Episode two starts with Brock Lesnar working with his team in the gym. His team just lost their first match from the last episode and he is starting to heat up a bit. He gives us two good quotes here: “You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken sh*t,” and “You can’t polish turds.”
Did you ever have that friend stay at your house when you were little and when it came time to go to sleep or when it started getting late they would get a stomach ache and have to go home?
Well, that’s pretty much what happens next as Team dos Santos’ Keon Caldwell tells Junior he thinks he wants to go home to be with his daughter. This prompts a visit from uncle Dana. Dana gives him a personalized version of the “Do you wanna be a [expletive] fighter?” speech and says, “Aren’t you here for your daughter?”
Keon cowers and won’t tell him how he really feels, or maybe he genuinely changed his mind. Either way, Keon tells Dana he does want to fight for the UFC and he he wants to stay now. Keon thanks him for the pep talk and Dana leaves.
Fight picks are next and Team dos Santos gets to pick the second match-up in a row. They pick Team Lesnar’s Chris Cope to fight Team dos Santos fighter Javier Torres. Junior thinks Torres is going to beat Cope easy.
Team dos Santos then goes through a tough workout and Keon has had all he can handle and throws in the towel. He tells Junior he’s sorry but he wants to leave. Junior doesn’t try to talk him out of it this time and lets the crybaby go home.
Dana White says the upside to this is it’s early enough where they can get Keon out of there and still bring someone in who really wants to be there.
Cope has trained with Team dos Santos wrestling coach Lew Polley before. Polley thinks because Cope works a full time job he’s not as committed to fighting as some other guys. Lesnar says he hasn’t seen anything in Cope that has “wowed” him yet.
Lesnar has a team meeting and talks about “any given Sunday,” where anything can happen and on any given Sunday anybody can win. The message is meant for Chris Cope. Most of the guys seem to be thinking he’s going to have a hard time against Torres and don’t seem to be giving him much of a chance.
Cope reads a letter his young daughter gave to him before he left home and it inspires him before the fight. Torres says he is there for his family, wife and baby.
Now it’s fight time! – “Any given Sunday”
Javier Torres (dos Santos) vs. Chris Cope (Lesnar)
Round 1 – Torres taunts Cope telling him to hit him in the face. Clinch against the cage. Knees from both guys, rabbit punches from Cope. Lesnar is telling Cope to relax. More knees from both. Foot stomp from Torres. Junior calls for elbows. Cope gets free and they square up. Cope fires off a couple one-twos. Clinch, and Torres trips him to the ground but Cope gets right up and Torres stays on him with a body lock. Foot stop from Torres, pushing Cope against the cage. Cope gets underhooks, knee. Torres with a punch. Leg kick from Cope as they move to the center. Clinch against the cage. Foot stomp from Torres. Cope reverse position, tries to trip Torres. Nice elbow from Cope. One minute to go. Another elbow. Knee from Torres, another. Knee from Cope. Still clinched and Torres turns him around, lands a knee on the break to the face and Cope is cut under his eye. ProMMAnow.com scores the round 10-9 for Torres.
Round 2 – Cope lands a punch then it’s right back to the clinch game. Knee from Cope and Torres breaks away with two big elbows. Two body kicks from Torres. Head kick from Cope is mostly blocked. Clinch against the cage. Knees from both guys. Knee from Cope. Knees from Torres. Rabbit punches from Cope and a knee. Torres reverses him to the cage and Cope does the same, then a knee and a punch. Cope is still bleeding under the eye. Torres backs out, they square up. Big leg kick from Torres. One, two, head kick from Cope. Body kick Torres, then a leg kick, another one. Punch, kick from Cope. Clinch. Two minutes to go. They separate. “Make him come to you,” Lesnar says an octave too high. They clinch, Torres tries to drop levels but Cope defends. Uppercut from Torres as he backs up. Leg kick from Cope and a huge leg kick from Torres knocks Cope off balance. Clinch, Torres puts him against the cage. Knees from both as Cope reverses and lands a couple shots. A knee from both as the bell sounds. ProMMAnow.com scores it 10-9 for Torres.
JUDGES RULE IT A DRAW AT THIS POINT – ONE ROUND EACH so it goes into “Sudden Victory”.
Overtime
Round 3 – Leg kick from both guys. Cope with a head kick that misses. Torres lands a leg kick. Clinch. Torres reverses and Cope reverses. Torres goes for a trip takedown but loses position and it’s back to the clinch. Elbow from Cope. Knee from Cope is low and time out is called. Cope gives a rebel yell and Torres gives a weaker version. It’s right back to the clinch as time is called in. Knee from Cope, they separate. Nice left from Torres. Leg kick from Cope. Clinch, Cope reverses. Knee from Cope. Foot stomp from Torres. They separate. Leg kick from Cope and body kick from Torres barely touches Cope. Clinch, Cope puts him against the cage where they both land some knees but Cope seems to have most control. Torres goes for a single and is holding his leg as the bell sounds. “Chris Cope wins,” says Brock with like ten seconds left. ProMMAnow.com scores the round for Chris Cope.
OFFICIAL RESULT: All three judges scored it 10-9 for Cope.
“Chicken salad out of chicken sh*t,” says a happy Brock. He also says there was nothing pretty or fancy about Cope’s win, but he persevered and pulled it off. Lesnar admits Cope’s effort finally “wowed” him.
Coach Polley is pissed and tells Team dos Santos this loss should eat them up.
We’ll see you next week guys. Stay close to ProMMAnow.com for Team dos Santos’ Ryan McGillivray’s TUF 13 blog as he shares his thoughts on this episode.