Round 1
Wilkinson has a 3" height and reach advantage going into this. He also got suited up for the fight in GSP’s team room. Just sayin, he's a good guy! Both guys start of slow, just feeling out the distance. Stevens tries to throw a couple kicks then gets a takedown and side control. He gets full mount and switched to having Wilkinson’s back each time he spins. It’s so quiet, there are a few teammates and coaches shouting from the corners but not a lot. Nam Phan is shouting mostly for Wilkinson but not doing the greatest job, telling him the whole time that he’s winning when he is clearly not. But at least he’s trying. Stevens is close to getting a triangle choke with his legs. But Wilkinson is able to get some big punches to Stevens' body and head from the position. The round is definitely not even, with Stevens having top control for the first 3 minutes and landing some major ground and pound I think the judges may give it to him. Especially since when Wilkinson was landing punches, Stevens was still defending from the bottom.
Round 2
Wilkinson starts with nice inside leg kick. He's throwing punching combinations and as he throws a knee Stevens gets a takedown. Once again he leaves his neck vulnerable and Wilkinson gets the guillotine. The same one he gave up to McKenzie.
Wilkinson wins but submission via guillotine choke. Stevens laughs after the fight, apparently I need to work on my guillotine defense. Main and Lentz are still set that they would have been able to perform better. It’s pretty bad that he looses the exact same way again, especially since his background is in wrestling, he should be better at the ground game
GSP and Koscheck meet with Dana to discuss the quarter final matchup. They bring in the fighters to ask them who they would like to fight. All the fighters seem to think that Leroy is he weakest on his team and they would be able to take him out. GSP says he would like to see Leroy and Johnson fight. Again Koscheck with his conspiracy theories thinks GSP is trying to get one of his own guys to take out Leroy who he considers to be the weakest link on his team instead of someone on yellow eliminating him. Well why wouldn’t GSP want that, if he really has that little faith in Leroy it’s a sure was to be confident one of his guys will get through to the next round easily. GSP did slip up a little and gave up too much information about his fighters’ strengths and weaknesses.
Poor canada
The quarter final fights are announced;
Jonathan Brookins vs. Sako Chivitchian
Cody McKenzie vs. Nam
Kyle Watson vs. Aaron Wilkinson
Michael Johnson vs. Bruce Leroy
Koscheck says Dana feels sorry for GSP so he gave him all the fights he wanted!! Oh my gosh, this guy is ridiculous. I’m not sure how I feel about the fights. I feel like there are two really whatevers fights. Both guys in the McKenzie vs. Phan fight are pretty inexperienced and Johnson vs. Leroy fight is just for the personality clash. Watson is definitely going to have his hands full with Wilkinson and Brookins got the second most difficult fight in Sako. But we’ll see how it goes. My picks are underlined, no surprises I’m sure.
Next episode...
2 fights!! Brookins vs. Sako and McKenzie vs. Phan
Getting closer to the semi-finals
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