Tonight’s eighth episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Lesnar vs. Team dos Santos features the first two fights of the quarterfinal match-ups.
Team dos Santos’ number one pick, Shamar Bailey will face Team Lesnar’s Chris Cope, and wrestling stand-out, Ramsey Nijem of Team dos Santos’ will face Clay Harvison of Team Lesnar.
The Woo-shu Warrior
The show starts out with Shamar informing his teammate Justin Edwards that his back has been bothering him and it feels like he pulled something.
At that very moment, Shamar’s upcoming opponent, Chris Cope walks by and gives one of his patented “Woo!” shouts. Shamar tells Justin he feels Cope is lurking around every corner, which hints back to people in the house thinking he was a spy and double-agent.
Shamar explains how he is looking forward to fighting Chris and “choking that voice box out.” Cope’s “Woo!” shouts really aggravated Shamar and frankly, can be quite annoying even to the viewers at home.
Ramsey gets ready
Next we see Junior working with Ramsey as he prepares for his upcoming fight with Clay. Junior says Clay is good but prefers to keep the fight standing.
Junior tells Ramsey that Clay has a good cross punch and shows him some techniques on how to counter it. Junior also reminds us that Ramsey is the best wrestler on his team.
Ramsey informs the viewers his father is from the West Bank and that he himself has been to Palestine and has seen first hand the type of life the people have to live there.
He says he is thankful he is able to fight in a cage as a sport and not have to be over there fighting for his life.
Ramsey says if he takes Clay’s back in the fight, it will be over. Junior agrees and says, “You have got to take his back.”
Success breeds success
Brian Stann drops by to talk with the guys about what it takes to get to the upper echelon in the sport and how the discipline of the best UFC fighters compares to the discipline of a United States Marine.
Stann emphasized how important it is to surround yourself with the right coaches, the right friends and the right people that is going to breed success.
He also pointed out the unique opportunity the guys had there in getting to train with two of the best fighters in the game today.
Clay had actually trained with Stann before and told him he had been thinking about calling him after the show to see about coming to train with him at Jackson’s MMA .
Because Stann is a Marine Corps Recruiter, Lesnar jokingly asked Stann if he brought any applications “for these clowns” to sign up.
Brock teaches the whizzer
Clay gets back from getting his stitches out from his finger. He still can’t move it all the way but says it won’t matter once he gets in the fight and the adrenaline starts pumping.
Brock knows both Clay and Chris aren’t the greatest wrestlers, and unfortunately for them both of their upcoming opponents are.
Brock asks Clay and Chris if they saw his fight with Shane Carwin, and points out the technique Carwin used to defend his takedown.
Brock then spends some time teaching Clay and Chris the technique Carwin used, called a “whizzer”.
He explains how discouraging it is when a wrestler’s takedown attempts keeps getting stuffed.
This is really an important part of the episode because Brock was able to not only see what his fighters needed, but he was able to teach it to them in such a way that at least one of them is able to put it to practical use in his upcoming fight, and in fact, the very technique ends up having a huge influence on the outcome!
Weigh-ins
- Clay Harvison – 170 lbs.
- Ramsey Nijem – 171 lbs.
Dana White says he has a lot of respect for Clay because, “This kid’s knuckle popped out of his finger, they had to pop it back in and then give him stitches in his hand. This kid’s fighting a week later!”
Clay says he knows Ramsey’s gameplan is to take him down and look for the choke.
White says Junior thinks Ramsey is the toughest guy here, but White seems to have his doubts.
During the stare down, Ramsey, wearing manties, tilts his head to the side like he’s coming in for a slow kiss. This generates smiles from Clay and the rest of the group. Brock even smiles.
Fight Day: Ramsey Nijem vs. Clay Harvison
Ramsey is not feeling well before the fight. He is shown laying flat on his back in the locker room and he says he never felt sick like this before a fight. His teammate Zach Davis thinks maybe he ate something that caused it.
Just as the fight is about to start Brock reminds Clay, “Whizzer!”
Round 1 – Clay swings first with a left jab that misses. Ramsey comes back with a big overhand right that also misses, and Clay misses with a counter right hook. Clay then swings a one two punch and this provides Ramsey the perfect opportunity to shoot for the double, no chance of a whizzer here, and he puts Clay down easily. Clay gets to his knees and tries to scramble. Ramsey takes his back and lands some punches to the side of the head as Clay tries to scramble. Finally Ramsey flattens him out, throws on the choke and Clay taps almost immediately.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Ramsey Nijem def. Clay Harvison by submission (rear-naked choke) Rd 1
White says afterward that Ramsey looked good and called it the fastest and most decisive victory of the season thus far. “Junior dos Santos might be right, this kid is the kid to beat,” said White.
Back in the locker room after the fight Junior said to Ramsey, “That’s how you fight when you get sick? Wow! My God!” And gave him a big hug.
Junior then predicts Ramsey will also submit his next opponent, just like he did his first two.
Clay is extremely disappointed and tells Brock he is sorry. With head hung low, Brock replies, “That’s fighting.”
“Clay was just out-classed with wrestling. … Clay gave his back up. To do that for a wrestler is pretty much self-destruction,” Brock explained.
Fight preparations
White says all the guys think Chris is the weakest guy in the house and Shamar is the toughest.
Junior says that Shamar’s back is doing better and he should have no problem putting Chris down.
Shamar says his gameplan is to “beat him in the middle and keep him going backwards”. He wants to beat him on the feet and take him down when he feels like it.
Cope says even though Shamar doesn’t like him much, he likes him and thinks he is a good guy.
Brock tells Chris he is going to have to “weather the storm for the first 30 seconds” against Shamar.
Chris says Shamar is trying to make it personal, but he is still going to go in there and have fun and do his thing against him. He also feels Shamar, being the much more experienced fighter, has a lot more to lose.
Brock goes over some more whizzer defense with Chris before the bout and explains to him he needs to own the center of the Octagon.
Weigh-ins
- Chris Cope – 171 lbs. (with a Woo!)
- Shamar Bailey – 170 lbs.
Few people are giving Chris any chance in this bout. However, his teammate Chuck O’Neil says he might not be the guy to get the big knockouts but he’s the type of guy that will outwork you and take your heart away.
White feels Shamar is too one-dimensional and Chris may be able to expose him.
Chris gets some tips about Shamar from Nordin, who fought him in the very first fight of the season. They do some ground work to help prepare.
Shamar says he is not underestimating Chris despite what everyone might think about him. Chris feels maybe Shamar is underestimating him and if he tries to make it personal it’s going to cause him to gas out.
Chris also assures us that win or lose, the “Woos!” are here to stay.
Fight Time: Shamar Bailey vs. Chris Cope
Round 1 – Shamar comes out first and throws a one two that misses. He begins stalking. Cope stays moving side to side and counters with a jab that misses. Shamar lands a left and continues to hunt. Cope fires back, misses, and Shamar shoots for a single leg, pushing Cope against the cage. Cope gets a hold of Shamar’s left shoulder and lands several right hand rabbit style punches to the face. Brock calls for a wizzer and Cope pulls it off perfectly to get Shamar off him. Shamar goes right back for the shot but Cope gets underhooks and gets him off. They square up in the center. Cope lands a left and a couple more shots as Shamar comes in swinging and ties him up against the cage. Cope escapes and they square up again. Shamar clinches again against the cage and Cope is able to escape again to shouts of “Woo!” from the crowd. Shamar shoots and Cope uses a wizzer to escape again. They square back up. Shamar swings, shoots in and presses against the cage as the bell sounds. Dana White says, “Let your freaking hands go kid!”
As the camera zooms in on Cope’s corner, that’s exactly what Brock tells him, “Let your hands go.”
Round 2 – Cope seems encouraged and gives a “Woo!” to start the round. They exchange a couple of combinations with both guys landing. A couple of nice body shots from Shamar. Chris retaliates and lands a combo. Shamar clinches, presses him to the cage, but Chris escapes and they go back to exchanging punches. It’s odd that neither guy has thrown any kicks. Shamar shoots, pushes him to the cage but Chris escapes again. Both guys are throwing shots but nothing to solid is landing from either guy. Left hand from Shamar, combo from Chris and Shamar shoots, pushes him against the cage where they do some dirty boxing and knee strikes until Chris breaks free again. Chris fires off some punches causing Shamar to shoot, presses him to the cage and Chris lands several punches from the clinch and reverses position with underhooks. And that’s it. Chris gives a big “Woo!” And Junior tells Shamar he won.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Chris Cope defeats Shamar Bailey by unanimous decision (20-18, 20-18, 20-18) Rd 2
Junior looks at Dana and says, “What?” when the result is announced. He is flabbergasted. Shamar told Chris he fought well but he didn’t know about that decision.
Brock of course had to get one of his famous “chicken salad” lines in and said, “We took chicken [expletive] and made chicken salad.”
Chris said his biggest thing was he believed and that’s why he prevailed.
Shamar went up to Dana after the fight and told him he wanted to show that he could stand and bang and do some other things too and not just wrestle. He said he could have just taken the easy road and went for the takedown.
Dana said, “It looked like you tried to take him down a bunch of times.” Shamar said he was just putting him against the cage but because of his back he knew he couldn’t lift him.
Woo!
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