411's The Ultimate Fighter: US vs. UK Report 6.17.09: Episode 12
Posted by Jeremy Lambert on 06.17.2009
It's the final episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Team US vs. Team UK and the season ends with the big rematch between Frank and James. The winner moves on to fight Damarques in the finals to be crowned the Welterweight winner of this season. Can Frank extract revenge or did James make it 2-0 against Frank? Click for the full report.
The Ultimate Fighter 9
Team US vs. Team UK
Episode 12
Previously: Andre defeated Cameron and Ross defeated Jason to move on to the finals. James vs. Frank tonight with the winner facing Damarques in the finals.
Opening Video
At the house, Dan Henderson joins the team for a cook out dinner. Frank feels confident because Henderson is confident in him. Damarques thinks Frank is better than James. James thinks he's the better technical fighter and that Frank only has a punchers chance.
At Team UK training, James works on ducking under and getting the takedown. Bisping says that the gameplan is to get the fight to the ground.
At Team US training, Frank says he feels better going into this fight than he did about their first fight. Henderson wants Frank to throw straight punches and not get wild with his striking.
Frank and James have started becoming friends. James weighs in at 171, Frank weighs in at 171. Dana likes this rematch.
Bisping joins his team for dinner. He says he's pleased with his team this season. James gets Bisping to hit himself in the back of the head by playing a coin trick on him. Steve Mazzagatti took a point from Bisping. Andre starts spitting food at his teammates and throws a lump of curry at Dean. Andre runs out of the house and Dean chases after him. Dean tosses Andre into the pool and as Andre climbs out, Dave tosses a big bag of flour on him. Dean tosses Andre back in the pool.
Damarques gives Frank a pep talk the night before his fight.
Welterweight Semi-Final Fight: James Wilks (Team UK) vs. Frank Lester (Team US)
Recap: Very close first round. Frank landed the bigger shots on the feet but James was the better overall striker. James went for the takedown a few times but never got it. I would give the round to Frank. A clear second round win for James. He was the better striker again, bloodied Frank up around the mouth, and rocked him with a head kick. James ended up finishing Frank in the third round with knees in the clinch.
Winner – James Wilks, TKO, Round Three
Team US wasn't happy with James taunting in the middle of the fight. Damarques was really upset about it. Henderson was proud of Frank but just said he had too many wars in too short of time. Dana said James was the better fighter but Frank is a tough guy.
Frank is disappointed in his performance but feels like he's grown up.
Damarques Johnson vs. James Wilks is the Welterweight final fight.
Henderson was proud that his team came together despite all their differences. "This experience has made me want to make me beat up Bisping more. For the lack of a better word, he's just a douchebag." Dan Henderson rules.
Dana says the fact that three Brits are in the finals proves that the sport is growing all over the world.
Show Comments: Not much too the show this week. James beat Frank again and now the two final fights are set. I enjoyed this season for the most part. Dan Henderson was so much more awesome that I thought he would be and Bisping was about what you would expect from Bisping. The fights were good this season as well and hopefully we get two good fights this Saturday.
Everyone tune in this Saturday to The Ultimate Finale 10 featuring James vs. Damarques in the Welterweight Final, Ross vs. Andre in the Lightweight final, and two awesome fights featuring Nate Diaz vs. Joe Stevenson and Diego Sanchez vs. Clay Guida.
Posted By: Champ (Guest) on June 18, 2009 at 06:31 AM
I have to agree that this season wasn't too bad. The fights were great, but the drama wasn't as good as the drama used to be. I used to like Bisping, but now I despise his shit-talking ass. Henderson is the man. Never lost his cool once, and got the final say in when he called Bisping a douche. Nice touch. I do believe the Americans should have been more ashamed that they let the Brits beat them. I've never stepped in an Octogan, but I'll be damned if I let a Brit beat me.
Posted By: GeeSpotter (Guest) on June 18, 2009 at 11:32 AM
Good fights and less of a focus on the in house idiocy... what wasn't to like?
From the beginning, the Brits were just the better fighters... and it only helped them that they worked much better as a team, helped each other out, and didn't have a rat telling the other team each fighter's strategies/ weaknesses.
The only downside is that I don't see many guys sticking around... but with each season, the skill of the fighters has been dropping- something that will hopefully change with Season 10.
Posted By: cyks (Guest) on June 18, 2009 at 01:02 PM
I've been hearing people coming up with excuses as to why the americans lost. Don't get me wrong though, I'm american. They say that all of the seasons of TUF have drained the talent pool. Do these guys realize that there are 300 million + people in the US. That excuse doesn't seem feasible to me. Could it be that the Brits were just better. I'm all for being patriotic but the anti british rhetoric is getting pretty old. Just being american does not mean we are automatically THE best at everything automatically. What's with all the venom dudes. It's fun to discuss this stuff but some people are really nasty about it.
Posted By: guest (Guest) on June 18, 2009 at 02:50 PM
Oh and one more thing to add. I think Bisping is probably going to beat Henderson. He's good at game planning and he'll be the faster fighter. Besides that Henderson is boring as hell to watch. Decison Dan. Most fighters get bashed bigtime for going to decisions all of the time but it seems Dan doesn't. Weird. He was supposedly doing so great against The Spider but I don't believe he would have ever finished him outside of a very lucky shot. I think folks are letting there hatred of Bisping get the better of them when they make their predictions based on hope, not skill. I will say if Dan get's Bisping down he's going to have a hard time getting up. But Bisping did do pretty good getting back up against Rashad. And Rashad is faster than Dan. Just thinking. Call me crazy if you will. I guess we will see.
Posted By: guest (Guest) on June 18, 2009 at 02:56 PM
They say that all of the seasons of TUF have drained the talent pool. Do these guys realize that there are 300 million + people in the US.
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Of the 300 million + people in the US, how many of them are MMA fighters.
It has more to do with there being more avenues in the US for fighters to become known.... whereas a British fighter may have to spend years fighting in various British promotions before someone takes notice. With MMA growing like it is, that won't always be the case, but for now it is.
Simply put, if an American fighter excels in their gym, college wrestling team, or has a great amateur fight - there's a chance that someone who knows someone would see him.
That's how guys like Cain are found and brought in with only 2 pro-fights before joining the UFC.
Posted By: cyks (Guest) on June 18, 2009 at 06:43 PM
It almost seemed to me that they dumbed down the American Fighters to make sure the UK would win. The team they selected for the US was awful. I'm not saying the UK didn't deserve to win, but compare the Americans on this team would have had their ass handed to them by every other TUF roster as well.
Go Hendu!
Posted By: MJH (Guest) on June 18, 2009 at 09:48 PM
great season of fights- I tivo through the drama stuff. soem real good fights though
Posted By: yeah buddy (Guest) on June 18, 2009 at 11:14 PM
This isn't the best season but it did have a lot of good fights more than the drama which I preferred.
I applaud the UK members for not being the Koschecks and the Brownings from past seasons.
They showed patriotism, respect, and class for their country. I can't say the same for USA although it doesn't reflect on all Americans.
Just be glad there is one representative for USA because if it was USA vs. Brazil, there would of been no chance.
Posted By: TUFan (Guest) on June 19, 2009 at 04:29 AM
