TUF 13, Episode 2, April 6th, 2011

Okay, this one is a long time coming.

Please accept my apologies.  My daytime paying job and tax time capitalized on all my extra time, and delayed new content.  Now that the excuses are out, here comes the post that has been delayed for three weeks.

The Drama
Episode Two's drama was dominated by Keon Caldwell.  Keon is visibly distracted during training, ostensibly due to missing his family, specifically his six year old daughter.  Coach dos Santos is pushing his team to train as hard as possible, but Keon lags behind the rest.  Talking to his coaches Keon admits that he misses his daughter and doesn't know if he can stay.  He wants to go home.  Now watching this I had to ask myself the question.  Is this really about missing his daughter, or is this an easy out, because now, in The Ultimate Fighter, Keon's own self doubts sabotage his training?

Really, I understand that he would miss his daughter.  I have a six year old son, and being separated from him would be difficult.  Life is difficult.  GET OVER IT!  If this is what you want to do, then what example do you set for your daughter by quitting while at the beginning of the greatest opportunity a professional mixed martial artist can get?

Queue Dana White.  Dana comes to the gym to talk to Keon.  Dana takes him aside and gets right to the point.
"Do you want to be a professional fighter?"
 "Oh yeah", Keon answers.
"Do you want to do this?"
"Yes sir."
"Do you want to win this f-bleep-ing thing"
"Yes sir."
"Do you want to be in the UFC?"
"Yes sir."
"Do you want to be a world champion some day"
"Yes sir."
"Focus on why you came here..."
Basically suck it up.  Then the very next day at practice.  Coincidentally enough after a hard training session with one of the assistant coaches. Keon approaches Junior dos Santos and tells him he has made his decision and wants to go back to his family.  As I have mentioned, I have a six year old, as well, but this is six weeks out of your life.  Six weeks to make a name for yourself.  At the very least to show Dana you won't back down.  Keon has an MMA record of 8-1, but now all that Dana will remember is he didn't have the conviction to see it through.  Chance of a lifetime blown.  Mark my words.  We won't be seeing Keon Caldwell in the UFC.

What do you think?  Do you think Keon took the easy way out?

The Fight
Javier Torres (Team dos Santos) vs Chris Cope (Team Lesnar)

Team dos Santos has control, so this pick is theirs.  They are very confident.  Even commenting that during the fight announcement, when the fighters faced off for photographs, that Chris was visibly shaking.  He was.

During interviews with the fighters and coaches Shamar Bailey comments, "I'm excited to see Javier fight.  I think he is going to run through Chris."

From Junior dos Santos, "In my mind he is going to beat the guy easy."

Brock Lesnar doesn't like Chris' chances either.  He even gives Chris and team the Any Given Sunday speech.

To be fair Chris is not a full time fighter.  He has a full time job in mainstream America.  A nice bit of encouragement comes in the form of a letter Chris' girlfriend sent with him.  In the letter she tells him that this is his destiny.

Javier is very confident.  He has a lot riding on this.  He immigrated from Mexico to be a fighter.  To top it all off his wife is pregnant, as well - you don't see him running home.

While in the first fight the safe pick from Team dos Santos pays off.  This time it backfires.

Round 1 - Javier pushes Chris up against the cage - this is an area that a team member of Javier's, who knows Chris, said Chris was uncomfortable, but Chris gets in some good strikes.  Javier then takes Chris to the ground with a Judo throw, but Chris gets right back up.  Javier goes for several foot stomps.  No real damage.  They go back and forth for most of the round.  Then in the last thirty seconds Javier lands a good knee strike to Chris' cheek and opens up a cut below the eye.  No danger, as it will not affect Chris' ability to see.

Remember, Javier is supposed to run right through Chris.

Round 2 - Chris starts with a good high kick.  We see a lot of clinch fighting for the majority of this round.  Both fighters throw some knees to the body.  No real damage from either fighter.

Round 3 - In the preliminary fights of The Ultimate Fighter, they will only go two five minute rounds, and if there is no definitive winner at the end of round two, then they go to a third round.

In the third round Javier is tired.  He is breathing heavy.  Looking for excuses to rest.

Chris simply has better conditioning.  He is fired up and he survived the first two rounds.  He has better kicks, as well, throwing really hard kicks to the inside of Javier's thigh.  Throwing some more high kicks.  Controlling the clinch, muscling Javier, throwing knees upper-cuts and elbows.

At the end Chris wins by decision.

What bothers me is at the end of the episode, when Team Lesnar is back in their locker room, Brock makes a point to say "Chicken salad out of chicken shit.  That's what we are we chicken shit.  We make do with what we got.  Any given Sunday.  Any given Sunday, anybody can win"  A quick camera shot to Chris Cope, and I could see in his eyes, why do I have to be chicken shit.  At this point why wouldn't Brock make a point of giving Chris some credit.  Admit Chris surprised them all.  Congratulate him and bring him up.

Transition to montage interview with Brock, "There wasn't nothing pretty or cool about Chris' win.  He just showed perseverance and heart and I was wowed by that".  Okay, so you were wowed, but again Brock just dogged the guy, maybe unintentionally or subconsciously, but I have not been impressed by Brock as a coach, yet.  We'll see what future episodes reveal.

What do you think?  Does Brock have what it takes to be a great coach?

Stay tuned.  Daily posts will be coming as I get caught up with this season of TUF 13.